DISCLAIMER: I'm only posting this here because Instagram had a 2,200 character limit and I wanted to share my full thoughts on Peter Bogdonavich's passing somewhere. See the condensed Instagram of this post here, if you're interested. I might start posting again, I might not, just go into this expecting it to be a one-time thing. Thank you all for sticking around. - Zach
One of my fondest memories growing up went like so: it was a rainy evening in the Marsh household sometime in the mid-2000s, so my sister and I gathered in my parents' bed with them and watched a movie. That movie happened to be What’s Up, Doc? To this day I can still hear the sound of Barbra Streisand’s calm demeanor oozing out as Ryan O’Neal’s frustration with her character continues to escalate throughout the movie. Note to self: give What’s Up, Doc? a much-deserved rewatch soon. Little did I know that I had just seen my first Peter Bogdonavich movie. Fast forward to 2018 when I attended the following events: the first was a 35mm screening of Orson Welles’ final film The Other Side of the Wind at the New York Film Festival. Among the panelists in attendance for the post-screening Q&A were Martin Scorsese, Frank Marshall, and, you guessed it, Peter Bogdonavich. You can find at least part of the panel on YouTube (side note: to the people at @FilmLinc @TheNYFF, please release the entirety of the panel on your YouTube page if you recorded it. I’d love to watch it all again) One of the things that stands out to me from that event is just how dead-pan and funny Bogdonavich was. His delivery was very dry but man was he a funny guy.
The following day I got to see some of that again, this time up close and personal, thanks to the amazing people at the Quad Cinema. The team over at the Quad arranged a screening series celebrating Bogdonavich’s long career, and I ended up attending a screening of arguably the most infamous film of his career, At Long Last Love, where he did a Q&A after the film. I deliberately chose to sit in the front row just so I can be as close to this guy and his gloriously dry sense of humor as possible. Needless to say, that’s exactly what I got. After the Q&A I had to try to meet him, and so I did. In between the times where people were getting pictures with him (he never smiled in any of the pictures, which is kind of hilarious to me and probably contributed to why I didn’t ask for a picture with him) he and I were chatting it up a bit. I had to bring up the story about What’s Up, Doc? to him, and I think, in his own way, he appreciated that. I’ll be honest here: I was probably annoying him a bit at some point with my persistence to talk while he more than likely wanted to keep to himself after the screening, but all in all he was a very chill and nice individual. I remember asking him if he had any advice for me because I was in pre-production on my thesis film at the time, but I don’t remember exactly what he told me. Seeing how I was the last person from the audience in the theater with him while he and his assistant/handler/publicist went to sit at the back of the auditorium, I wished him well, thanked him for his work, and went on my way.
Here’s what I can say about Peter Bogdonavich: he was never a perfect person, and reading about and listening to podcasts about him will not portray him in the most positive of lights. I wasn’t there for any of that, and neither were most people. It doesn’t excuse his actions as a person, but that’s not how I’m going to choose to remember him. In case some of you didn’t know, I used to be a freelance amateur film critic in my early teens, and it’s because of the love and passion for films I had when I was younger that not only got me there but helped me get to the place I am today. I’m a firm believer that critics can become very successful filmmakers if that’s what they want to do. After all, people who write critically about movies would probably understand a thing or two about how to make decent-to-good films. Peter Bogdonavich started out as a film critic before becoming a filmmaker, and while he wasn’t the first to do this, he was definitely one of the first names I noticed when I discovered the small group of critics-turned-filmmakers. My nostalgic love for What’s Up, Doc? helped Bogdonavich become an inspiration of mine.
Getting to witness this brilliant filmmaker’s dry whit in person two days in a row is something I’m going to hold onto for as long as I possibly can going forward. Hollywood has lost one of its most influential voices today, and I mourn along with many others out there. Peter, thank you for all that you’ve done to contribute to the film industry. Thank you for tolerating my “Zach Marsh-ness” when I met you back in 2018. And, most importantly to me, thank you for giving my family and me some strong belly laughs during a rather gloomy day in South Jersey all those years ago. I’m forever grateful for that day, and I hope you have yourself a long and good rest.
Rest in Peace, Peter Bogdonavich.
