Quotes

The best kind of heroism is to be found in the relentless practice of one's profession. (Of fellow critic Pauline Kael): An almost demonically possessed little woman.

[on Robert Redford] Redford is adorable, but when they enriched that handsome hunk of white bread they somehow left out the mythic minerals.

[on Clint Eastwood] As a director, Eastwood is not as good as he thinks he is. As an actor, he is probably better than he allows himself to be.

[on Cary Grant] The drama in a Cary Grant movie is always seeing whether the star can be made to lose his wry, elegant and habitual aplomb.

[in 2012, on the Hollywood "Walk of Fame"] It has nothing to do with who is an authentic, for-the-ages star. That has deteriorated. It's driven entirely by what is hot at this moment, publicity and money. It's nice, but it's not the ultimate accolade for a movie actor.

The law of unintended consequences pushes us ceaselessly through the years, permitting no pause for perspective.

The common cold of the male psyche: fear of commitment.

A great novel is concerned primarily with the interior lives of its characters, as they respond to the inconvenient narratives that fate imposes on them. Movie adaptations of these monumental fictions often fail because they become mere exercises in interior decoration.

Memory is the personal journalism of the soul.

[on the films of Orson Welles] It is a measure of Hollywood's lack of imagination that his films still seem avant-garde when seen today.

[on Sondra Locke] At no point in her fourteen-year relationship with Clint did she ever move in permanently with him or totally abandon Gordon Anderson.