Francis Ford Coppola is nothing if not nostalgic. His work, from “The Godfather” to “Megalopolis,” echoes not only past periods of history, but also the cinema that’s influenced him since he was a child. In entering the Criterion Closet, Coppola didn’t come to simply select a few films to take home, but to also pay homage to those helped shape him and to his own work that took time to find appreciation. He started his visit by grabbing the Complete Jacques Tati set and comparing Tati’s experience financing “Playtime” to his own recent gamble on “Megalopolis,” acknowledging that many didn’t consider it a “masterpiece” at the time, whereas now they do.
“More than a masterpiece because it’s a gift of a really good time,” said Coppola, “a lot of fun for everybody.”
Coppola went on to take his own film, “Rumble Fish,” starring a young Matt Dillon and Mickey Rourke and adapted from the novel by S.E. Hinton. While he prefers not to claim a favorite among his work — similar to trying to name a favorite child as he puts it — “Rumble Fish” does hold a treasured place for Coppola within his oeuvre.
“I have a special affection for Rumble Fish because I thought of it as the antidote to the saccharine sweetness of ‘The Outsiders,’” Coppola said, referencing his previous Hinton adaptation. “And my goal was to make ‘Rumble Fish’ as an art film for kids. The kids at that time didn’t totally get it right away, and I thought it was a very big failure and was very upset about it because I sort of loved the film.”
Despite this initial failure, Coppola shared that the film did eventually find its audience and go on to influence many other creatives.
“A lot of young people from Latin America who were inspired by the great literary boom of Latin America in that period, went to this one theater to see this weird movie called ‘Rumble Fish,’ which they had no idea what it was, but it somehow stuck to them,” said Coppola. “And it inspired a whole generation to become filmmakers and novelists. And they even made a film about that, which is on this [Criterion set], called ‘Searching for Rusty James.’”
More than any box office success or critical appreciation, Coppola says he values the influence he has over young artists and, in a sense, the future of the form. In recognizing this, Coppola decided to take a moment to give thanks to one of his teachers and influences, Dorothy Arzner, who he studied under at UCLA.
In taking home her 1940 film “Dance, Girl, Dance,” Coppola said, “I learned so much from her, but one of the things that I repeated to my children, which is really important, she said that always sit in the same place next to the camera, usually it’s to the right of the camera, because you’re right there and you can not only see the cast very well but you can look up and you can see the camera operator, who has the full sensation since he’s looking through the movement. More important than anything, you sit there because the actors can see you. Basically, the actors are doing what they’re doing for you and they need you to judge what they’re doing.”
Watch Coppola’s full Criterion Closet visit below.
