Ron Howard: 50 Years in Film

I've just seen this on the TNT channel, and although it was enjoyable I was a little surprised that there was no mention of the film that he made after Splash, Cocoon. I consider this to be one of his best, even though it was a little too Spielbergy in parts. I wonder why it was omitted.

It's hard to believe that Ron Howard has been in show business for so long, but then again, looking at him it's believable. Sorry Ron, but you are looking your age - and older, but considering that you started acting as a toddler, you've done well. It's easy to forget that he has produced quite an awesome (in size anyway) body of work over the years, not all of which were to my liking. I didn't really think much of Backdraft, or Far And Away, but I don't think I was alone in regard to the latter film.

Ron Howard: 50 Years in Film (2008)

*** (out of 4)

The title "50 Years in Film" makes you blink when you think about it but Ron Howard has been around that long with his start in the film The Journey then moving to The Andy Griffith Show and Happy Days before hitting it big as an Oscar-winning director. If you've seen Schickel's previous documentaries like Woody Allen: A Life in Film or Spielberg on Spielberg then you should know what to expect as the director doesn't get historians to comment on the subject but instead has the subject talking about the subject. In what's basically an interview, Howard talks about how his father got him his earlier role and how this led to other TV shows before he became a house hold name on Andy Griffith. Not too much time is devoted to his TV career, which to me is a good thing since there are countless documentaries out there with them as the subject. Howard's directorial debut, Grand Theft Auto, gets some nice talk as Howard explains what it was like to work with Roger Corman. Bette Davis also gets mentioned as the two worked together on Skyward. Other films talked about are Night Shift, Willow, Parenthood, Backdraft, Far and Away, Cinderella Man, The Da Vinci Code and the recently released Frost/Nixon. Director projects like The Missing, Cocoon and How the Grinch Stole Christmas are not mentioned and neither are rather famous acting projects like American Graffiti and The Shootist, which had Howard working with John Wayne and James Stewart. I'm not sure why certain admissions were made by Schickel, although a couple are clearly left out before they weren't critical successes. In the end, this is a pleasant documentary/interview with Howard.