The Movie Maker

Rod Steiger masterfully portrays an aging movie mogul hopelessly rebelling against a new Hollywood. Fine supporting cast. Originally released as an hour long episode as part of the Bob Hope Presents the Chrysler Theater TV series. Written by Rod Serling, the episode had so impressed Universal producers that additional content was added for a 1967 theatrical release as "The Movie Maker" (Dir. Joseph Lejtes). But with the Paley Media Arts Center, NYC being apparently the sole holder, this movie and/or TV episode is virtually inaccessible to most viewers. Hopefully, Universal, ShoutFactory, Criterion, Kino or Amazon can make a long overdue DVD or Blu-Ray release finally happen.

The episode referred to in Mr Battaglia's review is what I'm calling to attention here. This was my first memory of both Rod Steiger and Sally Kellerman, shown on TV in 1964 when I was still in high school. The title has always stuck with me for some reason and I've always wanted to see it again - "A Slow Fade to Black". It contained a great Steiger performance which led me to watch for his later work and cemented him as my favorite actor for a number of years, most notably when "The Pawnbroker" came out a few years later, a role which should have won him the Oscar. His later win always struck me as more of a consolation prize for that loss.