Sometimes, movies can mix that magic chemistry between popularappeal and true art.
Tomorrow brings us a case in point when NBC presents "TheAmerican Film Institute Life Achievement Award - Billy Wilder" overWMAQ-Channel 5 from 8:30 to 10 p.m.
The AFI awards began 14 years ago, under the supervision ofGeorge Stevens Jr., the 54-year-old son of the late director.
In an interview, Stevens said the criteria for bestowing theaward is a relatively simple one. "It is for lifetime achievement.It's a phrase that's been overly and badly used since then becausethere are so many charities and ventures that need somebody toorganize an event around," he said.
Stevens' comment recalled the thoughts of the late Henry Fonda,who mused shortly before his death that he was the sudden recipientof so many awards for his work, after a lifetime of being oftenignored, because the awards' organizers wanted to get a piece of himbefore he died.
"I'd like to think the AFI represents a different level thanthat," Stevens said with a laugh. "I've watched it develop since 1973and the one thing that pleases me is that there are no clinkers inthe list (of past honorees)."
He's right about that. Consider this list of past AFIrecipients: Orson Welles, Gene Kelly, Fred Astaire, Frank Capra, JohnFord, Lillian Gish, John Huston, James Stewart, Henry Fonda, AlfredHitchcock, Bette Davis, William Wyler and James Cagney. Nope, not aclink, not even a tinkle.
Billy Wilder should feel right at home in that gathering ofHollywood's brightest and best. As both a writer and/or director,Wilder's body of work includes "Ninotchka" (writer only), "DoubleIndemnity," "The Lost Weekend," "A Foreign Affair," "SunsetBoulevard," "Stalag 17," "The Seven Year Itch," "Sabrina," "Witnessfor the Prosecution," "Some Like It Hot," "The Apartment" and "IrmaLe Douce," to name just a few.
It's both an intimidating list and one that suggests a subtlemessage to the rest of Hollywood, Stevens said: Let's get back tomaking truly great movies.
"It's a little like going to church," Stevens said of the AFIAwards ceremony, adding that after the taping of the program on March9, a young studio executive told him the tribute made him rethink whyhe had gotten into the movie business in the first place.
Stevens said the AFI is not designed to compete with the Oscarsin terms of prestige. "The Oscar is something everybody in thisprofession covets, I think, except George C. Scott (who turned downhis statue) and Marlon Brando (who used the award as a politicalplatform).
"The AFI award is what thoughtful people in the profession seeas a very important measure of their work," Stevens said. "Not thatthey were `hot' one year, but that over the years they made choices."
Stevens would not comment directly as to whether or not anyonehad ever turned down receiving an AFI award. "You might come to yourown conclusions in terms of Katharine Hepburn because her work is soobviously at that level." At least one other artist rejected the award, but for reasons ofnepotism - George Stevens Sr., the director of "Shane," "Place in theSun," "Giant," "Diary of Anne Frank," and "Gunga Din."
"No, he wasn't honored," Stevens said of his father, who died in1975. "He was proposed (by the AFI board of directors) but in acharacteristic way, he said he thought it would be inappropriate aslong as I was in charge of the AFI and so somebody immediately askedfor my resignation."
In his own right, Stevens has earned a reputation as afirst-rate documentary filmmaker. In the 1960s, he worked for EdwardR. Murrow at the United States Information Agency and also hasdirected a number of television series, a move encouraged by hisfather.
"I think he saw that I had potential that would never be fullyrealized or recognized if I were in his shadow," Stevens said, addinghis father's instincts and taste, "are my inheritance."
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