offbeat gem likely to become a classic

Rating: 8/10 (16 June 1999)

'Ed Wood' is one of the most unusual and entertaining movies I've seen in a long time. Wood was director in the 50's of the notoriously wretched 'Plan Nine from Outer Space', which has achieved a reputation as possibly the worst movie ever made. This off-the-wall quasi-docudrama - appropriately shot in black & white - relates Ed's travails in the movie business producing these masterpieces of schlock, as well as chronicling his friendship with Bela Lugosi, with whom he became friends long after Lugosi had become an aging, ailing, drug-addicted Hollywood has-been.
One would expect the tone of such a movie to be one of ridicule, but there is a kind of zany respect here for Wood's sincerity. He may have had lousy taste, limited imagination and non-existent talent, but he never stopped believing in what he was doing. Watching his career unfold is fascinating; like a train wreck, you can't stop watching.
Martin Landau is absolutely brilliant as Lugosi. Aside from the masterful makeup job, his performance as the ravaged actor is by turns hilarious, touching, and tragic (I believe he got an Oscar for best supporting actor for this). Landau is truly one of the best actors around.
This is a must-see movie.