Leonard Maltin

Leonard Maltin
Leonard Michael Maltin (born December 18, 1950) is an American film critic and film historian, as well as an author of several mainstream books on cinema, focusing on nostalgic, celebratory narratives. He is perhaps best known for his book of film capsule reviews, Leonard Maltin's Movie Guide, published annually from 1969 to 2014. Maltin was the film critic on Entertainment Tonight from 1982 to 2010. He currently teaches at the USC School of Cinematic Arts and has appeared regularly on Turner Classic Movies, and hosts the weekly podcast Maltin on Movies. He has written articles for The New York Times, The Los Angeles Times, Variety, Playboy and TV Guide. He served two terms as President of the Los Angeles Film Critics Association, and votes for films to be selected for the National Film Registry.
He has written books on animation and the history of film. He has also hosted numerous specials and provided commentary for several films. In 2021, he released his memoir, Star Lucky: My Unlikely Road to Hollywood. He received the Robert Osborne Award from Turner Classic Movies in 2022.
Early life and education
Maltin was born in New York City, the son of singer Jacqueline (née Gould; 1923–2012) and Aaron Isaac Maltin (1915–2002), a lawyer and immigration judge. Maltin was raised in a Jewish family in Teaneck, New Jersey. He graduated from Teaneck High School in 1968.
Maltin began his writing career at age 15, writing for Classic Images and editing and publishing his own fanzine, Film Fan Monthly, dedicated to films from the golden age of Hollywood. Maltin earned a journalism degree at New York University.
Career
1969–1979: Early writings
Maltin went on to publish articles in a variety of film journals, newspapers, and magazines, including Variety and TV Guide. In the 1970s Maltin also reviewed recordings in the jazz magazine Downbeat. Maltin served as the film critic for Playboy for six years based on Roger Ebert's suggestion. Maltin wrote Leonard Maltin's Movie Guide, a compendium of synopses and reviews that first appeared in September 1969 and was annually updated from October 1987 until September 2014, each edition having the following year's date. Its original title was TV Movies, and some editions were Leonard Maltin's Movie and Video Guide. In 2005, coverage of many films released no later than 1960 was moved into a spin-off volume, Leonard Maltin's Classic Movie Guide, to allow the regular book to cover a larger number of more recent titles. He has also written several other works, including Behind the Camera, a study of cinematography, The Whole Film Sourcebook, Leonard Maltin's Movie Encyclopedia, Our Gang: The Life and Times of the Little Rascals, and Of Mice and Magic: A History of American Animated Cartoons.
1980–2010: Entertainment Tonight
Starting on May 29, 1982, Maltin was the film reviewer on the syndicated television series Entertainment Tonight for 30 years. He praised the Tournee of Animation on the show at one point. He also appeared on the Starz cable network, and hosted his own syndicated radio program, Leonard Maltin on Video, as well as the syndicated TV show Hot Ticket with Boston film critic Joyce Kulhawik (originally E! personality and game show host Todd Newton). Maltin also hosted a television show called Secret's Out on ReelzChannel network. He also spearheaded the creation of the Walt Disney Treasures collectible DVD line in 2001, and continued to provide creative input and host the various sets.
During the 1980s and 1990s, Maltin served on the advisory board of the National Student Film Institute. In the mid-1990s, Maltin became the president of the Los Angeles Film Critics Association and is on the advisory board of the Hollywood Entertainment Museum. For nearly a decade, Maltin was also on the faculty of the New School for Social Research in New York City. As of 2018, Maltin teaches in the School of Cinematic Arts at the University of Southern California. In 1990, he took a look at the MGM years of The Three Stooges in a film called The Lost Stooges, available on a made-to-order DVD through the Warner Archive Collection. Maltin left Entertainment Tonight in 2010. His final appearance on the show as a regular correspondent was on July 19, 2010.
He also wrote the introduction for The Complete Peanuts: 1983–1984. In 1985, he delivered a three-word movie review on Entertainment Tonight for that year's horror film spoof, Transylvania 6-5000. The review begins with a silent Maltin swaying to a recording of the Glenn Miller Orchestra playing "Pennsylvania 6-5000", the instrumental melody interrupted by the sound of a telephone ringing (part of the original recording), after which the band chants the title of the song. In his review, Maltin timed it so that his review began with the phone ringing: "Transylvania 6-5000 ... stinks!"
Maltin also appeared as himself in Gremlins 2: The New Batch (1990), playing a film critic who blasts the first Gremlins film, but is attacked by the Gremlins. This scene echoed real life, as Maltin gave the first film a bad review, finding it mean-spirited, which affected his friendship with director Joe Dante. The scene was spoofed in the Mad magazine parody of Gremlins 2, in which he protests being eaten as Roger Ebert gives a worse review of the film, only for the Gremlins to remark they are waiting until Thanksgiving to find Ebert, as "he will feed a family of 15!". Maltin appeared in the South Park episode "Mecha-Streisand" (1998) where he, Sidney Poitier and Robert Smith fight the titular, Godzilla-like robot version of Barbra Streisand.
Maltin voiced himself in the Freakazoid! episode "Island of Dr. Mystico", in which the titular villain, Dr. Mystico, abducted him to make use of his film knowledge. Maltin was one of the few people to appear as a "guest star" on Mystery Science Theater 3000 during its original run; during a Season Nine episode, he joins Pearl Forrester in torturing Mike Nelson and the bots with the film Gorgo. He was also mocked on the show for giving the film Laserblast a rating of 2.5 stars. After Mike and the Bots finish watching the movie, they express amazement at the rating while Mike reads off a list of well-known films that Maltin gave similar ratings to. Maltin hosted a compilation of National Film Board of Canada animated shorts, Leonard Maltin's Animation Favorites from the National Film Board of Canada.
2011–present
Comedian Doug Benson's podcast Doug Loves Movies features a segment called the Leonard Maltin Game, in which the guest must guess the name of a film based on a subset of the cast list in reverse order and a few intentionally vague clues from the capsule review of the film from Leonard Maltin's Movie Guide. Maltin appeared on the podcast in February 2010 and played the game himself. He appeared on the show again in August 2010. In November 2010, Benson and Maltin played the game on Kevin Pollak's Chat Show. Maltin repeated his appearances on Doug Loves Movies in September 2011 with Jimmy Pardo and Samm Levine, in September 2012 with Chris Evans and Adam Scott and in November 2013 with Peter Segal, "Werner Herzog" and Clare Kramer.
Beginning in November 2014, Maltin has hosted the podcast Maltin on Movies. It began on Paul Scheer's now-defunct Wolfpop network, with comedian and actor Baron Vaughn as a co-host. The two picked a topic generally based on what was currently in theaters and discussed three other movies within that topic: one that the two both liked, one that the two disliked and one they thought was a great lesser-known film, or "sleeper", within the category. Topics included biopics, breakthrough performances and sequels. Maltin currently co-hosts with his daughter Jessie Maltin.
From 2014 to 2019, Maltin hosted the quarterly Treasures From the Disney Vault on Turner Classic Movies. The last scheduled "Treasures from the Disney Vault" aired on September 2, 2019. Beginning in 2016, Maltin has served as the Honorary Head Juror of the Coronado Island Film Festival. In 2020, the festival named their top award The Leonard Maltin Tribute Award.
In 2019, Maltin along with his daughter Jessie Maltin created a film festival called MaltinFest at the Egyptian Theater that spanned three days. Special guests included Laura Dern and Alexander Payne. Since 2018, Maltin has served on the advisory board for Legion M.
In 2022, he was invited to join the Academy of Motion Pictures Arts and Sciences as part of the Member at Large branch.
In popular culture
"Leonard Maltin's Movie Guide" has been praised by comedian Patton Oswalt who described it as "A paperback Kubrickian monolith of one man's massive and far-reaching tastes." Other admirers include Noah Baumbach, Alexander Payne, and Billy Bob Thornton.
In The Simpsons episode "A Star Is Burns", Marge says: "Did you know there are over 600 critics on TV and Leonard Maltin is the best looking of them all?" Lisa replies "Ewwww!" In the 1995 video release of the original Star Wars trilogy, there was an interview with George Lucas conducted by Maltin before the start of the films. Maltin is listed in the Guinness Book of World Records for the world's shortest movie review; his two-star review of the 1948 musical Isn't It Romantic? consists of the word "No".
In 2020, a Leonard Maltin board game was released called King of Movies: The Leonard Maltin Game.
Personal life
Maltin lives in Los Angeles. He is married to researcher and producer Alice Tlusty, and has one daughter, Jessie, who works with him (his production company, JessieFilm, is named for her). In July 2018, Maltin announced that he had been diagnosed with Parkinson's disease three and a half years prior.
In 1998, Maltin settled a libel suit brought by former child star Billy Gray, of Father Knows Best fame, whom Maltin identified in his review of the film Dusty and Sweets McGee as a real-life drug addict and dealer. The statement had appeared in print in Maltin's annual movie guide for nearly 25 years before Maltin publicly apologized for the error.
Awards and honors
In 1997, Maltin received the Press Award from the International Cinematographers Guild.
In 2002, Maltin was honored by ASIFA-Hollywood at the 29th Annie Awards with the June Foray Award, given to those who have "a significant and benevolent or charitable impact on the art and industry of animation."
In 2005, Maltin was awarded the ASC Bud Stone Award of Distinction by the American Society of Cinematographers. That same year, Maltin was awarded with the Career Achievement Award at the Temecula Valley International Film Festival.
In 2007, Maltin received the Telluride Film Festival Silver Medallion in recognition of his achievements in the film industry.
In 2010, Maltin received the NFFC-Disneyana Fan Club Heritage Award.
In 2010, Maltin was honored by the National Board of Review with the William K. Everson Film History Award.
In 2013 Maltin received the Inkpot Award from Comic Con International.
In 2018, Maltin was inducted into the Online Film & Television Association's Film Hall of Fame.
On April 24, 2018, the Los Angeles City Council declared it Leonard Maltin Day.
In August 2018, the California Independent Film Festival honored Maltin with the Golden Slate award for "his years of contribution to film and film history."
In 2022, after a two-year delay caused by the COVID-19 pandemic, the TCM Film Festival honored Maltin with the Robert Osborne Award for helping "keep the cultural heritage of classic film alive for future generations." The award was presented by Warren Beatty.
Bibliography
As author
Movie Comedy Teams (NAL, 1970; revised editions, 1974, 1985)
Behind the Camera (NAL, 1971), reissued as The Art of the Cinematographer (Dover, 1978)
The Great Movie Shorts (Crown, 1972), reissued as Selected Short Subjects (Da Capo, 1983)
The Disney Films (Crown, 1973; revised edition, 1985; 3rd edition, 1995 from Hyperion; 4th ed., 2000, Disney Editions)
Carole Lombard (Pyramid, 1976)
Our Gang: The Life and Times of the Little Rascals (Crown, 1977; coauthor with Richard W. Bann; revised and reissued as The Little Rascals: The Life and Times of Our Gang, 1992)
The Great Movie Comedians (Crown, 1978, revised edition, 1982)
Of Mice and Magic: A History of American Animated Cartoons (NAL and McGraw Hill, 1980; revised edition, November 1987)
The Complete Guide to Home Video (Crown, 1981; coauthor)
The Great American Broadcast: A Celebration of Radio's Golden Age (E.P. Dutton, 1997)
Leonard Maltin's Movie Crazy (M Press, 2008)
Leonard Maltin's 151 Best Movies You've Never Seen (HarperStudio, 2010)
Hooked On Hollywood: Discoveries From A Lifetime of Film Fandom (GoodKnight Books 2018)Star Struck: My Unlikely Road to Hollywood (GoodKnight Books, 2021)
As editor
Leonard Maltin's Movie Guide (originally published as TV Movies, then Leonard Maltin's Movie & Video Guide) (NAL, 1969, 1974, 1978, 1980, 1982, 1984, 1986, 1987, published annually 1988 through 2014). Also published in a Dutch edition as Speelfilm Encyclopedie, and Swedish version as Bonniers Stora Film & Video Guide.
The Real Stars (Curtis, 1973)
The Real Stars #2 (Curtis, 1974)
The Laurel & Hardy Book (Curtis, 1973)
Hollywood: The Movie Factory (Popular Library, 1976)
Hollywood Kids (Popular Library, 1978)
The Real Stars #3 (Curtis, 1979)
The Whole Film Sourcebook (NAL and Universe Books, 1983)
Leonard Maltin's Movie Encyclopedia (Dutton/Penguin, 1994)
Leonard Maltin's Family Movie Guide (Dutton/Signet, 1999)
As a hostBugs & Daffy: The Wartime Cartoons VHS, 1989, MGM/UA Home VideoThe Little Rascals only on VHS tapes, Volumes 1–21 from Cabin Fever Entertainment not on DVD from Genius Products.Walt Disney Treasures DVD series, featuring Disney animation and television shows.
References
External links
Leonard Maltin's Movie Crazy blog at indieWIRE
Leonard Maltin at TV Guide
Interview with Leonard Maltin, A DISCUSSION WITH National Authors on Tour'' TV Series, Episode #109 (1994)
1950 births
20th-century American historians
21st-century American historians
21st-century American male writers
American film critics
American film historians
American infotainers
American male non-fiction writers
American podcasters
Film theorists
Historians from California
Historians from New Jersey
Historians from New York (state)
Historians of animation
Inkpot Award winners
Jewish American writers
Living people
New York University alumni
People with Parkinson's disease
Teaneck High School alumni
USC School of Cinematic Arts faculty
Writers from New York City