Leonard Maltin
Leonard Michael Maltin (born December 18, 1950) is an American film critic, film historian, and author. He is 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 hosts the weekly podcast Maltin on Movies. 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.
Leonard Maltin
- Film critic
- film historian
- animation historian
- food critic
1965–present
1
June Foray Award (2002)[1]
Inkpot Award (2013)[2]
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[edit]
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.[3] Maltin was raised in a Jewish family in Teaneck, New Jersey.[4] He graduated from Teaneck High School in 1968.[5]
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[edit]
1969–1979: Early writings[edit]
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.[6] 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.
In popular culture[edit]
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."[27] Other admirers include Noah Baumbach, Alexander Payne, and Billy Bob Thornton.[28]
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!"[29] 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".[30]
Maltin voices himself in the 2016 BoJack Horseman episode "Brrap Brrap Pew Pew" where the titular character attends the Leonard Maltin Awards. The episode features two references to Leonard Maltin's Movie Guide on a cocktail menu that lists two of its items as "Isn't it Rum and Coke? No" (a reference to Maltin's infamous review of Isn't It Romantic?) and "Jaeger BOMB," with the second word stylized in the same manner as the lowest rating Maltin would give movies.
In the South Park episode "Mecha-Streisand", Maltin comes to the small Colorado town and transforms into a giant robot to battle a mechanised Barbra Streisand.[31]
In 2020, a Leonard Maltin board game was released called King of Movies: The Leonard Maltin Game. [32]
Personal life[edit]
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.[33]
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.[34][35]