TELEVISION REVIEW
It's the dough, not the show, that matters in Hollywood
'Frontline' examines how that happened
By Renee Graham, Globe Staff, 11/22/2001
orma Desmond was right - it's the pictures that got small.
For while Hollywood movies are bigger, pricier, and more star-packed than ever, they certainly aren't getting any better. In fact, more often than not, they're pretty lousy. The number of quality movies seems to shrink every year, which brought us to the moviegoer's nadir, otherwise known as the summer of 2001.
From ''Pearl Harbor'' to ''Planet of the Apes,'' Hollywood last summer dropped more bombs than a fleet of B-52s. Both films made bushels of money, but they were universally and rightfully panned as plodding, inane, and evidence (as if more was needed) that Hollywood's ability to make smart, compelling films continues to erode.
In the aptly named documentary ''The Monster That Ate Hollywood,'' ''Frontline'' (tonight at 9, WGBH-TV, Channel 2) examines the Hollywood movie-making machine, which, not surprisingly, has precious little to do with worthwhile moviemaking these days. A combination of rapacious corporate takeovers, the preponderance of ancillary items such as video games and toys, and a bottom line that values profit far more than quality has created a situation where show business has become more about the business and less about the show.
Many here point to ''Jaws,'' Steven Spielberg's 1975 blockbuster, as the moment that pushed Hollywood down the slippery slope. The first film to open on 1,000 screens, it was ''Jaws'' that opened executives' eyes to the idea of movie as spectacle.
One of the most telling observations comes from Peter Bart, the draconian editor of Variety who recalls his days as a Paramount studio executive when a ''green light'' meeting to decide whether to make a film consisted of three or four people saying ''stupid'' things like ''I kind of like this movie'' or ''I'd look forward to seeing this movie.''
Now, he says, such meetings are crammed with 30 to 40 people. ''There's one group to discuss the marketing tie-ins, how much will McDonald's or Burger King put up. And there's somebody else there to discuss merchandising, toy companies, and so forth. Someone else is there to discuss what the foreign co-financiers might be willing to put up. So everyone is discussing the business aspects of this film, and it's sometimes unusual for someone actually to circle back and talk about the script, the cast, the package, whether the whole damn thing makes any sense to begin with.''
Spiced with clips from such films as ''Casablanca,'' ''One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest'' and ''Titanic,'' it's a talky 60 minutes, featuring film critics, journalists, former studio biggies, and even actor Michael Douglas. It would have been nice, but perhaps too much to ask, for someone currently deep in the mix, like Spielberg or Harvey Weinstein of Miramax, to offer comment. Still, it's an intriguing program that mostly confirms moviegoers' worst fears about the hollowness of Hollywood.
This story ran on page U1 of the Boston Globe on 11/22/2001.
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