Is there a more polarizing figure in the movies than Jerry Lewis?

No question that Lewis, who as a tireless telethon host and cross-country crusader has raised over $2 billion for the Muscular Dystrophy Association (MDA), richly deserved the Jean Hersholt Humanitarian Award he received Sunday at the Academy Awards. I say this knowing that for some, his characterization of the disabled as "half human" was both injuducious and untrue. If outside the Kodak Theatre, there were pickets protesting Lewis, inside it seemed that the Academy didn't want to acknowledge Lewis, whose previous brush with Oscar was as a three-time host of the ceremony, as a film artist.

Those who should know better continue to regard Lewis as an aberration loved only by the French or an annoyance like the uncle who gooses you at Thanksgiving. When will he get his due as a filmmaker who belongs in the pantheon with Buster Keaton and Stan Laurel? Or, like so many other gifted funnymen, will he continue to be at best underrated and at worst ignored? One can occasionally wince at the hyperkinetic Lewis in his early screen pairings with Dean Martin while admiring his work as a mature actor and director who did more than any health care provider to see the benefits of laughter.

Cinephiles wonder whether his peers will ever cite Lewis for his peerless work as a writer/director/actor in films as important and influential as "The Bellboy" (1960), "The Ladies' Man" (1961), and "The Nutty Professor" (1963)? Have you seen these films? And no, I don't mean the Eddie Murphy remake of "Professor," which had its charms but lacked the visual invention, the sight gags and exquisite timing that Lewis brought to his mature work. (Lewis was aided in his work as a director/actor by his invention of the "video assist," an instant-replay that enabled directors ever since to immediately review the scene they just shot.)

To be an American is to experience the contempt that his countrymen hold for Lewis. "Few things are held against the whole of France more fiercely than the French love of Lewis," drily observes David Thomson. When will Americans stop treating Lewis as a national joke and acknowledge him as a national treasure?

Are you a Lewis loather or lover? Why? Favorite movies? As an actor/director, I like him best in "The Ladies' Man" and "The Nutty Professor." As an actor, I love him in "The King of Comedy" and "Funny Bones." As "King of Comedy" director Martin Scorsese noted of Lewis' role as a Johnny Carson-like recluse and host of a late-night show, "Jerry is so naturally exuberant that you realize how much acting he's doing to play this subdued presence."

 

At the moment, at this very nanosecond, the best movie in town is "The Wild Child" (1970), Francois Truffaut's wondrous account of the real-life Dr. Itard who systematically studied, educated, and in his own way loved Victor, a feral boy discovered in the French woods in 1799. Exquisitely photographed in black-and-white by that cinematographic master Nestor Almendros, the film starring Truffaut himself as the methodical Itard and Jean-Pierre Cargol as the playful Victor, uses silent-movie techniques (irising in and out of scenes) that make it resemble an artifact from the distant past.

Like Arthur Penn's comparably moving "The Miracle Worker" (1962), "The Wild Child" is an adult film that children very much enjoy because of the delicacy by which it characterizes teacher and student. It leaves open the question of whether Victor is natural being uncontaminated by civilization or Dr. Itard (whose techniques formed the foundation of the Montessori method) civilized the isolated caveboy. (The natural-versus-civilized conflict is likewise the basis of other celebrated student/teacher stories such as "Pygmalion" and its musical version, "My Fair Lady."

Though I had hoped that "The Wild Child" would enjoy an open-ended theatrical run, it's playing only through Thursday at the Ritz/Bourse. You could rent it on the DVD, but seeing it on a big screen is the only way to catch all the detail Truffaut gracefully packs within a frame. See it before it leaves. Take your kids. Borrow someone else's.

In the meantime, your favorite screen teachers and students?

 

Did You Watch the Oscars? Or aren't you into Hollywood's night of self-congratulation? If you did, why? If not, why not?

Verdict on host Hugh Jackman? Loved when he credited Kate Winslet's range as an English actress who played a German and got an Oscar nomination, "Whereas I, an Australian who played an Australia in "Australia" only got a gig hosting this show.

Hated the Baz Luhrmann directed musical medley that looked like an outtake from "Hgh School Musical."

Loved Seth Rogen and James Franco reprising their "Pineapple Express" stoners and laughing at clips from the years most serious films.

Was moved by actors paying tribute to the acting nominees, which produced the effect of honoring the contenders and not just celebrating the winners.
 
Should the Oscars show how many votes each actor got, as in a political election?

Your thoughts?

Saturday night at the "Independent Spirit" Awards in Santa Monica honoring the best in off-Hollywood filmmaking, Mickey Rourke collected the lead actor trophy for his battered Randy the Ram in "The Wrestler," and Melissa Leo lead actress honors for her role as the wits' end single mom who'll do anything to feed her sons in ""Frozen River."

That both are also Oscar-nominated says someting about the convergence of indie- and studio-financed films at awards time.

Penelope Cruz, Oscar-nominated supportng actress, took the "Spirit" prize as the tempestuous ex-wife of "Vicky Cristina Barcelona" and James Franco was cited for his role as Harvey Milk's longtime partner in "Milk."

"The Wrestler" won best pic and Tom McCarthy, who made the quietly moving character study "The Visitor," won best director honors.

It will be fascinating to see if the nominated Rourke, Leo and Cruz repeat tonight at the Oscars.

Don't know whether it's because we're coming off an historic election year, but on the basis of reader queries, "Frost/Nixon," Ron Howard's Oscar-nominated adaptation of Peter Morgan's stage hit, is certainly arousing and/or restimulating interest in America's 37th president, himself the subject of several fascinating films. Call the phenomenon Thaw/Nixon.

One friend of Flickgrrl says seeing Howard's film starring the formidable Frank Langella as the disgraced chief exec, the only POTUS to resign while in office, motivated him to rent the 1977 David Frost interviews with Nixon, available on DVD., which serves as the basis of the movie. Said friend enthusiastically recommends the experience, both for its intrinsic historical appeal and as a means of seeing how dramatists reshaped the material for the stage and film production.

Readers not yet born when Nixon left the White House in 1974 have asked about other film Nixonia. Whatever you may think of him as a man and president, he certainly inspired a fascinating body of films and compelling performances from the actors who portrayed his hubristic, Shakespearean story.

Robert Altman's "Secret Honor" (1984), with the ferocious Philip Baker Hall essaying Nixon in attack-dog mode, is a film most likely to entertain those on the president's infamous "Enemies List." Oliver Stone's expressionistic "Nixon" (1995), is the most comprehensive, featuring a performance by Anthony Hopkins that elicited sympathy even from those unsympathetic to the man. Andrew Fleming's charming comedy "Dick" (1999) is "Clueless" goes to the White House, where two teenagers (Kirsten Dunst and Michelle Williams) stumble into the Watergate affair in their encounters with Pres. Nixon, deftly played by Dan Hedaya. Of all the screen Nixons, Langella's wily turn in "Frost/Nixon" felt most like a reincarnation. I don't think the Oscar-nominated Langella (who, incredibly, has never before been nominated) stands a chance against Sean Penn or Mickey Rourke, but I would be happy to see him pull an upset.

Have I missed a Nixon? Your preferred performance?

 

Like many in the blogosphere, I'm puzzling over the National Review's  recent-ish list of the 25 Best Conservative Movies, which to me looks like a group of movies almost everyone likes ("The Incredibles," "Groundhog Day," "Juno," "The Dark Knight," "United 93"), no matter what their political orientation.

The truth is, as film historian Jeanine Basinger always tells her students, when we go to the movies, "we see who we are," meaning we project ourselves and our values onto the screen. A liberal can watch "Juno," a movie in which the pregnant teen heroine carries the baby to term and gives it up for adoption, and call it "pro-choice." A conservative can watch the same scenario and call it "pro-life." A liberal can watch "The Dark Knight" and see in it a condemnation of George W. Bush's surveillance technology that invades privacy. A conservative can watch it and see it as a defense of same policy. Many of the most popular films are those that speak with forked tongue, i.e., confirm the beliefs of those at either end of the ideological spectrum.

Still, this list got me thinking: Is it possible to identify a Conservative film? A Liberal one? Is it the political affiliation of the filmmaker? If so, the right-leaning Clint Eastwood slaughtered a Conservative sacred cow in "Million Dollar Baby." Is it the ideology of the hero? If so, the populist James Stewart in "It's a Wonderful Life" might be deemed anti-Capitalist because of his ongoing fight with banker Lionel Barrymore. The movie "To Kill a Mockingbird," released a few years before the Civil Rights Act, was in its day progressive. After the Civil Rights act, its plea for equal rights is less easy to place ideologically.

Any thoughts?

Name that copperhead.

One of these adorable ingenues is Isla Fisher, the overzealous bridesmaid who snares Vince Vaughn in "The Wedding Crashers" and the title character in "Confessions of a Shopaholic," opening today.

The other is Amy Adams, the fairytale princess who falls down a well and comes up a manhole in "Enchanted," who gets romanced by Ryan Reynolds in "Definitely, Maybe" and plays the novice in "Doubt."

I've confused the two ever since I saw "Talladega Nights" and thought the cute redhead was Fisher and then the credits i.d.'ed her as Adams.

This is how to tell them apart: Adams (on the left) is wide-eyed and demure, Fisher (on the right) wild-eyed and unstable in a Lucille Ball way.

They both make me laugh. You? Other actors you confuse?

 

Don't know about you but I think Hugh Jackman -- best known as razor-taloned Wolverine of the "X-Men" movie franchise and light-footed Peter Allen in "The Boy from Oz" on Broadway -- is an inspired choice for Oscar host. The Tony-winning singer/dancer/actor with the Justin Timberlake pipes, Patrick Swayze moves and streaky screen successes is a charm machine who, on the basis of prior award-show appearances (check out this 2004 turn on the Tonys), can ad-lib his way into the Host Hall of Fame.

Tricky thing, this host business. As Oscar hosts, reliably hilarious David Letterman, Chris Rock and Jon Stewart fell on their keisters while Billy Crystal, Whoopi Goldberg and Steve Martin -- who had one foot in stand-up and the other in the screen trade -- stood tall. Because Crystal, Goldberg and Martin were of Hollywood, the Academy audience embraced them and it played better to the home audience. Jackman, who looks so much like the young Clint Eastwood that he might be his son, has that insider cred -- and a cult following among" X-Men" fanboys, girls who treasure him in "Someone Like You" and "Kate and Leopold" and those fierce Broadway fans of "The Boy from Oz." He also has affection from the (admittedly small) cohort of older Academy members who geneuinely liked him in the throwback "Australia."

Jackman is the choice of first-time Oscar producers Bill Condon and Lawrence Mark, who promise some "surprises" for the broadcast. Here's a chance for you to suggest ways of streamlining and retooling the show which, unlike the Tonys and Grammys doesn't have the advantage of live performances by actors and musicians.

Friend of Flickgrrl Adam B, co-host ot the essential Throwing Things blog , made this suggestion about the Oscarcast the year Chris Rock failed to rock the house: