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RIP: Leonard Maltin's Movie Guide (1 Viewer)

Rob_Ray

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After 45 years, Leonard Maltin's Movie Guide will cease publication with the 2015 edition due in a few weeks. Next year's Classic Movie Guide will also be the last:

http://deadline.com/2014/08/r-i-p-leonard-maltins-movie-guide-internet-kills-iconic-print-paperback-after-45-years-821849/

It was a great run and the end of an era, but it was inevitable that the easy accessibilty of the internet would make his book obsolete. But even with IMDB and other sites, I can't imagine not having a copy of Maltin's Movie Guide on my coffee table. I'll be picking up several extra copies of the final Classic Movie Guide, which, if it goes up to 1970, will basically be an enhanced, expanded version of his initial release way back when.
 

GlennF

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I have been buying those guides for years and still refer to them frequently for a quick opinion, or to see when a film was made, or who is in it.

Thanks for the heads up. I will definitely have to pick up the final copies.
 

Rob_Ray

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Though I disagreed with his assessments of more than a few middling films, when it came to the Hollywood classics in general, his book was The Bible as far as I was concerned. As a youngster growing up, I made it a point to actively seek out any film he labeled "A Must" and will be forever grateful for the guidance he gave me throughout my formative years of discovering the films of the 30s-60s on TV, revival houses and, later on, video.
 

Steve Christou

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Halliwells Film Guide was my bible back in the late 70's and 80's but I was also frequently leafing thru Maltin's Movie Guide too. I kept a couple of books as souvenirs. I also remember buying very similar fat paperback movie guides by 'Steven Scheuer'?
 

Rob_Ray

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Yes, I loved his companion book "Halliwell's Filmgoer's Companion" even though he could be quite ornery at times and definitely had a blindness regarding some Hollywood titles that either didn't cross the Atlantic or, for whatever reason, didn't play well in the UK. Conversely, he opened my eyes to the likes of Jessie Matthews. I loved to observe which titles he would italicize in an actor's filmography as being exceptional. And I enjoyed his idea of giving "rosettes" to what he perceived as the all-time career high-point for several stars.

As for Steven Scheuer, his guide predated Leonard's and was actually the first one I owned back around 1966. But his reviews tended to be sexist and a bit dated. Too often he'd dismiss things like "Now Voyager" with lines like "The ladies will like this one."
 

FoxyMulder

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Rob_Ray said:
After 45 years, Leonard Maltin's Movie Guide will cease publication with the 2015 edition due in a few weeks. Next year's Classic Movie Guide will also be the last:

http://deadline.com/2014/08/r-i-p-leonard-maltins-movie-guide-internet-kills-iconic-print-paperback-after-45-years-821849/

It was a great run and the end of an era, but it was inevitable that the easy accessibilty of the internet would make his book obsolete. But even with IMDB and other sites, I can't imagine not having a copy of Maltin's Movie Guide on my coffee table. I'll be picking up several extra copies of the final Classic Movie Guide, which, if it goes up to 1970, will basically be an enhanced, expanded version of his initial release way back when.
It was the nineties when i last bought a copy of his guide, long time ago, did he give accurate aspect ratio info in his book. ?
 

JoeDoakes

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I wonder if he'll do a third edition of the classic movie guide. Personally, I'm kind of surprised he hadn't ended his regular movie guide before now, but for classic fans, the classic version really saves a lot of time and allows one to find films that one might not have known about before.
 

Rob_Ray

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FoxyMulder said:
It was the nineties when i last bought a copy of his guide, long time ago, did he give accurate aspect ratio info in his book. ?
He gave the name of the widescreen process a film was shot in, if it was anything but standard widescreen and had an addendum listing the aspect ratios of those processes.

He wouldn't have weighed in on the MARTY controversy.
 

David_B_K

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I have the Classic Movie Guide and the 2012 regular movie guide on the table next to my chair. I mainly use them for extra info as I scan the TCM schedule on DISH and see titles with which I am unfamiliar that look intriguing. Before I bought those two guides I had kept the mass market paperback of the '97 guide until it was in pieces. My first Maltin guide may have been his first one as well. It was in '69 or '70. Occasionally, there is an obscure title that doesn't have much info online that I can find in his guides.
 

Angelo Colombus

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On my shelf i have Maltin, Ebert, Halliwell, Scheuer, and Time Out and even one released by Variety from 2001. Started buying them in 1977 and do have a few from each author but stoped buying them a few years ago but still glad i have them just in case i need some info on a movie.
 

David Weicker

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I still have the IPhone App (last update Feb 2014). Haven't bought the printed version in years.While the majority of films I'm interested are already in the past volumes, it was interesting to see his take on more current fare.I always wondered if he ever went back and revised older reviewsAs for Halliwell, I never got much from the Film Guide. But the Companion was one of the best film books ever.
 

Peter McM

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I miss Maltin's series "Secret's Out". So many of my favorite films of the last decade I never would've discovered if not for that show.
 

Rob_Ray

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Maltin would revise older reviews all the time, more often by elaboration, but sometimes by completely reassessing a film's worth. He famously noted this one year when, in the preface, he chided himself for his earlier "churlish" review of the 1951 SHOW BOAT and pointed the reader to his revised opinion. Finding these revisions, coupled with his comments on newly released films, made each year's release such compelling reading.
 

JohnMor

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It really is the end of an era. And, as Maltin himself said in the article, understandably so. It is a different world today. But still a bit sad. I'll be buying the last editions.
 

Aaron Silverman

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It was only recently that I stopped using these guides (a few different varieties). I had a few of them (still around somewhere). I think it was when I got my iPad and could pull up the Flixster app in less time than it took to walk to the bookshelf. :)
 

CraigF

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Just a reminder for those who still like these: the final (3rd) print edition of the Classic Movie Guide is available. It is in the same format as the larger format version (orange/red cover) of the 2015 Movie Guide (also the final print edition).


My take: online, you have to specifically search for something, and get additional recs based on some (often vague) connection/similarity decided by algorithm. With the books, you can browse randomly and find good-sounding movies you (well, I) haven't heard of.
 

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