European Stars And Stripes (Newspaper) - March 15, 1987, Darmstadt, Hesse Director John hut Ion Mutt breathe from an oxygen tank due to Mefi yarn m the age of 80, he it Juat made Hla 40th movie. John Huston still making movies at 80 by Aljean Harmetz new York times he ranch House inn is separated irom he freeway by a Low wire Fence and a narrow strip of dirt. When John Huston wakes in the night struggling to breathe he can almost reach out and touch the Herd of Colts and Mustangs that is inexorably plunging past. Ones he made his movies in Kyoto Tobago French equatorial Africa the belgian Congo thriving on malaria amoebic dysentery and sunstroke. Now to 13 living in a Motel at he Edge of a freeway and making a movie the 10th movie he has directed in the last 46 years in a warehouse in Valencia on the outskirts of los Angeles. To drive the freeway himself is beyond his physical Powers a can breathe by himself for Only 20 minutes at a time. He sleeps dreams has a nightly Joil of tequila and plays backgammon for $5 a Point while lettered to a plastic umbilical Cord and a Lank of of Gen. John Huston is to. Age and emphysema have Rood him in once in a while i celebrate reaching Ifie lop of the stairs he says throwing Back his head an stallion with a while mane. I icon like planting a Flag to Hillary to raises his hand and shakes the White plastic tubing hat leads trom his nostrils Over his cars Down his Chest and. In loops and coils to a squat Brown Metal machine 25 Leet away. I curse this All Tho time. The fates have tally put a vory harsh by into my Mouth i Don like any part of being bound but i be never discovered an answer to thai old question of what does Imo Dom really consist. If you Aren t loitered by one thing you re fettered by another. I m not hungry or thirsty. I m not lovelorn i m just at the end of a piece of plastic tubing. And we re All hostages m Onoway Paga 16 the stars and stripes he is handcuffed by plastic but the transparent Cord triggers another image Loo an astronaut intrepid explorer free floating in liquid space. A few years ago Saya his 36-year-old son Tony dad was asked to what he attributed his longevity surgery he roared. If he cannot have life on his own terms he will take it dented slightly soiled or marked Down. It is 11 a.m., and John Huston is seated in a wheelchair on a platform of raw Wood staring at a television Monitor. On the screen gentlemen in Tail suits and tuxedos Wilh Wing lipped collars and boiled shirt fronts dance with ladles in maltese lace and velvet Skirls hat Brush the floor it is 1910. Dublin Ireland. Outside the windows Snow is falling. Why has he chosen to make a movie of the dead a Short Story by James Joyce in which the most momentous thing that happens is that a Middle aged Well meaning husband learns How Lillic he knows the woman who shares his bed All movies Are part Luck and Par Accident and the dead began with a casual discussion four years ago in Mexico. To were preparing the script of under Trie says Wieland Schulz Kail co producer of that movie and this one. We talked about How few pieces of great literature Deal with marriage rather than extramarital there was too. An attachment to Joyce thai started when Huston was �1, on his honeymoon with the first of his five wives. One of the ways we celebrated thai honeymoon was my wife Reading by sifts aloud Huston says. The Book was banned. My Mother had brought in Back irom France i can still see the Blue paper and he also had a desire to see Ireland again Galway where he had been an Irish gentleman Lor �0 years siring children and drinking and Riding to hounds and disappearing to make movies and reappearing sunday March 15,1987 spectacular appearances and disappearances once a year like his son Wilh suitcase a full of pro Sells when the movies wore finished. In the end. Going to Ireland was beyond his strength so Dublin was brought to him. To Valencia he has re created a House that belonged to James Joyce s great aunts. The makeshift movie studio is full of actors Iron the Abbey theater Donal Mccann. Donal Dor Nelty Marie kaon. Ingrid Ciangio. "19 mat All Igli for you John the voice belongs to Tommy Shaw first assistant director on god knows How Many Huston movies faithful Kent to John Huston s Lear someone has characterized him it is templing to see Huston As the ruined King Wilh his daughter Anjelica who stars in the dead As Cordelia and his son Tony who whole the screenplay As steadfast Edgar. He looks the Parl. Long ago his lace was eroded into ridges and valleys sculpted by rain and Sun and hard living. Sometimes to the late afternoons John Huelon gasps for air racked with the spasms and disbelief of a fish thai finds itself stranded on an unexpected Shore. He seems frail then Bony shoulders twisting under his White silk shirt hands trembling. What is surprising. Is How Strong he seems Al other limes is Rich whisky. Thick voice booming across the set. To say it is a strength of character is Correct Bui insufficient it is even More a strength of mind. In some bizarre Way As his control Over his body is loss. His mind and memory have remained As Sharp As Ever and become More perfect tools. Why did Visconti make he brother of the hero of death in Venice an accountant instead of a musician Huston wondered in conversation a Lew weeks ago. Remembering details from a Novella he read in 1937 and a movie a saw in1971, there is no worthwhile new Book he has t heard of and Lew he has t read. We were talking about Cleopatra says Schulz Keji and it took him no More than a minute and a Hall to come up with the first and last name of an author and the Complete title of a Book he had read at the age of 17 and totally nor has he Loal his cleverness As a Gambler. He won the company super bowl poof. More important the intricate mosaic of the dead is Road mapped inside Huston s head. The director of the floats of heaven in equatorial Africa Wilh tempera Luras rising to 140 degrees says he has never done anything so intricate so Milf cull As Truta dead a movie that lakes place Wilh an ensemble of 15 people at a party in a single evening. It s the difference Between piecework and weaving he Eye. There to no measuring from the beginning of a scene to a new scene. The top spins and never when Schulz Keil ordered 75,000 feet of film Slock. His supplier insisted he would need 300,000 feel. But like the Lale Alfred Hitchcock Huston is so confident of his vision that he shoots sparingly. Unlike Hitchcock who planned each shot before he began production Huston improvises and the first Angle he chooses dictates the rest. Wilh a week and a half left to go he had shot 57,000 feet and had 80 percent of the movie completed. Why does he continue to make movies How can he come up Wilh childish enthusiasm Tor every camera movement and line of dialogue asks Schuur Keil. Why does a Painter keep on painting Huston asks. Painters retiring non sensor left to their own devices his doctors would advise he never leave the says Anjelica Huston but he s no fool. He knows All this keeps him both Anjelica Huston and her brother see the act of creating As lifesaving. It s when he s Idle and bored that we have to Rush him into intensive care she says testily Huston Waves Tho idea away. It s a cliche. I get no immediate satisfaction from directing. It does l gratify me in depth. When it s a Good picture in a lords a satisfaction but not Delight comes from Reading certain things irom being wheeled around the Norton Simon museum Wilh Ono of his three Gre Orvand Silvor portable oxygen tanks nicknamed Wilh credible cynicism the father the Mother and baby cradled in his . " Vou Don t get the fooling his infirmity makes a Wall says Dorothy Jenkins. He s conquered it by personal gallantry Loward himself. Instead of quietly going off to die How free he is of All the vanities of daily lilo How do i look what of people think " it s sheer vanity hat would keep you from showing yourself in a wheelchair Huston snorts. I Don l give a Damn. Some orto who prefers of slay Homo rather than go through Iho rooms of a museum in a wheelchair is useless
