MILIUS (2013) ¢ ¢ ¢ 1/2
D: Joey Figueroa, Zak Knutson
A documentary portrait of John Milius, gun-loving right-winger, free-wheeling contrarian, unabashed fan of bears, surfing and Theodore Roosevelt, and according to just about everybody in the American movie industry, one of the best screenwriters ever. Milius directed some films of his own, most notably "The Wind and the Lion", but really made his mark writing them. "Dirty Harry", "Jaws", "The Hunt For Red October" and "Apocalypse Now" all came out better because of his involvement. He and fellow USC classmates George Lucas and Steven Spielberg even swapped points on their movies once. (Lucas is still waiting for a return on Milius's "Big Wednesday".) The industry's response to his commie-invasion fantasy "Red Dawn", followed by a stroke, left him diminished both physically and professionally. But for all his eye-poking jingoism and larger-than-life bluster (and partly because of those things), he was a Hollywood character unlike anybody else. American movies, in the '70s especially, wouldn't be the same without him.
