By Michael Colford
Rating: 4 cats
Director: Hillary Demmon | Robert Anderson Clift
Country: united_states
Year: 2019
Running time: 88
IMDB: https://www.imdb.com/title/tt8496536/reference
Michael says: “Co-produced and co-directed by his nephew, Robert Anderson Clift, classic film actor and queer icon Montgomery Clift gets what is hopefully a more accurate story of his life in the documentary, MAKING MONTGOMERY CLIFT. The thesis of this fascinating film is how Clift has become inexorably linked to the tale of a self-destructive, tragic life due to his inability to deal with his sexuality. This is a result of two biographies written in the 70’s, one widely-accepted as rumor-mongering trash, the other taken as cannon but apparently nearly as inaccurate. Robert Anderson Clift produced this film to not only shine a more truthful light on his famous uncle’s life, but to help vindicate his father, Monty’s brother, who inadvertently approved the best-selling biography that has colored our perceptions for decades.
Chris says: “The world doesn’t need another sensational expose of Montgomery Clift, the troubled movie star tortured by his sexuality and driven to an early death at age 45 in 1966—it’s a story told incessantly, from ’70s best-selling biographies to sleazy ’90s basic cable TV specials. This documentary attempts to debunk those perceptions as myths and mostly does so convincingly, focusing chiefly on Clift’s craft as an actor. It not only details how he redefined masculinity onscreen but takes a deep dive into his struggle to remain independent, arguing that his tendency to speak up and rewrite his dialogue might’ve had a more adverse effect on his career than his bisexuality did.
And yet, this occasionally falls into the same trap as those other depictions of Clift in that it goes too far in the other direction. We learn how great a performer and magnetic a person he was, but the film doesn’t go deeply enough into his personal relationships (romantic or otherwise) apart from his older brother, Brooks (whose son, Robert, is the film’s co-director.) Almost the entire second half gets bogged down in audio recordings the now-deceased Brooks made of conversations between himself and Clift (without Clift knowing) and this narrowed, personal perspective throws the balance right off. I did learn a lot of new things about Clift here, but admittedly, I left MAKING MONTGOMERY CLIFT feeling there was still so much more to know.” 3 cats