The Directors - Ron Howard

Delivery Time: 7 to 15 Working Days Format: DVD Imported: USA

As proud as Ron Howard has a right to be about his popular acting achievements, he has gone on to even greater fame as a first-rate feature film director of such hits as Ransom, Apollo 13, edTV, Parenthood, Backdraft, Splash, and Night Shift. Actors and collaborators that have worked with Howard and are interviewed here include Kevin Bacon, Brian Grazer, Tom Hanks, Clint Howard, Daryl Hannah, Michael Keaton, and many more. 55 minutes.
According to writer-director Robert J. Emery, "Ron Howard may well be Hollywood's king of commercial filmmaking and continues to turn the making of box-office films into an honorable art." Perhaps. His short documentary, made for TV in conjunction with the American Film Institute, offers a rather general if nearly complete survey of Howard's career from child actor to big-budget director, concluding with his 1996 box-office hit Ransom. Film clips (including moments from his award-winning short Deeds of Derring-Do, shot when he was 15) are interspersed with generous interviews with Howard himself, his family, his business partner Brian Grazer, and many of his stars (including Tom Hanks and Michael Keaton). It's a portrait of a modest, self-effacing, sweet guy with a love of movie making, and it studiously avoids any detailed exploration of films themselves. "I think of myself as an entertainer," confesses Howard, and that's the view this survey champions: the career of a director dedicated to making audience-pleasing pictures. Don't expect anything much deeper than that. --Sean Axmaker