Doc Corner: NYC film history in 'Searching for Mr. Rugoff'

By Glenn Dunks

The nostalgia is strong in Searching for Mr. Rugoff, a delightfully cinephile-oriented documentary from director Ira Deutchman. It is an affectionate dive into a beloved segment of New York City’s film culture of the 1960s and ‘70s—one that no longer exists and is built around a figure who remains little known by those who didn’t work directly alongside him. His name is Donald S. Rugoff. A pioneer of the global exhibition and distribution market who bought international, experimental, and acclaimed cinema to a chain of upmarket boutique arthouses in New York from his office decked out in modern furniture and art, he steered successful Academy Award campaigns for the likes of Z and Seven Beauties, and was a gimmick superstar who would make William Castle kick himself that he didn’t get there first.

Does that make Searching for Mr. Rugoff a great movie, though? Not exactly...

Unlike Abel Ferrara’s similarly themed doc The Projectionist from 2019, which was also about a beloved fixture of New York City’s cinema exhibition scene, Deutchman does not have the luxury of a subject who’s alive and able to tell the anecdotes of the industry. The first-time director—also a longtime producer of films such as 54, Matewan and Honeydripper—often struggles to find anything beyond a traditional linear narrative. A contemporary subplot finds Deutchman himself visiting Martha’s Vineyard to hunt for evidence that Rugoff, once out of business and penniless, opened a community theatre in a local church. The director returns to this strand periodically throughout, but by the film’s conclusion it bears little fruit beyond a few newspaper clippings advertising Bagdad Café and Wings of Desire. It's nice, but not much else.

Elsewhere, the film suffers from tonal concerns regarding Rugoff’s workplace attitudes. While nobody suggests anything sexually untowards from the man, he is described as an “ogre”. A “unpleasant” and “bad person” who treated his staff like “slaves” on call 24/7 who were often seen leaving the office in tears. These passages are played somewhat comically, with an inappropriately bouncy score and almost winking nature. This is surprising given the news of the last few years around the treatment of people in this business, especially since Harvey Weinstein is directly referenced as a successor to Rugoff’s business acumen.

While Searching for Mr. Rugoff can’t be left entirely off the hook for either of these infractions, where it really succeeds is also ultimately what viewers will be eager to hear about. Through interviews with colleagues, associates, family and filmmakers, Rugoff’s legacy on the cinema scene of America and film more broadly is warmly told. Stories of his keen eye for directors and films that just needed a place to play where he knew they could gain a following are plentiful. "I don't what it is, but I like it."

Most prominently, Deutchman puts the spotlight of films rarely spoken about in these sort of historical trips. Titles hightightled like Robert Downey’s Putney Swope, Terry Gilliam’s Monty Python films, Paul Morrissey’s Trash, and Nicholas Roeg’s The Man Who Fell to Earth. He was dedicated to foreign-language cinema as well as documentaries like Bruce Brown’s The Endless Summer, Barbara Koppel's Harlan County U.S.A., Sarah Kernochan and Howard Smith’s Marjoe, and the Maysles’ Gimme Shelter. In 1977, he not only made critics take the Arnold Schwarzenegger feature Pumping Iron seriously, but he held in-cinema live bodybuilder shows to bring in curious up-market cinemagoers. His marketing campaigns for Putney Swope and Trash that stretched good taste and manners for the time were indelible to their success. He made Lina Wertmüller (who appears here in a talking head) into the most unlikely of sensations with a story from the New York Film Festival that has to be heard to be believed.

At one point he is described as having discovered Andy Warhol while everybody else in Hollywood was still observing Renaissance paintings. After watching the film it’s hard to argue with that lofty analogy. The doc ends with a rather sad montage of what happened to the chain of theatres he owned and operated across Manhattan. Venues that were beautifully designed and impeccably maintained, where respected auteurs demanded their films premiere. Only one such venue of his "Cinema 5" lot still exists with the others either torn down or turned into Chinese restaurants.

I wasn’t even alive during this time, but it’s hard not to get a little bit misty-eyed at the way it evokes an era of truly social cinema-going. Where lining up to get into a sold-out session of some obscure European film that was all the rage at Cannes was as much a part of the experience as the film itself. It was for the era what working in a video store would be for many a generation later (which probably helps explain partly why Rugoff eventually went out of business and into obscurity). Deutchman’s film struggles to build its assorted pieces into something that truly works as a film, but for the sheer thrill of its time and place, Searching for Mr. Rugoff delights and may just be the inspiration some people need to get back to the movies.

Release: The film will be released in limited theaters including, rather cutely, at The Paris, which Donald S. Rugoff booked and managed from 1959–1979. Full list of cities and venues on the film's website.

Oscar chances: Unlikely. Although, considering the film directly references the Independent Spirit Awards and is about New York City's cinema scene, I would not be surprised to see it show up at the Gothams.

Comments

[NATHANIEL R]

i've never heard of this guy but now i want to see it... AT THE PARIS.