Richard Schickel

Richard Schickel
Helene C. Stikkel · Public domain · source
Name	Richard Schickel
Birth date	June 10, 1933
Death date	February 18, 2017
Birth place	Milwaukee, Wisconsin, United States
Occupation	Film critic, historian, documentary filmmaker, author
Years active	1950s–2010s
Notable works	The Disney Version; conversations with Clint Eastwood; documentaries on Walt Disney, D. W. Griffith, Buster Keaton

Richard Schickel was an American film critic, historian, documentary filmmaker, author, and social commentator whose career spanned journalism, filmmaking, and literary criticism. He was a prominent voice at Life, Time, and in televised film criticism, producing books and documentaries on figures such as Walt Disney, D. W. Griffith, and Clint Eastwood. Schickel's work intersected with major cultural institutions, film festivals, and academic conversations involving auteurs and Hollywood studios.

Early life and education

Schickel was born in Milwaukee, Wisconsin and raised in the American Midwest during the Depression and World War II, contexts that influenced his engagement with Hollywood and American popular culture. He attended the University of Wisconsin–Madison before entering journalism and film criticism, connecting early on with regional newspapers and national periodicals such as The New York Times, The Wall Street Journal, and The Village Voice. His formative years placed him in proximity to institutions like the Museum of Modern Art and events like the Cannes Film Festival that later figured in his professional life.

Career

Schickel began as a film critic and journalist, contributing reviews and essays to outlets including Life, Time, Vanity Fair, and The New Republic, while also writing for National Review and The New York Times Book Review. He served as a film critic during the rise of auteur discourse associated with critics from Cahiers du Cinéma and commentators such as Andrew Sarris, engaging debates around Sergei Eisenstein, Alfred Hitchcock, Orson Welles, and Jean-Luc Godard. Schickel's journalism connected him with film festivals like Venice Film Festival and Toronto International Film Festival, and with industry institutions such as Paramount Pictures, Warner Bros., and United Artists through profiles and reporting.

Beyond criticism, Schickel was a historian and biographer, producing books on figures in cinema and entertainment including analyses of Charlie Chaplin, Buster Keaton, Greta Garbo, John Ford, Howard Hawks, and Walt Disney. He taught and lectured at universities and cultural centers like University of Southern California, California Institute of the Arts, and the British Film Institute, contributing to conferences and symposia on film preservation and cinematic authorship. He engaged with critics and historians including Pauline Kael, Andrew Sarris, Roger Ebert, David Thomson, and scholars from institutions like UCLA and Columbia University.

Major works and critical reception

Schickel authored numerous books and monographs, among them The Disney Version, biographies of Charlie Chaplin, Buster Keaton, and studies of D. W. Griffith and John Ford. His book on Walt Disney provoked debate among scholars, practitioners at Walt Disney Studios, historians at the Smithsonian Institution, and critics in outlets such as The New York Review of Books and The Atlantic. Reviewers compared his approach to that of biographers like Donald Spoto and film historians such as Peter Bogdanovich and Jonas Mekas, while film scholars at Harvard University, Yale University, and New York University engaged with his interpretations of authorship and studio practice.

Critical reception ranged from praise for clear prose and archival research to criticism from champions of auteur theory and defenders of subjects like Walt Disney and Clint Eastwood. His histories were discussed in academic journals such as Film Quarterly, Cinema Journal, and Journal of Film and Video, and reviewed in mainstream venues including The Los Angeles Times, The Washington Post, and The New Yorker. Schickel's assessments often intersected with debates surrounding film preservation efforts by institutions such as the Library of Congress and the National Film Registry.

Film and television projects

Schickel produced and directed documentary films and television programs profiling cinematic figures and movements, collaborating with networks like PBS, HBO, and TBS, and working on projects screened at venues such as the Museum of Modern Art and the Telluride Film Festival. His documentaries covered subjects including Walt Disney, D. W. Griffith, Buster Keaton, and contemporary filmmakers like Clint Eastwood; he conducted in-depth interviews and archival compilations involving studios including Columbia Pictures and MGM. Schickel also appeared on television programs and panel discussions alongside critics and historians such as Roger Ebert, Gene Siskel, Andrew Sarris, and cultural commentators on shows like The Today Show and 60 Minutes.

He collaborated with filmmakers, cinematographers, and archivists associated with institutions like American Film Institute and worked on retrospective programs celebrating classic directors such as Frank Capra, Billy Wilder, Cecil B. DeMille, and Howard Hawks. His filmic work contributed to public understanding of silent cinema and Hollywood's studio era, intersecting with restoration projects led by the Film Foundation and archival collections at the Academy Film Archive.

Personal life and legacy

Schickel lived and worked in major media centers including New York City and Los Angeles, and his personal archives and papers informed later scholarship at institutions such as the New York Public Library and university special collections. He mentored writers and critics who went on to work at publications like Variety, The Hollywood Reporter, and Esquire, and influenced museum exhibitions at the Museum of the Moving Image and academic curricula at film schools like AFI Conservatory.

His legacy is reflected in ongoing debates in film criticism and history, the preservation of films in the National Film Registry, and biographical literature on Hollywood figures including Walt Disney, Clint Eastwood, Charlie Chaplin, and D. W. Griffith. Awards and recognitions connected to his career involved organizations such as the National Society of Film Critics, Los Angeles Film Critics Association, and industry honors at festivals like Sundance Film Festival and San Sebastián International Film Festival.

Category:American film critics Category:American documentary filmmakers Category:1933 births Category:2017 deaths