Serpico, Bonnie & Clyde, ET .. Genius editors are hiding behind these masterpieces!

“The final author of the film montage” Said the great David Lean. At a time when editing software is like Final Cut Pro, Adobe Premiere Where loves Allows you to do almost anything and everything, there was a time – in fact, until the mid-1990s – when all films were edited by hand. In this delicate workout, legendary women have taken or taken the place of choice.

Reason ? For a long time, in the film industry, the position of editor was truly one of the most open to women. Honor these magnificent ladies of cinema and shadows with images, thanks to which moviegoers around the world were able to surprise in dark rooms.

Thelma Schoonmaker

Martin Scorsese has maintained an almost mixed relationship with this legendary editor for 50 years: Tel Schunmaker, the widow of the great Michael Powell. “Telma is a woman I trust” He likes to talk about it. A little tasty twist: he was quoted seven times at the Oscars for Best Editing and won three statues. Premiere of the montage and film in Legend of the 7th Art: Raging Bull; Where Scorsese will have to wait 26 years before winning his first Oscar as Best Director for The Departed.

Modest Triumph has a rare and glorious example of artistic collaboration, Thelle Schunmaker, who edited all of the Master’s films. Even very modest. “It’s wonderful to work with images of people who understand your work so well” He said in March. He is so confident in this that he has tried several times to even give him an Oscar he won Irritated bull. In vain.

Sally Menke

Sally Menke, who died accidentally in September 2010 at the age of 56, was Quentin Tarantino’s favorite editor. It was he who prepared all his films, up to the Inglourious Basterds. One QT called “My real employee” He was largely nurtured in his work by Telm Schunmaker’s imprint. However, if On Scorsese And Thelma Schoonmaker Both start working as soon as filming begins, Quentin and Sally do not talk to each other until the film is fully seated.

“It’s all about tension, so you keep an eye on the character’s emotional arc in the scenes” Said Menke. “The montage is an emotion, it’s impulsive, instinctive. You just have to follow the character’s emotions.” A principle that the late editor used perfectly from Reservoir Dogs, Pulp Fiction or even, later, Kill Bill.

Anne V. Coates

On May 8, 2018, at the age of 92, the absolute legend of the montage died: Anne V. Coates. Anyone who at first glance intended to be a nurse in England would eventually use his energy in the world of cinema, during his nearly sixty-year career and in more than fifty films. Beginning in 1947 as Assistant Editor, then in charge of editing The Pickwick Papers in 1952, Ann W. Coates has been nominated for an Oscar at least five times. But he won the statue from his first quote, for his huge and fabulous work on Lawrence of Arabia.

He owes us one of the greatest Cut From the history of cinema: the one where Peter O’Toole blows on a lighter, in the desert before sunrise. Unforgettable. “I have worked with directors David Lin To David Lynch, from Carol Reed to Wolfgang Petersen “ He said so in 2016 when he received an honorary Oscar throughout his career.

And add, oddly enough: “I want to thank everyone, for all the good times and more agitation, and even for being locked up in an editing room seven days a week!” At the age of 90, this restless worker was still working in his montage room: his last work was Fifty Shades of Gray.

Margaret Booth

Born in 1898, Margaret Booth began her career in 1915, under the supervision of DW Griffith. When the latter closed its offices in Los Angeles, Booth landed at MGM, Louis B. Under the leadership of Meyer and then Irwin Talberg, he came up with the idea of ​​sorting out Booth’s work for the first time as a “film editor.”

Using his talent in 44 films, he received the only Oscar nomination in 1936 for his work Mutiny on the Bounty. In 1978, he received an Honorary Oscar for Outstanding Contribution to the Motion Picture Arts and Sciences.

At the end of her life, which is literally mixed in the history of cinema, Margaret Booth dies at the age of 104. A wonderful and gentle twist to those who share a photo next to her, Olivia de Havilland, who also died at the age of 104, in July 2020.

Vern Fields

“We affectionately call her ‘Mother Cutter.’ It is in these conditions that Steven Spielberg Remember With the emotion of Verna Fields.

Born in 1918 and a graduate of journalism, he began his career as an assistant editor in 1943. She taught editing at the University of Southern California in the early 1960s, and began working as an editor. So novice filmmakers George Lucas and Steven Spielberg contacted him in the late 1960s, during New Hollywood.

Lucas entrusts him with editing American graphite; Spielberg of the Sugarland Express and, in 1975, the Jaws. The lightning impact of Spielberg’s masterpiece would not have been the same if it were not for Verna Fields, who, moreover, won an Oscar for this film. In 1976 he was named Vice President Universal picturesHe held this position until his death in 1982.

Mother Allen

In April 2010, Grandma Allen died of a heart attack at the age of 86. An innovative editor, he began his career as a courier in Colombia before moving into the studio editing department. His career began in 1948 with the film Because of Eva By Howard Bretterton, he left his mark on the 1959 film Robert Robert Weiss, Staircase, in which he edited music.

Working in one of the few departments where there were almost as many men as women, Mother Allen quickly gained real fame. In 1961 he edited another masterpiece, Robert Rosen’s L’Arnaqueur, followed by America, America by Elijah Kazan.

In 1967, he entered the 7th Art Legend for the last scene of Bonnie and Clyde, where he was seen by Warren Beatty and Faye Dunaway with ambushed bullets. 50 frames collide in 1 minute, resulting in the thunder and absolute vortex of Arthur Penn’s masterpiece.

Here is a terrible sequence …

Among his many films he also owes us the Editing of the Little Big Man (1970); Slaughterhouse 5, a brilliant sci-fi film by George Roy Hill; Also three collaborations with Sidney Lumet, including the huge Serpico and Un après-midi de chien. Appointed Warner’s post-production manager in 1992, he returned to the installation table with the Wonder Boys just eight years later. At the age of 84, he last edited the film Fireflies in the Garden.

Carol Littleton

Without it, kids all over the world would not have really cried before the ET finale and, by the way, would not have set up a masterpiece. Steven Spielberg To the heights of world box offices, for a long time. An editing job for which he also received an Oscar quote; The only one so far.

“He” is Carol Littleton. Lawrence Cassdan’s favorite editor (Fever in body, Silverado, Wyatt Earp …), he was also a great friend and highly regarded colleague. Mother Allen. “When I begged him to come out on the set, he replied: ‘The editors do not go to the set! For the editor, nothing is more important than a film; Only what happens in the editing room with the film should relate to it. “He did not want to be bothered emotionally on the set, and that was a great lesson for me.” Said Eden Allen about him.

“Carroll also taught me that the first cut is better for a film when it first comes from the editor, without the director’s ideas. Since then, I’ve never tried the editor in any way. Or otherwise, and when. I look at the rough cut, it’s the editor.” It is hard to pay a better tribute than one who has left an indelible mark on the 7th art.

Ann Buchen

Ann Bauchen, born in 1882, was Cecil B. Official Editor of Demil for 40 years. Since 1918, he has directed 41 films for directors and twenty more for other directors. The “Best Editing” category was nominated for an Oscar in 1934, and Anne Buchen was the first to receive her first four quotes in 1935 for her work on Cleopatra. She received the award in 1941 for Les Tuniques écarlates. Faithful to the end of Cecil Demil, editing the Ten Commandments in 1956; Last job before retiring.

In his 1956 autobiography, Demil wrote: “One of the crucial points in every contract I make on filmmaking is that Anne Buchen is the editor. It’s not sentimentality, or not just sentimentality. It’s always the best montage I know.”

Wonderful tribute and praise to those who inspired the art of editing it with these terms: “A lot of people ask me what an assembly is. I would say it’s a kind of puzzle, except for the puzzle, all the pieces are pre-cut into different shapes and you try to assemble them to make this picture. “Pieces and then places them. We do a very individualistic job. The two are not the same installation. We have to trust our instincts and our past experience.”

International Women’s Day, our video tribute!