Isthmus movie writer Mike Wilmington reports from the Academy Awards ceremonies, where "Lee Marvin and I almost collided a couple of times. (He had a dark, preoccupied look, as if he'd been forced into a tight collar on a night when he'd rather have been relaxing at home.) However, rather astonishingly, Akira Kurosawa - certainly the greatest cinematic figure at the festivities - was standing off by himself with his retinue, and hardly anyone attempted to talk to him. (It was worse than that: One bubble-headed blonde in a green gown was discoursing loudly about her great dislike of all foreign films - or even of American productions that 'looked' foreign - five feet away from him. Mercifully, Kurosawa doesn't understand English.) I recognized his translator, and she introduced me: Kurosawa beamed when I told him he was one of John Ford's truest heirs. He smiled happily and recalled how kind Ford had always been to him. That was my evening's highlight." Wilmington now covers movies for the Chicago Tribune.
