Oh no, that's terrible...from a human standpoint, anyway

Bob Clark, the movie director, has died in a car crash alongside his 22-year-old son.

The two men were in an Infiniti that collided head-on with a GMC Yukon around 2:30 a.m. PST, said Lt. Paul Vernon, a police spokesman. The driver of the other car was under the influence of alcohol and was driving without a license, Vernon said.

This reminds me of what Mark Evanier was saying after Mel Gibson had his little problem. Most of the news media, etc (And I wasn't immune to this myself) focused on his anti-semitic, sexist remarks and not enough on the fact that he was D.U.I.

Nobody ever got taken home in a body bag because Mel Gibson said something stupid.

At a time like this, a man deserves to be remembered for both his greatest and most influential works.

Bob Clark's most well-regarded movie was A Christmas Story. I'm not a part of the cult audience for that film who watches it every Christmas, but there's no denying it's rightly stood the test of time.

And as I wrote recently, in regards to David E. Kelley who co-wrote it, I kind of enjoyed From The Hip when I was 15 or 16. Though even then I had some suspicions as to whether or not all the "clever" courtroom tricks would actually work. I'm the same way about Turk 182!

And then, of course, yes, there's Porky's. This movie came out the year I hit puberty and you'd better believe I wore out a VCR's pause control button watching certain, shall we say, "selected scenes."

But it also had some genuinely funny moments. It also ought to be pointed out that Clark was casting Kim Cattrall almost 20 years before Sex and the City, and her road to Samantha started with the sexpot Miss Honeywell in this movie.

And you've gotta give it props, for better or worse (mosly worse). Porky's may not have been that good but it was so massively successful it damned us to a cycle of knockoffs that by-and-large made the original look like Citizen Kane in comparison.

The remainder of Clark's cinematic legacy consists of films like Loose Cannons, something I still have guilt feelings about once forcing an old girlfriend to sit through. But how many directors get to make even one film that, like Porky's...

...was the Pulp Fiction of its day inasmuch as it altered the notion of what could be put onscreen in the name of entertainment, and its influence could be felt in lesser works for years to come.

-Pretty In Pink: The Golden Age of Teenage Movies, by Jonathan Bernstein.

At a time like this, a man deserves to be remembered for both his greatest and most influential works. So, so long, Mr. Clark, and thanks for the laughs, the memories, and the...



ETA: Mark Evanier and Sherman share their reaction in their respective blogs.