“His most successful long-term relationship was with us.”
Excuse me?!?!? More phallocentric tripe from NEWSWEEK film critic David Ansen. In his Oct 6th tribute to Paul Newman, Ansen writes: “With men he was a great buddy, partner in crime, leader of the pack. But you can count the love stories he made on the fingers of one hand.” It goes without saying that Ansen has nothing whatsoever to say about Newman’s extraordinary artistic collaboration with wife Joanne Woodward. He barely even acknowledges her existence, confining his references to her in this one mid-paragraph throw-away line: “His marriage to Joanne Woodward lasted 50 years.”
Woodward wasn’t the only woman who shared passionate scenes with Newman. You would never guess from Ansen’s comments that Newman once seduced Eva Marie Saint in Exodus, futhermore I think there are several ways to interpret the goings on in with Elizabeth Taylor in Cat on a Hot Tin Roof that don’t depend on extraneous knowldge of Tennessee Williams own homosexual angst. And as a writer, I have a personal fondness for Newman’s chemistry with Sally Field in Absence of Malice, etc, etc..
This is not the first time Ansen has been blinded by his blue-colored glasses. Question for Ansen: It’s 2008–do you still need reminding that women hold up half the sky?!?
