Issue link: https://digital.copcomm.com/i/1382552
53 S U M M E R Q 2 I S S U E B O O K R E V I E W Schlesinger and Robertson did not see eye-to-eye, and Schlesinger brought in his English editor, Jim Clark. Clark was known as the "Dream Repairman" for his ability to fix things that didn't work. He was not in the New York union; he did not even have a green card, but Schlesinger and Hellman hired him as a "creative consultant" while keeping on Robertson and his crew. Clark was able to mollify and reassure Schlesinger. With two of Robertson's assistants who he observed "were high from morning to night and nobody cared," Clark worked in one room while Robertson and Schlesinger worked in another. While Clark was able to calm the volatile director, Schlesinger and Rob- ertson never clicked. As Clark recalled it, Schlesinger would storm into his editing room demanding, "You've got to get that scene away from that fucking Black Pan- ther!" Robertson in turn would comment when an emotional Schlesinger left the building, "Momma sure had the rag on today." "Midnight Cowboy" was hailed as an instant classic. Among the film's many awards, Rob- ertson was nominated for a Best Editing Oscar, and until 2016 (when Joi McMillon was nominated for "Moonlight") was the only African-American to be so honored. His only other feature editing credit in the US was Shaft (1971). Clark, although he had no editing credit on "Midnight Cowboy," went on to edit many Holly- wood features, was Oscar nominated for "The Mission" in 1986 and won for "The Killing Fields" in 1984. ■ Shooting Midnight Cowboy: Art, Loneliness, Liberation, and the Making of a Dark Classic By Glenn Frankel Farrar, Straus and Giroux, 2021 Hardcover, 415 pages, $30.00 Betsy McLane is a freelance writer and frequent CineMontage contributor. LOOK BACK: John Schlesenger, center, was the volatile director behind "Midnight Cowboy." P H O T O : P H O T O F E S T