Putting its showbiz muscle behind challenging fare, New York film distributing company Cinema 5 broke some of the biggest arthouse movies of the ‘60s and ‘70s. But you’ve probably never heard of company founder Donald Rugoff. Director Ira Deutchman’s engaging but flawed profile Searching for Mr. Rugoff is essential watching for anybody interested in the business end of the industry. And with its nostalgic look at old New York and a cast of colorful characters, it’s not just for the cinephile.
Rugoff inherited a chain of New York movie theatres from his father Edward, who died in 1952 at a time when television was beginning to draw audiences away from the big screen. It was a bad time for theater owners. But the young Rugoff managed to tap the growing counter-culture, and with a mix of showmanship and inspired instinct, was able to turn what looked like uncommercial prospects into box office magic, at least within New York movie culture.
New York history comes to play here, as Deutchman explains that Rugoff’s empire emerged after the dismantling of the Third Avenue elevated train, which transformed Manhattan’s Upper East Side into a thriving, ritzy commercial zone. This new playground was a perfect place to open theaters like the Beekman and the Sutton, which provided sophisticated residents with highbrow entertainment from Ingmar Bergman and Michelangelo Antonioni. Rugoff was also drawn to more sensationalistic fare, like the late Robert Downey Sr.’s irreverent satire Putney Swope.
There’s lots of history here, and most of it comes from Rugoff’s former employees, including Deutchman. They have some stories to tell, and they’re not all pretty. Even people who liked Rugoff admit he could be a tyrant. The legend has it that Rugoff had to have two secretaries on staff at all times, because it was inevitable that one of them would quit. Brian Lindquist, who offers some of the movie’s most hilarious anecdotes, remembers his job interview with Rugoff: the boss was eating a sandwich and fell asleep, and a piece of pastrami fell over the phone cord.
That kind of detail is gold, and tells you what kind of memorable characters Deutchman gathers. There’s plenty here for the connoisseur of cinema, including interviews with directors like Costa-Gravas and Lina Wertmüller, who give Rugoff credit for getting their films seen in America. But time and again Deutchman also finds the right anecdote to make the people behind the scenes come alive.
About a third of the film is devoted to Deutchman’s search: a personal quest to track down the theater that Rugoff operated after he left New York for Martha’s Vineyard in the ‘80s. One wishes Deutchman wasn’t compelled to film his research process, even letting us watch him request archival material from a small-town library. But editor Brian Gersten, who deftly assembles various talking heads into something like a lively conversation, for the most part keeps Deutchman’s quest from bogging down the movie. And Deutchman puts his old boss’ legacy into context; even now, when you Google his subject, there isn’t much out there–other than references to Searching for Mr. Rugoff. You may not know who Donald Rugoff was, and unless you have a shelf dedicated to the Criterion Collection, you may not care. But the search pays off, no matter your interest in the subject, with generous doses of history and personality.
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