Rex Reed

Rex Taylor Reed(born October 2, 1938) is an American film critic, journalist, and media personality.

Rex Reed
Born	Rex Taylor Reed (1938-10-02)October 2, 1938 Fort Worth, Texas,U.S.
Occupation	Film critic, writer
Alma mater	Louisiana State University
Years active	1967–present

Raised throughout the southern United States and educated atLouisiana State University,Reed moved to New York City in the early 1960s to begin his career, writing about popular culture, art, and celebrities for a number of newspapers and magazines. He became a public figure in his own right, making regular appearances on television and occasionally acting in films throughout the 1970s and 1980s.

Reed has been a longtime writer forThe New York Observer,where he authors the "Talk of the Town" column. He is known for his blunt style and contrarian tastes, and some of his writing has garnered criticism for containing factual errors or disparaging remarks about actors.

Early life

Reed was born on October 2, 1938, inFort Worth, Texas,the son of Jewell (née Smith) and James M. Reed, an oil company supervisor.In an interview withThe New York Times,Reed stated: "My mother came from a family of 10 in Oklahoma, her second cousins were theDalton Gang.And when my grandfather was a little boy, he was rocked byJesse Jameson his knee. "Due to his father's profession, the family moved throughout the American South during Reed's childhood.

He earned his journalism degree fromLouisiana State Universityin 1960.There, he began writing film and play reviews, not only for the university's newspaper,The Daily Reveille,but also for the Baton Rouge newspaper,The Morning Advocate.He moved to New York City after graduating from LSU, hoping to find success as an actor. Instead, he was hired to work at the publicity department of20th Century Fox.In 1969, he said his job there was to "write those puffy things aboutElvis Presleyand—you know—Fabian,and tell everybody how great they were when I wouldn't be caught dead seeing their movies myself. [...]Cleopatracame along and rocked the company financially. We were saving on rubber bands and payingElizabeth TaylorandRichard Burtonto float down the Nile while everybody back at Fox was taking salary cuts, and I was the first one to go—the little guy at the $75 salary, the most dispensable item in the company. I was fired. "Later in the decade, he provided many interviews forThe New York TimesandNew York,which at the time was the Sunday magazine of theNew York Herald Tribune.In 1966, the year in which theHerald Tribunefolded, he was hired as one of the music critics forHiFi/Stereo Review(nowSound & Vision), a position at which he remained until early 1973.

Career

Film and TV appearances

Reed has acted occasionally, such as in the movie version ofGore Vidal'sMyra Breckinridge(1970). Reed also appeared in the filmsSuperman(1978, as himself),Inchon(1981) andIrreconcilable Differences(1984). He appeared frequently as a judge on the TV game showThe Gong Showin the late 1970s. Reed additionally served on the jury at the21st Berlin International Film Festivalin 1971,and guest-voiced as himself on the animated seriesThe Critic.

Rex Reed appears in the 2009 documentaryFor the Love of Movies: The Story of American Film Criticismexplaining how important film critics were in the 1970s, and complaining about the proliferation of unqualified critical voices on the internet.

Critic

Before becoming a film critic forThe New York Observer,Reed was a film critic forVogue,GQ,The New York Times,andWomen's Wear Daily.For thirteen years, he was an arts critic for theNew York Daily News,and for five years was the film critic for theNew York Post.Reed was not given a ticket to the world premiere ofLast Tango in Parisat the 1972New York Film Festivalas the festival considered him a columnist for theNew York Daily News,rather than a regular film critic, as well as describing him as "[not] a friend of the festival".He is a member of theNew York Film Critics Circleand, because his reviews appear on the Internet, a member ofNew York Film Critics Online.He is the author of eight books, includingDo You Sleep in the Nude?,Conversations in the Raw,People Are Crazy Here,andValentines & Vitriol.

On October 24, 1974, reviewingFrank Sinatra's performance atMadison Square Garden,Reed called him "aWoolworthrhinestone "and wrote that" his public image is uglier than a first-degree burn, his appearance is sloppier thanPorky Pig;his manners are more appalling than a subway sandhog's and his ego bigger than the Sahara (thedesert,not thehotel in Las Vegas,although either comparison applies). All of which might be tolerable if he could still sing. But the saddest part of all is the hardest part to face about this once-great idol now living on former glory: the grim truth is that Frank Sinatra has had it. His voice has been manhandled beyond recognition, bringing with its parched croak only a painful memory of burned-out yesterdays. "Years later, Reed recalled that Sinatra "was sloppy" and "looked like he'd slept in his clothes. Sinatra was mad at me, but what did he do? He lost 25 pounds!"

In 1986, afterMarlee Matlinwon theAcademy Award for Best ActressforChildren of a Lesser God,Reed wrote that Matlin had won because of a "pity vote", and that a deaf person playing a deaf character was not really acting.

Rex Reed subjected Marisa Tomei (pictured, at the81st Academy Awardsin 2009) to a conspiracy theory regarding her win of the Best Supporting Actress Oscar for her performance inMy Cousin Vinny.

AfterMarisa Tomeiwon an Oscar for Best Supporting Actress in 1992 for her work inMy Cousin Vinny,Reed said publicly that she had not actually won the award, and that presenter Jack Palance had accidentally read the wrong name off the card he was reading.When it was pointed out that the card had only one name on it, Reed changed his theory to say that Palance had read the wrong name off the Teleprompter, and claimed the Academy went along with it because they would have been embarrassed to admit that mistake in front of a huge viewing audience. Reed was publicly rebutted by the accounting firmPrice Waterhouse,who said that if a presenter ever announced the wrong winner, a PwC representative would go on stage and state that the wrong result had been announced, before either stating the correct result or giving the information to someone on stage to correct it.Roger Ebertsaid that Reed's conspiracy theories were false and unfair to Tomei and that Reed owed her an apology.

In a 2005 review of the South Korean movieOldboy,Reed wrote, "What else can you expect from a nation weaned onkimchi,a mixture of raw garlic and cabbage buried underground until it rots, dug up from the grave and then served in earthenware pots sold at theSeoulairport as souvenirs? "The Village Voice,which reported that "online forums erupted in protest" at the review, then mocked Reed by imagining him applying similar logic to films from other countries.

Rex Reed was widely criticized for his comments about the weight of Melissa McCarthy (photographed in 2012) in his review ofIdentity Thief.

In a 2013 review ofIdentity Thief,Reed made several references toMelissa McCarthy's weight, referring to her as "tractor-sized", "humongous", "obese", and a "hippo".Film criticRichard Roepersaid, "This just smacks of mean-spirited name-calling in lieu of genuine criticism."The review was referenced at the85th Academy Awardsin February 2013 by hostSeth MacFarlane,who joked that Reed would reviewAdelefor singing "Skyfall"at the ceremony.In a column forThe Huffington Post,Candy Spellinglikened Reed's review to bullying.Reed stood by his comments and stated his objection to the use of serious health problems such as obesity as comedy talking points. He dismissed the outrage as being orchestrated for publicity, but praised McCarthy for not getting involved in the matter, calling her "completely classy".

In a 2017 review ofThe Shape of Water,he referred to people with disabilities as "defective creatures".

Factual errors in reviews

Reed's 2012 review forThe Cabin in the Woodscontained significant factual inaccuracies in his summary of the film, and exhibited a dismissive attitude towards anyone who disagreed with his negative opinion.L Magazine's Henry Stewart noted: "his review is literally about 50 percent inaccurate—factually, objectively wrong." His professionalism was also called into question when, in addition to the factual inaccuracies, some felt he was needlessly insulting and mean-spirited towards those who enjoyed the film.

In 2013, Reed reviewedV/H/S/2,despite walking out of the film within its first 20 minutes.As a result, his review was brief and incorrectly summarizedJason Eisener's segment of the horror anthology. Some felt that Reed was unprofessional, with journalist Sam Adams stating that Reed was "making a mockery of a noble profession while intelligent critics scramble for crumbs all around him".

In 2017, Reed's review ofThe Shape of Waterincorrectly referred to writer and directorGuillermo del Toroas "Benecio del Toro" (apparently misspelling the name of actorBenicio del Toro), and also wrote that he was from Spain; the director is from Mexico and the actor is from Puerto Rico.

The same year he included the filmGet Outon his list of 10 Worst Films of 2017,and later sardonically stated in aCBS Sunday Morninginterview, "I didn't care if all the black men are turned into robots." A writer onSunday Morning's website noted that there were no actual robots in the film.

Personal life

Reed lives in a two-bedroom apartment atThe Dakotaapartment building inNew York City,which he bought for $30,000 in 1969.

Reed is openly gay.In 2018, he stated, "Love is not something that I've been really good at. I think people are intimidated by people with opinions. How do you go start looking for a wife or a boyfriend or a significant other? It's too late. It would be nice, though, to find somebody who's really handy with a wheelchair, because that day is coming".

Shoplifting arrest and clearing

In February 2000, Reed was arrested forshopliftingafter leaving aTower RecordsinManhattanwithcompact discsbyMel Tormé,Peggy Lee,andCarmen McRaein his jacket pockets. Reed, who had just purchased two other CDs, says he forgot about the other three CDs and his offer to pay for them was refused. The charges were later dropped.According to Reed, several days after the arrest, Peggy Lee sent him her entire catalog of CDs, because "she was so thrilled I wanted one of her CDs enough to put myself through so much hell".

Bibliography

• Reed, Rex (1968).Do You Sleep In The Nude?.London: Allen.ISBN0-491-00043-X.
• Reed, Rex (1969).Conversations In The Raw.New York: World.ISBN0-491-00043-X.
• Reed, Rex (1974).People Are Crazy Here.New York: Delacorte Press.ISBN0-440-07365-0.
• Reed, Rex (1971).Big Screen, Little Screen.New York: MacMillan Company.ASINB0006CUEYO.
• Reed, Rex (1977).Valentines & Vitriol.New York: Delacorte Press.ISBN0-440-09336-8.
• Reed, Rex (1979).Travolta to Keaton.New York: Morrow.ISBN0-688-03434-9.
• Reed, Rex (1986).Personal Effects.New York: Jove Books.ISBN0-441-66220-X.
• Reed, Rex (1992).Rex Reed's Guide to Movies on TV and Video, 1992-1993.Warner Books.ISBN0-446-36206-9.

Filmography

Year	Title	Role	Notes
1967	Hurry Sundown	Farmer	Uncredited
1970	Myra Breckinridge	Young Man
1972	The ABC Comedy Hour		Episode:Hellzapoppin
1974	The Rehearsal	Actor
1978	Superman	Himself
1979	An Almost Perfect Affair	Himself	Uncredited
1981	Inchon	Longfellow
1984	Irreconcilable Differences	Entertainment Editor
1994-1995	The Critic	Himself	Voice, 2 episodes

External links

• Rex Reed'sNew York Observermovie review archive
• New York Film Critics Circle biography
• Rex ReedatIMDb