A small memory of a great cinematographer: Haskell Wexler dead at 93
The great cinematographer Haskell Wexler has died, at 93. He was part of so many great movies, a two-time Oscar winner and five-time nominee. He interviewed ME back in the mid-1990s for a documentary he was directing about the Los Angeles transit system and the Bus Riders Union.
I was covering transportation issues back then, and probably followed things as closely as any journalist in that era of constant subway controversies and BRU agitation for more investment in the troubled bus system that carried so many people in the city. It was interesting being on the other end of an extensive interview about a topic like this, and I actually appeared in the eventual film, called “Bus Riders Union,” a couple of times. I remember he called me up out of the blue and identified himself and started to explain who he was. Even then, though I was a political writer, I knew who he was. It was a fun experience to be a small part of a small part of his epic career.
Here’s the story about Wexler’s passing from Anne Thompson, who I saw just last night at a delightful dinner with an offshoot of our Hungry Ghost group, in Boyle Heights at the great Las Molenderas: