Peter Bart on Max

I should advise you, I thought I had made a deal with God, never to follow Norman Lear. I must also say, I never really thought that we'd be here to say goodbye to Max, because we've all known him through his various health crises over a period of 40 years. And frankly I thought that Max had a lot on immortality. I still think he does.

So we're here to remember some of Max's wonderful moments and eccentricities. And I guess one of my favorite Max moments was early on when we were making movies. And Max went to Washington during the first couple of weeks of the Jimmy Carter Administration, to meet with the new president and his aids. And when he came back to our office, he was in a black mood. And Max said, "You know what I need is a dark theater. I'm going to watch movies nonstop for a week. And then I need the care of a serious psychotherapist. And I appreciated his attitudes. And he got typical of Max.

We made some movies together, and in the process of making movies, as with everything else, I found Max to be a demanding man. He demanded the best of himself. He demanded the best in food, art, in friends, in pot. And at the same time I found that he was a collector--just as he collected art-in a way, he collected filmmakers, from Costa Gavras, on through Ophuls, Herzog, and even up to Terry Malick. And as you all know, it takes patience to be a patron of Terry Malick.

But through it all in the filmmaking process, one thing I loved about Max was that he admired the technology of filmmaking, as well as its performance. And I don't know if Jane Fonda is here, but I remember when we made Fun With Dick And Jane...Max was watching dailies with me, and Jane at one point came out. And of her own volition, peed in the middle of the scene, as a part of the scene on camera. And Max said to me, he said, "I love Jane, I mean she's the first American actress, who just out of defiance would choose to pee on camera." And I knew exactly what he meant.

Thank you.