Film editor Don Campburn draws on his musical background to easy rider A Masterpiece and Oscar Nominated for Cutting 15 Years Later Romancing the Stone, died. he was 93 years old.
Canburn died Wednesday at Providence St. Joseph Medical Center in Burbank from complications from a fall three weeks ago, a spokesperson for his family said. hollywood reporter.
Editor from Los Angeles Blume in love (1973), Willie & Phil (1980) and storm (1982) for Paul Mazursky, twins (1988) and Ghostbusters II (1989) worked on five Burt Reynolds stars for Ivan Reitman. Smokey and Bandit II (1980) and cannonball run (1981).
Canburn also received an editorial credit last video show (1971), Peter Bogdanovich claimed he was its editor.
He received the Career Achievement Award from the American Cinema Editors in 2004, and three years later became the first recipient of the Film Editors Guild’s Fellowship and Service Awards. From 1991 until 2002 he served as MPEG president.
“Movies dictate style to me. Somehow, you develop a key style for that movie from that energy,” Canburn said in an interview for Gabriella Oldham’s 2012 book. First Cut: A Conversation with a Film Editor“I’ve always felt that the movie speaks to you. When you hear it, its strengths will become apparent. It’s up to you to recognize it and find ways to use it.” am.”
Campburn, the son of a pioneering harpist, easy rider (1969), a counterculture classic starring Dennis Hopper, Peter Fonda and Jack Nicholson, was inspired to change the rules of Hollywood filmmaking.
In a 2004 interview movie maker magazine, cinematographer László Kovacs explained that because the film was being shot on location, the daily was sent to Los Angeles, where Canburn sorted things out.
The editor “watched the movie every morning. Sometimes he didn’t have a phone, but every day I tried to call him,” Kovac said. “Don was watching running shots of his bike thousands of feet away, which lasted for hours. So there was music behind every shot, and although it was originally just to make it more interesting, the music became an integral part of the painting.
“When the film was cut there was a debate about who was going to score it. They ended up licensing the music that Don was using. They paid a million in licensing fees for the music.” $, which is about three times the budget to shoot the rest of the film.” (Songs heard on the soundtrack include “Born to Be Wild,” “The Weight,” The Pusher”, etc.)
Canburn’s editing talent was invaluable for another reason. Hopper made his directorial debut in . easy rider, directed the first cut. Twenty-two weeks later, he released a version of his that ran for nearly three hours. My immediate reaction was that I didn’t want to see two guys on bikes for too long.
Hopper was sent on vacation to Taos, New Mexico, and Canburn, leading a team that included Fonda, Nicholson, producers Bob Rafelson, William Hayward, and filmmaker Henry Jaglom, who was brought in for consulting. , easy rider In the final version of 96 minutes.
In his 1969 review hollywood reporterfilm critic John Mahoney wrote that Canburn’s work “deploys in unblemished lyrical simplicity”.
“I didn’t know the rules.easy rider It gave me the feeling that I could try other methods. Please cut in the middle of the line. easy rider I asked you for more cuts.
“I devised all the riding montages to convey the overall feeling. [and] The size of the country they were riding on. ”
Nicholson appreciated what Campburn brought to the table and asked him to edit drive, he said (1971), the actor’s directorial debut.
When Reynolds was ready to try directing, he hired Camburn as his comedy editor. end (1978), and the two worked together again Hooper (1978), Smokey and Bandit II, cannonball run When paternity (1981).
Camburn also edited Richard Pryor’s only directorial work, Jo Jo Dancer, your life is calling (1986).
After working with director Robert Wise, Hindenburg (1975), a retelling of the historic 1937 air crash, Cambern likes to point out how the doomed airship’s climatic crash could have been dragged on for more than 10 minutes, suggesting that the original I pointed out that it only took 37 seconds to crash the airship. .
“You have to find the sources that give your photos their own strength. Editing is like a funnel, it takes all the input. There’s a lot of energy in, and it’s almost overwhelming because you realize it’s going to end up in your hands. ”
Courtesy Everett Collection
Donn Green Cambern was born on October 9, 1929 in Los Angeles. His father Michael worked as a publisher for Carl Fischer Music. His mother May was a harpist and in 1919 she became the first woman to join the orchestra of the Philharmonic Orchestra in Los Angeles, after which she performed at several Hollywood film studios.
“During the RKO era, [Fred] Astaire and [Ginger] During the Rogers era, she was in those orchestras,” said Canburn. She said, “Every time she hears a harp in a movie top hatI get special pleasure from it.
Canburn graduated from UCLA with a degree in music in 1952 and got a job as a messenger at Disney. He made sure he hit the right person in the elevator and landed himself a position as music editor. (Oscar-winning film editor Elmo Williams said, noon, signed his application to become a member of the Motion Picture Film Editors. )
Canburn left Disney in 1959 to join 20th Century Fox under famed composer/conductor Lionel Newman before being hired by United Productions of America, where he worked on the 1962 animated classic . Magoo’s Christmas Carol.
He also spent time with Desil on the production of ABC’s. untouchable Before joining forces with famed television composer Earl Hagan, dick van dyke show, i am a spy, The Andy Griffith Show, Gomer Pyle, USMC When that girl.
As his resume as a music editor grew, Cambern began seeking new challenges. He believed it could be film editing. His chance came by chance.
“One day a man came in with a movie and asked me to help him edit it.” “Believe me, I never edited a movie. I was just watching, in a way editing is like the old guild process of trial and error, you learn from others, there are very few textbooks and the more you have a movie the more you know how to manipulate it can now be understood.”
The movie 2000 years later (1969), a low-budget comedy featuring Terry Thomas, Pat Harrington Jr., and Edward Everett Horton. As Canburn explained, he was editing the segment that week. Then over the weekend, producers screened the results to potential investors to raise money to continue filming. It proved to be a great learning opportunity.
On one occasion, Canburn asked colleague Jerry Shepherd, NBC’s supervising editor. monkeys, criticizing his work. Shepard not only provided encouragement, but also gave Canburn the lead on the job.Shepard had been told to work easy riderbut he was editing Head (1968), The Monkees’ big-screen feature, and couldn’t do it.
you said you edited easy rider‘s iconic LSD-infused New Orleans cemetery scene in a straight cut to create a sensibility that captures one moment’s image and moves on to the next. ”
Around this time, Canburn was also nominated for an Emmy Award for editing the 1968 Bob Hope Christmas Special.
According to Vincent LoBrutto’s 2021 book The 70s: The Decade That Changed American Cinema ForeverWritten and Directed by Bogdanovich Editing last video show However, as this was a union production, it required the credit of a member of the Editors Guild. Canburn refuted that claim.
Canburn was nominated for an Academy Award for his action adventure with Robert Zemeckis. Romancing the Stone with Frank Morris.They lost to Jim Clark Killing Field at Oscar Night.
also edit canburn steelyard blues (1973), Cinderella Liberty (1973), the other side of midnight (1977), Harry and the Henderson Family (1987), butcher’s wife (1991), body guard (1992), Rookie of the Year (1993), Major League II (1994) and little giants (1994).
He served as Vice President of the Board of Directors of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences from 1990-1994 and 1997-99.
Survivors include his children, Sharon and Wade, and grandson, Kaimi. In February 2018, his wife of 67 years, Patricia, passed away.
Son Clay, who worked as an assistant editor on shows such as third watch, The Sopranos When Grimm — and his dad’s apprenticeship Major League II — Died of cardiac arrest in 2011 at the age of 56.
