Ed Wood (1994) | Movie Review

Director: Tim Burton
Cast: Johnny Depp, Martin Landau, Sarah Jessica Parker, Patricia Arquette

The year 1994 was a year of memorable and top-rated movies, led by Frank Darabont's The Shawshank Redemption, and Quentin Tarantino's Pulp Fiction. And together with these greats came a biopic of a legendary filmmaker who made movies for his love of it, who rose to acclaim by winning the Golden Turkey's Worst Director of All Time, and who served in the second World War who was more scared of getting wounded--and being patched up in a hospital after doctors would find out about the bra and panties he wears under his uniform--than dying. Ed Wood is Tim Burton's feature on Edward D. Wood Jr.'s life on and off the camera as he tries to make his name in the glittering road that is Hollywood in the 1950's.

Not sure how Bela Lugosi would look like in color, Burton decided to present the entire movie in black and white. I wouldn't have imagined seeing the great Dracula or Wood's Glen or Glenda and Plan 9 From Outer Space in color either. The decision was just fitting and reasonable as it was. So, dissolved of color, the movie just went on celebrating in almost absolute realism the persons behind the two mentioned cult classics. Johnny Depp's performance as the optimistic Edward D. Wood Jr. made for a good tint of color in the eyes of the audience. And although not without some inaccuracies, Martin Landau mirrored to perfection the character of the late Bela Lugosi, eventually earning him an Academy award for his troubles.

Film making is not an easy craft, and it also is not cheap. You have actors and crew to pay, sets to build, locations to rent, etc. Sponsorship is neither hard to obtain. And given the meager credentials of Ed Wood and yet finding producers to finance his films, anyone would still praise the man for his optimism and his innocent love for the craft, and the lengths he had gone to keep on making films, albeit bad ones.

Burton, though, was able to keep the movie out of becoming a mock on Ed Wood and his works. Instead, he had made a great praise on the man, reliving his legacy, and showing to all that passion for what you love to do is more than anything. The movie relived the memory of Ed Wood, the greatness of Bela Lugosi, and the undying perseverance of the people who worked with him.

All glasses to the worst director of all time!