Richard Leiterman 1935-2005

I just learned the night before that Richard Leiterman passed away last month. Mr. Leiterman is an institution in Canadian cinema. This very busy cinematographer is perhaps best known for his work on the classic GOIN' DOWN THE ROAD. However, he had done several films for its director Don Shebib and also several features for Allan King. among others.

An important early credit in his career was as DOP for Frederick Wiseman's cinema verite masterpiece HIGH SCHOOL (1968). Wiseman was/is one of the Godfathers of the Direct Cinema movement, which brought a fresh new approach to documentary filmmaking (filming on the moment, no voiceover narration) that still stands miles above the diluted version of the format seen in all of that horrible Reality TV. Unsurprisingly, Mr. Leiterman was hired by Allan King for his Direct Cinema classic, A MARRIED COUPLE (1969), a searing documentary in which an all-too-candid camera shows us the crumbling marriage of Billy and Antoinette Edwards. When King went on to fictional narrative films, he often employed Leiterman as well (specifically, WHO HAS SEEN THE WIND and SILENCE OF THE NORTH).




Although Leiterman could certainly paint a majestic canvas wih his camera (I'm thinking of the scope of SILENCE OF THE NORTH), perhaps what I customarily think more of when his name is referenced is that documentary style he often employed even in his narrative work. This is especially true of the archetypal Canadian film GOIN' DOWN THE ROAD, but also his work on future films with Don Shebib (RIP-OFF, BETWEEN FRIENDS, CHANGE OF HEART-1992), and even WEDDING IN WHITE (by William Fruet, who turned to directing after writing ROAD), give those pieces a gritty kind of "you are there" authenticity.

Looking over his four decades of credits, one can see the journey of Canadian cinema paralleling his career. He started out in the times of what I refer to as "The Great Promise" (circa 1968-1973, when Canada started producing features, and the results are mainly fresh and un-self-conscious), and then was also very busy during the Canada Tax Shelter period (circa 1977-1983), and still kept at doing works for directors during what I refer to as "The Second Canadian New Wave", and then a lot of television. Fittingly, this archetypal DOP worked on POPCORN AND MAPLE SYRUP, the documentary on Canadian cinema.

In addition to those by Allan King and Don Shebib, Leiterman has also illuminated the works made by some of Canadian's most important filmmakers: Claude Jutra (SURFACING), Sandy Wilson (MY AMERICAN COUSIN). Harvey Hart (UTILITIES), Ralph Thomas (TICKET TO HEAVEN), Anne Wheeler (CHANGE OF HEART-1984) and Peter Rowe (RIGHT HOOK: A TALL TAIL). In the early 1990's when he made Don Shebib's film CHANGE OF HEART. it was somewhat disarming to see an old-fashioned movie (harkening back to the low-key charm of the 1970s), on Canadian screens at a time when jumpcuts and blue transfers were the orders of the day. It was a nice memory of "The Great Promise"- those pivotal days when cinema exploded in Canada, and the rewards reaped long careers.