Remembering legendary Canadian filmmaker Norman Jewison

Norman Jewison — a legend in the Canadian film industry by any definition of the term — died on Saturday at the age of 97.  

He directed classics such as Jesus Christ Superstar, The Thomas Crown Affair, Moonstruck, Fiddler on the Roof and In the Heat of the Night, which won best picture at the 1968 Academy Awards. 

Jewison had been nominated for seven Academy Awards, three Golden Globes and a Primetime Emmy Award. In 1967, he received a BAFTA and in 1999, he was awarded with the Irving G. Thalberg Memorial Award. 

His good friend and colleague Rick Mercer, filmmaker Clement Virgo and Globe and Mail film critic Barry Hertz join host Elamin Abdelmahmoud to chat about Jewison's legacy in Canadian cinema.

We've included some highlights below, edited for length and clarity. For the full discussion, listen and follow the Commotion with Elamin Abdelmahmoud podcast on your favourite podcast player.

LISTEN | Today's episode on YouTube:

The Russians Are Coming, the Russians Are Coming

The first film directed and produced by Jewison, The Russians Are Coming, the Russians Are Coming, is a Cold War comedy about the chaos following the grounding of the Soviet submarine Спрут off of a small island in New England. 

The Russians Are Coming, the Russians Are Coming received two Golden Globe Awards — best motion picture - musical or comedy and Alan Arkin won best actor in a musical or comedy.

"I cannot tell you how important The Russians Are Coming, the Russians Are Coming is as a satire. As a comedy, it is an almost perfect satire," says Mercer. "I had met Norman a few times, but in 1990 he called me up and he said, 'I was thinking maybe writing a reboot of The Russians Are Coming and maybe you'd like to write it.' Now, this is a call that you would never expect in a million years. It's like George Lucas calling and asking you to bang around some ideas for a Star Wars franchise. It was like no call I had ever received."

In the Heat of the Night

In the Heat of the Night is arguably the most critically successful film by Jewison. At the 40th Academy Awards, it was nominated for seven Oscars and won best picture. Based on the novel of the same name, In the Heat of the Night tells the story of Virgil Tibbs, a Black detective from Philadelphia who gets involved in murder investigation in a small Mississippi town. 

In 2002, the Library of Congress selected the movie for preservation for being "culturally, historically or aesthetically significant."

"I knew Norman from his films as a young person growing up. And I think for every young Black person, that famous line from In The Heat of the Night, 'They call me Mr. Tibbs.' was such a powerful cinematic moment that still resonates," recounts Virgo. "And as a young person who didn't know who Norman Jewison was, it was really affirming to see someone like Sidney Poitier, who was from the Caribbean, speaking about his own humanity in such a forceful way."

Fiddler on the Roof

Often considered to be one of the greatest musical films of all time, Fiddler on the Roof is a period musical film produced and directed by Jewison, based on the 1964 stage play of the same name. The movie tells the struggles of Topol, a Jewish milkman who has to figure out how to marry off his five daughters. 

At the 44th Academy Awards, Fiddler on the Roof led with eight nominations, including for best picture and best director. 

"The musical is one of the hardest things to [make] in the world. And perhaps the best musical is Fiddler on the Roof," says Mercer. "It's an incredible legacy. Nothing could have stopped Norman."

Moonstruck

Directed and co-produced by Jewison, Moonstruck is a romantic comedy-drama starring one of Hollywood's greatest divas, Cher. She plays Loretta, an Italian-American widow who falls in love with her fiancé's estranged younger brother. In 2008, the American Film Institute named Moonstruck one of the best romantic comedies of all time.

"There's peak rom-com Jewison, which is Moonstruck and which really is the core of what rom-com has evolved into throughout the '80s, '90s and early aughts. And we're only kind of now just getting that back," says Hertz.

A Soldier's Story

A later career film directed and produced by Jewison, A Soldier's Story is a mystery drama film adapted from Charles Fuller's Pulitzer Prize-winning play A Soldier's Play. Telling a story of racism in a regiment of the United States Army training in the Jim Crow South, this movie addressed themes that at the time — in 1984 — was not popular at the box office, according to Jewison. 

A Soldier's Story was first shown at the Toronto International Film Festival and was nominated for three Academy Awards.

"Whenever I think of a Norman film, it's A Soldier's Story because it encapsulates a lot of what he does so well," says Virgo. "In that film you had a young Denzel Washington. The film is a really striking, intricate mystery. It's about all the things that he cares about, which is social justice."

You can listen to the full discussion from today's show on CBC Listen or on our podcast, Commotion with Elamin Abdelmahmoud, available wherever you get your podcasts.

Panel produced by John Perry, Stuart Berman and Jane van Koeverden