It’s her birthday today.
Here’s a list of just some of her credits as an editor:
The Hustler
America America
Bonnie & Clyde
Rachel Rachel
Alice’s Restaurant
Little Big Man
Serpico
Night Moves
Dog Day Afternoon
Missouri Breaks
Slap Shot
Reds
Breakfast Club
Off Beat
Henry & June
The Addams Family
Wonder Boys
Included in that list are some of the best American movies ever made. And her editing is a huge reason why they are the best. One can only imagine how difficult it was to cut Reds, for example. The amount of footage she had to deal with was insane. But my God, how that movie flows, even within its hugeness, it never flags, slackens.
And can we talk about the train station scene? And how the editing MAKES that scene? The performances are of course phenomenal. The setting, the extras, the camera movements … all were in place. But the key element of putting it all together was Dede Allen’s. It’s a masterpiece of editing, that sequence:
Also, the fact that she edited Slap Shot … It gives me great great joy that Slap Shot – one of the most profane movies ever made – was
1. written by a woman
and
2. edited by a woman.
Here’s an interesting interview with Dede Allen about her career:
Little Big Man is one of my favorites. And Wonder Boys isn’t far behind.
Both wonderful films!
I wonder why so many great editors are women, as opposed to great cinematographers, composers, etc. Is editing the only job women were allowed to do back in the day? And why?
Frances – hi! I am just catching up on comments now! o answer your question: in the silent era, women did it all. They directed, produced, formed companies, etc. Once it became clear – in the 20s – that Hollywood was going to be big big business – women were mostly relegated to other jobs. Script supervisors. Some screenwriters (although not as many as men). Anita Loos basically powered Hollywood stories for 25, 30 years. She was a story machine!! and the films she wrote were HITS. And finally – film editors! Yes! Women were editors. I think it was thought that women were more suited to this job – I mean, because it’s … sedentary, not physically taxing, and it’s like working a sewing machine?? lol I don’t know. It’s dumb!! However, like you said – women did come to dominate in the editing field. Maybe the “suits” who wanted to ban women from the “important” jobs didn’t really get how important editing was.