![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.sheilaomalley.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/06\/vilmos_zsigmond_1978-e1750079702724.jpg\")
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\nOne of the best cinematographers ever.<\/p>\n
He shot Deer Hunter<\/i>, Deliverance<\/i>, The Long Goodbye<\/i>, McCabe and Mrs. Miller<\/i>, Close Encounters of the Third Kind<\/i>. These alone would put him in the history books. These are some of the most influential films ever made, and how they LOOK is a huge reason why. He worked up until the end. One of the last films he shot was Six Dance Lessons in Six Weeks<\/i>, starring Gena Rowlands. <\/p>\n
Some of his shots rank as my favorite of all time. <\/p>\n
\n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \nGlenn Kenny wrote a beautiful tribute when he died in 2016<\/a>. Zsigmond not only worked in a flexible way, adjusting his style to the material, he was a personal artist himself: he shared with us how he saw the world, how much he understood light and what light meant to any given atmosphere (so many people take light for granted), as well as his ability to morph into the mindset of the director and the story. <\/p>\n American cinema of the 1970s, with its influential and distinctive diversity of style, helmed by exciting new directors like Hal Ashby, Brian De Palma, Robert Altman, John Boorman, Michael Cimino, Steven Spielberg, was helped along in the look\/feel of the images by two emigre cinematographers, Vilmos Zsigmond and L\u00e1szl\u00f3 Kov\u00e1cs. Both hailed from Hungary. They were friends. The Russians rolled into Budapest in 1956 to crush the revolution against Soviet rule. It was a brutal crackdown, enraging other nation-members of the USSR. It was an ominous harbinger. (The crackdown enraged the world. Elvis dedicated his performance of “Peace in the Valley,” in his final appearance on the Ed Sullivan Show<\/i> in 1957 to the people in Hungary, calling for Americans to make donations in support of the Hungarian people. Ed Sullivan announced the address where to send donations, and millions of dollars poured in. Recently, because of that support 50 years ago, a park in Budapest was named for Elvis, and he was also granted posthumous Hungarian citizenship<\/a>. Like I keep saying, stating the obvious, Elvis is everywhere<\/a>). <\/p>\n But back to the subject matter: Kov\u00e1cs and Zsigmond, two Hungarian cinematographers, living in Budapest in 1956, roamed the streets, filming the violent crackdown with an Arriflex camera using the last of their 35-mm film. They smuggled the footage out of the country (footage which would soon be seen around the world, and is still part of our collective – or should be – understanding of that event). Kov\u00e1cs and Zsigmond transported their footage by train as far as they could go, then jumped off, and walked into Austria on foot. Eventually, they moved to America. They both got their start shooting biker pictures for Roger Corman (an unofficial film school for so many people). A documentary was made about their friendship, and my friend Matt Zoller Seitz reviewed it for The New York Times<\/i>.<\/a><\/p>\n So let’s rack up the major projects shot by these two emigre-cinematographers from Hungary. <\/p>\n And let’s take particular note of the fact that they continued working on major projects even after the heyday of the 1970s subsided. Their style adjusted to the story. THIS is artistry, as well as professionalism. Style is sometimes obvious, and style is sometimes invisible, but no less valuable to the story.<\/p>\n L\u00e1szl\u00f3 Kov\u00e1cs<\/b>![\"3_reasons_BLOW_OUT_still_original\"](\"https:\/\/www.sheilaomalley.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/01\/3_reasons_BLOW_OUT_still_original.jpg\")
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\nEasy Rider<\/i>
\nFive Easy Pieces<\/i>
\nThe Last Movie<\/i>
\nWhat’s Up, Doc?<\/i>
\nThe King of Marvin Gardens<\/i>
\nPaper Moon<\/i>
\nShampoo<\/i>
\nNew York, New York<\/i>
\nParadise Alley<\/i>
\nFrances<\/i>
\nGhostbusters<\/i>
\nMask<\/i>
\nSay Anything<\/i>
\nMy Best Friend’s Wedding<\/i>
\nMiss Congeniality<\/i><\/p>\n