A Star is Born, The Producers, Wild River, Top Hat, Sunset Blvd., Leave Her to Heaven, North by Northwest, The Graduate, Pandora and the Flying Dutchman, The Good the Bad the Ugly, King of Comedy, Metropolis …  Tony Curtis, Eli Wallach, Eve Marie Saint, Martin Landau, Mel Brooks, Nancy Olson, Buck Henry,  Peter Bogdanovich, Leonard Maltin, Luise Rainer,  Ernest Borgnine, Darryl Hickman …

Out of all of the film festivals I have attended, including Sundance, this wass by far the most fun. Not only that, but this is probably the purest celebration of cinema in existence.  Imagine that: a film festival that is truly all about film. No pretentious industry mixers, no celebrity-of-the-moments (who have no intention of going to a screening anyway), no swag tents, no panel discussions about marketing and finance, and best of all, no crappy movies! Instead, the art of film was of serious discussion, its preservation was of paramount importance, its history was respected and celebrated and the men and women who created them were honored. It was a film festival with heart and soul—a beautiful thing to see in Hollywood where such things are hard to come by.

And so to Robert Osborn, Ben Mankiewicz, and everyone who made the TCM Film Festival possible, I say: My mother thanks you. My father thanks you. My sister thanks you. And I thank you.