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53-551: The Great Debaters was released in theaters on December 25, 2007 to positive critical reception. Based on a true story, the plot revolves around the efforts of debate coach Melvin B. Tolson at Wiley College , a historically black college related to the Methodist Episcopal Church, South (now The United Methodist Church ), to place his team on equal footing with whites in the American South during

106-526: A "guest star" on Mystery Science Theater 3000 during its original run; during a Season Nine episode, he joins Pearl Forrester in torturing Mike Nelson and the bots with the film Gorgo . He was also mocked on the show for giving the film Laserblast a rating of 2.5 stars. After Mike and the Bots finish watching the movie, they express amazement at the rating while Mike reads off a list of well-known films that Maltin gave similar ratings to. Maltin hosted

159-418: A $ 1 million donation to Wiley College so they could re-establish their debate team. June 2007, after completing filming at Central High School, Grand Cane, Louisiana, Washington donated $ 10,000 to Central High School. The Great Debaters was released on DVD on May 13, 2008. The Great Debaters debuted at No. 11 in its first weekend with a total of $ 6,005,180 from 1,171 venues. The film grossed $ 30,236,407 in

212-576: A circulation of 400 in 11 countries. He expanded the circulation to 2,000 and continued to publish it until 1974. In the December 1968 issue of Esquire magazine, he wrote an article listing his 75 best movies shown on television and the 25 worst. He also wrote for Classic Images . He created a film society at Teaneck High School and graduated in 1968. Maltin later earned a journalism degree at New York University . While at New York University, Maltin became film critic and associate editor for

265-725: A column for The Washington Tribune that he called "Cabbage and Caviar"; a selection of the columns, in a volume also titled Caviar and Cabbage , edited and with an introduction by Robert M. Farnsworth, was published by the University of Missouri Press in 1982. In 1941, Tolson published his poem "Dark Symphony" in the Atlantic Monthly . Some critics believe it is his greatest work, in which he compared and contrasted African-American and European-American history. In 1944, Tolson published his first poetry collection, Rendezvous with America , which includes Dark Symphony . He

318-561: A compilation of National Film Board of Canada animated shorts, Leonard Maltin's Animation Favorites from the National Film Board of Canada . Comedian Doug Benson 's podcast Doug Loves Movies features a segment called the Leonard Maltin Game, in which the guest must guess the name of a film based on a subset of the cast list in reverse order and a few intentionally vague clues from the capsule review of

371-749: A decade, Maltin was also on the faculty of the New School for Social Research in New York City . As of 2018, Maltin teaches in the School of Cinematic Arts at the University of Southern California . In 1990, he took a look at the MGM years of The Three Stooges in a film called The Lost Stooges , available on a made-to-order DVD through the Warner Archive Collection . Maltin left Entertainment Tonight in 2010. His final appearance on

424-909: A film festival called MaltinFest at the Egyptian Theater that spanned three days. Special guests included Laura Dern and Alexander Payne . Since 2018, Maltin has served on the advisory board for Legion M . In 2022, he was invited to join the Academy of Motion Pictures Arts and Sciences as part of the Member at Large branch. Leonard Maltin's Movie Guide has been praised by comedian Patton Oswalt who described it as "A paperback Kubrickian monolith of one man's massive and far-reaching tastes." Other admirers include Noah Baumbach , Alexander Payne , and Billy Bob Thornton . In The Simpsons episode " A Star Is Burns ", Marge says: "Did you know there are over 600 critics on TV and Leonard Maltin

477-504: A larger number of more recent titles. In 1970, his second book, Movie Comedy Teams , was published featuring teams such as Laurel and Hardy , the Marx Brothers and Abbott and Costello . Maltin wrote program guides for the newly created Showtime network and went on to publish articles in a variety of film journals, newspapers, and magazines, including Variety and TV Guide . In the 1970s Maltin also reviewed recordings in

530-619: A leave of absence from teaching to study for a Master's degree at Columbia University . His thesis project, "The Harlem Group of Negro Writers", was based on his extensive interviews with members of the Harlem Renaissance . His poetry was strongly influenced by his time in New York. He completed his work and was awarded the master's degree in 1940. In addition to teaching English, Tolson used his high energies in several directions at Wiley. He built an award-winning debate team,

583-463: A letter of the Greek alphabet . The poem concentrates on African-American life. It was a striking change from his first works, and was composed in a jazz style, with quick changes and intellectually dense, rich allusions. In 1979, a collection of Tolson's poetry was published posthumously, entitled A Gallery of Harlem Portraits . These were poems written during his year in New York, and they represented

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636-587: A mixture of various styles, including short narratives in free verse. This collection was influenced by the loose form of Edgar Lee Masters ' Spoon River Anthology . An urban, racially diverse and culturally rich community is presented in A Gallery of Harlem Portraits . With increasing interest in Tolson and his literary period, in 1999 the University of Virginia published a collection of his poetry entitled Harlem Gallery and Other Poems of Melvin B. Tolson , edited by Raymond Nelson. Tolson's papers are housed at

689-544: Is named for her). In July 2018, Maltin announced that he had been diagnosed with Parkinson's disease three and a half years prior. In 1998, Maltin settled a libel suit brought by former child star Billy Gray , of Father Knows Best fame, whom Maltin identified in his review of the film Dusty and Sweets McGee as a real-life drug addict and dealer. The statement had appeared in print in Maltin's annual movie guide for nearly 25 years before Maltin publicly apologized for

742-494: Is the best looking of them all?" Lisa replies "Ewwww!" In the 1995 video release of the original Star Wars trilogy, there was an interview with George Lucas conducted by Maltin before the start of the films. Maltin is listed in the Guinness Book of World Records for the world's shortest movie review; his two-star review of the 1948 musical Isn't It Romantic? consists of the word "No". Maltin voices himself in

795-518: The South Park episode " Mecha-Streisand " (1998) where he (voiced by Trey Parker ), Sidney Poitier , and Robert Smith fight a Godzilla -like robot version of Barbra Streisand . Maltin voiced himself in the Freakazoid! episode "Island of Dr. Mystico", in which the titular villain, Dr. Mystico, abducted him to make use of his film knowledge. Maltin was one of the few people to appear as

848-642: The Carolina Chocolate Drops . It features favorites, such as "Step It Up and Go", "Nobody's Fault But Mine", and the Duke Ellington classic, "Delta Serenade". Varèse Sarabande released a separate album of the film's score, composed by James Newton Howard and Peter Golub. The complete soundtrack album includes the following songs: Melvin B. Tolson Melvin Beaunorus Tolson (February 6, 1898 – August 29, 1966)

901-539: The Great Depression , from day-to-day insults African Americans endured to lynching . Also depicted is James Farmer , who, at 14 years old, was on Wiley's debate team after completing high school (and who later went on to co-found the Congress of Racial Equality ). Another character on the team, Samantha Booke, is based on the real individual Henrietta Bell Wells , acclaimed poet and the only female member of

954-605: The Library of Congress . Leonard Maltin Leonard Michael Maltin (born December 18, 1950) is an American film critic , film historian , and author. He is known for his book of film capsule reviews , Leonard Maltin's Movie Guide , published from 1969 to 2014. Maltin was the film critic on Entertainment Tonight from 1982 to 2010. He currently teaches at the USC School of Cinematic Arts and hosts

1007-605: The Robert Osborne Award from Turner Classic Movies in 2022. Maltin was born in New York City, the son of singer Jacqueline ( née Gould; 1923–2012) and Aaron Isaac Maltin (1915–2002), a lawyer and immigration judge, as part of a Jewish family, and raised in Teaneck, New Jersey . Maltin began his writing career at age 10, with a weekly magazine called The Bergen Bulletin . At 13, he started writing for

1060-670: The 1930 Wiley team who participated in the first collegiate interracial debate in the US. The key line of dialogue, used several times, is a famous paraphrase of theologian St. Augustine of Hippo : " An unjust law is no law at all ", which would later be the central thesis of Letter from a Birmingham Jail , by Martin Luther King Jr. Another major line, repeated in slightly different versions according to context, concerns doing what you "have to do" in order that we "can do" what we "want to do." In all instances, these vital lines are spoken by

1113-673: The 1930s, when Jim Crow laws were common and lynch mobs were a fear for African Americans. The Wiley team eventually succeeds to the point where they are able to debate Harvard University . (In 1935, the Wiley College debate team defeated the reigning national debate champion, the University of Southern California, depicted as Harvard University in The Great Debaters.) The movie explores social constructs in Texas during

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1166-483: The 2016 BoJack Horseman episode "Brrap Brrap Pew Pew" where the titular character attends the Leonard Maltin Awards. The episode features two references to Leonard Maltin's Movie Guide on a cocktail menu that lists two of its items as "Isn't it Rum and Coke ? No" (a reference to Maltin's infamous review of Isn't It Romantic? ) and "Jaeger BOMB," with the second word stylized in the same manner as

1219-583: The 5th best film of 2007 and Roger Ebert of the Chicago Sun-Times named it the 9th best film of 2007. Some critics have criticized the film for "playing it safe." John Monaghan of the Detroit Free Press stated, "Serious moviegoers, especially those attracted by the movie's aggressive Oscar campaign, will likely find the package gorgeously wrapped, but intellectually empty." Motion picture-historian Leonard Maltin , however, hailed

1272-526: The James L. Farmer Sr. and James L. Farmer Jr. characters. The film depicts the Wiley Debate team beating Harvard College in the 1930s. The real Wiley team instead defeated the University of Southern California , who at the time were the reigning debating champions. Wiley was not allowed to officially call themselves champions, despite defeating the reigning champions, because they were not full members of

1325-632: The Los Angeles International Animation Celebration ) on the show at one point or another. He also appeared on the Starz cable network, and hosted his own syndicated radio program, Leonard Maltin on Video , as well as the syndicated TV show Hot Ticket with Boston film critic Joyce Kulhawik (originally E! personality and game show host Todd Newton ). Maltin also hosted a television show called Secret's Out on ReelzChannel network. He also spearheaded

1378-579: The Missouri and Iowa area until settling longer in Kansas City . Reverend Tolson studied throughout his life to add to the limited education he had first received, even taking Latin , Greek and Hebrew by correspondence courses. Both parents emphasized education for their children. Melvin Tolson graduated from Lincoln High School in Kansas City in 1919. He enrolled at Fisk University , but

1431-478: The Pennsylvania-based 8mm Collector , with a column called Research Unlimited, where he answered film questions. He began writing a monthly column for a Canadian publication, Film Fan Monthly , edited by Daryl Davy, dedicated to films from the golden age of Hollywood. In May 1966, Davy asked 15-year-old Maltin if he would take over as editor and sold the publication to him for $ 175. At the time it had

1484-472: The US. As of November 20, 2012, the review aggregator Rotten Tomatoes reports that 80% of critics gave the film positive reviews based on 132 reviews. The site's consensus reads: "A wonderful cast and top-notch script elevate The Great Debaters beyond a familiar formula for a touching, uplifting drama." Metacritic reported the film had an average score of 65 out of 100 based on reviews from 32 critics. Carrie Rickey of The Philadelphia Inquirer named it

1537-650: The Wiley Forensic Society, which became a pioneer in interracial collegiate debates. Beginning in 1930, the team debated against law students from the University of Michigan in Chicago ; then, in 1931, the team participated in the first known interracial collegiate debate in the South, against Oklahoma City University . During their tour in 1935, they competed against the University of Southern California , which they defeated. There, Tolson also co-founded

1590-414: The black intercollegiate Southern Association of Dramatic and Speech Arts, and directed the theater club. In addition, he coached the junior varsity football team. Tolson mentored students such as James Farmer and Heman Sweatt , who later became civil rights activists. He encouraged his students not only to be well-rounded people but also to stand up for their rights. This was a controversial position in

1643-421: The book was regularly updated and then annually updated from October 1987 until September 2014, each edition having the following year's date. The book was later known as Leonard Maltin's TV Movies and Video Guide and eventually Leonard Maltin's Movie Guide . In 2005, many films released no later than 1960 were moved into a spin-off volume, Leonard Maltin's Classic Movie Guide , to allow the regular book to cover

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1696-577: The cotton fields like him. Cow punchers understand him ... He's a great talker." In 1965, Tolson was appointed to a two-year term at Tuskegee Institute , where he was Avalon Poet. He died after cancer surgery in Dallas, Texas , on August 29, 1966. He was buried in Guthrie , Oklahoma. From 1930 on, Tolson began writing poetry. He also wrote two plays by 1937, although he did not continue to work in this genre. From October 1937 to June 1944, Tolson wrote

1749-759: The creation of the Walt Disney Treasures collectible DVD line in 2001, and continued to provide creative input and host the various sets. During the 1980s and 1990s, Maltin served on the advisory board of the National Student Film Institute . In the mid-1990s, Maltin became the president of the Los Angeles Film Critics Association and is on the advisory board of the Hollywood Entertainment Museum. For nearly

1802-453: The debate society; blacks were not admitted until after World War II . The Great Debaters was released in theaters on December 25, 2007. The release of the film coincided with a nationally stepped-up effort by urban debate leagues to get hundreds of inner-city and financially challenged schools to establish debate programs. Cities of focus included Denver, Philadelphia, and San Francisco. On December 19, 2007, Denzel Washington announced

1855-820: The film from Leonard Maltin's Movie Guide . Maltin appeared on the podcast in February 2010 and played the game himself. He appeared on the show again in August 2010. In November 2010, Benson and Maltin played the game on Kevin Pollak's Chat Show . Maltin repeated his appearances on Doug Loves Movies in September 2011 with Jimmy Pardo and Samm Levine , in September 2012 with Chris Evans and Adam Scott and in November 2013 with Peter Segal , " Werner Herzog " and Clare Kramer . Beginning in November 2014, Maltin has hosted

1908-509: The first film a bad review, finding it mean-spirited, which affected his friendship with director Joe Dante . The scene was spoofed in the Mad magazine parody of Gremlins 2 , in which he protests being eaten as Roger Ebert gives a worse review of the film, only for the Gremlins to remark they are waiting until Thanksgiving to find Ebert, as "he will feed a family of 15!". Maltin was parodied in

1961-621: The following year transferred to Lincoln University in Pennsylvania for financial reasons. He graduated with honors in 1923. He became a Man of the Omega Psi Phi fraternity. In 1922, Tolson married Ruth Southall of Charlottesville, Virginia , whom he had met as a student at Lincoln University. Their first child was Melvin Beaunorus Tolson Jr., who, as an adult, became a professor at the University of Oklahoma . He

2014-507: The jazz magazine Downbeat . Maltin served as the film critic for Playboy for six years based on Roger Ebert 's suggestion. He has also wrote Behind the Camera , a study of cinematography published in 1971. Starting on May 29, 1982, Maltin was the film reviewer on the syndicated television series Entertainment Tonight for 30 years. He praised the Tournee of Animation (alongside

2067-538: The journal The Black Scholar . In 1947, Liberia appointed Tolson its Poet Laureate. In 1953, he completed a major epic poem in honor of the nation's centennial, the Libretto for the Republic of Liberia . Tolson entered local politics and served three terms as mayor of Langston, Oklahoma, from 1954 to 1960. In 1947, Tolson was accused of having been active in organizing farm laborers and tenant farmers during

2120-480: The late 1930s (though the nature of his activities is unclear) and of having radical leftist associations. Tolson was a man of impressive intellect who created poetry that was "funny, witty, humoristic, slapstick, rude, cruel, bitter, and hilarious," as reviewer Karl Shapiro described the Harlem Gallery . The poet Langston Hughes described him as "no highbrow. Students revere him and love him. Kids from

2173-615: The lowest rating Maltin would give movies. In the South Park episode " Mecha-Streisand ", a parody of Maltin comes to the small Colorado town and transforms into a giant robot to battle a mechanised Barbra Streisand . In 2020, a Leonard Maltin board game was released called King of Movies: The Leonard Maltin Game. Maltin lives in Los Angeles. He is married to researcher and producer Alice Tlusty, and has one daughter, Jessie, who works with him (his production company, JessieFilm,

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2226-550: The movie as "Inspiring...plays with the facts but, despite its at-times-formulaic storytelling, shows us how education and determination can help ordinary people surmount even the most formidable obstacles." The songs for the soundtrack to the film were hand-picked by Denzel Washington from over 1000 candidates. It contains remakes of traditional blues and gospel songs from the 1920s and 1930s by artists including Sharon Jones , Alvin Youngblood Hart , David Berger, and

2279-570: The podcast Maltin on Movies . It began on Paul Scheer 's now-defunct Wolfpop network, with comedian and actor Baron Vaughn as a co-host. The two picked a topic generally based on what was currently in theaters and discussed three other movies within that topic: one that the two both liked, one that the two disliked and one they thought was a great lesser-known film, or " sleeper ", within the category. Topics included biopics, breakthrough performances and sequels. Maltin currently co-hosts with his daughter Jessie Maltin. From 2014 to 2019, Maltin hosted

2332-685: The quarterly Treasures From the Disney Vault on Turner Classic Movies . The last scheduled "Treasures from the Disney Vault" aired on September 2, 2019. Beginning in 2016, Maltin has served as the Honorary Head Juror of the Coronado Island Film Festival . In 2020, the festival named their top award The Leonard Maltin Tribute Award . In 2019, Maltin along with his daughter Jessie Maltin created

2385-527: The segregated U.S. South of the early and mid-20th century. In 1947, Tolson began teaching at Langston University , a historically black college in Langston, Oklahoma , where he worked for the next 17 years. He was a dramatist and director of the Dust Bowl Theater at the university. One of his students at Langston was Nathan Hare , the black studies pioneer who became the founding publisher of

2438-500: The segregated South. This work was depicted in the 2007 biopic The Great Debaters , produced by Oprah Winfrey , starring and directed by Denzel Washington as Tolson. Born in Moberly, Missouri , Tolson was one of four children of Reverend Alonzo Tolson, a Methodist minister, and Lera (Hurt) Tolson, a seamstress. Alonzo Tolson was of mixed race, the son of an enslaved woman and her white master. He served at various churches in

2491-503: The show as a regular correspondent was on July 19, 2010. He also wrote the introduction for The Complete Peanuts: 1983–1984 . In 1985, he delivered a three-word movie review on Entertainment Tonight for that year's horror film spoof, Transylvania 6-5000 . The review begins with a silent Maltin swaying to a recording of the Glenn Miller Orchestra playing "Pennsylvania 6-5000", the instrumental melody interrupted by

2544-500: The sound of a telephone ringing (part of the original recording), after which the band chants the title of the song. In his review, Maltin timed it so that his review began with the phone ringing: " Transylvania 6-5000 ... stinks!" Maltin also appeared as himself in Gremlins 2: The New Batch (1990), playing a film critic who blasts the first Gremlins film, but is attacked by the Gremlins. This scene echoed real life, as Maltin gave

2597-508: The university's Washington Square Journal , as well as continuing to edit Film Fan Monthly . An English teacher at Teaneck High School suggested that Maltin meet a friend of hers at publisher New American Library who was looking for someone to edit a film guide and in September 1969, at age 18, Maltin edited his first book, TV Movies , a compendium of synopses and reviews, with the subtitle, "Everything You Want To Know About More than 8,000 Movies Now Being Shown on TV". In subsequent years,

2650-494: The weekly podcast Maltin on Movies . He served two terms as President of the Los Angeles Film Critics Association , and votes for films to be selected for the National Film Registry . He has written books on animation and the history of film. He has also hosted numerous specials and provided commentary for several films. In 2021, he released his memoir, Starstruck: My Unlikely Road to Hollywood . He received

2703-464: Was an American poet, educator, columnist, and politician. As a poet, he was influenced both by Modernism and the language and experiences of African Americans , and he was deeply influenced by his study of the Harlem Renaissance . As a debate coach at the historically black Wiley College in Marshall, Texas , Tolson led a team that pioneered interracial college debates against white colleges in

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2756-435: Was especially interested in historic events that had fallen into obscurity. Tolson's Libretto for the Republic of Liberia (1953), another major work, is in the form of an epic poem in an eight-part, rhapsodic sequence. It is considered a major modernist work. Tolson's final work to appear in his lifetime, the long poem Harlem Gallery , was published in 1965. The poem consists of several sections, each beginning with

2809-472: Was followed by Arthur Lincoln, who as an adult became a professor at Southern University ; Wiley Wilson; and Ruth Marie Tolson. All children were born by 1928. After graduation, Tolson and his wife moved to Marshall, Texas , where he taught speech and English at Wiley College (1924–1947). The small, historically black Methodist Episcopal college had a high reputation among blacks in the South and Tolson became one of its stars. In 1930–31, Tolson took

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