Barry M. Malkin (October 26, 1938 – April 4, 2019) was an American film editor with about 30 film credits. He is noted for his extended collaboration with director Francis Ford Coppola, having edited most of Coppola's films from 1969 to 1997. In particular, Malkin worked with Coppola on four of the component and compilation films of the Godfather trilogy, though he did not edit the first film, The Godfather. Film critic Roger Ebert called the first two Godfather films a "cultural bedrock".[1][2][3][4][5][6]
The Godfather was extremely successful artistically and at the box office; among other distinctions, it won the Academy Award for Best Picture for 1972. Production of a sequel, The Godfather Part II, started in 1973. William Reynolds and Peter Zinner had edited The Godfather, and been nominated for the Academy Award for Best Film Editing for their work. For the sequel, Malkin and Richard Marks joined Zinner as co-editors. Godfather Part II, which was released in 1974 and enjoyed success comparable to The Godfather, is noted for its intercutting between two storylines, one from Sicily in the early 20th century, and a second contemporary story that follows the first film's action. Long afterwards, the film was listed as the 22nd best-edited film of all time in a 2012 survey of members of the Motion Picture Editors Guild.[9]
Coppola subsequently asked Malkin to edit The Godfather Saga (1977), a television miniseries, that was based on the two films. The miniseries incorporated scenes that could not be included in the original versions, and replaced the complex intercutting between time periods of the original films with a more straightforward chronological ordering.[10]
Malkin was an additional editor for Apocalypse Now (1979), and a supervising editor for the Coppola-produced film Hammett (directed by Wim Wenders, 1982). In this period, Malkin also edited Four Friends (1981), which was directed by Arthur Penn. Dede Allen had edited Penn's films since Bonnie and Clyde (1967), but was unavailable for this film.[11]Stephen Prince has written of the contrast between them: "the difference an editor makes on a director's films is evident by comparing his more linear approach to Dede Allen's fractured and off-center cutting".[12]
1980s and 1990s
During the 1980s Malkin edited six of Coppola's films, from Rumble Fish (1983) through The Godfather Part III (1990). He was joined by his former mentor Robert Q. Lovett for The Cotton Club (1984), which garnered the two editors a nomination for the Academy Award.[13] Malkin also edited the film Big (1988) that was directed by Penny Marshall. By the end of the decade Coppola had agreed to make The Godfather Part III (1990), and brought in Malkin, Lisa Fruchtman, and Walter Murch to edit. Malkin and Murch then edited a compilation entitled The Godfather Trilogy: 1901–1980 that was released to video in 1992. The compilation included footage from the theatrically released versions of all three films as well as additional footage.[14] A 1993 review in Time reads, "This trilogy has a novelistic density, a rueful, unhurried lyricism and a depth that, singly, the films could not achieve. Altogether glorious."[15]
In the 1990s, in addition to his work with Coppola on Jack (1996) and The Rainmaker (1997), Malkin edited four films with director Andrew Bergman. Their first film together, The Freshman (1992), is to some extent a comic "sendup" of the original 1972 Godfather film, including a part played by Marlon Brando. Malkin's last credit was for The Big Bounce (2004), which was directed by George Armitage.
^Malkin worked on thirteen films directed by Coppola in this period; see the filmography in this article. He did not work on The Godfather (1972), The Conversation (1974), One from the Heart (1982), The Outsiders (1983), Captain EO (1986), Tucker: The Man and his Dream (1988), and Bram Stoker's Dracula (1992); for Coppola's filmography see "Francis Ford Coppola > Filmography >> AllMovie". allmovie.com. Retrieved 2009-12-23.
^Ebert, Roger (October 2, 2008). "The Godfather, Part II (1974)". Chicago Sun Times. why is it a 'great movie'? Because it must be seen as a piece with the unqualified greatness of 'The Godfather.' The two can hardly be considered apart ('Part III' is another matter). When the characters in a film take on a virtual reality for us, when a character in another film made 30 years later can say 'The Godfather' contains all the lessons in life you need to know, when an audience understands why that statement could be made, a film has become a cultural bedrock.
^Penn, Arthur; Chaiken, Michael; Cronin, Paul (2008). Arthur Penn: Interviews. University Press of Mississippi. p. 156. ISBN978-1-60473-105-7. I really miss not having Dede Allen, who has edited all my films since Bonnie and Clyde, but she was working on (Warren Beatty's) Reds at the time. Barry Malkin, who I got to replace her, has had the same training and comes from the same background. He was perfect for the job.
^Prince, Stephen (2002). A New Pot of Gold: Hollywood Under the Electronic Rainbow 1980-1989 (Volume 10 of History of the American cinema). University of California Press. p. 197. ISBN978-0-520-23266-2. Barry Malkin cut Coppola's Rumble Fish, Cotton Club, Peggy Sue Got Married, and Gardens of Stone as well as the Coppola-produced Hammett. He also cut Arthur Penn's Four Friends (1981), and the difference an editor makes on a director's films is evident by comparing his more linear approach to Dede Allen's fractured and off-center cutting.
^Malta, J. Geoff (2006). "The Godfather Trilogy: 1901-1980". Archived from the original on 2008-03-28. This webpage reproduces material originally distributed with the "home video" release.
