Movies are our cheap and easy expression, the sullen art of displaced persons.

McLuhanism and the media have broken the back of the book business; they've freed people from the shame of not reading. They've rationalized becoming stupid and watching television.

An avidity for more is built into the love of movies. Something else is built in: you have to be open to the idea of getting drunk on movies. (Being able to talk about movies with someone -- to share the giddy high excitement you feel -- is enough for a friendship.

Irresponsibility is part of the pleasure of all art; it is the part the schools cannot recognize.

Television as we have it isn't an art form - it's a piece of furniture that is good for a few things.

We will never know the extent of the damage movies are doing to us, but movie art, it appears, thrives on moral chaos. When the country is paralyzed, the popular culture may tell us why. After innocence, winners become losers. Movies are probably inuring us to corruption; the sellout is the hero-survivor for our times.

This movie is a toupee made up to look like honest baldness.