“Searching for Mr. Rugoff” Film Review

Chicago native produces documentary, “Searching for Mr. Rugoff”

If you are a fan of indie films, an aspiring filmmaker, or a movie industry insider you might have a particular interest in “Searching for Mr. Rugoff” a documentary film about the man whose professional business decisions contributed to shaping the changing culture of the 1960s and 70s. However this is also a story of personality, the rise and fall of a career and how a once powerful individual can fall almost instantly into obscurity.

“Searching for Mr. Rugoff”  largely features the New York film scene but I decided to include it here at Chicago Broadcasting Network because Ira Deutchman, the film’s producer and director is a native Chicagoan raised on the southside in the South Shore neighborhood which around the same time produced the likes of actor/ singer Mandy Patinkin and playwright David Mamet.  Ira an Independent Film Producer based in New York, a Columbia University Professor, and self-described Cubs Fan was a former classmate of my wife Julie at Myra Bradwell Elementary School before he moved on to high school in Highland Park.

As is the case with many documentaries and good stories in general Deutchman takes us to places unfamiliar to most of us and shows us things we very likely have not seen. In this case it is a peek at the inner workings of the business of film distribution and how one person like Mr. Rugoff can make decisions that influence each of us subtly or even in direct and profound ways.

Deutchman acquaints us with the role of the film distributor as the individual or company with the responsibility of introducing new films to moviegoers and is thereby charged with creating the needed momentum that will ultimately lead a film to monetary success or not. It is at this point that many worthy films live or die.

If you are familiar with films like:  Elvira Madigan,  Z,  The Sorrow and the Pity, Putney Swope, Trash, Marjoe,  Gimme Shelter,  Scenes From a Marriage,  Swept Away, Monty Python and the Holy Grail, The Man Who Fell to Earth,  or Pumping Iron to name a few it is probably at least in some part due to the decisions and possibly the “P.T. Barnum” tactics of film distributor Donald Rugoff.

If you are unfamiliar with these titles I can assure you that they each in their own way either expressed  and reflected back to the audience images of the counter-culture or for many provided a virtual roadmap of changing values and shifts in social discourse.

If you were around Chicago during this era you probably went to see many of these films at the Carnegie on Wells, the Cinema off Michigan Avenue, maybe the Playboy Theater later renamed the Sandburg, or one of the other more progressive venues that championed independent film. Drop me a note and let me know where you first saw some of these films.

“Searching for Mr. Rugoff” is obviously a labor of love, or at least a labor of deep appreciation and respect for the man who Deutchman describes as his mentor, as the person who taught him everything he knows about film distribution.

The release of the 94 minute film was delayed due to COVID and is now enjoying  a limited screening schedule at the Music Box Theater on Southport.  However alternatively it can be downloaded at musicboxdirect.com for streaming online at home. For more viewing options nationwide visit Mrrugoff.com and to learn more about the producer / director or to see outtakes from the film visit iradeutchman.com.

See the trailer below.