American Cinematographer - February 1993 - 47

the cameraman has experi¬
mented, trying to satisfy a seem¬

reer,

ingly insatiable appetite for filmmaking while nurturing talented
young cinematographers with a
quiet dedication.
Documentary filmmaker
Albert Maysles (Salesman, Grey Gar¬

was

the

officer. "All you had to do to get a
promotion was stay alive," he

Early Adventures

quips today.

ASCs Lifetime

Wexler

After the war, Wexler
spent a few months working for his

Achievement
Award.

was

born in Chi¬

cago in 1926 and grew up there as
well. His only childhood encoun¬
ters with a camera occurred while

father in a stock room at Allied Ra¬
dio Company in Chicago. It was ap¬

making the occasional home movie

parent that he wasn't a chip off the
most

Desperate

peration, Dad

etc.)

asked me what I
wanted to do,"
Wexler recalls.
"I tried to think
of something re¬

tells a different
kind of story. In

1968, Maysles
in Chicago
shooting
a
documentary
against the
background of
was

ally outlandish.

sur¬

told him I
wanted to be a
filmmaker."
Wexler
started at the

rounding the

top, or so he

Democratic Na¬

thought. His fa¬
ther helped him
open a studio in

I

the civil insur¬
rection

tional Conven¬
tion. Another
crew headed by
Wexler was

a

suburb of Chi¬

Wexler
equipped

cago.

working at
many of the

was

locations.
The
two
filmmakers had
crossed paths

camera

with the latest

same

many

and

lighting equip¬
ment, and his
father prevailed

business
acquaintances

times; in

upon

fact, Wexler shot
some scenes

to hire his

for

son

to

Maysles on Sales¬

produce indus¬

in 1968. This

trial films, but
the
younger
Wexler realized

man

time,
was

Wexler

shooting

a
feature film that
he was also di¬

recting and co¬
producing, called Medium Cool. It
was a different
type of film, a mix¬
ture of hyper-reality and narrative
filmmaking. "He (Wexler) asked
me to
appear in his film as an actor
playing the role of a reporter,"
Maysles recalls. After consider¬
ation, Maysles decided his place

only the barest
modicum

of

success.

during family vacations. After high
school, he spent a year at Berkeley,
attending the University of Califor¬

As it turned out, however,
his first excursion into camerawork
wasn't wasted time. Years later,

nia.

looking back, Wexler recalled
shooting film in a factory in Ala¬

Wexler volunteered to be¬
come an

ordinary seaman in the
during the Sec¬

bama, where he

saw

for the first

Merchant Marine

time how people lived and worked

ond World War. He twice survived

in those circumstances. He learned

behind the camera, and told
Wexler he couldn't do it. "So
Haskell asked if he could borrow

torpedo attacks while working on

about the unique texture of a real¬
istic look, and also discovered that
while the moment of truth in pho¬

my jacket. I was wearing a wool
Norfolk hunting jacket that he en¬
visioned this character wearing."

occasion,

was

According to Maysles, any warm
body would have been fine - it

recipient of the

old block. "Al¬
in des¬

dens,
Gimme
Shelter, Abortion:
Choices,

Haskell Wexler,
this year's

jacket Wexler wanted.

tankers that

ran

the North Sea

gauntlet to Murmansk. On another
a

tanker he

was

aboard

sank off the coast of Africa. Follow¬

ing that mishap, he spent a month
living in native villages. At the end

tography is a fleeting and delicate
thing, it touches the soul when cap¬
tured.

of the war, Wexler was a second

Wexler began to put his
priorities in order. In 1947, he joined

February 1993

American

Cinematographer

45
American Cinematographer - February 1993

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