There's that very funny episode of "The Mary Tyler Moore Show" where Eric Braeden plays a very brutal critic who is to some extent based on John Simon. I think Kenneth Mars' egocentric critic character Hugh Simon in the film "What's Up, Doc?" film is also another John Simon parody. Dennis Cunningham, a CBS New York TV critic, also could be rather cutting when a flop was being reviewed.
I dropped my subscription to "New York" magazine back when John Simon's reviews turned especially nasty, petty and personal, especially towards negative physical descriptions of actors. Technically, he wrote well. However, his approach and manner was many times vindictive, and his objective appeared to be punitive, unless he liked how you looked. |
