Friday Vid Picks: Jack Valenti

Former MPAA chief Jack Valenti died Thursday at the age of 85. While a somewhat reviled figure among online critics, it was his job to be Hollywood’s lightning rod for criticism of copyright policy and the ratings system. “A gentleman, very old school” said Joi Ito, Chairman of the Creative Commons Board of Directors, of his personal encounters with Valenti. “None of us thought that he was a mean person or a rude person, he was always polite.”

Ito further noted that Valenti commended the Creative Commons when it was released as an admirable effort to give more rights to artists. A good sport, I remember when then EFF employee Annalee Newitz text messaged me from the steps of the supreme court, giddy that Valenti was signing a BetaMax tape for her.

While I can’t say I agreed with Valenti’s position, he was certainly a staunch advocate for the position of the MPAA and passionate in his delivery of their message. And in a fitting footnote to his career, it is very difficult to find footage of Valenti, authorized or otherwise, online — so this vid picks is shorter than usual.

In an excerpt from This Film is Not Yet Rated, Valenti declares, “My greatest achievement as head of the MPAA is that I survived.”

Proving that internerds with a passion for downloading movies weren’t the only party who poked fun at Valenti, here he makes a fictional appearance in the Steven Spielberg produced “Freakazoid,” which partakes in some light mockery of his vanity.

This episode of Charlie Rose from June 5th, 2002 features not only Jack Valenti but recently deceased author David Halberstam. Now that’s eerie.

Photo by Matthew Bradley.