Richard Dreyfuss casts his vote for civics and activism, not stardom

Even before actor Richard Dreyfuss had his Bar Mitzvah, he had begun mapping his career trajectory.

“I knew when I was 12 years old that I would have a constituency,” says Dreyfuss, who grew up to represent the “urban, college-graduated, neurotic fast-talker. I knew that there were thousands of urban, 20^th-century neurotics running around desperate for a representation, and that was me.”

The semi-retired, somewhat reclusive, Oscar-winning actor is out promoting the San Diego Film Festival (SDFF), running Sept. 23-27 in the Gaslamp Quarter. He will be the guest of honor for “An Evening with Richard Dreyfuss,” a two-hour Q&A on September 26.

Don’t expect much of a career overview. Dreyfuss isn’t a regular on the film festival circuit.

When asked why he decided to appear at SDFF he says, “It actually gave me the opportunity to talk about the Dreyfuss Initiative, which is my endeavor to bring what used to be called civics, and what I call power, back to the K through 12 grades in the American public school system.”

He speaks softly, meticulously and with unwavering passion when discussing the Dreyfuss Initiative: “We are not taught the basics of anything. The irony is that the whole world recognizes America as a miracle, and I could detail that miracle easily. The only ones that don’t know America is a miracle are Americans. There’s no teaching.

“While teaching the subject is not the answer to all of our problems, it is part of the answer…Without teaching the ideas of America and raising up the same devotion my generation felt in the ’50s, we will lose this country as we have been losing it.”

The Brooklyn native — and current North County resident — turns 62 this October 29. He was raised in Bayside, Queens in New York. Father, Norman was an attorney who later became a restaurateur, and mother Gerry a peace activist. The family relocated to Los Angeles in 1956, and before long Dreyfuss was performing at the Beverly Hills Jewish Center.

He appeared in a slew of popular ’60s sitcoms (”Gidget,” “Bewitched,” “That Girl”) before making his big screen debut in an uncredited bit role in “The Graduate.” Dreyfuss told me that when channel surfing, “There are certain projects that I did that I’ll get captured by and certain ones that I’ll turn off.”

While auditioning for early roles, he fell victim to Hollywood casting directors who failed to spot the brashly appealing charm beneath the overbearing cockiness of his characterizations. It’s been said that the actor took note of their names, and compiled a list as a reminder that success would eventually come his way.

For me and many other kids coming of age in the 70s, Dreyfuss’ performance as Curt, the hopelessly hung up and decidedly smart-ass high school graduate in George Lucas’ “American Graffiti,” inspired instant identification, as did Duddy,  the hyper-kinetic hustler who was constantly moving in “The Apprenticeship of Duddy Kravitz.” It took the actor 20 years before he was able to make peace with his performance in that 1974 film.

” I looked at it again,” he admits, laughing, “and said, ‘Oh, Richard! Grow up!’ It was the first time I’d ever seen myself in a lead and I was incredibly critical. It took me a long time to see it more clearly.”

He made the transition from $480 per week journeyman actor to box office superstar by playing Steven Spielberg’s alter ego in two films that forever changed the face of art and exhibition in American cinema, “Jaws” and “Close Encounters of the Third Kind.” He once told an interviewer, “Steven Spielberg is the only person I’ve come across who fits my criteria of genius. And I don’t throw that word around. Genius is imagination and attention to detail. The ability to achieve to the minutest detail what you perceive in your imagination. I don’t think there’s another person on earth who’s as great a plot structuralist or a better storyteller.”

Prior to Adrien Brody’s Academy Award for “The Pianist,” Dreyfuss at 29 was the youngest man to take home a Best Actor Oscar for his work as a struggling actor in Neil Simon’s romantic comedy “The Goodbye Girl.”

There were times when he appeared in more misses than hits, but seldom on his account. After personal problems brought about a career nosedive, the actor returned to form in the late ’80s with a string of box office hits that included “Down and Out in Beverly Hills,” “Stakeout” and “What About Bob?” He reached a pinnacle playing Sam Sharpe, the obnoxious but loveable super-salesman in Lasse Hallstrom’s neglected “Once Around,” and was once again nominated for an Academy Award as the teacher in “Mr. Holland’s Opus.”

Dreyfuss later parlayed his disdain for Republicans into two outstanding performances as a pair of the GOP’s more controversial representatives. He played Gen. Alexander Haig in the TV movie “The Day Reagan Was Shot” and Vice President Dick Cheney in Oliver Stone’s “W.” Of the latter he noted, “My initial reaction was that I was asked to work with Oliver Stone, which I wasn’t looking forward to. But to play Dick Cheney…that’s an actor’s dream.”

Lately, the thought of bringing civics back to the American classroom has become an all-encompassing obsession for Dreyfuss. The idea of teaching political science and the art of government administration led the actor “to Oxford for four years as a senior advisory researcher…researching the curriculum and the history of teaching the subject. I kind of retired as an actor to do this.”

Acting’s loss may be America’s gain.

In 2006, Dreyfuss addressed The National Press Club in Washington, D.C. feeling confident that the time was right to bring about impeachment proceedings against President George W. Bush. Dreyfuss feels that the country didn’t get behind his sentiments “because of embarrassment.”

The film festival’s biography of the actor mentions his desire to use the power of motion pictures to shape us politically and morally, but is that really the responsibility of movies?

“No,” Dreyfuss emphatically replies. “Art has no responsibility. Art is amoral. That may sound a little fascistic, but that’s the way I’ve always felt.
“It doesn’t matter where Beethoven stood politically on anything. What will matter is the music and that’s what artists should be attached to. That doesn’t mean that they shouldn’t have morality in their art…artists who work in film have the same responsibility as every other citizen in the nation.”

When asked to name a recent narrative film that promotes the principles of freedom of speech and democracy, Dreyfuss instantly cites George Clooney’s “Good Night, and Good Luck” because “it’s probably the best historical film ever made in this country because it was word for word the truth.”

Sadly, it’s the only contemporary fictional film that readily comes to mind.

“It will always be a business and an art form,” he sighs “and it will always be a struggle between the two of them and you’ll make money out of some films and not make money out of others. The ones you don’t make money out of, you won’t repeat. If you look at the films of John Ford for instance…his reputation may be that he was anti-Indian when in fact he was very pro-Indian. If you look at the films of Frank Capra, you will see the films of a man, an immigrant, who was so in love with America that it’s fused to every moment of every film he ever made.”

Despite a certain outward disdain for the status quo, Dreyfuss remains a proud and loyal American. When lecturing across the country, he begins every talk by reciting the Pledge of Allegiance twice. When audiences begin to sit down after the first reading, he asks them to remain standing and once again place their hands on their hearts. The second time he delivers the pledge he omits the term “under God.”

“We have argued so bitterly over the phrase ‘under God,’” he continues, “that we have forgotten that we are pledging allegiance to the Republic. And as Americans who have had a unique position in the world and who have given gifts to mankind unparalleled in human history, we have not a clue anymore as to what I mean when I say what I have just said. Those things must be taught.”

His voice gets louder: “We are the first generation to fail, get an F, in the most fundamental principle of America, which is to pass on to our children a better country than the one we got from our parents. We are failing. We will not do that…

“It’s not just that there is a solution to a problem…(this is) a problem with a gun at our head. There is only a certain amount of time, and if there is anyone out there who believes that America in the 21st century is going to go through some Fred Astaire movie or some cakewalk, they are nuts.”

Scott Marks is an SDNN contributor.

Event info

What: “An Evening with Richard Dreyfuss,” presented by the San Diego Film Festival

When: September 26 at 6 p.m.

Where: Reading’s Gaslamp Theatre, 701 Fifth Ave., Gaslamp Quarter

How much: $20

Tickets/information: (619) 582-2368;  www.sdff.org

Tags: American Graffiti, An Evening with Richard Dreyfuss, civics, Close Encounters of the Third Kind, Dick Cheney, Gaslamp Quarter, Jaws, Reading's Gaslamp Theatre, Richard Dreyfuss, Richard Dreyfuss in person, Richard Dreyfuss Interview, San Diego Film Festival, SDNN, The Apprenticeship of Duddy Kravitz, The Dreyfuss Initiative

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