“HELLO, MICHAEL, THIS is Bill
Collins...” These were the words
I loved to hear as Empire Reviews
Editor once a month back in the
mid-2000s. Here was Mr Movies
himself, calling me, to talk about
the Hollywood classic he wanted
to write about for the next issue.
As a teenage film fanatic
some two decades earlier I was a
huge fan of Bill Collins. He made
it seem possible you could have
a career as a movie reviewer. But
more immediately, back then he
provided access and context.
Netflix, iTunes, the Internet
and even DVD — in the early ’80s
these were the stuff of sci-fi. We
didn’t even have a VHS. So you
got your movies at the movies —
or you got them on TV. Reviews,
behind-the-scenes reports and
film history came from
newspapers, books and the few
film magazines available.
Here Bill Collins stood
magnificently-coiffed head and
wide-suited shoulders above all
other Australian cinema
authorities. I’d read his reviews of
new releases in newspapers and
take myself off to the cinema to
see if I agreed with his opinion.
I didn’t always because Bill – with
his vast knowledge of what had
come before – would often be
more attuned to how Hollywood
had done this or that long before
and much better. And this was
where Bill really came into his
own – and opened my eyes — in
his presentation of classic films
on the weekly TV show The
Golden Years Of Hollywood.
It was through these
free-to-air showcases that he
introduced Gen Xers like me to
the pantheon of film gods and
goddesses: Clark Gable, Jimmy
Stewart, Jean Harlow, Spencer
Tracey, Katharine Hepburn andso many others. Watching Bill was
to be transported – through his
depth of knowledge and via his
remarkable collection of
memorabilia – back to the heady
days when Hollywood was at its
most glamorous and produced its
most enduring films.
His show was where I first
saw Psycho, Gone With The Wind,
Casablanca, It’s A Wonderful Life
and The Philadelphia Story. And
watching them was to realise
that, though these films lacked
the explosions and melting heads
of the ’80s genre films I loved so
much, these “oldies” offered so
much more in terms of charm,
wit, polish and sophistication.
I first met Bill in the early
2000s when I visited his Blue
Mountains home to write a profile
of him. He was a gracious and
lovely gentleman with a great
sense of humour. Stepping into
his theatrette and library – out
the back of his house but itself
the size of a small house – was
like being in that warehouse at
the end of Raiders. Cinema
screen with curtains, old-style
movie chairs, projector and
posters and floor-to-ceiling
shelves of books: this was the
treasure trove of material Bill
Collins drew on to be Mr Movies.
I was saddened to learn of
Bill’s passing but immensely
thankful for the decades of joy he
brought via the thousands of
movies he shared with us all. I like
to imagine that he’s now in a
place – perhaps it looks like a bit
like Rick’s from Casablanca- chatting up a storm with the
cinema legends he loved.
MICHAEL ADAMS
MICHAEL ADAMS IS THE CREATOR OF
THE PODCAST FORGOTTEN AUSTRALIA,
WHICH CAN BE FOUND ON ITUNES.FORMER EMPIRE REVIEWS EDITOR MICHAEL ADAMS ON THE
LEGACY OF BELOVED AUSTRALIAN FILM CRITIC BILL COLLINS