Customer Reviews

Charlie Rose with Harold Pinter; Mitch Albom (July 19, 2001)

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Rose is at his best with politicians. Despite the many interviews he has with artists, he remains sadly and consistently tone-deaf to art, and turns from habit and inability back to what he knows -- politics. It's frustrating to hear Pinter again and again be interrupted at the most important moment because Rose doesn't realize the importance of what he's saying about artistic process. Still, an interview worth watching.

Charlie Rose was his usual considerate , attentive self in interviewing Harold Pinter. He showed knowledge of the work of Pinter and educed from him the story of how he began to write plays. He learned about Pinter's feelings towards his plays, and about the movie- versions of them. All. was fine until they entered the realm of politics. Here it became choppy as Pinter revealed himself to be more than just a mild disaproving of America leftist- but a real hard- core, uncompromising anti- American jerk.
Rose to his credit did not simply nod at Pinter's outrageous remarks. He did however do what he always does end up with an amiable fairwell, including a bit more praise for Pinter. I understand that this is Rose's signature and style- but for the kind of outrageous junk that Pinter said I believe Rose should have been happy to sign off in a less friendly way.
Albom is another story. Both Rose and Albom are reporters who know the journalistic business well. They spoke about Albom's teacher Morrie Schwarts about whom 'Teusdays with Morrie' was written. A pleasant segment with a person who wrote one small book that has entered the realm of the 'classic'.