Martin Ritt is 75 now and doctors have ordered him to take it easy. He does, but he hasn't yet abandoned making movies - and he has no plans to quit until he has to. Thank goodness he hasn't had to.
Ritt's name may not be familiar to the average moviegoer, but film buffs can rapidly tick off many of the great films he has directed, starting with "Edge of the City" and continuing through "The Long Hot Summer," "Hud," "The Spy Who Came in from the Cold," "Hombre," "The Molly Maguires," "Sounder," "Conrack," "The Front," "Norma Rae," "Cross Creek" and "Murphy's Romance."Now add "Stanley & Iris" to the list, with Robert DeNiro as an illiterate man who turns to an acquaintance, Jane Fonda, to help him learn to read and write. Naturally, they fall in love. And the characters are blue-collar workers who seem to be very down-to-earth Americans. In other words, the kind of people Ritt likes to show in his movies and who, he believes, make up the audience.
"I don't think the blue-collar experience is intrinsic to American artistic life at this moment," Ritt said in a telephone interview. "But it's there. It's still the biggest part of the country, and I feel we have to understand that. Part of that has been the whole prosperity drive and the way prosperity is examined and respected, often beyond what its real value is. The working man is not likely to be as prosperous."
Ritt said he was drawn to the subject of adult illiteracy in "Stanley & Iris" because it is a more urgent problem than most people realize.
"Between 20 and 25 percent of the people in this nation suffer from illiteracy. Incredible. I couldn't believe it.
"(To research the film) I first checked into the disease itself and the manner of teaching and the manner of learning and the kind of shame implicit in the disease, so that people don't even mention it. We might very well be friendly with people who are in some way illiterate, and it might not ever come up because they're so ashamed of it. It's a very private disease."
Despite the talent involved in "Stanley & Iris," however, the film was still a tough project to mount.
"It is difficult," he said with a sigh. "To get any serious material on the screen is basically difficult, especially one that has as little action as this one does.
"I gave the script to Jane first because I thought she would connect with it. She did, we made a deal and then we got DeNiro.
"I had not worked with Jane, but she's getting on a little bit too and I knew she'd connect sympathetically with the material because of what it's about and the kind of people it's about, and I'd wanted to work with her."
As for DeNiro, Ritt said, "He's a very good actor. He's keyed into what something is about. I don't think he would agree to do it if he was not keyed into it in some way. He's a genuine actor, and I think the film business is going to have to contend with him for a long, long time."
Even after "Stanley & Iris" was made, however, the studio was skittish about releasing it. It was expected to be a Christmas picture but is now scheduled for Feb. 10.
"The subject matter is what I think delayed it. That and not wanting to (compete) with more commercial subject matter. All the films that opened around Christmas were more commercial kinds of films."
A recurring theme in several of Ritt's films has been race relations, from his first, "Edge of the City," through the more recent "Cross Creek." So how does he feel about the opinion voiced by some black filmmakers - most prominently Spike Lee with his recent "Do the Right Thing" - that race relations haven't really changed all that much in America.
"I agree and I disagree. It has changed that much and it hasn't changed that much. I hear a very angry voice from Spike Lee about how it hasn't changed that much, and probably if I made a film on the same subject the voice would be less strident. But still I believe it hasn't changed enough."
As for his own films, he's less inclined to specify any messages he may have inserted. For example, "Murphy's Romance" contains a scene where James Garner lectures Sally Field's ex-husband about swearing. A comment on the abundance of profanity in movies today?
Ritt's response is typically simple: "Whatever it said, that's what it said."
The director is also well-known for the compelling performances he pulls from his actors - sometimes with some difficulty.
"I don't think the relationship between the actor and director has to be one of complete agreement all the time because they're too gifted for that."
And Ritt's favorite of his own films? It may surprise you - "The Molly Maguires," a commercial flop.
"It wasn't a surprise (that it failed at the box office). I'd gotten an indication of that, but I was still very hurt. To this day it still hasn't found an economic audience, though it may have found an artistic audience now. If you have to settle for something, that's it. But I'm still hurt by the failure of that film."
Ritt hasn't any other projects in development at the moment, but he's open to suggestions. "I'd have to find something that I think is worthwhile.
"I'm fortunate enough to be someone who has managed to get what he thought was worthwhile made. Some guys have never (been able to make) those films that are really close to them."