Barry Malkin facts for kids

Barry M. Malkin (born October 26, 1938 – died April 4, 2019) was an American film editor. A film editor is like a storyteller who puts all the movie scenes together. They choose the best takes and arrange them to make the film flow smoothly. Barry Malkin worked on about 30 movies. He was especially known for working with director Francis Ford Coppola for many years. He helped edit most of Coppola's films from 1969 to 1997. This included four films from the famous Godfather series.

Starting a Career in Film Editing

Barry Malkin began his journey in film editing as an apprentice. An apprentice learns a skill by working closely with an expert. He learned from a famous editor named Dede Allen on the film America America (1962). He also met another editor, Aram Avakian, during this time.

Later, Malkin became an assistant editor for Avakian on the movie Lilith (1964). An assistant editor helps the main editor with many tasks. Barry Malkin got his first full editing jobs on The Patty Duke Show (a TV show) and the movie The Fat Spy (1966).

Meeting Francis Ford Coppola

Francis Ford Coppola heard about Barry Malkin from Aram Avakian. Avakian had edited Coppola's film You're a Big Boy Now (1966). It turned out that Malkin and Coppola had known each other as teenagers. They grew up in the same neighborhood in Queens, New York.

Coppola then asked Malkin to edit his fourth film, The Rain People (1969). Malkin also worked as an associate editor on two other films. These were End of the Road (1970) and Cotton Comes to Harlem (1970). In 1973, Malkin was the main editor for the film Cops and Robbers.

Working on The Godfather Films

The first The Godfather movie was a huge success. It won the Academy Award for Best Picture in 1972. Because it was so popular, they started making a sequel, The Godfather Part II, in 1973.

Editing The Godfather Part II

For The Godfather Part II, Barry Malkin joined Peter Zinner and Richard Marks as co-editors. The film came out in 1974 and was just as successful as the first one. It's famous for how it switches between two different stories. One story is set in Sicily in the early 1900s. The other continues the modern story from the first film. This way of switching between scenes is called "intercutting."

Years later, in 2012, a group of film editors voted The Godfather Part II as the 22nd best-edited film ever.

The Godfather Saga and Apocalypse Now

After the two Godfather movies, Coppola asked Malkin to edit The Godfather Saga (1977). This was a TV miniseries based on the first two films. It included scenes that weren't in the original movies. Also, instead of switching between time periods, the miniseries showed the story in a simple, straight-forward timeline.

Malkin also helped edit Apocalypse Now (1979). He was a "supervising editor" for Hammett (1982), a film produced by Coppola. During this time, Malkin also edited Four Friends (1981).

Films in the 1980s and 1990s

In the 1980s, Barry Malkin edited six more films for Francis Ford Coppola. These included movies like Rumble Fish (1983) and The Cotton Club (1984). For The Cotton Club, he worked with his former mentor, Robert Q. Lovett. They were both nominated for an Academy Award for Best Film Editing for their work on this movie.

Malkin also edited the popular film Big (1988), which starred Tom Hanks. By the end of the 1980s, Coppola decided to make The Godfather Part III (1990). Malkin worked on this film with Lisa Fruchtman and Walter Murch.

The Godfather Trilogy Compilation

After The Godfather Part III, Malkin and Walter Murch edited a special collection called The Godfather Trilogy: 1901–1980. This was released on video in 1992. It combined footage from all three movies, plus extra scenes. A review in Time magazine said this collection felt like a deep, unhurried story.

In the 1990s, Malkin continued working with Coppola on films like Jack (1996) and The Rainmaker (1997). He also edited four films for director Andrew Bergman. Their first film together was The Freshman (1992). This movie was a funny take on the original Godfather film. Barry Malkin's last film credit was for The Big Bounce (2004).

Awards and Recognition

Barry Malkin received several important nominations for his editing work.

• He, Richard Marks, and Peter Zinner were nominated for the BAFTA Award for Best Editing for The Godfather: Part II (1974).
• He and Robert Q. Lovett were nominated for the Academy Award for Best Film Editing for The Cotton Club (1984).
• Malkin, Walter Murch, and Lisa Fruchtman were nominated for the Academy Award for editing The Godfather Part III (1990).

In 2012, members of the Motion Picture Editors Guild voted The Godfather: Part II as the 22nd best-edited film of all time. Barry Malkin was also chosen to be a member of the American Cinema Editors, a group of highly respected film editors.

Filmography (as editor)

Here is a list of films Barry Malkin edited. The director for each film is shown in parentheses.