The great cinematographer, who fled Hungary for the U.S. in 1957 and went on to shoot many of the key "New Hollywood" films of the 1970s, was 74. "Easy Rider," "Five Easy Pieces," "Paper Moon," "Shampoo," and "New York, New York" -- these are all great films and critical documents of their period, and Kovacs defined them as much as did their directors (respectively, Dennis Hopper [with Kovacs, above], Bob Rafelson, Peter Bogdanovich, Hal Ashby, and Martin Scorsese). He shot "Ghostbusters," too, instilling a fear of the Upper West Side in a generation of children.
The L.A. Times obit has a good thumbnail bio and a nice anecdote about "Easy Rider," but the most fitting tribute you could give the man is to rent "The King of Marvin Gardens," Rafelson's brooding 1972 drama of brotherhood and the death of the American dream. Never has Atlantic City looked so beautiful and so diseased. Thanks, Laszlo.
