Turan started his professional career around 1970s.[3] Before becoming a film critic, Turan was a staff writer for The Washington Post[8] From 1969 to 1978.[9] In-between, he was a sportswriter in 1971, and by 1976 became a feature writer.[9]
Turan announced his retirement from The Los Angeles Times on March 25, 2020.[14] The last film he reviewed was the German film
Balloon.[10]
He is featured in the documentary For the Love of Movies: The Story of American Film Criticism (2009) discussing his public quarrel with film director
James Cameron, who e-mailed the Los Angeles Times' editors calling for Turan to be fired after he wrote a scathing review of Titanic (1997).[15] Cameron accused Turan of using an "incessant rain of personal barbs" and using his "bully pulpit not only to attack my film, but the entire film industry and its audiences".[16]
Publications
Not to Be Missed: Fifty-Four Favorites From a Lifetime of Film (2014)
Free for All: Joe Papp, the Public, and the Greatest Theater Story Ever Told (2009) with Joseph Papp
Now In Theaters Everywhere. (2006)
Never Coming To A Theater Near You. (2004)
Sundance to Sarajevo: Film Festivals and the World They Made. (2002)
Call Me Anna: The Autobiography of Patty Duke. (1987)
I'd Rather Be Wright: Memoirs of an Itinerant Tackle. (1974)
Sinema: American Pornographic Films and the People Who Make Them. (1974)
The Future is Now: George Allen, Pro Football's Most Controversial Coach. with William Gildea (1972)
^Rucker, Rudy (December 11, 2012). Nested Scrolls: The Autobiography of Rudolf von Bitter Rucker. New York, NY.
ISBN978-0765327536.{{
cite book}}: CS1 maint: location missing publisher (
link)