Book Description

Luis Buñuel lived many lives-surrealist, Spanish Civil War propagandist, hedonist, friend of artists and poets, and filmmaker. With surprising candor and wit, Buñuel offers his sometimes scathing opinions on the literati and avant-garde members of his sweeping social circle, including Pablo Picasso, Jorge Luis Borges, Salvador Dalí, and Federico García Lorca. These colorful stories of his nomadic life reveal a man of stunning imagination and influence.

Luis Buñuel (1900-1983) was one of the twentieth century's greatest filmmakers. His many credits include Un Chien andalou (1924), which he conceived with Salvador Dalí, and The Discreet Charm of the Bourgeoisie (1972), which won the Academy Award for Best Foreign Film. ... Read more

Reviews (12)

Gracias, Don Luis
Writings by film directors tend to resemble their films, and "My Last Sigh" is no exception. Bunuel's films are anarchic, funny, unpredictable, subversive, and often disturbing in a way that's hard to pin down. So is this, his autobiography!

Though he disclaims literary talent, Bunuel turns out to be a wonderful writer, and the book is stuffed with piquant anecdotes and elegant observations. I'm afraid to quote examples, because this review would go on forever. Suffice to say that, if you could choose to live any person's life, Bunuel's would be a hard choice to beat, just for the adventure and entertainment value. This may be my favorite book written by a filmmaker.

A beautiful little book
Bunuel gave some interviews towards the end of his life discussing his long list of movies. That's why I was delighted to find that his autobiography--which is one of the greatest, if not the greatest by a filmmaker--does not dwell on them. Instead Don Luis chronicles his childhood and upbringing, the relationships he cultivated, and meditates on life, love, death, art, alcohol and cigarettes. Many of the stories from his younger days are even more surreal than his movies. He writes in detail about his stormy friendships with Garcia Lorca and Dali, about his half-hearted attempt to try Hollywood on for size, meetings with Hitchcock, Fritz Lang, and others. The book is not somber or sentimental, it's not over-inflated. Bunuel's voice does not intimidate, it soothes. He's a master storyteller, a very gifted and generous writer.

Delightful!
I finished this book with the feeling that I'd just spent my time with the most entertaining dinner guest imaginable. In "My Last Sigh," Luis Bunuel comes across as amusing, unpretentious, and completely modest about his accomplishments. He is not afraid of venting his opinions on everything from religion to the perfect martini. So entertaining is this delightful autobiography that one almost forgets that Bunuel is one of the masters of cinema. Instead, we are left with the impression of an eminently sane person who has fully enjoyed his life and his work. And, as is the case with many geniuses, he makes it all sound so easy. I will never forget this passage from his book: "...memory is what makes our lives. Life without memory is no life at all.... Our memory is our coherence, our reason, our feeling, even our action. Without it, we are nothing." How lucky for us that Bunuel left us with these irreplaceable memories shortly before his death in 1982.

No One Else
As a young person, don Luis helped me find my way out of the hormone fog, ... authoritarian adults and their institutions, and equally lost peers. Years later upon reading MY LAST SIGH, I was not surprised at all at the depth of don Luis' humanity and intelligence.

Nevermind the moniker "filmmaker" when talking about don Luis; he is an artist's artist. With his autobio, he only confirms what an equally supreme being he was. I miss him. However, encounter this book and become lit by life itself.

This appears to be a slightly shortened version
The US edition has curious omissions compared to the French original. In one omitted passage (IIRC) Bunuel mentions a postcard he received from Andrzej Wajda. It would be nice if the fine print for the book included "Portions of the original have been omitted for this edition." The recent Ken Mogg's book on Alfred Hitchcock has also been shortened for the American market. I find it quite annoying. ... Read more

Book Description

Reviews (1)

Major Work about a Major Artist
Alex Cox is one of the most interesting, entertaining and enlightening film-makers of our time. His Repo Man remains a major work, the first film to truly explore the hardcore punk underground and without a doubt the best film Emilio Estevez ever did. While that film and Sid & Nancy remain Cox's best known works, his many other films are all worthy of critical inspection and this book delivers. Stephen Davies obviously knows his subject, picking up the director's concerns about Central and South American politics, the military industrial complex and other burning issues. And we finally get to hear Cox's side of the controversy surrounding the screenplay for Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas. The book explores each of Cox's films in depth and presents the director's opinions on them as well as interesting back-stage stories from those who worked on the films. Dennis Hopper's foreward is a riot and worth the price of admission in itself. This book is an incredible piece of work that any fan of cutting edge film should own. ... Read more

Book Description

At the beginning of 1992, no one had heard of Quentin Tarantino. By mid-1995, Quentinmania was in high gear, and he was being hailed as the hip new Oscar-toting messiah of film making. In this irreverant personal biography and in-depth study, Jeff Dawson interrogates Tarantino about his early influences, his use of violence, and accusations of plagiarism. Dawson takes the reader behind the scenes of Pulp Fiction, Reservoir Dogs and Destiny Turns on the Radio, to get a glimpse of Quentin through the eyes of Harvey Keitel, John Travolta, Bruce Willis, Tim Roth and other Tarantino gang members interviewed for this book. Includes dialogue that didn't make it into the final cut, as well as the original plot twists for True Romance and Natural Born Killers that got axed by the censors. Includes great color and black and white photos throughout. ... Read more

Reviews (2)

The Cin-enema of Fools
(...) Tarentino's films are universally and fundamentally boring for anyone who has ever lived a real life and not just fantasized about having one. His dipictions of violence eminate from his own personal lack of sexual energy. Sadly, teenage males without girlfriends seem to like these slammed together video games that are being called brilliant, and continue to support the trash factory that generates this type of hyper garbage. (...)

THE pop bio of the quintessential 90's pop auteur
Well-paced and revealing, this "not-too-long," "not-too-short" bio reads like the Everyman-movie-geek fantasy that it is. The author spent considerable time following Tarantino around as he began his attack on Hollywood in 1992, with Reservoir Dogs, and as such, he was given enviable access to the celebrities that found their way into the young director's orbit. Extensive one-on-one interviews-- with such H'wood players as Samuel L. Jackson, Tony Scott, Harvey Keitel, as well as collaborators Roger Avary and Laurence Bender, not to mention the man himself--offer an entertaining glimpse into the mind of the struggling actor who decided he would have a better shot at success if he wrote his own screenplays, and went on to direct arguably the best film of the 1990s, Pulp Fiction.

Bonus revelations include Tarantino and Co.'s experience acting in the indie flick Destiny Turns on the Radio, QT's reaction following both the 1994 Cannes D'Or Award and the predictable Forrest Gump Oscar landslide of 1995 that left Tarantino & Avary holding only the Best Screenplay statuette, as well as Tarantino's side of the story regarding his battle with the producers of Natural Born Killers. An all-around good read that is honest enough to suggest Tarantino as perhaps the next Orson Welles-as-washed-up-has-been, and wise enough in the end to bet against it. ... Read more

Book Description

Kubrick is Michael Herr's memoir of his nearly twenty-year friendship and collaboration with Stanley Kubrick, one of the greatest filmmakers of all time and the creator of such classics as Dr. Strangelove, 2001: A Space Odyssey, and A Clockwork Orange. From their first meeting at an advance screening of The Shining in 1980, Kubrick and Herr began an intense intellectual exchange that grew into the artistic collaboration that ultimately produced the groundbreaking Vietnam film Full Metal Jacket. Filled with personal insights and previously untold anecdotes, Kubrick is a probing view into the inner life of a man whose creative passion and powerful intellect changed the art of filmmaking forever--and of the complicated, often misunderstood man behind the art. ... Read more

Reviews (12)

A New Defence of "Eyes Wide Shut"
This is not just a reprint of Herr's "Vanity Fair" piece about Kubrick (although there's nothing wrong with republishing articles in book form--remeber Tom Wolfe's "Radical Chic"?) The final section of this small book is a brand new hell-raising defence of "Eyes Wide Shut" as a modern masterpiece: Herr also assails those critics who he believes did dirt to the memory of Kubrick.. Herr is a very seductive, stylish writer, and this memoir of the late, great director is loving, but clear-eyed and a good antidote to Fredric Raphael's vitriolic "Eyes Wide Open."

A glimpse of genius
Michael Herr wrote this book to restore some balance to the discussions of Stanley Kubrick after his death -- as Herr notes, "The strangely contentious and extremely disrespectful tone that lurked inside so many of the obituaries and tributes was unpleasant to the many people who loved Stanley, but not surprising." The reviews of Kubrick's final, and probably unfinished, film Eyes Wide Shut didn't help -- with a few exceptions, the critics seemed happy to use the film to confirm all of their preconceived notions of Kubrick's life and art.

Herr's book offers a pleasant defense of his friend, as well as some interesting and amusing anecdotes, but little more than that. Personally, I'd hoped he would reveal more about how he and Kubrick worked on Full Metal Jacket, but the film is seldom talked about directly, though it is often mentioned, tantalizingly, in passing. Ultimately, the book is little more than a long magazine article put into hardcover; it's nice to have, and would make a fine gift for a Kubrick fan, but it's definitely not a "must-have" book.

A nice companion to the life of Kubrick
This book should be used as a companion while studying Kubrick, as Herr discusses Kubrick as a man and a friend rather than going into Stanley's films in depth. The book is well written, flows easily, and brings the legendary director to life.

Works Well As A Personal Memoir
If you're a Kubrick fan (as I am) and are interested in the man behind the greatest body of work in modern cinema, Michael Herr's brisk but detailed semi-bio of the man is a fascinating glimpse into his world. While the author attempts to dispel the myths and misconceptions surrounding the man and his life, not neccessarily his work, he paints him as something of an over-eager, talkative bookworm and lets the reader decide for himself whether Kubrick was indeed an obsessive pefectionist or just a kid from Brooklyn who was still trying to get it right, the result of a strict Jewish Upbringing. The final third of the book is also a fascinating glimpse into the work and inspiration that shaped his final film, "Eyes Wide Shut". A telling book about an enigmatic and often misunderstood genius of a man.

Two Fascinating Men - One Book
I have loved Michael Herr's DISPATCHES since I first read it several years ago. I was very excited when I saw Herr's name under the title of this biography. Kubrick is one of my favorite filmmakers and Herr is one of my favorite writers. I bought this book immediately after I saw it and I am very pleased with the purchase. There is something about Herr's writing style that is just beautiful. His words seem to have a wonderful flow to them. This book is rather short, I read it in one evening. If you love either Michael Herr or Stanley Kubrick you should buy it. If you love the work of both of them, you will enjoy it as much as I did. For me, reading this book was like spending time for several hours with two fascinating talents. ... Read more

Reviews (1)

Experience Kurosawa to the outer depths...
Goodwin brings the tools of literary criticism to study the films of Akira Kurosawa. He does this by bringing to light many of the cinematographic, historic, and narrative influences of Kurosawa's work.

Such as when introducing color to his films, Henri Langlois (head of the Cinémathèque Française) showed Kurosawa how color can be used to communicate a distinctive meaning.

Or how, in "Ran" (1985), Kurosawa was influenced by the legend of "Motonari Mori (1497-1571)," and by inverting the story, "whose three sons are admired in Japan as the ideal family for loyalty." After writing the first few drafts of the script, Kurosawa noticed a resemblance to Shakespeare's "King Lear". What surprises me about this, is that I believed that the script was primarily influenced by "King Lear", but that's not true. The play is influenced by "King Lear", but was crafted separately under the influence of the inversion of the Motonari Mori legend and its major influence being the mind of Kurosawa himself. The film then becomes an inversion of the ideal, a twisting of the archetype.

Goodwin tore down the myth that Kurosawa was an isolated artist, and introduced me to a man who immersed himself in the literature, drama, and cinema of the whole human experience.

I strongly recommend his book, it opened my eyes; it may open yours. ... Read more

Book Description

Reviews (22)

A fascinating life.
It's amazing how much Leni Riefenstahl has done in her long life. I just finished reading this autobiography written by her and was not disappointed. She has led such a full and varied existence. She tells the reader all about the different pursuits she has taken: everything from being a dancer to being an actress. Those are just a couple of examples. It's ashamed that she has had to put up with the prejudices of so many people almost all of her life though. It was very interesting reading about what she had to say about Hitler and that period of time that The Third Reich was in power too. Also her adventures in Africa photographing and filming the Nuba tribes was interesting. The book also contains numerous photos. Leni Riefenstahl is truly someone that has lived life to the fullest and has done what she has wanted. It's great to read about a person that has taken so many chances and done so many things. This autobiography is well worth a read. The documentary about her called The Wonderful, Horrible Life of Leni Riefenstahl is also very good and quite extraordinary.

Our Leni...
...was just using the wrong men. And it is definitely not her fault that she lived
in these times.

I also believed for a long time that Riefenstahl produced propaganda movies for
the Nazis including hate speeches and incitation to aggressive wars. But everybody
who has seen her notorious movie "Triumph of the Will" knows that there Hitler preaches:
"We want that this nation will be peace-loving but also brave, thats why you must be
peaceful". Therefore the french government awarded this movie a "Grand Prix" during
the world fair 1937 in Paris.

And seven trials, one american, two french and four german, revealed that she was
never member of any Nazi organisation. To those, who still continue bashing Leni
Riefenstahl, I just want to say that they also cannot forsee the future. And they are
also incapable of remote viewing what happens in some concentration camps hundreds of
miles away, which were, as everybody knows, not accessible to the public.

This book is as fascinating as her olympic movies. Although I like to go to bed very
early I could not stop reading before 3:00 am. During breakfast I had to continue
reading. It shows clearly that Riefenstahl was an extraordinary strong personality.
Thats why she never gave excuses for crimes that she never commited, although a lot of
pressure was put on her in that direction. For this I tribute her lots of respect.
I am pretty much more concerned about those germans with weak moral, which believed
in the past to be a member of a superior race, while today they feel guilty
for crimes that they never commited, because they were not alive those times.
What kind of madness will originate from these delicate personalities in the future?
Another aspect: through Riefenstahls eyes it becomes discernible that the Nazi leaders
were a bizarre clique of gamblers and bohemiens.

But those, who read in between the lines of her memoirs, realize that Leni Riefenstahl
had not only an extremly strong will but also narcissistic traces in her character.
As a young girl she wanted to be admired as a dancer. Concerning men she decided to
control them always. Whenever necessary she twisted them around her little finger
and used them for her ambitions as an artist, which were the main motor of her live.
But her movies demonstrate clearly that she had a positive attitude towards men.

Everybody, who experienced as a forty year old man that a hundred year old lady
appeared to him interesting as a woman believes the following episode of her memoirs.
He also knows how she made it. 1936, in the olympic stadium, seen by all the
spectators, the winner of the decathlon Morris (USA) opened her shirt and kissed her
breast. Nazi propaganda minister Goebbels wanted to throw her out of the stadium
because of her scandalous behavior. This is typical of Riefenstahl: the king of
athlets must be captivated in the public and no thought about the consequences.

In german newspapers there are still rumours from hearsay that around 1937 Riefenstahl
confessed, Hitler has been kneeling in front of her and was asking her with wet hands
for marriage. But without these properties Riefenstahl would have never become the most
ingenious female movie maker of the 20th century. And which man was able to match her?

Absolutley: this is a five star book. But one star I withdraw from Leni Riefenstahl as
a sign of solidarity with some of the men she used. For instance the ingenious pioneer
of mountain movies and avantgardistic nature movie maker Dr. Arnold Fanck, the creator of
the breathtaking silent film "The white hell of Piz Palu".

She had no shame!
Her story caught my attention as Leni R. was about the only person still alive who had participated in some close way in the events of the IIWW and the Third Reich.

Now I have no doubt in my mind that she indeed was a personal supporter and admirer of Hitler. Never ever she regreted the fact that she colaborated in a way (her films) with the Third Reich. This alone is a reason enough to apologize, and Leni not only never did, but she insisted she had nothing to apologize for.

Did She Sell Her Soul to Satan?
When she died recently at age 101, German filmmaker Leni Riefenstahl was both revered and reviled. Olympia, her film of the 1936 Olympic Games, arguably remains the greatest sports documentary of all time. But those were the "Nazi Olympics," and many consider her merely Hitler's propagandist, not only for that film, but for Riefenstahl's earlier Triumph of the Will, documenting the Nazi Party's 1934 Nuremberg rally.

During her lifetime, rumors circulated that Riefenstahl was Hitler's mistress, that she danced nude in front of party dignitaries, that she used concentration camp inmates in her films.

In truth, Riefenstahl was probably more amoral than immoral, more apolitical than political, as much victim as victor, prisoner both of her unique talent and unfettered ambition.

I first viewed Olympia a decade after World War II on the campus of the University of Chicago. It was shown for its artistic merit, irrespective of any political message. Olympia did show Hitler hailing German victories, but it showcased also the successes of a decidedly non-Aryan Jesse Owens. A long segment focuses on Japan's Sohn Kee-chung winning the marathon. We know now that Sohn was Korean, forced to wear the Rising Sun on his singlet.

My fading memories of Olympia include slow-motion images of the pole vault. But that segment was filmed after the competition. In her memoir, published in 1987, Riefenstahl tells why. Because the contest dragged into the night, her pole vault footage proved unusable. With the aid of decathlon champion Glenn Morris from the US, Riefenstahl convinced the athletes to vault again the next day for her cameras. "It turned into an almost genuine contest," Riefenstahl recalls, "and they reached the same heights as on the previous day."

Riefenstahl admits numerous affairs (including one with Morris) and one bad marriage, but with a director's instinct leaves details to her readers' imaginations. She describes in fascinating detail meetings with Hitler--but no intimacies. She obviously was infatuated with Mein Fuehrer, but not with propaganda minister Joseph Goebbels, whose advances she resisted.

Riefenstahl, beautiful as well as athletic, began her career as a dancer, but shifted to acting in films featuring snow and cold. Lack of funds forced Riefenstahl to direct herself in The Blue Light, triggering Hitler's attention. Riefenstahl claims she did not want to film Triumph of the Will, but was coerced into it. She argues that Olympia was made for the International Olympic Committee, not for the Nazi Party, which she never joined. She spent most of World War II detached from politics, filming the allegorical Tiefland. Riefenstahl cites court documents to argue that gypsies in that film did not come from concentration camps. Arrested by occupying American troops, she was shocked when shown photos of Auschwitz. She had many Jewish friends. Was Riefenstahl another "Good German" in denial regarding atrocities around her? Placed in Germany in the mid-1930s, how might we have acted?

Marathoner John A. Kelley ran in the 1936 Olympics and claimed he thumbed his nose at Hitler. But Jesse Owens later told Kelley: "Hitler waved to me, and I waved back." Not everyone in 1936 could predict events that would follow--or understand how misguided acts might affect others. Nevertheless, as a German friend of mine, Rudiger Schierz, says of Riefenstahl, "She sold her soul to Satan."

At her death at age 101, Riefenstahl remained revered and reviled. Photographer Robert Jones writes: "Monsters who are yet geniuses are still monsters, and it is society's obligation not to whitewash their sins." She did pay for her sins, spending three years under arrest. The French government confiscated her films, returning them only years later. Film projects she started died because of threatened boycotts. Thousands of irreplaceable feet of the Nuba tribe in Africa were mysteriously ruined by a film laboratory. In later years, Riefenstahl achieved success as a still photographer, publishing four books, but the potential she exhibited in her first three decades went unfulfilled in her last seven decades. Unlike the vaulters who returned the day after competition to pose for her cameras, she never equaled her previous heights.

Because of her complicity with a brutal regimen, Leni Riefenstahl leaves us with a bad taste in our mouths. But she also leaves us with perhaps the greatest film ever produced on our sport. She remains a puzzle even in death.

(This review originally appeared as a Bell Lap column in the online edition of Runner's World. Copyright 2003 by Hal Higdon; all rights reserved.)

Whitewash
As the old saying goes, "only the good die young." This doesn't
necessarily follow that the evil always die old, but it's noteworthy that the controversial photographer and movie director Leni Riefenstahl just turned 100 last year.

Reading this book was painful for me: As a Catholic in the 1990s, I worked for a Jewish civil rights organisation, and I am currently a fine-arts photographer, who has been deeply influenced by the broad sweep and tightly framed compositions of Riefenstahl. She is doubtless a pioneer in cinema and photography, and those who would lambast her art as without merit are putting their morality and politics ahead of their objective judgment.

In my review of "Olympia," there is nothing but unqualified praise; But this book is not *primarily* concerned with her art as it is justifying her collaboration with the Nazis. Given that context, and having opened that can of worms, she is found morally wanting.

I was stationed in Germany with the Army during the 1980s, and even then, it was the same old story, like a broken record, hearing the older Germans fall all over themselves in explaining away their dubious "noninvolvement" with the Third Reich: "Hitler was a horrible man.....I was never a member of the Nazi party.....We knew nothing of the Holocaust.....The German people really despised the Nazis, but there was nothing we could do," etc.

That's basically what Riefenstahl's account of her years as chief
glorifier of the Third Reich is: A painstakingly dry account of
semi-plausible denial. After all these years, she's yet to categorically apologise. In this book, she also glosses
over her use of gypsies from concentration camps in one of her movies. Also, Riefenstahl should be exonerated because, after all, she "was never a member of the Nazi Party." Please, this tome was published in 1995, but denying one's party membership was
already old hat when Mel Brooks put that line into the mouth of neo-Nazi playwright Franz Liebkind, author of "Springtime For Hitler" in "The Producers" in 1968.

So, we are left with this paradox: Was Leni Riefenstahl a genius or a monster?

I regard "Olympia," her film of the 1936 Berlin Olympics, as the
greatest documentary of the past century. It is a cinematic marvel, a rare work of grace and beauty that captures the true essence of the Olympian spirit.

But her 1934 masterpiece of technique, "Triumph of the Will" was equally brilliant and equally pioneering. It reveals a mind of unparalled insight and intelligence. And there's the rub: This makes her culpability even greater, because she was smart enough to know better. Riefenstahl was no babe in the woods, she was a sophisticated, worldly woman (read her accounts of her romances, her theories on cinema and her account of her life after World War II). Still, she expects us to believe she was some naif when it came to the Nazis. Sorry, I'm not buying; She was both a genius and a monster.

One reviewer tries to explain this away: "Artists and creators under censorship find ways to express themselves despite the hostile climate." Some, such as Jonathan Swift and Moliere, wrote satirical adventures to undermine the authoritarian regimes of their lands and times. World War II is rife with examples of artists who fled Europe to find freedom in America: Directors Billy Wilder, Fritz Lang and Ernst Lubitsch all saw the writing on the wall, and got out. Lubitsch even directed a gem of parody on the Nazis with "To Be Or Not to Be." Italian director Goffredo
Allesandrini made an epic movie out of Ayn Rand's anti-totalitarian novel, "We the Living" -- which the Fascists wanted as anti-Russian propaganda -- but made it as a thinly veiled allegory against Mussolini's regime, and it was soon pulled out of circulation. Italian conductor Arturo Toscanini left America to return to Italy and refused to play the Fascist anthem, and was jailed for standing up to the Fascisti. Dear readers, *that* is how artists with *guts* "express themselves, despite the hostile climate." They don't cozy up to the dictators and turn them into the second-coming of Jesus Christ, like Riefenstahl did. Riefenstahl's weak denials come off like conductor Herbert von Karajan's explanations that he "made due" under the Nazis. Truth be told, both Riefenstahl and Karajan were opportunists who *literally* climbed over corpses to the respective tops of their arts, because all their competition had either fled, been imprisoned, or executed.

Personally, I think Leni Riefenstahl should have been imprisoned at Spandau for fifty years. Certainly, I would have given her free artistic rein and run of the prison. She would have made some dark and charming images of the dank prison walls, the gruel for supper and rodents and cockroaches coinhabiting her cell, instead of being let loose in the world to rehabilitate her self-image by filming the Nubians in Africa. Monsters who are yet geniuses are still monsters, and it is society's obligation not to whitewash their sins, but to put them on display in order that civilisation not be mocked. ... Read more

Reviews (3)

GENIUS!!!!!!!!
This guy is a genius. This is a great book. I hope they release new editions of this book after he's completed some more films.

Boring Book About a Boring Man
It's terribly sad that so much attention is sent in the wrong direction. Did the man behind this book just think he was cool for having something to do with a man who only ten year olds still think is smart? Tarentino's films are universally and fundamentally boring, at least for anyone who has ever lived a real life and not just fantasized about having one. His dipictions of violence eminate from his own personal lack of sexual energy. Sadly, teenage males without girlfriends seem to like these slammed together video games that are being called brilliant, and continue to support the trash factory that generates this type of hyper garbage. It's especially sad when a true film afficienado understands the brilliance of all of the original pictures which he doggedly ripped off and claimed the scenes for his own. If one more person calls this sad, pathetic, lack of a man a genious, I will become even more sick of him. Please get a life and buy a real one too. Keep pretending that you and Uma are an Item. Maybe some ex film critics will believe you.

great for all Tarantino lovers!
I thought that this was an incredible book. Very in depth and well written. Any single person who really likes Quentin Tarantino should definitely read this book.it points things out that even the most hard-core fans would never figure out. ... Read more

Reviews (3)

An interesting and well written book about John Ford!
I recently read the John Ford biography by Ronald Davis, PhD, and found the book to be well written and very informative. After reading this book, it became quite obvious that Ford had an unhappy personal life. While Ford was in control of his professional life, his personal life was out of control. Ford was a represed man who lived a lie...

So-so Ford Bio
If you've never read a Ford bio, this is a decent introduction. But the book has three problems. It has very little interpretation and evaluation of the films. Much of the book is about Ford's flaws as a human being, especially his cruelty to the people he worked with. Film by film, he piles up examples of Ford's bad behavior without explaining what all this nastiness has to do with Ford's achievement as an artist. Finally, much of the book's material comes from interviews. In a bibliographical essay, Davis lists all this material. In the text, however, he never makes it clear where he got a particular quote. Davis did quite a few interviews for the book. Those don't need further citation. If you want to track down quotations from other interviews, however, forget it. There's no way of finding out when an interview was given or what the context for the quote is.

Not bad, but misses the real genius
Although this book does a reasonable job of delivering the essential information about one of Hollywood's great directors, it spends too much effort attempting to analyze the dark side of John Ford, and too little time dealing with the art he created. The author speculates on Ford's drinking, his sexuality, and his family problems. If you want to know Ford's work, don't buy this book...buy one or two of his movies, instead....or buy Harry Carry Jr's book, or Peter Bogdanovich's book. ... Read more

Book Description

At least three of director Jacques Tourneur's films-Cat People, I Walked with a Zombie and The Leopard Man-are recognized as horror classics. Yet his contributions to these films are often minimized by scholars, with most of the credit going to the films' producer, Val Lewton.An examination of the director's full body of work reveals that those elements most evident in the Tourneur-Lewton collaborations-the lack of monsters and the stylized use of suggested violence-are apparent in Tourneur's films before and after his work with Lewton. This insightful critical study examines each of Tourneur's films, as well as his extensive work on MGM shorts (1936-1942) and in television. What emerges is evidence of a highly coherent directorial style that runs throughout Tourneur's works. ... Read more

Reviews (2)

A Beauty
Chris Fujiwara is one of the world's best film critics. (Look for his soon-to-be-published work on Otto Preminger.) "The Cinema of Nightfall" is specifically about the great(and vastly underrated) Jacques Tourneur, but it is much more than that. It is one of the best books ever written about how to see and experience movies. Fujiwara goes inside the process of just how a film creates meaning, using Tourneur's very subtle genius as his base. The chapters on the more famous works("Cat People", "I Walked with a Zombie" and the immortal "Out of the Past") are the best analyses ever written on those titles. However, perhaps the most impressive part of Fujiwara achievement is his coverage of the more obscure Tourneurs: "Stars in My Crown", "Canyon Passage", "Berlin Express", the shorts. (His chapter on "Nightfall" is worth the price of admission -- a whole film theology in miniature.) "Cinema of Nightfall" is a model of film understanding and film love.

Excellent Guide to Tourneur's Films
Jacques Tourneur was a uniquely talented director with a string of distinctive films to his credit, including Cat People, Canyon Passage, I Walked With a Zombie and Out of the Past. Tourneur's best films look and sound like no one else's, stylish, subtle and strangely...quiet. At last there is an intelligent, discerning book on the subject of the talented Frenchman. Perhaps a bit more background on the making of the films would have been appreciated, otherwise this is an excellent and eye-opening bit of original film scholarship. ... Read more

Book Description

The original King of the Exploitation Film, Roger Corman has filled his movies with images of blood-sucking vampires, rampaging biker gangs, vigilante strippers, and abducting aliens. During a career that spans fifty years, he has produced more than five hundred films on shoestring budgets, making a profit on nearly every one.

In the process, Corman has become the role model for today’s independent filmmaker, laying the groundwork for the success of directors like Quentin Tarantino and Robert Rodriguez. This guru with a vision has also demonstrated an uncanny eye for talent, being among the first to recognize and employ the abilities of Jack Nicholson, Peter Fonda, Dennis Hopper, Francis Ford Coppola, Martin Scorsese, Jonathan Demme, Joe Dante, Ron Howard, John Sayles, and James Cameron, to name but a few.

In this updated paperback version of 2000’s critically-acclaimed Roger Corman: An Unauthorized Biography of the Godfather of Indie Filmmaking, Beverly Gray takes you behind the cameras and into the heart of Cormanville for a first-hand, insider’s look at the man and the mogul. Interviewing over one hundred of Corman’s friends and associates, Gray provides a compelling look at the private and public lives of this soft-spoken giant of the cinema. ... Read more

Reviews (6)

Driller Killers and Roger Corman, Of Course
(...)

Gray's biography--fun as it is-- is more than a story about a man who is arguably one of Hollywood's most idiosyncratic moguls. It is a chronicle that parallels that of The Great Depression, World War II, the growth of the film industry and Los Angeles itself. We meet again celebrities we haven't thought about in years like the adorable dimpled Jon Davison, the memorable Vincent Price and even run across pop culture icons like Frank Gorshin.

Occasionally this book is burdened with glitz-town detail that only a dedicated film buff might adore but these moments are rare. Like a super hero, Corman--now 75 and still going--is resilient because he is multi-faceted. The same can be said for screenwriter cum UCLA instructor and journalist Beverly Gray. The two seem admirably paired in that way. Gray uses her many experiences and talents to tell the story of a man of many parts.
(...)

Roger Corman: An Unauthorized Biography
Beverly Gray's superbly written, readable, and extensively documented biography of Roger Corman maintained my interest and gave me an understanding of his complex personality and career. The book also gives an insider's view into many Hollywood personalities, including a number of his disciples, cohorts, and acquaintances. The insightful prevailing theme of the book is Corman's internal struggle between his artistry and his bottom-line business concern, resulting in settling for small but memorable low-budget achievement rather than for potential professional greatness as a filmmaker. Ms. Gray draws on the personal insights she has gained on Corman from her almost ten years as his development executive. She also does a remarkable job in presenting the enormous multiplicity of his sources and story lines, including the anti-establishment themes of the 1960's and 1970's.

Book Review
I really enjoyed Beverly Gray's new book, Roger Corman, An Unauthorized Biography of the Godfather of Indie Filmmaking. The story is exhaustively documented and chockfull of interesting tidbits. It is written in an easygoing, readable style and offers a fascinating look at the world of moviemaking.

A "must" for all Roger Corman fans!
Roger Corman is a Hollywood movie making legend in his own lifetime. What is sometimes overlooked is that he was also responsible for launching the film making careers of such luminaries as Francis Ford Coppola, Martin Scorsese, Jonathan Demme, John Sayles, James Cameron, Jack Nicholson, Peter Fonda, and Sylvester Stallone. Roger Corman: An Unauthorized Biography Of The Godfather Of Indie Filmmaking is the thorough, informative, illuminating, at times inspiring life of a unique, one-of-a-kind film directors who has fifty low-budget movies to his credit, and who has producers almost five hundred more! This is one well-written, meticulously researched Hollywood biography that is a "must read" for all movie fans, film buffs, and show business historians.

A Great Book About Moviemaking
Usually, these unauthorized bios of entertainment industry figures are either slick, superficial rehashes of newspaper articles cobbled together by pseudo-writers or vicious hack-jobs by bitter ex-employees out for blood. Not this one. Beverly Gray's book is a wonderfully written, methodically researched, indepth look at a movie-making legend, written by an ex-employee who manages to portray her former boss with warmth, wit and surprising objectivity. Gray's background in academia really comes through, not in the dry, textbook writing usually associated with scholars, but in the intelligence and smoothness of her prose. This book is as educational as it is entertaining, marked by exceptional reporting and insightful anecdotes from her first-hand experience as Corman's right-hand woman. You'll learn far more about Roger Corman from her book than the one he wrote about himself. Highly recommended for anyone interested in movie-making...and the business behind the business. ... Read more

Reviews (11)

Mandatory reading for all retro buffs
Comprehensive, informative and extremely entertaining. Provides a fascinating insight into the career and personal thoughts of the world's most commercially successful independent film maker.Roger brings that whole era of classic, B-Grade sci fi and horror movies into sharp focus as he takes us behind the scenes with an endless array of wonderful stories.There's never a dull moment in this great little book which moves along with all the spontaneity ,zip and energy of a good Roger Corman movie. Mandatory reading for all retro buffs.

A thoughtful book about crab creatures and criminal bikers
A terrific book, loaded with great stories and anecdotes about the world of low-budget film making-- from its heyday in the 50's and 60's, to the 1980's, when the industry kind of petered out because the major studios began making the types of visceral horror, science fiction, and exploitation movies previously reserved for "quickie" independent producers like Mr. Corman. It was fun to read this book and rent some of the films as they were being discussed. Another plus: the book is peppered with informative and revealing guest essays by the likes of Francis Coppola, Joe Dante, Martin Scorcese, Jack Nicholson, and various other directors, actors, and producers who worked with and/or got their start with Roger Corman. Though most of the comments about Mr. Corman in these essays are predictably laudatory, we are also allowed to read the occasional critical or negative observation, which permits the reader to get a nicely balanced view of the subject. The book is rounded out by a great selection of photos from the dozens of movies covered.

Roger Corman, John Waters & Jack E. Jett
i love this book. i love this man. i love what he has done with very little money and some big....imagination. i love women, cereal, movies, and water. and i love roger corman too.

cinemajohn
for
the jack e. jett show

Good book from the king of Trash
First, this is really a 1990 book, and all information pertains to 1988 and prior. I enjoy exploitation films and this book adds to my enjoyment. Many films today are boring and darkly filmed. Just a bunch of special effects done on a computer. It's nice to know that many of Roger Corman films are still available. Maybe not at you local Wal Mart, but they do appear on TV occasionally. This book provides information to further my appreciation of what Roger Corman was able to accomplish during his life-time. Well through 1988, anyway.

Actually....
When you read the book you'll find that he states on more than one occasion that a film he produced lost money. I guess it was more than a dime, so he ain't lying. ... Read more

Reviews (11)

Waters proves that he is one of the funniest men alive
This book is an excellent insiders view on how some of the wierdest movies in history were made. Waters' takes us directly into his mind and doesn't let us leave. He provides the audience with a more than superficial insight into what makes his movies so hilarious. Waters daily obsessions are explained and you can do nothing but sit back and love them. His tales of him and his friends are so unique that one has to read his book to truly understand the term "juvenile delinquint." His tales of his movies are so unique that one has read the book to understand the term "adult delinquint."

"Shock Value" is a wonderful read!

Even if you're not a fan of John Waters' films, I don't think you could put down this fascinating book once you've started reading it. It details the bizarre productions of several of his films as well as his own personal pasttimes and obsessions (which are almost always hilariously deviant). If you only read one entertainment book this year...here it is! I also strongly recommend Crackpot and Trash Trio (a collection of screenplays), also written by John Waters. Happy Reading--Jeremy Gentry

Too many laughs per page to keep track-- it's terrific trash
It really doesn't matter if you don't know Edie the Egg Lady from Edith Bunker. Either way, as long as you have a sense of humor and enjoy laugh-out-loud reads, you will find John Waters' Shock Value -- truly a romp of a book -- very difficult to put down. This book is filled to the brim with juicy tidbits about his films (and their stars) as well as some bits about his early years growing up in Baltimore. It's D-I-V-I-N-E!

"I'd love to sell out completely. It's just that nobody has been willing to buy." -- John Waters

When it comes to his writing, I'm buying -- and I'm glad he's publishing so that I can do so... especially considering he has been making movies so infrequently. A girl's gotta have something to tie her over.

I Couldn't Stop Laughing
This book was without a doubt the funniest book I've ever read. Naturally, readers familiar with his movies will get the most out of this book, but there's a lot in there even for those who can't sit through one of his movies. I especially like Waters's tales of his mischief as a lad attending Catholic school. Considering the time, his educational background, and the Baltimore environment, I can really understand how Waters turned out the way he did.

Delightful, distasteful, nauseating and fun!
This book is impossible to describe in one word. It's no surprise that Water's life is funnier, and more bizare then any of his films can ever hope to be. We learn about Baltimore life, his childhood, Divine, Edith Masey, Pink Flamingos,Desperate Living,and more. THIS needs to be his next film project! The only thing sad about this book is that it feels dated at certain parts (especially when it refers to Divine in the present tense, since this was written before he died...and before Cookie Muller died...and Edith Masey). But it remains a fascinating read that really encourages people to feel grateful for living in Baltimore(or makes you wish you lived there). ... Read more

Book Description

In 1960 the author, a hotshot documentary filmmaker, found himself impatiently walking out of a waiting room for a meeting with the executive producer of ABC's Close-Up. It took him about three New York blocks to realize he was making a huge mistake, so he returned and a year later was nominated for an Emmy for his work on Close-Up. Locations all around the world were the backdrops for Webster's films. He met many of the best-known people of the 1960s and 1970s-John F. Kennedy, Orson Welles, Pope John XXIII, Elizabeth Taylor-and won many awards, including seven Emmy nominations and a first prize at the Berlin International Television Film Festival. ... Read more

Book Description

Reviews (47)

An informative and entertaining read for fans and critics.
Ken Hanke does an excellent job of covering each Tim Burton film. He dedicates a few chapters to each Burton film-discussing everything from the pre-production stage to the reviews of the films by the country's leading movie critics. What is really interesting about this book is how Hanke takes each film and breaks down the story line-discussing both the genius of Burton's aesthetic and story accomplishments as well as the way Burton reveals more of his personality in each film that is and has been overlooked. It is obvious that Hanke is a Burton fan, but he is very objective in this book-especially when discussing a Burton film-he does not overlook some of the flaws and/or mistakes Burton makes. This book is very entertaining and both fans and critics of Burton will get a lot out of it in my opinion. My only complaint is there is not enough pictures. If the book contained pictures of each film that was discussed in the book, it would be even better. I bought this book about 3 weeks ago, and have read it cover to cover about 5 times. I recommend this book to everyone who has ever enjoyed a Tim Burton film, and recommend it also to people who feel they are "missing something" when watching a Burton film. This book is great. It has made me appreciate and respect Tim Burton even more as an artist and a person.

No good
It's very boring and all. I've read and re-read my copy of Burton on Burton, and this book provides me with no new information. Hanke even goes so far as to quote from the interviews Salisbury assembled into Burton on Burton. It's annoying, reading through this book, since Hanke seems to insist that he knows exactly what's going on in Burton's mind. He over-analyses absolutely everything, bringing Burton's films down to a level where nothing is truly worth anything. According to Hanke, Pee Wee's Big Adventure is all about sexual stuff. Honestly, for three pages, every other word is sex. Methinks perhaps Hanke is not so much telling us what Burton thinks, but what he would think if he was Burton.

Also, the writing feels to me like something I might write on a late night to turn in the next morning to my 10th grade english teacher. The style seems to be that of an essay, not a book.

My final complaint is the huge editing mistake I found. At the beginning of the chapters, Hanke gives a quote. At the beginning of one, I was shocked to see the words "I know I am but what are you?" Anyone who's seen the movie can tell you the quote it "I know you are but what am I?", and it amazes me that such a large error slipped through and made it into print.

Much Insight, but Poorly Written and Filled With Summary
Ken Hanke's autobiography provides much insight into Burton's childhood, adolescence, early career, etc. However, Hanke spends too much time in summarizing the plots of Burton's films and not enough time in relating those plots to their production or to his life in general. Hanke's writing is also loose and cumbersome at times, making for an unneccessarily awkward read. Why must he constantly use exclamation points where none are needed? Such punctuation is distracting and useless--if a sentence is going to surprise or shock us, it won't be because of the punctuation. I'd recommend keeping an eye out for future, more scholarly biographies of a director who deserves the Spoto treatment.

Mostly Needless Info
This biography does contains some cool information, but not enough to carry this 245 page book. Any Burton fan should know this much about him. Hanke gives too many decriptions of the films, and goes one step at a time rounding the movies together. The true book to own is Burton on Burton.

Behold the fruit of pensive nights and laborious days...
Richard D. Altick wrote, in The Scholar Adventurers: ''If it is permissable sometimes to reconstruct biography on the basis of the known proclivities of one's hero...'' This comment was used as a forward to Sherlock Holmes of Baker Street,a book in which William S. Baring-Gould writes a biography of Sherlock Holmes based on all the facts revealed about him in the Canon, and because Baring-Gould is an excellent writer, the book is a fun and amusing read.

The same holds true for this biography of the almost-as enigmatic director, Tim Burton. He rarely gives interviews (in which he says anything of substance, anyway) and guards his private life. To write a biography of such a subject requires a love of that subject (a love of that subject's works, at least), ingenuity, and dedication, and such has been provided here by Ken Hanke. His writing flows smoothly, and more importantly than anything else, his book causes one to think - to compare their reactions to a particular film to Hanke's own.

If you are a fan of Burton, this book is highly recommened. ... Read more

Reviews (6)

Ron Howard-From Child Star to Innovative Director
One of the advantages of an "unauthorized" biography is that it should offer a more creative and exciting challenges to the biographer and a much greater illumination to the reader.
There is always the danger when a biography is authorized that a conflict of interest may arise and the truth may be compromised.

Beverly Gray's unauthorized biography Ron Howard From Mayberry to the Moon..and Beyond is a "putting the record straight" kind of a book, wherein some of the myths that have been prevalent in the press for so many years are explored and set aside.

Many of us have grown up with Ron Howard the child actor Opie Taylor on The Andy Griffith Show, and then as Richie Cunningham of Happy Days.
Today, Ron Howard is a well known Hollywood film director and producer, who directed such films as: Through the Magic Pyramid, Night Shift, Cocoon, Willow, Parenthood, Backdraft, Far and Away, The Paper, Apollo 13, Ransom, How the Grinch Stole Christmas, and Academy award winner, A Beautiful Mind.

Gray practically begins her story from the cradle. Howard was born of parents, who themselves were actors, and at eighteen months he captured his first acting role as a crying baby, thanks to the efforts of his father.
Throughout his life, his parents, Rance and Jean Howard, played a tremendous role in shaping his life, and at the tender age of five years his father had imparted in him professionalism and basic acting techniques that have remained with him throughout his career.

As we read Howard's "unauthorized" biography, we are amazed at the extensive research that must have gone into the writing of this book, most of which was gleaned from Howard's interviews with the media over the years, as well as the author's interviews with many of his associates.
One advantage of writing Howard's biography in the prime of his life is that almost everyone is still around from his youth and his filmmaking career.

Practically no stone is left unturned, as we trudge along with the author from Howard's early childhood until his present day directing achievements.
We learn of his successes as well as his failures, and very often we are privy to some little known facts about him.
As an example, Howard was in awe by director George Lucas's talents and counter culture approach to filmmaking, as was in evidence in the film American Graffiti, where Howard had been asked to improvise scenes with other actors.

Movie buffs will surely appreciate the four appendices included at the end of the book that provide a timeline for the actor, filmography as an actor, filmography as a director and producer, and his major awards and honors.

One deficiency I found with the book, and one that is very prevalent in many biographies, is the creation of a narrative pattern that relies on the chronological tick of events; the day- by -day or year- by- year pattern should have been re-imagined. If the author had made Howard's story more innovative, it would have been more attractive to its readers.

Norm Goldman-Travel Writer and Editor Bookpleasures

Ron Howard: From Mayberry to the Moon...and Beyond
I found Ms. Gray's study of Ron Howard to be a highly creative and attention-grabbing presentation of a man with a constantly developing and fascinating career and personality, ranging from his child-actor beginnings through his current reputation as a successful director in many genres. The book brought to life his early years in the Andy Griffith television series and "The Music Man." The author's treatment of his recent film, "A Beautiful Mind," is especially moving and insightful and tied together Howard's consistency and creative exploration in all of his work. His ever-present optimism, human decency, energetic habit of taking on new challenges, and loyal respect for others in his life and his work is presented in a very appreciative and in-depth way.

Opie to Richie to the Moon
Did you ever want to be Opie when you were a kid? I did. The thing about Opie was that even when he got into trouble, and he did get into trouble, everybody still liked him. Beverly Gray, in Ron Howard From Mayberry to the Moon, presents a good case that the same is true of Mr. Howard. Everybody in the motion picture business likes him, that is if you exclude a few pretentious critics (and even they probably like him, just not always his happy endings). Nice guys do NOT always finish last.

Howard did not cooperate with this biography because "he felt himself to be in midcareer and not ready to participate in a long range assessment of his accomplishment." OK, fair enough. Keep that in mind while you are reading, but do read it.

From Opie to Richie to director, this is a detailed portrait of a man whom everyone agrees is a real mensch and who is wildly successful. It is also fascinating, and adds to Howard's charm, to realize who loyal he is to his family and friends, yet how honestly he treats them when casting projects. Simply put, if he feels they are right for a part, they get it; if not, they don't. That takes quite a bit of respect and love - from the actor and the director.

Gray's extensive interviews bring out some interesting bits of trivia about Howard. Her prose flows nicely and her organization is excellent. Maybe in another forty years or so, she can write an update - next time with Ron Howard's input.

Ron Howard: From Mayberry to the Moon...and Beyond
I read Beverly Gray's book on "Ron Howard: From Mayberry to the Moon... and Beyond". I found it to be very easy to read, very entertaining and full of interesting stories about Ron. Ms. Gray was objective, diplomatic and kind, never to offend any party involved. I thoroughly enjoyed the book so much so that I finished reading it in one and a half day while sun bathing in Del Mar, California recently.

An engaging and informative presentation
Ron Howard: From Mayberry To The Moon ...and Beyond is a full-length biography by Beverly Gray of a Hollywood child actor star who grew up to become a successful and respected movie director. From his days as Opie Taylor on "The Andy Griffith Show" to his seasons as Richie Cunningham of "Happy Days", to his recent directorial achievements (including the winning of an Academy Award for Best Director of "A Beautiful Mind"), Ron Howard's professional and family life are recounted in exuberant detail in this engaging and informative presentation which is strongly recommended reading for his legions of fans. ... Read more

Reviews (2)

Nobody does it better than Broccoli, Albert R. Broccoli
Albert R. Broccoli presents... That statement which appears above the title of 17 James Bond films sends wonderful thoughts through my mind. It is the man who spent his whole life devoted to bringing Ian Fleming's character to the big screen. This autobiography begins the story of Cubby's childhood and continues up to during the filming of his last 007 epic. The book tells us in detail how he believes the most important thing in his life was his family and that his movies were something extra special and nice. Find out the origins of the nickname Cubby his cousin gave him, to which he has used both privately and professionally. Learn how he and his producing partner Harry Saltzman created Eon Productions and Danjaq and why they eventually split leaving Broccoli as the sole owner of the copyrights and who eventually became the most successful film producer in motion picture history with a film series that has lasted almost 40 years. Because of Cubby Broccoli, I have always wanted to become a filmmaker. This book was a very quick read but kept me interested all the way through! As it still says in the credit's "Albert R. Broccoli's Eon Productions Presents..." his memory will live on forever and this book is a marvelous look at the life of the most overlooked film producer in history.

A Roller Coaster Ride Indeed!
The promotion poster for this wonderful autobiography of Cubby Broccoli describes it as "A roller-coaster ride throught the life of one of Hollywood's best-loved film producers," and it couldn't be more right. I admit it may be a tad boring if you have no interest in the James Bond films or their creators, but if you do, you will find this book to be a fascinating look at the life of the producer who spent almost 30 years of his life creating the most successful film series in history. The book begins by describing the immigrant experience of his family and continues to chart a real-life example of the American Dream in action -- the story of a poor broccoli farmer from New York who grew up to receive the Thalberg Award and have his name inscribed on a star in Hollywood. In this book, Broccoli also tells fascinating insider stories about such hollywood greats as Howard Hughes and Victor Mature, which will interest even those who could care less about Bond. I dock the book a star only because of the long, boring passages toward the end (written by Donald Zec, I think)regarding the numerous takeovers of United Artists and Broccoli's efforts to keep the company in good hands (ever wonder why there were no Bond movies produced between '89 and '95?). Other than these passages, however, I have found that "When the Snow Melts" is the only autobiography I haven't been able to put down! ... Read more