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Mystery & SuspenseFictionSuspenseFilmArts & Culture

To the tune of Travolta

Review by Pat H. Broeske

When it was first published, the anonymously-authored Primary Colors–an obvious roman a clef about the Clintons–triggered a national guessing-game about the author's true identity. Appropriately, the Washington Post wound up outing Newsweek columnist Joe Klein (following Klein's blanket denials, to his comrades in print, that he was the author). The controversy didn't end there. When the bestseller went into production as a movie, there were raised eyebrows and barbed comments from pundits. After all, a mutual love-fest exists between the Clintons and Hollywood. Thus, the latest chapter in the Primary Colors saga concerns the book's "softening," so as not to offend the First Couple. Little wonder, since director Mike Nichols and screenwriter Elaine May are known as Clinton supporters. Even Joe Klein whose book sold to Hollywood for $1.5 million has been downplaying parallels between print and real life, saying his book isn't really about the Clintons. Never mind that the deftly-written political satire, about a Southern governor running for president in 1992 amid scandalous headlines of marital infidelities is clearly based on the travails of you-know-who.

Actually, not everyone is balking about the obvious similarities. John Travolta, who stars as the book's womanizing (and idealistic) candidate, readily admits he went for a "Clinton-esque illusion," with mimicked speech patterns, hair color and style, and physicality. Not that the popular, likable icon is going to play a bad boy. As he puts it in a George magazine interview, "You'd have to be dead not to see the script favors Clinton."

One thing is certain: the release of the movie adaptation couldn't be more timely, what with the ongoing headlines regarding the latest sex scandal to plague the presidency. Still, for an unbridled "take" on the political scene, it's near-impossible to top the original source material, Primary Colors: A Novel of Politics still credited to "Anonymous", narrated by actor Blair Underwood. What, you were expecting Travolta to do the honors?

The ubiquitous John Travolta will topline yet another adaptation of a best seller Jonathan Harr's A Civil Action. Due later this year from Touchstone Pictures, it's based on the real life account of attorney Jan Schlichtmann, who in the early eighties initiated a civil suit against two of the country's largest corporations on behalf of the families of young leukemia victims. (Over a period of years, the companies W.R. Grace and Beatrice Foods had disposed of a cancer-causing industrial solvent by dumping it into the water supply of Woburn, Massachusetts.) A riveting page-turner, Harr's book gives readers a front-row seat to courtroom theatrics and infighting providing a meticulous look at the intricacies of our legal system, and all its flaws. As for the film version: no word, yet, on how it will differ from what's in print but expect the usual PR blitz, as befits Travolta's leading man status.

For a look back at the early Travolta when he was in his singing, dancing prime there's Frenchy's Grease Scrapbook, a behind-the-scenes look at the making, and the after-life, of the 1978 hit film Grease. A tie-in to the movie's 20th anniversary reissue, it's an innocuous reminder of the Eisenhower era, when everything including politics seemed so innocent.

When it was first published, the anonymously-authored Primary Colors--an obvious roman a clef about the Clintons--triggered a national guessing-game about the author's true identity. Appropriately, the Washington Post wound up outing Newsweek columnist Joe Klein (following Klein's blanket denials, to his comrades in print, that…

NonfictionMemoirFilm

Barry Sonnenfeld, Call Your Mother

Review by Deborah Hopkinson

In 1970, a few weeks before he turned 17, Barry Sonnenfeld was at the Winter Festival for Peace concert at Madison Square Garden. It was after 2 a.m., the latest the teen had ever been out. Jimi Hendrix was warming up, and the audience buzzed in anticipation. “We were about to witness history,” recalls Sonnenfeld. Suddenly he heard his own name over the loudspeaker. “Barry Sonnenfeld. Call your mother.” The crowd took up his first name as a chant. Barry rushed to a phone, convinced his father had died. No, his mother said, weeping. She was calling because Barry had said he’d be home at 2. Barry’s father lived into his 90s.

Sonnenfeld, legendary cinematographer on the first three Coen brothers’ films and director of The Addams Family, Get Shorty and Men in Black, among others, does more than name-drop or recall Hollywood vignettes in this funny, wry and thoroughly entertaining memoir. Sonnenfeld is, above all, a storyteller, and while his own journey from a skinny, French horn-playing kid to a successful director drives the breezy narrative, he takes time to bring supporting characters irreverently to life—his overprotective mother, Kelly, who spent years threatening suicide, and his father, Sonny, who tormented her with his many affairs. Against this backdrop, Sonnenfeld’s loving and happy family life with his wife, Sweetie, shines through.

Movie buffs, of course, will be most pleased with anecdotes from Sonnenfeld’s time at NYU film school, his work with the Coen brothers and actor Penny Marshall, as well as the growth and development of his own directing style.

At the outset, Sonnenfeld shares what might be his life philosophy: Regret the past, fear the present, dread the future. Yet, somehow, he reflects, “I’ve managed to live an unusual and amazing life.”

 

ALSO IN BOOKPAGE: Read our Q&A with Barry Sonnenfeld and seven other new and emerging memoirists.

Barry Sonnenfeld, legendary cinematographer on the first three Coen brothers’ films and director of The Addams Family, Get Shorty and Men in Black, among others, does more than name-drop or recall Hollywood vignettes in this funny, wry and thoroughly entertaining memoir.
FilmArts & Culture

Twinkling with the stars

Review by bookpagedev

“You know how to handle the red carpet? Just turn your head and smile, but don’t stop. Never stop.” Goldie Hawn dispensed that sage advice to Winona Ryder while backstage at the Oscar telecast of 1996. Veteran entertainment journalist Steve Pond was there to hear it. For nearly a decade, Pond was given unprecedented access to the Academy Awards. The Big Show: High Times and Dirty Dealings Backstage at the Academy Awards is the meticulously detailed result. From milestones to minutia, it’s the ultimate backstage pass to the show of shows.

Pond reveals how the Allan Carr-produced 1989 telecast shaped what was to come. True, Carr’s much-hyped, heavily panned night abounded in mind-boggling moments, like the opening number featuring Rob Lowe and Snow White warbling “Proud Mary.” But it also marked the first time we heard the words, “And the Oscar goes to. . .” rather than, “And the winner is. . .” Carr also brought aboard a fashion coordinator and corporate sponsors. And, he amped up the glamour.

But if there’s a template, there’s also headache-inducing uncertainty. Pond gives us a fly-on-the-wall look at what goes on in the producer’s office, the control room, the media area and more. You want rehearsals? For her song from Dick Tracy, Madonna practiced so many times she ranks as a record holder. She actually showed up late one night wearing nightgown and slippers. Then there was the time she wanted to rehearse even after a camera operator had taken a spill in the orchestra pit and was awaiting the paramedics. “But she’s just lying there. Can’t we do this?” Madonna whined. For a classier star turn, there was Kevin Spacey, helping a dazed Julia Roberts backstage following her Oscar win. When the out-of-breath Roberts requested champagne, a show staffer pointed to the water cooler. “No. Only champagne will do. You have to understand,” insisted Spacey, who knows firsthand what it’s like to win. Hey, Oscar recognition should have its privileges. Howard Hughes biographer Pat H. Broeske never misses an Oscar telecast.

"You know how to handle the red carpet? Just turn your head and smile, but don't stop. Never stop." Goldie Hawn dispensed that sage advice to Winona Ryder while backstage at the Oscar telecast of 1996. Veteran entertainment journalist Steve Pond was there to hear…
FilmArts & Culture

Hollywood nights

Review by bookpagedev

Alas, Vanity Fair’s annual Oscar night bash is “by invitation only.” But we mere mortals can party-crash with Oscar Night: 75 Years of Oscar Parties, From the Editors of Vanity Fair . Along with VF’s Oscar night pics, this monumental tome (measuring 11-by-14 inches) raids the to-die-for archives of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences, the folks behind the Oscars. With captions featuring trivia and gossipy dish, it’s the definitive look at Oscar-night partying over the decades.

Kicking off with the first-ever 1929 Oscar gala, held at the Roosevelt Hotel, the book takes us to the various ceremony venues, after-show hot spots like the Bistro and Spago, and into the living rooms of notable notables. The guest lists are a “Who’s Hot, Who’s Not” panorama, depicting changing fashions, hairstyles and attitudes. Take a look: there’s Madonna with bad hair and Pamela Anderson in a denim miniskirt with a blouse she forgot to button. They’re no match for the elegantly coifed, dazzlingly bling-blinged Liz Taylor. Now she’s someone we want to party with. Pat H. Broeske is the co-author of Howard Hughes: The Untold Story, which would also make a terrific holiday gift.

Alas, Vanity Fair's annual Oscar night bash is "by invitation only." But we mere mortals can party-crash with Oscar Night: 75 Years of Oscar Parties, From the Editors of Vanity Fair . Along with VF's Oscar night pics, this monumental tome (measuring 11-by-14 inches) raids…
FilmArts & Culture

Confronting the ‘Stalker’

Review by Becky Ohlsen

I would read Geoff Dyer on any subject—partly because his writing is always unfailingly beautiful, and partly because to read him on any subject is to read him on pretty much every subject. He’s not inclined to take the shortest, most direct route to his ostensible destination; he likes tangents. He’s often grumpy or depressive, but simultaneously brilliant and hilarious. His book about trying to write a book about D.H. Lawrence, Out of Sheer Rage, should be required reading for anyone who’s ever thought writing a book sounded like a good idea. Whatever he’s writing about, at least in his nonfiction, Geoff Dyer is always also writing about Geoff Dyer, and about art, and about the fragile intersection of neurosis and inspiration. Among other things.

In his latest, Zona—a meditation on the 1979 film Stalker by the great Russian director Andrei Tarkovsky—Dyer veers off onto such topics as his wife’s eerie resemblance to Natascha McElhone in the Steven Soderbergh remake of Tarkovsky’s Solaris; drinking beer in pubs; The Wizard of Oz; three-ways; a Bjork song; the dog he’ll probably never have and lots more.

Which isn’t to imply that the book is scattered. Dyer’s narrative follows the film from beginning to end, shot-by-shot. (He writes in a footnote that he had intended to divide the book into 142 sections, to correspond with the 142 shots in the film, “but then, as I became engrossed and re-engrossed in the film, I kept losing track of where one shot ended and another began.”) The effect is similar to that of a really top-notch commentary track, or of watching a familiar movie with someone much more observant and insightful than yourself. Someone who’s also maybe slightly off-kilter and very good at brutally honest self-analysis.

Dyer’s visual descriptions are so meticulous and detailed that you could easily enjoy the book even without having seen Stalker—although that would sort of be missing the point. I think the best approach is to watch the film once, then read the book, then re-watch the film with Dyer’s voice in your head. The very dedicated might also note and seek out the several other titles mentioned in the text and the copious footnotes (the footnotes are substantial, often covering multiple pages, and are not to be missed). It’ll be the most fun you can possibly have watching a long, gray, beautiful, poetic, slow-moving Russian film about the search for hope and self-discovery.

Becky Ohlsen writes from Portland, Oregon.

I would read Geoff Dyer on any subject—partly because his writing is always unfailingly beautiful, and partly because to read him on any subject is to read him on pretty much every subject. He’s not inclined to take the shortest, most direct route to his…

Mystery & SuspenseMysteryFilm

Getting the scoop in an atmospheric Scottish mystery

Review by Barbara Clark

A.D. Scott’s intriguing mystery, A Double Death on the Black Isle, is set in the 1950s in the Scottish Highlands. If townsfolk want to keep tongues from wagging and dodge the stares of neighbors, they better avoid pregnancy before marriage, working on the Sabbath and being caught in a public bar (only if they’re female). In this community, local customs and gossip play commanding roles, and though it’s a small enough town, there’s still room for a little enmity between the farmers and the fishermen, the year-rounders and the nomadic Traveling People.

The mystery kicks in when fisherman Sandy Skinner, newly married “above his station” to Patricia Ord Mackenzie—a member of the estate-owning Highland gentry—dramatically plunges over the Falls of Foyers to certain death. That same day, the volatile Fraser Munro, whose family manages the estate’s lands, is found dead in a ditch near Devil’s Den. Coincidence or connection? 

We join the cast and crew of the Highland Gazette, a newly re-launched newspaper, as they rush to cover the story of a fishing boat that’s been bombed and sunk, followed in quick succession by the two unexplained deaths on neighboring Black Isle. Scott, who is also the author of A Small Death in the Great Glen, book one in this Highland series, draws readers right into the sights, sounds and nostalgia of a small-town newspaper, where reporters still hit the streets in search of a story and deadline day is an adrenaline rush of untangling loose ends.

Joanne Ross, a typist and budding reporter at the Gazette, is the protagonist of this novel, although my favorite character may be reporter Rob McLean, who is ambitious, funny and quick at nosing out a story. He’s got his eye on the future, although readers will be very disappointed if he takes another job and exits this series. Memorable characters also include Hector Bain—he of the green cap and orange hair and a passion for photography—and the Black Isle residents themselves, who sneak one and all into your reading consciousness, like Janet Ord Mackenzie (mother of Patricia), whose gothic air and ring-bedecked pointy finger remind Joanne’s young daughter of the queen in Snow White.

A Double Death on the Black Isle is filled with alliteration and atmosphere. Just about every character seems to be related somehow, and it’s occasionally difficult to keep the Allies, Agneses and Alistairs all straight. However, the end result is worth sticking around for and readers will be left anticipating the next installment.

A.D. Scott’s intriguing mystery, A Double Death on the Black Isle, is set in the 1950s in the Scottish Highlands. If townsfolk want to keep tongues from wagging and dodge the stares of neighbors, they better avoid pregnancy before marriage, working on the Sabbath and…

FilmArts & Culture

An insider’s view of Tinseltown

Review by bookpagedev

There’s no place quite like Hollywood, a town without rules where surviving is easier said than done. That’s the bottom line of Shoot Out: Surviving the Fame and (Mis)Fortune of Hollywood, an inside look at the movie-making industry co-authored by Peter Bart and Peter Guber. The pair write from experience: Bart is editor of the show biz bible Variety and a former studio executive who had a hand in films such as Rosemary’s Baby and The Godfather. Guber, former president of Sony Entertainment, is a longtime producer of movies, including Rain Man and Batman. At UCLA, Bart and Guber team-teach a class in which industry personalities guest lecture. This book is based on some of those accounts, as well as the authors’ colorful experiences. The emphasis here is on the moviemaking journey from the initial pitch to the final cut and all the people in-between, including writers, producers and agents (who, according to the authors, dwell in their own sociopathic cocoon ). Guber and Bart offer tantalizing behind-the-scenes tidbits about stars like John Travolta and Eddie Murphy, who on a fluke was cast in the blockbuster 48 HRS. (His role was offered to Gregory Hines and Bill Cosby, until someone finally asked, How about that funny black kid on Saturday Night Live? ) As Guber and Bart reveal, only 20 percent of film projects in development actually get made, and it’s no easy going for the chosen few. Brisk, lively and detailed, Shoot Out proves once again that there really is no business like show business.

Biographer Pat H. Broeske has covered the film industry for the Los Angeles Times.

 

There's no place quite like Hollywood, a town without rules where surviving is easier said than done. That's the bottom line of Shoot Out: Surviving the Fame and (Mis)Fortune of Hollywood, an inside look at the movie-making industry co-authored by Peter Bart and Peter…

FilmArts & Culture

Investigating the mystery genre

Review by bookpagedev

Patrick Anderson’s The Triumph of the Thriller carries the subtitle How Cops, Crooks, and Cannibals Captured Popular Fiction. It was not always thus; in the 1950s and ’60s, the fiction bestseller lists were dominated by sweeping, dramatic (not to mention thick) novels: Michener’s Hawaii, Uris’ Exodus, Gann’s The High and the Mighty. By comparison, of the top 16 books on the New York Times bestseller list the week this review was written, an incredible 14 fall into the mystery/thriller genre. Anderson, the thriller reviewer for the Washington Post, draws upon his years of covering this oft-maligned genre to explain what accounts for this phenomenon.

He starts at the beginning, critiquing the suspense works of Edgar Allan Poe, Wilkie Collins and Sir Arthur Conan Doyle. From there, he explores the beginnings of modern detective fiction: Hammett, Chandler, Cain. World War II ushered in the era of the tough guy; descriptions of sex and/or violence only hinted at by Chandler or Cain were spelled out in graphic detail by the likes of Mickey Spillane, Ross Macdonald and Ed McBain. Anderson devotes a chapter apiece to George Pelecanos, Michael Connelly, Dennis Lehane and Thomas Harris, four of his favorites (and mine). Additionally, he offers up a list of his recommendations for the fledgling thriller reader.

More importantly, he gives us a list of stuff to avoid at all costs: For the most part, I try to find the best books I can, both because I don’t want to spend my time reading bad books and because I want to alert readers to good ones. As a result, I write a good many favorable reviews, which might give readers the impression that I’m a nice guy. I’m not a nice guy. I grow surly and vindictive when obliged to read a book that bores me or insults my intelligence. What’s more, it makes me crazy when people surrender $25 for some piece of crap. Amen, brother! BookPage Whodunit? columnist Bruce Tierney grew up reading the Hardy Boys.

Patrick Anderson's The Triumph of the Thriller carries the subtitle How Cops, Crooks, and Cannibals Captured Popular Fiction. It was not always thus; in the 1950s and '60s, the fiction bestseller lists were dominated by sweeping, dramatic (not to mention thick) novels: Michener's Hawaii, Uris'…
PhotographyFilmArts & Culture

Names in lights

Review by Pat H. Broeske

Leading men tell all

There are similarities to the careers and lives of Robert Wagner and Tony Curtis. Both were contract players who went on to 1950s – era stardom and a cool '60s ride. Each reaped the rewards of fame by paling with starry names – and enjoying women galore. After wedding famous actresses, both were in "storybook" marriages breathlessly covered by fan magazines.

That's where the similarities end, as detailed in Wagner's Pieces of My Heart, written with Scott Eyman. This holiday tell-all delivers the goods. Wagner grew up privileged, just off the Bel – Air Country Club golf course, where he caddied for the likes of Clark Gable and Fred Astaire. Just 22 when he began a four – year affair with the much older Barbara Stanwyck (she was 45) he later famously married and divorced and remarried Natalie Wood. Her 1981 death in the waters off Catalina Island continues to haunt him. Yet Wagner, who went on to find fame as a TV stalwart and is now married to Jill St. John, knows he's had an amazing ride.

A star is born

Tony Curtis enjoyed all the amenities a life in the Hollywood spotlight can bring – but you wouldn't know it to read his story, told in American Prince: A Memoir, written with Peter Golenbock. But then, the former Bernie Schwartz had a hardscrabble New York childhood: he's always been quick to use his fists. Curtis came to Hollywood by way of acting school, following a Navy stint. His pretty boy looks were his calling card-and date bait. Opening with a tryst with young Marilyn Monroe, his book does considerable bed – hopping. It was an affair with a 17 -year-old leading lady that put an end to his marriage to popular actress Janet Leigh. (Curtis says Leigh's treatment of him had left him "emotionally vulnerable.") The ugly split may have turned some of Hollywood's powerful figures against Curtis. Or so he believes. He had a string of marriages and saw his career spiral downward, despite starring in bona fide classics, including Some Like It Hot and Sweet Smell of Success.

He left Hollywood when the phone stopped ringing. Now living in Las Vegas, he's been happily married for 10 years (wife Jill has a horse ranch). For the record, he's not on the greatest terms with daughter Jamie Lee Curtis. But he's working on it.

Inside a curious mind

Alfred Hitchcock didn't go for happy endings, but he sure liked blondes. But what was behind the master of suspense's obsession with actresses including Grace Kelly, Ingrid Bergman, Kim Novak, Doris Day, Janet Leigh and Tippi Hedren? In Spellbound by Beauty: Alfred Hitchcock and His Leading Ladies, Donald Spoto offers a compelling psychological examination. As the author of two other Hitchcock tomes, Spoto has the credentials and sources to explore how Hitchcock's psyche impacted his films and their casting. Self – loathing and friendless with unresolved issues toward women, Hitchcock could be a cruel taskmaster. What he did to Hedren (mother of actress Melanie Griffith) during the making of The Birds and especially Marnie, was nothing short of sexual harassment – even physical abuse. (Class act that she is, Hedren eventually made her peace with Hitchcock.) The plot of Vertigo (in which James Stewart "remakes" Kim Novak into his dream woman) played to his habit of making actresses "to his dream ideal of blonde perfection." Of course, those blondes often wound up in nightmarish situations in Hitchcock's iconic films.

The Hollywood lifestyle

In the world of show business, some of the hottest properties aren't on the screen but, rather, in the rarefied worlds of Beverly Hills, Bel-Air and Holmby Hills. Leading Beverly Hills real estate broker Jeffrey Hyland knows that terrain better than anyone, as revealed in the massive, lushly illustrated The Legendary Estates of Beverly Hills. This amazingly researched and illustrated history of nearly 50 incredible estates, from the ground up (as they were built), includes a who's who of notables involved, as well as an authoritative look at the convergence of architectural styles (and audacity) that are as integral to Southern California as palm trees – and it comes in a carrying case with attached handle. For looky – loos, this may be the ultimate home tour.

A studio revealed

If you saw and enjoyed PBS's five-hour documentary about Warner Bros. Studios that aired in September, you only skimmed the surface. You Must Remember This: The Warner Bros. Story by Richard Schickel and George Perry, gives the complete saga, with a wealth of images from the archives of the 85 – year – old studio. Founded by four brothers, Warner Bros. famously popularized sound with 1927's The Jazz Singer. Its first big star was Rin Tin Tin. The studio also claimed the esteemed John Barrymore (grandfather of Drew Barrymore). But its key performers were as gritty as the movies that became the studio signatures. James Cagney, Edward G. Robinson and Humphrey Bogart were among those who made their mark here. Moving decade by decade (the '70s were as exciting as the '30s), the book takes us right up to The Dark Knight and Sweeney Todd, and charts the evolution of modern legends, including Clint Eastwood, who penned the foreword.

Eastwood's own metamorphosis is captured in Clint Eastwood: A Life in Pictures. Edited by Pierre – Henri Verlhac, with a foreword by Peter Bogdanovich, it follows his journey from hubba – hubba beefcake model to his status as a revered filmmaker – actor, accepting accolades and statuettes at Cannes and the Oscars. Now there's a Hollywood ending.

Beyond the best

The B-List: The National Society of Film Critics on the Low-Budget Beauties, Genre – Bending Mavericks, and Cult Classics We Love is edited by David Sterritt and John Anderson. The National Society of Film Critics is known for highbrow taste (in 2002 they turned out The A-List: 100 Essential Films). But in this entry, the members fess up about the guilty pleasures on their DVD shelves. A chapter on "Provocation and Perversity" goes bonkers for Nic Cage's loony tunes performance in Vampire's Kiss. Another on "Dark and Disturbing Dreams" salutes The Rage: Carrie 2. Here and there, a title's inclusion gives pause; Platoon a B-movie? But the bulk of the lineup reminds us why it's OK to love movies that have never made a "10 best" list.

Some of the B-titles are included in David Thomson's "Have You Seen… ?": A Personal Introduction to 1,000 Films. It's a welcome companion to his authoritative Biographical Dictionary of Film. Arranged alphabetically, titles from 1895 to 2007 are examined on varying levels (audacious themes, forgotten performances, the tenor of the day, etc.). The erudite Thomson isn't without a sense of humor. Of Liz Taylor in Cleopatra, he notes, "Her eyelashes needed cranes!"

Leading men tell all

There are similarities to the careers and lives of Robert Wagner and Tony Curtis. Both were contract players who went on to 1950s - era stardom and a cool '60s ride. Each reaped the rewards of fame by paling with starry names…

FictionMemoirFilmArts & Culture

A screen gem for Oscar season

Review by Pat H. Broeske

Pictures at a Revolution: Five Movies and the Birth of the New Hollywood examines the years leading up to the pivotal 1968 Academy Awards, when the then-edgy Bonnie and Clyde and The Graduate duked it out with the socially conscious In the Heat of the Night and Guess Who's Coming to Dinner? and the old-school Doctor Dolittle. As Oscar buffs know, In the Heat of the Night took top honors. And its star, Rod Steiger, was named Best Actor. But what really won out were new attitudes—including new permissiveness, as well as redefined notions of what makes a star. Written by Mark Harris, a former editor at Entertainment Weekly, Pictures at a Revolution is the '60s companion to Peter Biskind's '70s-era study, Easy Riders, Raging Bulls: How the Sex-Drugs-and-Rock 'N' Roll Generation Saved Hollywood—though Harris' book is more clearly written and better organized. (Full disclosure: I wrote for Biskind when he was editor of Premiere, and for Harris at Entertainment Weekly.)

Harris charts a complex journey that begins when young Hollywood filmmakers become enamored with the French New Wave. He goes on to take us through the tangle of all five nominated films' convoluted histories. At one time Francois Truffaut wanted to helm Bonnie and Clyde. Once the property was acquired by Warren Beatty, whom Time magazine called "an on-again, off-again actor who moonlighted as a global escort," Beatty considered Bob Dylan(!) for the role of Clyde. Natalie Wood, Sharon Tate, Ann-Margret and Tuesday Weld were contenders for Bonnie. The winner: ingenue Faye Dunaway, who'd once been told she "didn't have the face for movies." Bolstered by Harris' access to most of the principals involved in the five nominated films, and by the audacity of the very decade it examines, Pictures at a Revolution reminds us that hard-fought battles can result in cinematic victories, with or without an Oscar statuette.

THE CELEBRITY TREATMENT
A fictional look at the contemporary Oscar scene, the chick-lit entry Oscar Season merges swag bags and murder. The first novel from Los Angeles Times entertainment reporter Mary McNamara follows posh PR maven Juliette Greyson, who's up to her neck in damage control following the discovery of a body in a hotel pool. Ah, but the Pinnacle isn't just any hotel; it's become "the hub" of Oscar season, site of industry parties and press junkets and a home away from home for celebs.

Real-life actors (ranging from household names to the obscure) move in and out of the book's pages, alongside fictional Hollywood players, as Greyson sets out to discover who done it while having to deal with her hotelier boss, her estranged husband and the upcoming Oscar show. Not the most plausible of tales, the book is at its clever best when delivering Oscar-y details that underscore McNamara's many years working behind the scenes.

TV LAND
Gary David Goldberg has never won an Oscar, but he knows all about Emmys. The two-time winner, who created "Family Ties," ruminates on his industry climb and his own family ties in the breezy memoir Sit, Ubu, Sit: How I Went from Brooklyn to Hollywood with the Same Woman, the Same Dog, and a Lot Less Hair. About that title: Ubu was a beloved Labrador sidekick. The woman of the subtitle is wife Diana. The couple tied the knot after 21 years of togetherness and two kids. Much of the book deals with their relationship—and reads like a love story. Goldberg, who early on was an actor on the traveling dinner-theater circuit, also details his ascent up the Hollywood food chain, via a marathon of spec scripts (meaning he wrote them on speculation—without any assignment or fee). He relates exchanges with agents and producers, discusses his friendship and ensuing creative battles with "Family Ties" and "Spin City" star Michael J. Fox (the two men have since reconciled) and chillingly recalls the mysterious illness that nearly took his wife's life. He also ponders the responsibility wrought by unexpected wealth (the "Family Ties" syndication monies), and his good fortune at having found the perfect person to share it with.

Pat H. Broeske has covered the Oscars for publications including the Los Angeles Times, the Washington Post and Entertainment Weekly.

Pictures at a Revolution: Five Movies and the Birth of the New Hollywood examines the years leading up to the pivotal 1968 Academy Awards, when the then-edgy Bonnie and Clyde and The Graduate duked it out with the socially conscious In the Heat of the…

SportsLifestylesFilmArts & Culture

Killer gifts for guys

Review by Martin Brady

Real men the ones who like to read will welcome the arrival of The Annotated Godfather: The Complete Screenplay. Film historian Jenny M. Jones takes control of this project in marvelous fashion. We get the entire shooting script of the original film, plus deleted scenes, cool sidebars on how the film was adapted from the book, behind-the-scenes tidbits on cast and crew, continuity goofs and obvious bloopers, and a series of introductory essays that consider the enormous production undertaking. There are tons of screenshots and production stills here as well, which, along with the text, combine to make readers feel like they're almost experiencing the actual film. But what emerges most is the genius of Francis Ford Coppola, who comprehensively used both right- and left-brain functions to brilliantly bring the novel to life through a mix of canny screenwriting, zealous attention to endless details and a courageous approach to dealing with his bottom-line-conscious financial bosses and the powerful ensemble of players and creative talent under his reins.

GIMME THE BALL
This one was overdue. After their previous (and fabulous) showcases for football and baseball, Sports Illustrated now gives us The Basketball Book. The format is gloriously similar: hundreds of astonishingly good color and black-and-white photos from the SI archive, interlaced with informative essays and profiles by topnotch journalists. The focus here, however, is a tad skewed, and up for criticism. Unlike the prior series entries, which focused only on the men's pro game, the coverage here includes the college game and also the WNBA. Nothing wrong with that in theory, but certainly the college game (both male and female) is deserving of its own volume, and here it gets overwhelmed by the imposing shadow of the NBA. Plus, the WNBA coverage smacks of tokenism, with only a handful of its major players represented.

On the plus side, there is something about basketball photography that seems even more dynamic than its sporting counterparts, possibly because the photographers can get so close to the action. The results are often breathtaking, both in style and historical importance: an overhead view of Shaquille O'Neal jamming one through the hoop; a coral-tinged portrait of a brooding Wilt Chamberlain (c. 1965); a dramatic shot of an outstretched Dennis Rodman lunging desperately for a loose ball; a delightful photo of basketball twins Tom and Dick Van Arsdale during their college playing days at Indiana; and movingly meditative facing-page glimpses of Michael Jordan and Scottie Pippen looking like African gods. There's trick photography here as well for example, a multiple exposure of John Stockton all over the court at once, and a fascinatingly fun bi-fold center insert that lines up 29 of the great ones by height in descending order (ladies included), from Manute Bol (7'7 ) to Muggsy Bogues (5'3 ). The browsing extras are endless: decade-by-decade rundowns of the best players, college and pro; a declension of famous on-court strategies as devised by coaches from Nat Holman to Bobby Knight; and satisfying visual sidebars.

DETAILS MAKE THE MAN
Some of us guys may not dress as sharply as we'd like to, yet there's something to be learned by all in Details Men's Style Manual: The Ultimate Guide for Making Your Clothes Work for You. Daniel Peres and the editors of the award-winning Details magazine first offer some handy reminders about the rules of style, then run down a list of the classic items each guy should have (a classy overcoat, two white shirts, a simple black belt, etc.). The remainder of the coverage offers descriptions and attractive photos of contemporary clothing items, from shirts, pants and blazers to shoes, accessories and (yes) underwear. Thrown in along the way are tidbits of menswear history, regional considerations and tips on how to pack smartly. There's even a how-to on tying a bowtie, something most of us guys are clueless about.

Real men the ones who like to read will welcome the arrival of The Annotated Godfather: The Complete Screenplay. Film historian Jenny M. Jones takes control of this project in marvelous fashion. We get the entire shooting script of the original film, plus deleted scenes,…

FilmArts & Culture

Stars reveal secrets of Their First Time

Review by bookpagedev

We know what you’re thinking, but take a closer look at that title. This exposŽ bares all about the first performances of Hollywood’s stars in the movies. Remember The Cry Baby Killer? How about A Party at Kitty and Stud’s? Or Scudda Hoo! Scudda Hey! Just the inauspicious beginnings for Jack Nicholson, Sylvester Stallone and Marilyn Monroe.

The road to fame is always filled with a few detours, and Their First Time in the Movies takes the biggest stars from every Hollywood era and reconstructs their rise to the top. Author Les Krantz captures the "it" factor for more than 70 actors, charting their intriguing family histories, hidden passions and goofy first gigs in bite-sized bits of information on two-page spreads. Filled with delicious movie arcana, it’s fascinating reading for film fans. Who knew that Robert Redford turned to acting after losing interest in a professional baseball career? Or that opera was Meryl Streep’s first love? Looking at the full-page, black and white photos from their early days, it doesn’t take a rocket scientist to see star quality in these gorgeous young thespians. A young John Wayne puts today’s heartbreakers to shame; although she was nicknamed "Sophia Toothpick," Ms. Loren radiates sensuality; a dewy Marilyn Monroe looks almost virginal.

After you’ve read the history on the big-screen-bound, pop in the companion video and DVD to see the actual footage of 30 of the top performers making their debut. Or head out to the local video store you might get a good laugh from a full viewing of Julia Roberts’ Blood Red, Harrison Ford’s Dead Heat on a Merry-Go-Round or Clint Eastwood’s Revenge of the Creature, the highly praised sequel to The Creature from the Black Lagoon. Hey, you’ve got to start somewhere!

 

We know what you're thinking, but take a closer look at that title. This exposŽ bares all about the first performances of Hollywood's stars in the movies. Remember The Cry Baby Killer? How about A Party at Kitty and Stud's? Or Scudda Hoo! Scudda Hey!…

FilmArts & Culture

And the award goes to . . .

Review by bookpagedev

Amid the usual flurry of sequins, excitement and suspense, Hollywood celebrates itself again this month with the 75th annual Academy Awards. You know the routine: the red carpet unrolls; the most tarnished stars shine. The secrets in those little white envelopes are disclosed. There’ll be tears, pageantry and fashion faux-pas, an overlong ceremony and endless thank-you’s. Ah, the traditions of Tinseltown! Yet each year, most of us endure the symptoms of celebrity the platitudes and attitudes, eccentricities and frippery with good-natured equanimity. Why? Because a season without Oscar is simply unthinkable.

BookPage pays tribute to the movies this month with a group of books sure to satisfy the most celebrity-obsessed cinemaphile.

A treasury of film trivia The New Biographical Dictionary of Film (Knopf, $35, 960 pages, ISBN 0375411283) by critic David Thomson has provided the final word in movie trivia for the past 25 years. International in scope, organized alphabetically and freshly updated with 300 new listings (for a total of 1,300 entries overall), this weighty reference volume contains brief biographies of actors and directors, tycoons and producers, including everyone from Rin Tin Tin to Steven Spielberg. Thomson, a London native who contributes regularly to The New York Times and Film Comment, supplies plenty of insider info birthdays, lists of films and other irresistible tidbits, like Leonardo DiCaprio’s middle name (the martial-sounding Wilhelm) and George Clooney’s birthplace (Maysville, Kentucky, of all places.) A word of warning: Thomson is fearlessly free with his opinions. Moviegoers may take exception to his unsparing evaluations of Ben Affleck (“boring, complacent, and criminally lucky to have got away with everything so far”) and Gwyneth Paltrow (star of “a host of silly films”), but there’s no denying that the author’s criticisms are smart, discerning, often downright hilarious. Hollywood how-to Actors and executives, set builders and costume designers all share the spotlight in The American Film Institute Desk Reference (DK, $40, 608 pages, ISBN 0789489341). Produced by the American Film Institute, this authoritative guide to the industry offers the basics, from a timeline of movie history to an in-depth look at foreign film. The book is divided into fascinating categories. A chapter called “Movie Crafts” provides details on special effects, sound and music, while “Movie Basics” will tell you how to get started in the biz. A host of wonderful visuals brings the text alive. Edited by George Ochoa and Melinda Corey, authors of more than 30 books on cinema, this wonderfully comprehensive volume includes the American Film Institute’s list of the 100 Best Films of the Past 100 Years. With an introduction by Clint Eastwood, it’s an engaging survey of the film world.

A mischievous look at the movies Richard Roeper, co-host of Ebert ∧ Roeper at the Movies, has compiled a humorous collection of movie-related lists that’s a must-have for any film freak. In Ten Sure Signs a Movie Character is Doomed, and Other Surprising Movie Lists, Roeper takes stock of Hollywood, skewering celebrity culture with his clever categories. Along with the usual best-of and worst-of rosters are lists that never existed until now, like “The Gross-Out Hall of Fame,” “Age Difference Between Michael Douglas and His Leading Ladies,” and “12 Actors and Actresses Who Took Their Clothes Off When They Should Have Kept Them On.” A mix of roguish comedy and expert criticism, this ingenious paperback covers almost every element of the movies. So you won’t have to, Roeper has indexed the best film portrayals of presidents (Harrison Ford in Air Force One; Bill Pullman in Independence Day), the worst singers turned actors (Madonna, Mariah Carey) and pop songs perennially used in the movies (Born to Be Wild; I Will Survive). From soundtracks to screen kisses to casting disasters, no aspect of the cinema is safe from the wisecracking Roeper. Frank, funny, masterminded by a movie authority, Ten Sure Signs a Movie Character is Doomed is one mischievous little volume.

Amid the usual flurry of sequins, excitement and suspense, Hollywood celebrates itself again this month with the 75th annual Academy Awards. You know the routine: the red carpet unrolls; the most tarnished stars shine. The secrets in those little white envelopes are disclosed. There'll be…

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