A brilliant biography of the young Orson Welles, from his prodigious childhood and youth, his triumphs with the Mercury Theatre, to the making of Citizen Kane. Vivid, vastly entertaining, this is the definitive Welles biography.
The Cinema of Robert Gardner
The most artistic of ethnographic filmmakers, and the most ethnographic of artistic filmmakers, Robert Gardner is one of the most original, as well as controversial, filmmakers of the last half century. This is the first volume of essays dedicated to his work - a corpus of aesthetically arresting films which includes the classic Dead Birds (1963), a lyric depiction of ritual warfare among the Dugum Dani, in the Highlands of New Guinea; Rivers of Sand (1974), a provocative portrayal of relations...
This is a detailed look at the films of one of America's most intriguing directors of Westerns and films of violence. His highly influential films include "Ride the High Country", "Major Dundee", "The Wild Bunch" and "The Getaway". Illustrated with film stills, the book includes a brief biographical account of Peckinpah, including his early years in television. The chronological examination of his films places them in the context of their production, critical reception, accounts of Peckinpah's a...
A guide to the work of American film-maker, George Lucas, featuring his work as director ("American Graffiti", "Star Wars"), producer ("Raiders of the Lost Ark"), and as screenwriter ("Star Wars" trilogy). It also covers his film and TV offerings ("Willow", "THX 1138"), including the Indiana Jones movies. Lucas's company, Lucasfilm, has become a powerful independent force in Hollywood. Its special effects department alone, Industrial Light and Magic, is recognized as one of the world leaders. Al...
"Outlaw Masters of Japanese Film" offers an extraordinary close-up of the hitherto overlooked golden age of Japanese cult, action and exploitation cinema from the early 1950s through to the late 1970s, and up to the present day. Having unique access to the top maverick filmmakers and Japanese genre film icons, Chris D. brings together interviews with, and original writings on, the lives and films of such transgressive directors as Kinji Fukasaku ("Battles Without Honour and Humanity"), Seijun Su...
From an acclaimed writer, here is the first-ever biography of the hugely important and influential filmmaker, Alan J. Pakula. Pakula produced his first feature film, Fear Strikes Out, with his partner, director Robert Mulligan. Together, Pakula and Mulligan went on to create one of the greatest films in the history of cinema: the 1962 film adaptation of Harper Lee's To Kill A Mockingbird. By the late 1960s Pakula turned from producing to directing and quickly soared to the fore as one of the mos...
Wim Wenders
Wim Wenders: Making Films That Matter is the first book in 15 years to take a comprehensive look at Wim Wenders's extensive filmography. In addition to offering new insights into his cult masterpieces, the 10 essays in this volume highlight the thematic and aesthetic continuities between his early films and his latest productions. Wenders's films have much to contribute to current conversations on intermediality, whether it be through his adaptations of important literary works or his filmic rei...
Alfred Hitchcock's 1958 film "Vertigo" - in which obsessive ex-cop James Stewart pursues troubled loner Kim Novak throughout San Francisco - is one of the most dissected, discussed and revered movies of all time. Now, for the first time, the story of this remarkable film is revealed. Writing with the full cooperation of the director's family and many crewmembers, Dan Auiler offers up a remarkable in-depth recreation of Hitchcock's signature thriller. The result is one of the most through and ill...
The Performative Representations of Masculinity in Quentin Tarantino's Cinema
by Justin Russell Greene
In this book, Justin Russell Greene examines how Quentin Tarantino uses his auteur identity to further cement the masculine tropes of Hollywood – and ultimately, society – through language, visual aesthetics, and performative representations of masculinity in his films and media appearances. Greene posits that the careful crafting of his auteur persona allows Tarantino to project a consistent version of what it means to be a writer-director-artist, and that through his interview and speeches, he...
William Wyler (Conversations with Filmmakers)
William Wyler (1902-1981) was one of the most honored and successful directors from Hollywood's golden age. One of the film industry's most influential artists, he received three Academy Awards, twelve nominations for his direction and five nominations for his work as a producer. No film director in history has guided more actors to Academy Award nominations (thirty-one). During his fifty-year career, he directed some of Hollywood's most enduring films--among them Ben-Hur, The Best Years of Our...
In the blockbuster film Avatar, science fiction and the technological prowess of director James Cameron meet in a heady concoction that, while visually ravishing, could easily be dismissed as "eye candy." While critics most frequently acclaimed its breakthrough 3-D technology, close scrutiny of the film raises provocative questions about the relationship between mind and body, appearance and reality. It brings into focus the relationships of humans to their technology, their planet, and each...
Films such as The Naked Witch, Zontar, The Thing From Venus and Mars Needs Women have gained large cult followings, and movies like A Bullet For Pretty Boy, Free, White and 21 and Goodbye, Norma Jean became box office hits. Still, no other independent filmmaker of the latter 20th century may elicit such a disparity of response from general movie audiences and cult film buffs alike as the late, legendary Larry Buchanan. This study, the first serious examination of Buchanan's body of work,...
Exploitation filmmakers played a significant role in revolutionizing American cinema during the 1960s and early 1970s, churning out a string of independent Westerns, biker films, nudie-cuties and horror flicks in record times and often on shoestring budgets. With titles like Horror of the Blood Monsters, Cycle Savages and The Incredible 2-Headed Transplant, these films pushed the boundaries of acceptable on-screen violence and nudity and kept the American theater industry afloat as several ma...
The Films of Jesus Franco, 1953-1966
by Francesco Cesari and Roberto Curti
With more than 180 films during a career spanning several decades, Jesús Franco (1930-2013) was an extraordinarily prolific and chameleon-like Spanish director, covering virtually every genre from horror to film noir, adventure and erotic, and adapting to all kinds of productions. A one-of-a-kind filmmaker, he was boldly original in the themes, style, and in his idea of cinema. This book examines his life and career between his first short film to the moment he cut his ties with his home countr...
Enciclopedia del Mentalismo - Vol. 8
by Aroldo Lattarulo and Federico Ferrari
Legendary Canadian filmmaker Frank Cole entered the Guinness Book of World Records as the first man to cross the Sahara on foot. Meticulous, fearless, obsessive, and the maker of at least two bonafide masterpieces, there has never been anything in the cinema like Frank Cole. His murder in Mali left us with a legacy of two features, a pair of award-winning short films and a mystery that may never be solved. This book is a ravishing odyssey of inner and outer visions, a heaven-sent trove of first...
Phil Brown, who played Luke Skywalker's uncle in Star Wars, said, "In my long life of films, there are ones I'm proud of and those I'm not proud of. The Jungle Captive and Weird Woman fall into the latter category." House of Wax co-star Paul Picerni was fired by the film's director when he refused to put his head in a working guillotine during a climactic fight scene. Packed with wonderful tidbits, this volume collects 22 interviews with actors and directors who were responsible for bringing suc...
King Vidor (1894-1982) had the longest career of any Hollywood director, and his works include some of the most dramatic, sublime moments in the history of American cinema. Regarded by many film historians as one of the greatest of silent era filmmakers--especially for masterworks The Big Parade, The Crowd, and Show People--Vidor is nonetheless one of the most underrated of Hollywood's "old masters" in terms of his overall career. His sound era films include Hallelujah, Street Scene, The Cham...
The Whole Durn Human Comedy: Life According to the Coen Brothers
by Joseph McBride
The Coen Bros. have attracted a wide following and been rewarded with Oscars and other honors. Some of their films are cult favorites and box office hits, such as Fargo, The Big Lebowski, and No Country for Old Men. Yet the team of filmmaking brothers remains misunderstood in some circles. Ethan and Joel Coen deliberately unsettle conventional expectations and raise disturbing questions about human nature while mischievously mixing film genres and styles. Their films display shocking tonal shift...