Best of
Movies

1976

The Devil Finds Work


James Baldwin - 1976
    Bette Davis's eyes, Joan Crawford's bitchy elegance, Stepin Fetchit's stereotype, Sidney Poitier's superhuman black man...  These are the movie stars and the qualities that influenced James Baldwin...  and now become part of his incisive look at racism in American movies.Baldwin challenges the underlying assumptions in such films as In the Heat of the Night, Guess Who's Coming to Dinner, and The Exorcist, offering us a vision of America's self-delusions and deceptions.  Here are our loves and hates, biases and cruelties, fears and ignorance reflected by the films that have entertained us and shaped our consciousness.  And here, too, is the stunning prose of a writer whose passion never diminished his struggle for equality, justice, and social change.From The Birth of a Nation to The Exorcist--one of America's most important writers turns his critical eye to American film.

Fellini On Fellini


Federico Fellini - 1976
    . . . The material interestingly helps clarify Fellini's film work, and his fans will enjoy this stimulating and intellectual 'biography.'"--Library JournalOne of the greatest Italian filmmakers, Federico Fellini (1920-1993) created such masterpieces as La Strada, La Dolce Vita, 8 1/2, Juliet of the Spirits, Satyricon, and Amarcord. His prodigious body of work evokes Pirandello, existentialism, "the silence of God," as well as show business. Critics have accused him of being a charlatan, hypocrite, clown, and demon, and have hailed him as a magician, poet, genius, and prophet. Fellini on Fellini is a fascinating collection of his articles, interviews, essays, reminiscences, and table talk, carefully arranged to chart the progress of his life and work. There are boyhood memories of his hometown, Remini, and his highly improbable beginnings as a scriptwriter for Rossellini; letters to Jesuit priests and Marxist critics defending his first international success, La Strada; anecdotes and revelations about the making of La Dolca Vita, 8 1/2, and The Clowns; and insights into all aspects of filmmaking. Here, Fellini reveals, as no one else can, a rich digest of his brilliant and controversial career.

Elia Kazan: A Life


Elia Kazan - 1976
    He reveals his working relationships with his many collaborators, including Harold Clurman, Lee Strasberg, Clifford Odets, Arthur Miller, Tennessee Williams, Marilyn Monroe, Marlon Brando, James Dean, John Steinbeck and Darryl Zanuck, and describes his directing "style" as he sees it, in terms of position, movement, pace, rhythm and his own limitations. Kazan also retraces his own decision to inform for the House Un-American Activities Committee, illuminating much of what may be obscured in McCarthy literature.

Step Right Up!: I'm Gonna Scare The Pants Off America


William Castle - 1976
    Here are the outrageous memoirs of an American original whose life was every bit as outlandish as his movies. Photographs. Filmography.

The MGM Story: the complete history of fifty roaring years


John Douglas Eames - 1976
    Year by year every film is appraised alongside a still from the movie.

The Art of Alfred Hitchcock: Fifty Years of His Motion Pictures


Donald Spoto - 1976
    This completely revised and updated edition of the classic text describes and analyzes every movie made by master filmmaker Alfred Hitchcock.

Hollywood Glamor Portraits


John Kobal - 1976
    Portraits do not duplicate those found in Kobal's Movie Star Portraits. Introduction. Captions.

The Grouchophile: An Illustrated Life


Groucho Marx - 1976
    He is photographed with family, friends and other stars.

My Heart Belongs


Mary Martin - 1976
    First to Weatherford, Texas, where she was born on a horse-trading day. Then to the early days on Broadway, where she stormed the town singing "Daddy" in Leave It To Me. To a stint in Hollywood where she met her lifelong leading man, and back to Broadway as a shining star in Lute Song, One Touch Venus, South Pacific, Peter Pan and The Sound Of Music. She'll take you on whirlwind trips across continents and oceans, into television studios, behind the scenes with the theater greats and into the homes of her friends and family. There, as the wife of Richard Halliday, as mother, and as grandmother, she has played her favorite roles. Come on a dazzling journey!

The Westmores of Hollywood


Frank Westmore - 1976
    Here is the story of a remarkable dynasty of makeup geniuses that managed to achieve incredible makeup effects for decades.

Josh: My Up and Down, In and Out Life


Joshua Logan - 1976
    

The Vintage Mad


Al Feldstein - 1976
    or we'll pop our cork!