Best of
Movies

1986

Crackpot: The Obsessions of John Waters


John Waters - 1986
    This hilarious collection of essays by the offbeat writer and director is a treat for fans of the "Pope of Trash" and the perfect introduction for those who have not yet discovered his eccentric charms.

Incredibly Strange Films


V. Vale - 1986
    Mikels, Larry Cohen, and others who dared to make independent feature films their way, without bowing to a committee or focus group. This is an oblique how-to manual, covering everything from financing, distribution, lighting, camerawork and acting, to publicity, marketing and screenwriting. Would-be filmmakers as well as scholars will find much inspiration and enlightenment in this volume, which has been used in college film classes. In-depth interviews focus on philosophy, while anecdotes entertain as well as illuminate theory. Lists of recommended films, an A-Z directory, and quotations are also included.

City of Nets: A Portrait of Hollywood in the 1940s


Otto Friedrich - 1986
    Its cast includes actors, writers, musicians and composers, producers and directors, racketeers and labor leaders, journalists and politicians in the turbulent decade from World War II to Korea.

Forrest Gump


Winston Groom - 1986
    After accidentally becoming the star of University of Alabama's football team, Forrest goes on to become a Vietnam War hero, a world-class Ping-Pong player, a villainous wrestler, and a business tycoon -- as he wonders with childlike wisdom at the insanity all around him. In between misadventures, he manages to compare battle scars with Lyndon Johnson, discover the truth about Richard Nixon, and survive the ups and downs of remaining true to his only love, Jenny, on an extraordinary journey through three decades of the American cultural landscape. Forrest Gump has one heck of a story to tell -- and you've got to read it to believe it...

Industrial Light & Magic: The Art of Special Effects


Thomas G. Smith - 1986
    From its early days in a large empty warehouse in Southern California's San Fernando Valley, to its Oscar-winning accommplishments creating special effects for the STAR WARS trilogy, RAIDERS OF THE LOST ARK, ET, POLTERGEIST, and a host of others.

Hollywood from Vietnam to Reagan


Robin Wood - 1986
    The book also analyzes the complex and problematic films of Brian De Palma, attacks the 1980s fantasy cinema of Lucas and Spielberg, examines the work of women directors, and celebrates the films of Scorcese and Michael Cimino.

Guide for the Film Fanatic: A Critical Checklist of Over 1,500 Movies


Danny Peary - 1986
    Book by Peary, Danny

Joe Bob Goes To the Drive-In


Joe Bob Briggs - 1986
    8 page of photos.

Say Goodnight, Gracie!: The Story of George Burns & Gracie Allen


Cheryl Blythe - 1986
     This book is a comprehensive ‘backstage look’ at the making of this historic TV show – how the writers contrived that delicious misinterpretation of Gracie’s world; the real Gracie and George vs. the characters they play; and an early look at broadcast television - kinescopes, then the coaxial cable – and loaded with George’s comedic wisdom and dialog from the series! The comedy is timeless. The genius behind the show may have been George Burns, who played the "straight man," but the one who got the laughs was Gracie, whose "illogical logic" made the show catch on like wildfire.

John Ford: The Man and His Films


Tag Gallagher - 1986
    This radical re-reading of Ford's work studies his films in the context of his complex character, demonstrating their immense intelligence and their profound critique of our culture.

Peter Cushing An Autobiography


Peter Cushing - 1986
    readers the story of a gentle man who became one of the indisputable Kings of Horror. Peter Cushing. Mr. Cushing discusses his childhood, his early acting career in films and on stage, his BBC television work and his renowned years at Hammerall with literary wit and charm. While Mr. Cushing's humor will tickle readers' funny bones, the everlasting love story between Mr. Cushing and his dear wife Helen will touch their hearts.

Ferris Bueller's Day Off


Todd Strasser - 1986
    Ferris knows the value of a day off, and just how to make the best of any situation.His plan is fool proof. He'll pretend he's sick (and the whole city will be sure he's at death's door). He'll get his girlfriend out of school (using the famous "dead relative" excuse). And they'll drive in style to every Chicago hot spot (in his best friend's father's Ferrari, of course). It's not an ordinary day off, it's.......Ferris Bueller's DAY OFF.

Cahiers du Cinema, the 1960s: New Wave, New Cinema, Reevaluating Hollywood


Jim Hillier - 1986
    The first successes of the New Wave by major Cahiers contributors such as Jean-Luc Godard, Francois Truffaut, Jacques Rivette, Eric Rohmer, and Claude Chabrol focused international attention on the revitalization of French cinema and its relation to film criticism; and in the early 1960s the journal's laudatory critiques of popular American movies were attaining the greatest notoriety.As the lively articles, interviews, and polemical discussions in this volume reveal, the 1960s saw the beginnings of significant new directions in filmmaking and film criticism changes in which the New Wave itself was a major factor. The auteur theory that the journal had championed in the 1950s began to be rethought and revalued. At the same time, along with a reassessment of American film, Cahiers began to embrace new, often oppositional forms of cinema and criticism, culminating in the political and aesthetic radicalism of the ensuing decade.The selections, translated under the supervision of the British Film Institute, are annotated by Jim Hillier, and context is provided in his general introduction and part introductions. For an understanding of the important changes that took place in cinema and film criticism in the 1960s and beyond, this book is essential reading.

The It's a Wonderful Life Book


Jeanine Basinger - 1986
    More than 200 photos.

Backstory 1: Interviews With Screenwriters of Hollywood's Golden Age


Patrick McGilligan - 1986
    The illustrious line-up in this volume includes Hitchcock collaborator Charles Bennett, the sophisticated husband-and-wife team of Frances Goodrich and Albert Hackett, the Astaire-Rogers writer Allan Scott, and many more.

Heavenly Bodies: Film Stars and Society


Richard Dyer - 1986
    He draws on a wide range of sources, including the films in which each star appeared, to illustrate how each star's persona was constructed, and goes on to examine each within the context of particular issues in fan culture and stardom. Students of film and cultural studies will find this an invaluable part of there course reading.

Talking Animals and Other People: the Autobiography of One of Animation's Legendary Figures


Shamus Culhane - 1986
    He started as an errand boy at age fifteen at the Bray studio but went on to become president of his own company and later head of the animation studio at Paramount. Talking Animals and Other People is both a memoir of Culhane's life and career and a history of the art, taking readers from the earliest days of animation, the creation of the flipbook, and the first animated motion picture to the "assembly-line" Saturday morning TV cartoons and recent advances in computer animation. Culhane gives an unsparing insider's view of the industry: from harsh labor relations and brutal internal politics to comical anecdotes and frank portraits of animation giants. Filled with over 150 photographs and illustrations, Talking Animals also includes detailed descriptions of the craft, technique, and processes of cartoon-making. Entertaining and informative, this book brings to animated life the everyday world of this beloved art form and the man who helped build it.

The Columbia Comedy Shorts: Two-Reel Hollywood Film Comedies, 1933-1958


Ted Okuda - 1986
    Fully illustrated with never-before-published photographs, the book chronicles the history of all, including interviews with the veterans. The filmography covers all of the 526 two-reelers: credits, date, synopsis.

Britain Can Take It: The British Cinema in the Second World War


Anthony Aldgate - 1986
    Aldgate and Richards make use of key resources, from scripts and box-office returns to official Home Office documents and censorship archives, to bring these films to vivid life.  In telling their stories, the authors also recreate the society, the politics and war-time conditions in which they appeared and flourished. This new edition of 'Britain Can Take It' features a new chapter on Launder and Gilliat's 1943 film on women factory workers, 'Millions Like Us.  It will be welcomed back by film scholars and historians, students and film lovers as essential reading.