George Cukor: A Double Life


Patrick McGilligan - 1991
    Relates the life of the secretly gay Hollywood director who guided to stardom such legendary actresses as Garbo, Bergman, Garland, and Hepburn.

The Mystery Science Theater 3000: Amazing Colossal Episode Guide


Trace Beaulieu - 1996
    The answer, my friend, is right in this here official, 100%-MST3K-sanctioned book. Or maybe you know all about the adventures of Joel, Mike, and the 'bots in the not-too distant future. Then you can skip those pages. Really. We won't tell. You still need this book. Because it's got more cool stuff from the writers and performers of MST3K. More of what you'll find in the "Mystery Science Theater 3000 Amazing Colossal Episode Guide" * More than 120 synopses of the more than 120 episodes of the Peabody Award-winning show * More fascinating, outrageous facts and tidbits about the making of each episode * More photos than your average issue of "Tiger Beat" * More of the most disgusting things ever seen on-screen by the MST3K writers * More than 49 (50, to be exact) of the most obscure wisecracks * More quizzes, worksheets, and a ten-step plan to help you gain control of your finances and your life (well, not really...) * More about your Area and what it can do for you * More Beverly Garland! Miles and Miles O'Keefe! * And much, much more!

Thinking In Pictures: The Making Of The Movie Matewan


John Sayles - 1987
    Many films later, he still works outside the studio system and guides every phase of his productions.Now Sayles has written an illuminating book about the complex choices that lie at the heart of every movie. Using the making of his film Matewan as an example, he offers chapters on screenwriting, directing, editing, sound, and more. Photographs, sketches, and the complete shooting script illustrate this engaging account of how Sayles's curiosity about a coal miners' strike in the town of Matewan, West Virginia, became a screenplay--and then a movie.

Gladiator - The Making of the Ridley Scott Epic


Diana Landau - 2000
    Set against the splendor and barbarity of the Roman Empire in AD 180, Gladiator tells an epic story of courage and revenge: The great Roman general Maximus (Russell Crowe) has been forced into exile and slavery by the jealous heir to the throne, Commodus (Joaquin Phoenix). Trained as a gladiator, Maximus returns to Rome, intent on avenging the murder of his family by Commodus, now emperor. The one power stronger than that of the emperor is the will of the people, and Maximus knows he can attain his revenge only by becoming the greatest hero in all the Empire. Russell Crowe heads up an international cast that includes Joaquin Phoenix, Connie Nielson, Oliver Reed, Derek Jacobi, Djimon Hounsou, and Richard Harris. Directed by Ridley Scott from a script by David Franzoni and John Logan, Gladiator is produced by Franzoni, Douglas Wick, and Branko Lustig, with Walter F. Parkes serving as executive producer.This is the official full-color companion book, featuring excerpts from the screenplay, historical sidebars and illustrations, details on period costumes and epic set designs, behind-the-scenes photographs from the location filming, and interviews with the screenwriters, actors, and director.

Joe Bob Goes To the Drive-In


Joe Bob Briggs - 1986
    8 page of photos.

The Psychotronic Video Guide


Michael J. Weldon - 1996
    They almost always appear on videocassette.Among their kind are biker films, sci-fi series, quickie biopics, gimmick films, teen sex comedies, blaxploitation films, stalkers, slashers, snoozers, shrudderers, and anything starring Lynda Blair, david Carradine, Shannon Tweed or Drew Barrymore.And they're all here in the Psychotronic Video Guide.From Abby to Zontar, this book covers more than nine thousand amazing movies from the turn of the century right up to today's golden age of video, all described with Michael Weldon's dry wit. More than 450 rare and wonderful illustrations round out the book, making it a treasure trove of cinematic lore and essential for every fan of filmdom's finest offerings.

Shock Value: How a Few Eccentric Outsiders Gave Us Nightmares, Conquered Hollywood, and Invented Modern Horror


Jason Zinoman - 2011
     Much has been written about the storied New Hollywood of the 1970s, but at the same time as Martin Scorsese, Steven Spielberg, and Francis Ford Coppola were making their first classic movies, a parallel universe of directors gave birth to the modern horror film-aggressive, raw, and utterly original. Based on unprecedented access to the genre's major players, The New York Times's critic Jason Zinoman's Shock Value delivers the first definitive account of horror's golden age. By the late 1960s, horror was stuck in the past, confined mostly to drive-in theaters and exploitation houses, and shunned by critics. Shock Value tells the unlikely story of how the much-disparaged horror film became an ambitious art form while also conquering the multiplex. Directors such as Wes Craven, Roman Polanski, John Carpenter, and Brian De Palma- counterculture types operating largely outside the confines of Hollywood-revolutionized the genre, exploding taboos and bringing a gritty aesthetic, confrontational style, and political edge to horror. Zinoman recounts how these directors produced such classics as Rosemary's Baby, Carrie, The Texas Chainsaw Massacre, and Halloween, creating a template for horror that has been imitated relentlessly but whose originality has rarely been matched. This new kind of film dispensed with the old vampires and werewolves and instead assaulted audiences with portraits of serial killers, the dark side of suburbia, and a brand of nihilistic violence that had never been seen before. Shock Value tells the improbable stories behind the making of these movies, which were often directed by obsessive and insecure young men working on shoestring budgets, were funded by sketchy investors, and starred porn stars. But once The Exorcist became the highest grossing film in America, Hollywood took notice. The classic horror films of the 1970s have now spawned a billion-dollar industry, but they have also penetrated deep into the American consciousness. Quite literally, Zinoman reveals, these movies have taught us what to be afraid of. Drawing on interviews with hundreds of the most important artists in horror, Shock Value is an enthralling and personality-driven account of an overlooked but hugely influential golden age in American film.

Wonder Woman: The Art and Making of the Film


Sharon Gosling - 2017
    Wonder Woman: The Art & Making of the Film celebrates the creation of this groundbreaking movie, taking fans on a voyage of discovery through the world of Wonder Woman. Showcasing the earliest concept art, set and costume designs, sketches and storyboards, the book delves deep into the filmmaking process, from creating the stunning island of Themyscira to the war-torn trenches and towns of First World War Europe.This official companion explores the Amazons rigorous training regimens, their weaponry, armor, Themysciran culture, and the amazing women themselves. With exclusive insights from cast and crew, including director Patty Jenkins, production designer Aline Bonetto, and Diana herself, Gal Gadot, this volume is the ultimate guide to the past, present, and future of one of the most iconic heroes in the world Wonder Woman.WONDER WOMAN and all related characters and elements (c) and TM DC Comics and Warner Bros. Entertainment. (s16)

The Immortal Count: The Life and Films of Bela Lugosi


Arthur Lennig - 1974
    While the role may have given him eternal life on the silver screen, it doomed him to a career plagued by typecasting. After a decade of trying vainly to broaden his range and secure parts to challenge his acting abilities, Lugosi finally resigned himself to a career as the world's most recognizable vampire. His last years were spent as a forgotten and rather tragic figure.

The Guerilla Film Makers Handbook


Chris Jones - 1998
    Chris Jones and Genevieve Jolliffe provide a step-by-step guide to all aspects of production, from copyright law to casting agents, directions to stuns, cash sources to distribution. Case studies and a Producer's Toolkit with information on legal documentation, including blank forms and a complete budget breakdown make this an invaluable tool for any independent filmmaker.

Immoral Tales: European Sex and Horror Movies, 1956-1984


Cathal Tohill - 1994
    When continental moviemakers combined horror with sex, they unleashed a tidal wave of celluloid strangeness that lasted nearly thirty years. From sexy thrillers to pulp surrealism, from decadent erotica to blood-soaked vampire epics, nothing could go too far. Immoral Tales tells the fascinating story of this unique period, peeking into the kaleidoscope of visceral horror, maverick directors, and erotic invention.

Ten Bad Dates with De Niro: A Book of Alternative Movie Lists


Richard T. Kelly - 2007
    This book is a rollicking collection of such 'Top Tens', written by stars from Steven Soderberg and the Coen Brothers to Gilbert Adair and DBC Pierre. If you want to know the Ten Most-Deserved Oscars or Ten So-Called 'Turkeys' That Are Actually Brilliant, then look no further, Ten Bad Dates with De Niro could be your perfect match.

A Panorama of American Film Noir: 1941-1953


Raymond Borde - 1955
    . . a seminal work of cinema description and analysis and therefore an essential purchase for most libraries." —From the Starred Review in Library JournalRaymond Borde (1920 - 2004), founder of the Cinémathèque de Toulouse, wrote extensively on film history.; among his short films is a study of the artist Pierre Molinier.Etienne Chaumeton was the film critic of the Toulouse newspaper La Dépêche until his death.

The Big Lebowski


J.M. Tyree - 2007
    Its fans tend to be fanatical, congregating at 'Lebowski Conventions' in bowling alleys across American and Britain, and even dressing up as characters from the film. Among the funniest films of the last twenty-five years, and one of the high-water marks of 1990s genre recycling and pastiche, The Big Lebowski is also littered with playful and subversive references to film history, especially to Raymond Chandler's world of hardboiled detective classics and the world of film noir. The Big Lebowski is the rarest kind of film, a comedy whose jokes become funnier with repetition. The same goes for its multitudinous jukebox-like references to other films, many of which open up vistas for intertextual interpretation. Underneath the film's breakneck pacing and foul-mouthed characters, a farcical collection of flakes, losers, and phonies, is a surprisingly humane account of what fools we mortals be. It is one of the oddest buddy films ever made, with extraordinary performances by Jeff Bridges and John Goodman. In this study, The Big Lebowski is set into the context of 1990s Hollywood cinema, anatomised for its witty relationship with the classics which it satirises, and discussed in terms of its key theme: the hopeless flailing of ridiculously unmanly men in the world of discombobulated, mixed-up, or put-on identities that is Los Angeles.

The Film That Changed My Life: 30 Directors on Their Epiphanies in the Dark


Robert K. Elder - 2011
    The Film That Changed My Life captures that epiphany. It explores 30 directors’ love of a film they saw at a particularly formative moment, how it influenced their own works, and how it made them think differently. Rebel Without a Cause inspired John Woo to comb his hair and talk like James Dean. For Richard Linklater, “something was simmering in me, but Raging Bull brought it to a boil.” Apocalypse Now inspired Danny Boyle to make larger-than-life films. A single line from The Wizard of Oz--“Who could ever have thought a good little girl like you could destroy all my beautiful wickedness?”--had a direct impact on John Waters. “That line inspired my life,” Waters says. “I sometimes say it to myself before I go to sleep, like a prayer.” In this volume, directors as diverse as John Woo, Peter Bogdanovich, Michel Gondry, and Kevin Smith examine classic movies that inspired them to tell stories. Here are 30 inspired and inspiring discussions of classic films that shaped the careers of today’s directors and, in turn, cinema history.