My Life with Groucho: A Son's Eye View


Arthur Marx - 1954
    The author shares his memories of his father and provides an overview of Groucho's career, his family life, and the turmoil of his final years.

Keepers: The Greatest Films--and Personal Favorites--of a Moviegoing Lifetime


Richard Schickel - 2015
    He has been a reviewer since 1965 (long for Time magazine), has written almost forty books on the subject, and has produced and directed thirty documentaries. He has counted as personal friends many of the leading filmmakers of the twentieth century. Call it “obsession,” “lunacy,” or a “grand passion” (Schickel grants all three), but there’s simply no one who knows film better. Now Schickel gives us the ultimate summing up: a history of film as he’s seen—and lived—it, a tour of his favorites, a master class in what makes a film soar or flop. Schickel’s no-holds-barred, often raucously irreverent opinions can range from panning classics, to spotlighting forgotten treasures, to defending the art of “popular” genres such as horror, westerns, screwball comedy, and noir. Beyond his picks and pans, Schickel offers a wealth of behind-the-scenes anecdotes (a love note from Marlene Dietrich, Frank Capra’s unlikely path to success, Annie Hall’s original title), career studies of our greatest performers and auteurs, and candidly intimate glimpses of his own life in pictures (an evening with Greta Garbo, John Ford’s advice on directing, a “dust-up” in defense of Monty Python). Above all, Schickel gives us a collection of the true gems, the immortal moments that have stuck with him over a lifetime of movie watching—the transcendent scenes, characters, lines, shots, scores, even lighting cues that offer, each in their way, pure “movie magic.” Buster Keaton, His Girl Friday, Ingrid Bergman, Taxi Driver, Star Wars, Stanley Kubrick, Pulp Fiction—Schickel reveals all the films and the forces behind them that have kept him coming back for more. An essential addition to any cinephile’s library, Keepers is the curation of a brilliant connoisseur and critic, but more than that, it’s a love letter to film from one of its most dedicated devotees.

Leah Remini: Troublemaker: Surviving Hollywood and Scientology


SummaRead Books - 2015
    Remini is widely known for her work in the comedy TV series The King of Queens.In this memoir, Remini goes into great details about all aspects of her life, including, but not limited to, how she was introduced to the church, how she coped with raising a family, how she handled her acting career as well as her interactions with other celebrities who were also involved in the Church of Scientology.SummaReads Features:* Chapter Summaries: Clear, concise and easy to understand descriptions, key concepts and important details.* Chapter Key Takeaways and Points: The most important concepts of each chapter containing at least four specific bullet points.Advantages of SummaReads:* Spend less time reading and more time enjoying and understanding your favorite books.* Discover important detailed analysis you may have missed the first time.* Learn key concepts in simple and efficient manner.* Use as a "cheat sheet" and reference to quickly access important information.* Focus on critical information and eliminate unnecessary details.* Can be used as an effective study aid.

Clint Eastwood - The Biography of Cinema's Greatest Ever Star


Douglas Thompson - 2005
    For over forty years he has dominated Hollywood and his success both in front of and behind the camera has assured his place in cinema history alongside such superstars as Marlon Brando, John Wayne and Robert De Niro..."Clint" reveals the man behind the myth. Bestselling author Douglas Thompson draws on exclusive interviews with the star, to provide the definitive portrait of Clint Eastwood. From his early days as a jobbing actor on $75 a week to his directorial triumph with "Million Dollar Baby", "Clint" reveals the personal highlights of one of the most celebrated careers in cinema history.

Sleazoid Express: A Mind-Twisting Tour Through the Grindhouse Cinema of Times Square


Bill Landis - 2002
    If the gore epics, women-in-prison films, and shockumentaries showcased within their mildewed walls didn't live up to their outrageous billing, the audience shouted, threw food, and even vandalized the theaters. For dedicated lovers of extreme cinema, buying a movie ticket on the Deuce meant putting your life on the line. Authors Bill Landis and Michelle Clifford came to know those grindhouses better than anyone else, and although the theaters were gone by the mid-1980s, the films remained. In Sleazoid Express, Landis and Clifford reproduce what no home video can -- the experience of watching an exploitation film in its original fight-for-your-life Deuce setting. Both a travelogue of the infamous grindhouses of yore and a comprehensive overview of the sleaze canon, Sleazoid Express offers detailed reviews of landmark exploitation classics and paints intimate portraits of directors whose notorious creations played the back end of triple bills for years on end. With wit, intelligence, and an unflinching eye, Landis and Clifford offer the definitive document of cinema's most intense and shocking moments as they came to life at a legendary place.

The Day the Laughter Stopped


David A. Yallop - 1976
    Will take 25-35 days

Brat Pack America: A Love Letter to '80s Teen Movies


Kevin Smokler - 2016
    Like few other eras in movie history, the '80s teen movies has endured and gotten better with time. In Brat Pack America, Kevin Smokler gives virtual tours of your favorite movies while also picking apart why these locations are so important to these movies.Including interviews with actors, writers, and directors of the era, and chock full of interesting facts about your favorite '80s movies, Brat Pack America is a must for any fan. Smokler went to Goonies Day in Astoria, OR, took a Lost Boys tour of Santa Cruz, CA, and deeply explored every nook and cranny of the movies we all know and love, and it shows.

Beyond District 12: The Stars of The Hunger Games


Mick O'Shea - 2012
    With detailed biographies outlining Liam, Jennifer, and Josh’s early lives, their first forays into acting and how they landed the most sought-after roles in Hollywood, this book gives you the chance to really get to know your new favourite screen idols.Beautifully illustrated with glossy photographs of each hot young sensation, Beyond District 12: The Stars of the Hunger Games also profiles the characters that they will be playing in the film franchise already being dubbed ‘the new Twilight’. The Hunger Games film is sure to be one of the cinematic highlights of next year and Beyond District 12: The Stars of the Hunger Games gives you exclusive first access to the on- and off-screen lives of the soon-to-be household names at the heart of the movie phenomenon.

Lee Marvin: Point Blank


Dwayne Epstein - 2013
    Although Lee Marvin is best known for his icy tough guy roles—such as his chilling titular villain in The ManWho Shot Liberty Valance or the paternal yet brutally realistic platoon leader in The Big Red One—very little is known of his personal life; his family background; his experiences in WWII; his relationship with his father, family, friends, wives; and his ongoing battles with alcoholism, rage, and depression, occasioned by his postwar PTSD. Now, after years of researching and compiling interviews with family members, friends, and colleagues; rare photographs; and illustrative material, Hollywood writer Dwayne Epstein provides a full understanding and appreciation of this acting titan’s place in the Hollywood pantheon in spite of his very real and human struggles.

Grammar of the Shot


Roy Thompson - 1998
    It is aimed at the novice, concentrating purely on the principles of shooting - still the best way to tell a visual story.Written in simple, easy-to-follow language and illustrated with clear uncomplicated line drawings, the book sets down the fundamental knowledge needed to achieve acceptable results.The book: - is a sister volume to Grammar of the Edit- has been extensively tested in Europe, Asia and Africa- lists, examines and explains the conventions and working practices of taking pictures.

Masters of Cinema: Tim Burton


Aurélien Ferenczi - 2008
    1958) is the youngest of Hollywood's most successful directors. He has the knack of making films with a very broad appeal, taking the silliness out of the representation of children, while remaining in touch with the child within himself and his audiences. Burton emerged as a director and storyteller after working as an animator for Disney. His meeting with Johnny Depp enabled him to give physical form to the heroes of his imaginary worlds, where fear is mixed with laughter, strange is normal and those who are not normal, such as "Edward Scissorhands" (1990), must be preserved. After "Beetlejuice" (1988) and "Charlie and the Chocolate Factory" (2005), the resolutely boyish Burton, now in his fifties, presents his version of "Alice in Wonderland" (2010).

Kubrick: Inside a Film Artist's Maze


Thomas Allen Nelson - 1982
    Thomas Nelson's perceptive and comprehensive study of Kubrick rescues him from the hostility of auteurist critics and discovers the roots of a Kubrickian aesthetic, which Nelson defines as the "aesthetics of contingency."After analyzing how this aesthetic develops and manifests itself in the early works, Nelson devotes individual chapters to Lolita, Dr. Stangelove, 2001: A Space Odyssey, A Clockwork Orange, Barry Lyndon, and The Shining.For this expanded edition, Nelson has added chapters on Full Metal Jacket and Eyes Wide Shut, and, in the wake of the director's death, reconsidered his body of work as a whole. By placing Kubrick in a historical and theoretical context, this study is a reliable guide into--and out of--Stanley Kubrick's cinematic maze.

Don't Tell Dad


Peter Fonda - 1998
    From his growing up in the Fonda household, to his mother's suicide and its ultimate effect on the family, to his own wild Adventures -- and sordid misadventures -- with some of the world's best-known actors and icons, this is a personal reflection and a deeply introspective look at one of the most talented and fascinating celebrities of our time. Don't Tell Dad is sure to be the most talked-about book of the spring, and your customers will want to experience it to the fullest in Peter Fonda's own words from HarperAudio -- Publishing simultaneously in April with the hardcover edition of Don't Tell Dad from Hyperion Books.-- This audiocassette edition of Don't Tell Dad will be read by Peter Fonda himself -- Peter Fonda is the star and co-writer of the classic Easy Rider, a film widely considered the quintessential film of the '60s.-- Peter Fonda is also the star of Ulee's Gold, one of the most critically-acclaimed films of 1997.-- Peter Fonda is part of one of the most well-known celebrity families of our time -- he is the son of Henry Fonda, brother of Jane Fonda, and father of Bridget Fonda.

The Whole Truth and Nothing But


Hedda Hopper - 1962
    Although she made her name as a star of the silent screen, she found her calling as a gossip columnist, where she had the ear of the most powerful force in show business: the public. With a readership of 20,000,000 people, Hopper turned nobodies into stars, and brought stars to their knees. And in this sensational memoir, she tells all. In her career, Hopper crossed some of Hollywood’s biggest bold-faced names, from Joan Crawford and Bette Davis to Charlie Chaplin and Katherine Hepburn, and her feud with rival gossip columnist Louella Parsons became the stuff of legend. In The Whole Truth and Nothing But, we get Hedda’s side of the story—and what a story it is. Hedda Hopper is portrayed by Judy Davis in the Ryan Murphy TV series Feud.

How to Write Groundhog Day


Danny Rubin - 2012
    Did screenwriter Danny Rubin know what he was doing when he wrote it? That it would star Bill Murray and become a hit? That it would become a touchstone for major religions? That psychologists would come to prescribe the movie to their patients? Follow this unique screenplay's exciting journey through agents, directors, studios, stars and the writer's own confused brain to emerge as one of the most delightful and profoundly affecting comedies of all time. For movie lovers and screenwriters alike, "How To Write Groundhog Day" includes the original screenplay, notes, scene sketches, and a personal tour of the Hollywood writing process from this popular screenwriting teacher.