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.

Imitation of Life


Fannie Hurst - 1932
    Bea Pullman, a white single mother, and her African American maid, Delilah Johnston, also a single mother, rear their daughters together and become business partners. Combining Bea’s business savvy with Delilah’s irresistible southern recipes, they build an Aunt Jemima-like waffle business and an international restaurant empire. Yet their public success brings them little happiness. Bea is torn between her responsibilities as a businesswoman and those of a mother; Delilah is devastated when her light-skinned daughter, Peola, moves away to pass as white. Imitation of Life struck a chord in the 1930s, and it continues to resonate powerfully today.The author of numerous bestselling novels, a masterful short story writer, and an outspoken social activist, Fannie Hurst was a major celebrity in the first half of the twentieth century. Daniel Itzkovitz’s introduction situates Imitation of Life in its literary, biographical, and cultural contexts, addressing such topics as the debates over the novel and films, the role of Hurst’s one-time secretary and great friend Zora Neale Hurston in the novel’s development, and the response to the novel by Hurst’s friend Langston Hughes, whose one-act satire, “Limitations of Life” (which reverses the races of Bea and Delilah), played to a raucous Harlem crowd in the late 1930s. This edition brings a classic of popular American literature back into print.

Before Sunrise & Before Sunset: Two Screenplays


Richard Linklater - 2005
    They are immediately attracted. Despite knowing this may be the only time they will see each other, in the next few hours in the city of Vienna, they share everything and promise to meet again.    Nearly a decade later, Jesse, now a novelist on a publicity tour, sees Celine in a bookstore in Paris. Again their time is short, and they spend it reestablishing the connection they experienced on their first meeting. Romantic, poignant, understated, and often profound, these two screenplays are sure to become classics in their own right.

Hitchcock


François Truffaut - 1966
    Here is a rare opportunity to eavesdrop on two cinematic masters from very different backgrounds as they cover each of Hitch's films in succession. Though this book was initially published in 1967 when Hitchcock was still active, Truffaut later prepared a revised edition that covered the final stages of his career. It's difficult to think of a more informative or entertaining introduction to Hitchcock's art, interests, and peculiar sense of humor. The book is a storehouse of insight and witticism, including the master's impressions of a classic like Rear Window ("I was feeling very creative at the time, the batteries were well charged"), his technical insight into Psycho's shower scene ("the knife never touched the body; it was all done in the [editing]"), and his ruminations on flops such as Under Capricorn ("If I were to make another picture in Australia today, I'd have a policeman hop into the pocket of a kangaroo and yell 'Follow that car!'"). This is one of the most delightful film books in print. --Raphael Shargel

Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri


Martin McDonagh - 2018
    When his second-in-command, Officer Dixon, a mother's boy with a penchant for violence, gets involved, the battle between Mildred and Ebbing's law enforcement threatens to engulf the town.Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri is a darkly comedic drama from Martin McDonagh.The film won Best Drama Motion Picture - Drama and Best Screenplay at the Golden Globes 2018.

Anne of the Thousand Days


Maxwell Anderson - 1950
    As a matter of fact, there is almost no scenery, and the various scenes are played within a single setting in which lights and a half-dozen articles of furniture are all that are used."

Marvin's Room: Acting Edition


Scott McPherson - 1992
    The tale of one family's journey through humor and heartache, seperation and self-discovery, "Marvin's Room" examines the ties that bind families together ....whether they like it or not.

The English Patient: A Screenplay


Anthony Minghella - 1996
    This beautifully designed and illustrated book tells the story largely through the eyes of an unknown English patient whose mind is awash with a life's worth of secrets and passions after his plane is shot down near the beginning of World War Two.

Shakespeare in Love: A Screenplay


Marc Norman - 1999
    Marc Norman and renowned dramatist, Tom Stoppard have created the best screenplay of the year according to the Golden Globes and the New York Film Critics Circle.

Lolita: The Screenplay


Vladimir Nabokov - 1960
    Not least among the casualties is the notion that cinema and literature are two separate spheres. For in his screenplay, Nabokov married the structural and narrative felicities of great cinema to prose as sensuously entrancing as any he had ever written, resulting in a work that will delight cineasts and Nabokovians alike.

Teach Yourself Film Studies


Warren Buckland - 1998
    It gives a chronological overview of film, analyzing genres such as westerns and sci-fi; explores different artistic approaches, techniques, and effects; and profiles a wide variety of directors, from Alfred Hitchcock to Steven Spielberg.. . The book uncovers the secrets of film reviewing and the conventions reviewers adopt when they evaluate films. This new edition includes an expanded section concerning film studies on the Internet. Whatever readers' interest in film, Teach Yourself Film Studies will provide them with the skills to turn them into well-informed film critics..

Trainspotting: A Screenplay (Based on the Novel by Irvine Welsh)


John Hodge - 1996
    Set in the underbelly of Edinburgh, Trainspotting is a story inhabited by a galaxy of immensely colorful characters -- liars, thieves, junkies -- people whose habits, emotions, and stories will leave an indelible imprint on the reader's mind.

The Big Lebowski: The Making of a Coen Brothers Film


Tricia Cooke - 1998
    In addition to Jeff Bridges, whose portrayal of The Dude has become iconic, and John Goodman, his bowling buddy, the film stars Steve Buscemi, Julianne Moore, John Turturro, Willem Dafoe, Sam Elliot, and Ben Gazzara. Not given to talking publicly about their work, the Coens gave access to Tricia Cooke and William Preston Robertson to interview the cast and crew. In a prose style that complements the Coens filmic one, the book discusses the Coens oeuvre, the themes of their films, their atypical brand of humor, their craft, and their artistic vision. Several scenes of The Big Lebowski are examined closely to see how the movie goes from idea to reality, making this an ideal book for fans, filmmakers, and filmmaking students."

I, Robot: The Illustrated Screenplay


Harlan Ellison - 1987
    All efforts failed. In 1977, producers approached multiple award winning Harlan Ellison to take a crack at this 'impossible' project. He accepted, and produced an astonishing screenplay that Asimov felt would be 'The first really adult, complex, worthwhile science fiction movie ever made.' That screenplay is presented here in book format, brought to scintillating life by the illustrations of artist Mark Zug. After you read it, then decide: Is this not the greatest science fiction movie never made?

Scenarios: Aguirre, the Wrath of God / Every Man for Himself and God Against All / Land of Silence and Darkness / Fitzcarraldo


Werner Herzog - 1982
    Harnessing his vision and transcendent reality, these four pieces of long-form prose earmark a renowned filmmaker at the dawn of his career.