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Great books about Film

post #1 of 17
11/30/08 at 10:27pm
Thread Starter 
Trying to form some kind of a X-Mas list this year, and thought of books on film. I'm already asking for When The Shooting Stops ... The Cutting Begins: A Film Editor's Story by Ralph Rosenblum.

I also heartily reccomend 1001 Movies You Must See Before You Die, which has an amazing variety of films and really well-written and insightful entries. Everything from Intolerance to Videodrome to Strozcek to Pink Flamingos to La Dolce Vita.

What are some of your favorite books about film, whether it's about a specific film, a a specific filmmaker, or about a more general sort of thing.
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post #2 of 17
11/30/08 at 10:55pm
We tend to do these a lot. Currently looking for the last thread on this subject.

Off the top of my head:

In the Blink of an Eye
Easy Riders, Raging Bulls
Hello, He Lied
Making Movies
Spike, Mike, Slackers, and Dikes
On Directing by David Mamet
On Film Editing
Hitchcock/Truffaut
Agee on Film
The Making of 2001: A Space Odyssey
Memo from David O. Selznick


I would also recommend the conversations books between Cameron Crowe and Billy Wilder and the one between Walter Murch and Michael Ondaatje. Also I would recommend the full line of Director Interviews books from The University of Mississippi Press.

I will go through the library and have some more titles in a bit.

Here is another thread where you can find plenty of recommendations.

And from that thread, two more:

Books about movies

Essential Books

That should give everyone enough books to fill up for Christmas and a good year.
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post #3 of 17
11/30/08 at 11:03pm
http://www.chud.com/forum/showthread.php?p=683109

http://chud.com/forum/showthread.php?t=98293

http://chud.com/forum/showthread.php?t=107842
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post #4 of 17
11/30/08 at 11:12pm
Here is one online, The Altering Eye.
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post #5 of 17
11/30/08 at 11:31pm
Easy Riders, Raging Bulls is one of the most entertaining books I've ever read.
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post #6 of 17
12/1/08 at 2:44am
I really enjoy BFI's Film Classics and Modern Classics series. Short non-fiction by a single author about a single film. I used to buy the Modern Classics a lot -- I especially recommend Dargis' one on L.A. Confidential -- but I'm interested in going back and looking at some of the others, now that I'm watching a lot of older movies.

One of my favorite collections is this one: Roger Ebert's Book of Film. It's not by him for the most part, but it is a collection of essays and interviews that he digs. It's a great introduction to larger works, I think -- Kurosawa's excerpt from "Something Like an Autobiography", and there's a great John Waters essay about L.A. (which includes a long passage where he talks about going to see The Care Bears Movie by himself).

And any mention of Easy Riders (which is immensely entertaining) means I have to name-check the follow up "Down and Dirty Pictures," which isn't as good but is still lots of fun.
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post #7 of 17
12/1/08 at 2:50am
Currently on my table are...

The Great Movies I & II by Roger Ebert
Bambi Vs. Godzilla by Mamet
The American Cinema by Andrew Sarris
In The Blink of An Eye by Walter Much

...all highly recommended. Especially the Murch book.
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post #8 of 17
12/1/08 at 2:57am
Alfred Hitchcock and the Making of Psycho is a really fun read. Reel Conversations by George Hickenlooper is a nice collection as well.
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post #9 of 17
12/1/08 at 3:08am
Try to get all the Pauline Kael books you can--the out-of-print ones should be available from the Illinois library system.

Don't often agree with him, but David Thomson's New biographical dictionary of Film is essential.

I've got four great books on Ford, several on Welles and Hitch (Making of Psycho is great).
Are there any good books on Hawks?
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post #10 of 17
12/1/08 at 3:18am
This one is a pretty good "making of" book about Casablanca. The author's really great at putting the movie in a historical context. I haven't read hers about The Wizard of Oz though.
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post #11 of 17
12/19/08 at 8:16pm
I recommend Lawrence Suid's Guts and Glory: The Making of the American Military Image in Film.

To call this work magisterial is an understatement. Suid documents the ever-present but rarely discussed alchemy between filmmakers and the armed services. Sometimes full-throttled cooperation, often vehement disagreement, the relationship of the storytellers to the military never ceases to be intriguing.

At over 700 pages, the book is frighteningly comprehensive and phenomenally even-keeled. As the more contentious the issues between producers and military reps(WARGAMES turns out to be a great example of the two being at loggerheads) are the most fascinating, Suid never wavers from a fair assessment of both the production and the finished film and reception.

I had an earlier edition and traded up to the latest a few years. To this day, I yank it off the shelf quite often when seriously discussing war films in the context of social climate.
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post #12 of 17
12/22/08 at 9:35am
Julie Salamon's "The Devils Candy" is fantastic. Documents the making of Bonfire of the Vanities. One of my favourites.
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post #13 of 17
12/22/08 at 4:19pm
I'll just cut and paste my picks from another thread...

The Overlook Film Encyclopedia: Horror, edited by Phil Hardy
The Overlook Film Encyclopedia: Gangster Film, edited by Phil Hardy
The Psychotronic Encyclopedia of Film by Michael Weldon
The Psychotronic Video Guide to Film by Michael Weldon
Mario Bava: All the Colors of the Dark by Tim Lucas
Herzog on Herzog by Paul Cronin
Cassavetes on Cassavetes by Ray Carney
Accidental Genius: How John Cassavetes Invented the Independent Film by Marshall Fine
Sergio Leone: Something to Do with Death by Christopher Frayling
Branded to Thrill: The Delirious Cinema of Suzuki Seijun by Simon Field & Tony Rayns
Getting Away With It Or: The Further Adventures of the Luckiest Bastard You Ever Saw by Steven Soderbergh
Pursuits of Happiness: The Hollywood Comedy of Remarriage by Stanley Cavell
Endless Highway by David Carradine
The Zombies That Ate Pittsburgh: The Films of George A. Romero by Paul R. Gagne
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post #14 of 17
12/22/08 at 6:38pm
I highly recommend the Kubrick Archives for any film enthusiasts, it's an excellent read laying out his career over 500+ pages, divided into two sections, the first of which presents selected frames from his films. The second delves into the making of them with articles by Kubrick pulled from various publications, as well as his wife and collaborators contributing essays on the films that were and were never meant to be.

Amazon has it for $44 bucks.
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post #15 of 17
12/22/08 at 6:43pm
Quote:
Originally Posted by Malmordo View Post
Cassavetes on Cassavetes by Ray Carney
Should be called Carney on Cassavetes, With Occasional Backup From Cassavetes. Carney's writing is deadly dull and sucks the life out of everything that made Cassavetes awe-inspiring.
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post #16 of 17
12/22/08 at 7:41pm
Quote:
Originally Posted by Phil View Post
Should be called Carney on Cassavetes, With Occasional Backup From Cassavetes. Carney's writing is deadly dull and sucks the life out of everything that made Cassavetes awe-inspiring.
Supported by generous quotes - sometimes huge blocks of text taking up a full page - from Cassavetes. Carney's academic side applies mainly to his criticism of the films.

The book may be a little repetitive and somewhat dry if you're not a fan. If you want an entertainment piece, you look to the Marshall Fine book (also included on my list). I prefer Carney's because he's the expert, and when I'm reading a book on a filmmaker I want as much information as can be found. Carney goddamn well found it all, or close to it.
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post #17 of 17
12/23/08 at 4:01am
Yeah, the book's invaluable to hear stuff in Cassavetes' own words. Of the "_______On______" books I've read, I'd never seen so little of the book's text actually come from the director as the Cassavetes book. I've read Carney's other book on Cassavetes as well, I don't think I'm shrugging off the man's work because it's not entertaining enough. Carney gets a little too in the way of his subject matter for me. But his books can be mined for info, sure.
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