The Other Hollywood: The Uncensored Oral History of the Porn Film Industry
by Legs McNeil, Jennifer Osborne
|
|
Sign in to Goodreads to see your friends' reviews of The Other Hollywood: The Uncensored Oral History of the Porn Film Industry.
discuss this book
friend reviews (0)
To see what your friends thought of this book, please sign up.
lists with this book
Where's the love? Add this book to your favorite list.
other reviews (showing 1-20 of 191)
recommended to Jessica by:
sister rachel
recommends it for: not readers faint of heart or with delicate sensibilities; "at-risk" fifth graders
recommends it for: not readers faint of heart or with delicate sensibilities; "at-risk" fifth graders
If for some reason you need additional evidence that punk scenesters are relatively boring, this book is it! The Other Hollywood is infinitely better than Please Kill Me (which, by the way, I also really liked), and I cannot fathom why it's not more widely read. You don't need to find porn especially interesting to love this, though an appetite for sleaze is probably mandatory. The Other Hollywood is kind of more disgusting th...more
Like this review?
yes
(9 people liked it)
5 comments
Read in July, 2008
recommended to Mike by:
Jessicarecommends it for: film fans, cult-studs, connoisseurs of the oral history
The best review I've seen of this--the review that sent me to the library to get (while the librarian looked on disapprovingly) and then read (very quickly)--is Jessica's, found at http://www.goodreads.com/revie.... Go read that.
My review's a meager "yeah, yeah" to everything she said. Vigorous head-nodding. Amens, if I was prone to amens. The accounts here are honest, funny, startling, dishonest, shatte...more
My review's a meager "yeah, yeah" to everything she said. Vigorous head-nodding. Amens, if I was prone to amens. The accounts here are honest, funny, startling, dishonest, shatte...more
Like this review?
yes
add a comment
Read in April, 2006
recommends it for:
Your mother
From the co-editor of "Please Kill Me," the oral history of punk, comes this even more engaging, surpisingly emotional oral history of the American hardcore pornography industry, beginning in the days directly preceding "Deep Throat" and continuing on through the AIDS epidemic to the present day. To my mind, this is a better book than "Please Kill Me." Unlike "Please Kill Me," it does not cover a subject I have a personal interest in. Like "Please Kil...more
Like this review?
yes
(1 person liked it)
add a comment
Read in February, 2008
It was okay. I was enjoying this book for the first 200 - 300 pages. I then got a bit bored. There are interesting parts and scandal (Linda Lovelace, Marilyn Chambers, John Holmes, Traci Lords, etc.) hidden in the middle of tedium. I think if the book was cut by 200 pages, it would have been a more interesting read, but far less comprehensive. I think the main problem was that there were many times that I had no clue who the person talking actually was. When a person was first introduced, they a...more
Like this review?
yes
add a comment
it was pretty interesting to read about the whole mafia connection with porn, though some of the names definitely get confused. the wonderland murders were also a pretty cool topic, though i kept wondering when i was gonna get to the really shocking stuff. it never really came, however. maybe i'm jaded. i also have a complaint about the wrap-up of the book. there really wasn't one. like, i wanna know what's happened to some of these people over the years, not just what happened to them in their...more
Like this review?
yes
add a comment
Read in January, 2005
Another of McNeil's oral histories (har har), so everything is either a first-person account or direct quotes from newspapers, court files, and the like.
Of course, there are no shortage of people who want to tell you exactly what to think about porn, so on the one hand, I found this approach refreshing. McNeil just puts the material out there and lets you reach your own conclusions.
But on the other hand, this means there are lots of contradictory stories and loose ends, so the hands-off...more
Of course, there are no shortage of people who want to tell you exactly what to think about porn, so on the one hand, I found this approach refreshing. McNeil just puts the material out there and lets you reach your own conclusions.
But on the other hand, this means there are lots of contradictory stories and loose ends, so the hands-off...more
Like this review?
yes
add a comment
Read in June, 2008
An very interesting read, at least from a male's point of view. The authors let the personalities do the talking. Quotes of porn stars, producers, and gangsters make up this book, and that is a format that can get a little tiring, but the history of the sex business from the 60's up to the late 90's is a great tale no matter how you tell it. The AIDS crisis that appeared within the industry, Linda Lovelace, Tracy Lords, and John Holmes many problems, are covered in depth, but lesser known names ...more
Like this review?
yes
add a comment
Read in September, 2007
Imagine if you will an unfilmed Ken Burns/Errol Morris talking head documentary with a cast of hundreds recounting the blue film business - I'd watch it (and subsequently fall asleep a couple times) and recommend it to patient friends but reading it is a wearying business....like being a non smoker stuck on a balcony with talkative smokers at a party with people you meet in the elevator at work.....and discovering your ride has left....
applause to Legs McNeil for coordinating such a feat - i...more
applause to Legs McNeil for coordinating such a feat - i...more
Like this review?
yes
(1 person liked it)
add a comment
Read in April, 2008
The Other Hollywood tells the history of porn film in the same style that Legs McNeil told the story of punk in Please Kill Me -- each chapter is a series of chopped up interviews with the main players telling their stories of the time. The first 450 pages, I read pretty breathlessly -- the sex, drugs, death and mob ties made each chapter just barrel through its narrative. But as the 80s drew to a close, the book slowed down somewhat and the stories seemed to be more anecdotal than universal. ...more
Like this review?
yes
add a comment
Read in April, 2006
I will never need to read another history of porn book after this mammoth oral (not my fault) history of the porn industry. This focuses in on the early days of the '70s and how those who made the films were soon under the control of the mafia. I love reading about the mob and had never read about their connection to porn films from this era although I'd known they were involved. Deep Throat for example made the mob hundreds of millions of dollars. Even though there is a ton of sex in this, not ...more
Like this review?
yes
add a comment
Read in January, 2005
recommends it for:
people interested in porn
I really don't enjoy pornography all that much. I have enjoyed some on occasion, but usually something will happen in a pornographic film that I find unsettling and then I am immediately turned off sexually and disgusted with humans. Anyway, that is neither here nor there I suppose. But nonetheless, the porn industry is endlessly fascinating. It is a really long book, but totally worth it!
Like this review?
yes
(1 person liked it)
1 comments
Read in February, 2008
Ok, this book is about the porn industry (something I'm fascinated with), but don't let that throw you. Instead please...let the raunchy way they present this book throw you. The book itself is a killer read...one of the better oral history books I've read, but the way the book is set up (ever few pages are gratuitous pictures and the cover itself is pretty racy) it would make it seem like they don't really take their material seriously. If you can get past that, it's quite a read.
Like this review?
yes
add a comment
Read in April, 2005
A great insider look into the adult film industry. The style of the book (alternating quotes from different sources with no real narration in between) takes some time to get used to but once you do it gives you a great understanding on the history of pornography and the people around it. The only downside is that this book was so thorough that it ruined the pornography section in Eric Schlosser's "Reefer Madness" for me because it seemed like a Cliff's Notes version of this book.
Like this review?
yes
add a comment
Read in January, 2006
Have I mentioned how much I love Legs McNeil? This is yet another amazing compliation of interviews with pretty much everyone who has been involved in the pornography industry, ever. It's so interesting to see how film and then video really changed the product that was being made, and of course all the characters are great to read about! Full of all kinds of scandal, I definitely give this 5 stars.
Like this review?
yes
add a comment
Read in June, 2007
recommends it for:
You know who you are
Very quick, intriguing read. Focuses a bit too much on the mob's involvement in pornography, and seems to skip over some pretty big events, such as Debbie Does Dallas.
Still, good stuff, though 600 pages of porn made me a little nauseas from time to time. I should probably go cleanse myself now by watching a couple Disney films.
Still, good stuff, though 600 pages of porn made me a little nauseas from time to time. I should probably go cleanse myself now by watching a couple Disney films.
Like this review?
yes
add a comment
Read in January, 2008
Great book about the history of porn. Drags towards the end when it gets to the VHS era, but that might be because I am not interested in it. A chronology and history is put together by piecing together interviews from people who were there. If you love old time porno it is an excellent book. If not I would not recomend.
Like this review?
yes
add a comment
Oh, Legs. You know punk and you know porn. I stalled on this one early on and something else took its place, so I'm gearing up to read it all the way through this time. This oral history REALLY digs deep, starting WAY back in the 1920's and, through a series of one-on-one accounts, plumbs the depths of this industry proper.
Like this review?
yes
add a comment
Read in April, 2008
Highly readable, indeed. But although it's not judgmental, I think it does devote a disproportionate amount of space to the seedier sides of its topic: Organized crime, murders and suicides. I would have liked to see more emphasis on the titillating and less on the sensational.
Like this review?
yes
add a comment
Great primary source info on the porn industry. You quickly fall into the cadence of the different "voices" in each chapter. Helps provide the first-hand stories behind the rise of American pornography & the various evolutions this genre has gone through.
Like this review?
yes
add a comment
Read in September, 2007
recommends it for:
people who like events rather than opinions
Oral history is like Super Golden Crisp: I just can't get enough. It's also refreshing to have a book that doesn't feature the author trying to ram his opinions down your throat. If I wanted that, I'd go to a bar or a bus stop or turn on talk radio.
Like this review?
yes
add a comment
