Vanity Fair's Tales of Hollywood: Rebels, Reds, and Graduates and the Wild Stories Behind the Making of 13 Iconicfilms
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Vanity Fair's Tales of Hollywood: Rebels, Reds, and Graduates and the Wild Stories Behind the Making of 13 Iconicfilms

3.8 of 5 stars 3.80  ·  rating details  ·  61 ratings  ·  21 reviews
The stories behind the stories of some of Hollywood's most iconic movies

The magazine world 's monthly arbiter of culture, personality, and world affairs, Vanity Fair has always offered the definitive insider's look at Hollywood power and glamour since its relaunch twenty-five years ago. Now, for the first time ever, Vanity Fair presents a one-of-a-kind collection featurin...more
Paperback, 320 pages
Published December 30th 2008 by Penguin Books (first published 2008)
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Lee Anne
The Magnificent Ambersons; All About Eve; Rebel Without a Cause; Sweet Smell of Success; The Best of Everything; Cleopatra; The Graduate; The Producers; Midnight Cowboy; Myra Breckinridge; Tommy; Saturday Night Fever; Reds.

These essays from Vanity Fair magazine are full of interesting celebrity nuggets. Who knew what a womanizing jerk Burt Lancaster was? (I can't decide if it makes me like him less, or makes him hotter.) Many of the stories have interviews with the producers, writ...more
Allison
Allison rated it 4 of 5 stars
Shelves: drama, non-fic, 2009, movies
Even if you've never seen 'Midnight Cowboy" or "The Best of Everything", this book is a treat. This collection of articles from Vanity Fair about the behind the scenes drama that went on between producers, directors, and actors is gossipy and scholarly at the same time. Enough years have past that the reporters of these articles are not only able to provide readers with perspective on the careers of the people involved in these iconic films, they are also able to squeeze plenty ...more
Katharine
Behind the scenes of 13 iconic films: The Magnificent Ambersons, All About Eve, Rebel Without a Cause, Sweet Smell of Success, The Best of Everything, Cleopatra, The Graduate, The Producers, Midnight Cowboy, Myra Breckinridge, Tommy, Saturday Night Fever, and Reds.

Even though James Dean's picture is on the cover, you really won't find out much about him in the chapter on Rebel Without a Cause. However, you will get some entertainment reading about Liz and Dick; Dustin Hoffman and Jon V...more
Beth
I read two and half pieces in this book before I set it aside. Inside its pages, Graydon Carter collects some of Vanity Fair's articles on film. If you like reading the magazine's annual Hollywood edition, especially for the Golden Age stories, then you may enjoy this book. Each chapter is one selection from the magazine's archives, and each is an in-depth exploration of its subject. I wasn't interested in reading the whole book because I wasn't interested in all of its subjects. I read the chap...more
Suzanne
Great stories about some of the great movies: the director's cut of Magnificent Amberson's likely trashed; Robert Redford & Candice Bergen considered for the roles played by Dustin Hoffman & Katherine Ross in the Graduate; the happy confluence of depressed talent that came together to create Midnight Cowboy, fascinating details about Warren Beatty's direction of the film Reds. A fun read.
Bill
Bill rated it 4 of 5 stars
I really enjoyed this book. Not all the articles were great, but the ones on Rebel without a Cause, The Graduate, Midnight Cowboy, Cleopatra, and Reds were all outstanding, making me want to see them again. And the articles on The Magnificent Amerbersons and Sweet Smell of Success (a truly great film that needs to be seen more often) are great and worth the price of the book.
Diana
Diana rated it 4 of 5 stars
So I'm one of those people who retain movie trivia like a sponge, and this book really helps me keep up my ability to annoy others who watch movies with me by constantly saying "Hey, did you know that....?" Seriously though, it's a really interesting read that gives you a great insight into how some of cinema's classics came into being or almost never were. Fun stuff!
Mae
Mae rated it 4 of 5 stars
just a collection of previously published "behind the scenes" articles about famous movies, but un-put-downable if you're a fan of that kind of thing, even if you've read some of them before
Rory
Rory rated it 4 of 5 stars
Recommends it for: buffs and gossipmongers
Shelves: nonfiction
Fun, fun, fun. Though I mostly read only the pieces about movies I'd seen (which was all but four of them, and I went ahead and read the one about "Cleopatra" anyway because I KNEW that'd be a doozy). If you like to know what goes into making a movie sausage and need an easy, breezy (yet sill reliable) read, pick this up.
Mandi
Mandi rated it 4 of 5 stars
http://www.therounduponline.net/a-e/vani...
already did a review for publication :)
Laura
Laura rated it 5 of 5 stars
A movie-lover's dream, or nightmare. I will never feel the same about Burt Lancaster, unfortunately.
Shirley
Some of the chapters are 5 stars (ie. about the filming of Cleopatra, others are probably a 2.)
DJ
DJ rated it 4 of 5 stars
The book is a behind-the-scenes look at the making of some very popular movies inlcuding Reds, Cleopatra, The Producers, Midnight Cowboy, The Magnificent Ambersons, Rebel without a Cause, and a few others. For summertime, at the beach or on the plane reading - it was a lot of fun. Well done.
Jasonb
Jasonb rated it 3 of 5 stars
After reading this book of articles on iconic movies, you will wonder how they even got made. The back-stories in this book are fascinating.
Samantha
I liked this book but it was very dry. It will make you want to watch all the movies mentioned in this book.
Carla
Carla rated it 4 of 5 stars
This book reminded me that I love movies. Some great back stories.
Barbara
There's a rape scene in Saturday Night Fever? I guess I've never actually seen that movie all the way through.
Fern
Fern rated it 4 of 5 stars
Am familiar with most of the behind the scenes stories this tells about classics like rebel without a cause, all about eve and cleopatra. but it's still fun to revisit the anecdotes.
Carol
Juicy tales from the sets of some classic films. What happened behind the scenes on "Cleopatra," "The Graduate" and "Rebel Without A Cause" was even more dramatic than what ended up on camera.
Susan
Susan rated it 3 of 5 stars
just something to flip through. probably would've been more interesting if I had seen more of the films.
Elizabeth
What works in magazines doesn't always work in books.
Alice
Alice marked it as to-read
Debbie
Debbie marked it as to-read
Cat
Cat marked it as to-read
Doug
Doug rated it 2 of 5 stars
Alana
Alana marked it as to-read
Shelves: non-fiction
Becky
Becky marked it as to-read
Shannan
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Nicki
Nicki marked it as to-read
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Vanity Fair's Tales of Hollywood (ebook)
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Edward Graydon Carter is a Canadian-born American journalist and author. He is editor of Vanity Fair. He also co-founded, with Kurt Andersen and Tom Phillips, the satirical monthly magazine Spy in 1986.
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