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Vanity Fair's Tales of Hollywood: Rebels, Reds, and Graduates and the Wild Stories Behind theMaking of 13 Iconic Films
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
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, 352 pages
Published
December 10th 2008
by Penguin Books
(first published 2008)
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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, writers, and direct...more
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, writers, and direct...more
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 of catty and damn...more
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 Voight, Bet...more
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 Voight, Bet...more
A collection of stories previously published in Vanity Fair about the making of some famous - and infamous - movies. I have to admit, because I hadn't seen all the movies written about in the book, I didn't read each article. This a quick, light read, of particular interest if you've seen one or more of the movies and what some (often juicy) background and behind the scenes. The best in the book probably depends on which movies you like or dislike; I thought the story about Saturday Night Fever...more
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
This compilation of articles written for Vanity Fair magazine tells the stories behind 13 iconic films, from "The Magnificent Ambersons" (1942) to "Reds" (1980). The stories on how these films came together will intrigue you, as well as how stars and directors got along (or not). The tales cover triumphs like "All About Eve" (1950) and disasters like "Myra Breckenridge" (1970), and sleepers like "Sweet Smell of Success" (1957). This is a must read for film buffs.
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.
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.
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!
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
There are some great stories here, but I think the greatest value of this book is that it serves as a reminder of what a good magazine Vanity Fair used to be before Graydon Carter lost his grip on quality.
Apr 23, 2010
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.
I'm not normally a VANITY FAIR reader.... except when they hire someone to do an extensive "behind-the-scenes" article on the making of a specific film. This outstanding book collects 13 essays, offering us a juicy and illuminating look at the business of movie making. The 13 films are: 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 F...more
Start with David Kamp's When Liz Met Dick, then scoot back a few pages to read Sam Staggs' piece on All About Eve for more hilarity. If you're an old Hollywood junkie like me, this collection of Vanity Fair articles is pure perfection. Know this: the back story will always be more interesting than the movies themselves.
http://www.therounduponline.net/a-e/v...
already did a review for publication :)
already did a review for publication :)
A movie-lover's dream, or nightmare. I will never feel the same about Burt Lancaster, unfortunately.
Some of the chapters are 5 stars (ie. about the filming of Cleopatra, others are probably a 2.)
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.
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.
I liked this book but it was very dry. It will make you want to watch all the movies mentioned in this book.
This book reminded me that I love movies. Some great back stories.
There's a rape scene in Saturday Night Fever? I guess I've never actually seen that movie all the way through.
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.
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.
just something to flip through. probably would've been more interesting if I had seen more of the films.
What works in magazines doesn't always work in books.
May 09, 2013
Amanda
marked it as to-read
Apr 02, 2013
Mac
marked it as to-read
Mar 10, 2013
Claudia
marked it as to-read
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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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Nov 28, 2009 10:55pm