Pictures at a Revolution: Five Movies and the Birth of the New Hollywood

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Pictures at a Revolution: Five Movies and the Birth of the New Hollywood

by Mark Harris

4.18 · rating details · 698 ratings · 193 reviews

The New York Times bestseller that follows the making of five films at a pivotal time in Hollywood history

In the mid-1960s, westerns, war movies, and blockbuster musicals like Mary Poppins swept the box office. The Hollywood studio system was astonishingly lucrative for the few who dominated the business. That is, until the tastes of American moviegoers radically- and une...more

Paperback, 496 pages

Published January 27th 2009 by Penguin (Non-Classics) (first published February 14th 2008)

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Mar 05, 2008

Mike rated it

· review of another edition

Recommends it for: Movie fans, especially those who think Adorno & Horkheimer were a little too mechanistic

One of the best books about films I've ever read, and a masterfully-crafted, thrilling read at that.

Harris untangles how we got to the Best Picture slate of 1967, a fine representative case study of a shift in Hollywood conventions. And also, obviously, situated in a time of significant cultural change. But unlike many other such film histories, which tend to center on readings of the films (technique and thematics) to make the cultural argument, Harris masterfully traces the comp...more

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Nov 14, 2007

Spiros rated it

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Shelves: arc, vacationreads, cinerelated, california

As a rule, I tend to fight shy of "watershed" books, books that purport to show you how "this changed everything"; to his credit (and despite the marketing blurbs on the back), Harris attempts to do no such thing. Instead, what he has written is a diligently constructed book, chronicling the making of the five films which received Best Picture nominations at the 1968 Academy Awards. Two of the films (IN THE HEAT OF THE NIGHT and GUESS WHO'S COMING TO DINNER) were directed by...moreAs a rule, I tend to fight shy of "watershed" books, books that purport to show you how "this changed everything"; to his credit (and despite the marketing blurbs on the back), Harris attempts to do no such thing. Instead, what he has written is a diligently constructed book, chronicling the making of the five films which received Best Picture nominations at the 1968 Academy Awards. Two of the films (IN THE HEAT OF THE NIGHT and GUESS WHO'S COMING TO DINNER) were directed by old time Hollywood liberals (Norman Jewison and Stanley Kramer, respectively), two (BONNIE AND CLYDE, THE GRADUATE) were directed by young outsiders who viewed themselves primarily as Broadway directors (Arthur Penn and Mike Nichols, respectively), and one, DOCTOR DOLITTLE, was a heavily backed studio effort which was attempting to catch onto a perceived wave of popular support for bloated musicals, fueled by the success of THE SOUND OF MUSIC and MY FAIR LADY.
The five narrative threads interconnect in surprising, and yet inevitable, ways. The two liberal films were conceived as serious attempts to address the civil rights issues of the day; unfortunately, by the time they reached theaters, they emitted a musty odor of quaintness and condescension. Sidney Poitier, the charismatic star of both movies, became a victim of his own success, straightjacketed into roles which required him to play the emasculated, noble negro that white America would not be too uncomfortable viewing on screen.
DOLITTLE, conceived in reaction to the artiness of Nouvelle Vague Cinema as a good, old fashioned, bread and circuses Hollywood extravaganza, foundered miserably under the weight of its egomaniacal leading man (Rex Harrison), bloated production values, and a cast of recalcitrant (animal) extras. Needless to say, the accounts of its making are the most outrageously entertaining parts of the book.
THE GRADUATE and BONNIE AND CLYDE are really what this book is about; these were the revolutionary films which did, in fact, change everything: BONNIE AND CLYDE by assimilating the lessons of the New European Cinema; THE GRADUATE, by assimilating the Zeitgeist of '60's Youth Culture. Both films would prove to have an enormous impact on future Hollywood movies, and both were made almost in spite of the studios which were producing them. (less)

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Jun 30, 2011

Kris rated it

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This is your book if you appreciate thoroughness, historical accuracy and narrative momentum with your cinema journalism. Mark Harris captures the essence of mid-60s filmmaking in a bottle, exhaustively documenting the making and promotion of the five films nominated for the best picture Oscar in 1967: Bonnie & Clyde, The Graduate, In the Heat of the Night, Guess Who's Coming to Dinner, and (seriously) Dr. Doolittle. Harris masterfully weaves the story of each film's creation into a united thre...more

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Feb 11, 2011

Josh rated it

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Shelves: film, history, favorites

Immediately the best, most fascinating and rigorously researched book on film I've ever read; but of course, it isn't JUST about movies, but about entire cultural paradigm shift, and so much more. It took me, oh, maybe twenty pages or so to get a feel for Harris' rhythm-- initially, I wondered if it might be just a bit dry-- but once I got the hang of it I was never anything less than totally captivated by it, and the kinds of historical anecdotes he digs up are s utterly bizarre, they couldn't ...more

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May 26, 2010

James rated it

I started reading this book this morning, and despite my rather hectic Monday schedule (on a truck I haven't driven in toto since forever ago), I am now roughly halfway through it, and if I don't finish it tonight, I certainly will tomorrow. This is one hell of a read, and deftly written.

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Feb 13, 2009

Don rated it

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Excellent!

Other books I have read about the motion picture industry have, for the most part, been full of interesting and fun facts and anecdotes, but not particularly solid histories. This book scores on both accounts.

A fascinating history examining the production of each of the 5 Best Picture nominees for the 1967 Academy Awards (In the Heat of the Night, The Graduate, Dr. Doolittle, Bonnie and Clyde and Guess Who's Coming to Dinner), this book attempts to identify the...more

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Feb 13, 2009

Jonathan rated it

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If the 1960s were a time of great social and cultural ferment in the US, reactionary, conservative Hollywood didn't seem to get the memo. Slowly, however, a new crop of filmmakers, influenced by European cinema – and by the French New Wave auteurs in particular – began to break out of the classic Hollywood mould and make movies that were darker, grittier and more morally complex than ever before. But these Young Turks faced an established order that wasn't going to to relinquish its turf so easi...more

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Feb 05, 2009

Bookmarks Magazine added it · review of another edition

Mark Harris, a former editor for Entertainment Weekly, combines his remarkable knowledge of film history with interviews and research that capture the Zeitgeist of the late 1960s, particularly the cloistered, changing world of Hollywood. The films that challenged the industry's expectations were, Harris writes, "game changers, movies that had originated far from Hollywood and had grown into critics' darlings and major popular phenomena." In the manner of Otto Friedrich's City of Nets,

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Nov 19, 2010

Kenneth rated it

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This book is the finest work of film history I have ever read, or more precisely listened to on audiobook.

It is a fascinating look at 1967, a pivotal time in Hollywood film when a new generation rose to challenge the old with challenging new work like the European influenced storytelling of Bonnie and Clyde or the irreverent comedy of The Graduate, starring Dustin Hoffman, a brilliant young actor who would redefine star appeal ever since. Meanwhile the old guard was falling on its fac...more

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Jul 28, 2010

Shawn Roberts rated it

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This is beautifully written and well researched. It's a great example of how a highly researched book can be compelling and complete without feeling the need to exhaustively go through every single piece of information the author unearthed on the subject matter.

Harris does a fantastic job of depicting what working in film was like in the 60s: the commercial pressures, the mechanics of how projects were put together, the cultural milieu and the personalities driving the industry. ...more

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Dec 06, 2009

Charles Matthews rated it

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Oscar plays it safe. You can trust the Academy to pick a “Forrest Gump” over a “Pulp Fiction,” an “Ordinary People” over a “Raging Bull,” or a “Kramer vs. Kramer” over an “Apocalypse Now.”

Or a well-made, socially conscious melodrama like “In the Heat of the Night” over groundbreaking movies like “Bonnie and Clyde” and “The Graduate.” That’s part of the story that Mark Harris tells in his richly fascinating book, “Pictures at a Revolution,” which focuses on the five nominees for best ...moreOscar plays it safe. You can trust the Academy to pick a “Forrest Gump” over a “Pulp Fiction,” an “Ordinary People” over a “Raging Bull,” or a “Kramer vs. Kramer” over an “Apocalypse Now.”

Or a well-made, socially conscious melodrama like “In the Heat of the Night” over groundbreaking movies like “Bonnie and Clyde” and “The Graduate.” That’s part of the story that Mark Harris tells in his richly fascinating book, “Pictures at a Revolution,” which focuses on the five nominees for best picture in 1968 – the other two were “Guess Who’s Coming to Dinner” and “Doctor Dolittle.”

The conventional way of writing about five movies would be to devote a section of the book to each. But Harris does something more difficult and far more illuminating: He weaves together the stories of how each movie was conceived, crafted, released, critiqued and received. He writes about the five or six years in which the filmmakers, some of them old pros and some of them rank novices, struggled with a studio system in collapse, an audience whose tastes and enthusiasms seemed wildly unpredictable, and a culture being transformed by volatile social and political forces.

A few figures dominate Harris’ narrative – writers Robert Benton, David Newman and Robert Towne; actor-producer Warren Beatty; producers Lawrence Turman, Stanley Kramer and Arthur P. Jacobs; studio heads Jack Warner and Richard Zanuck; directors Mike Nichols, Norman Jewison and Arthur Penn; actors Katharine Hepburn, Spencer Tracy, Dustin Hoffman, Rod Steiger, Rex Harrison and Sidney Poitier. The book has what Hollywood publicists used to brag about: a cast of thousands.

Poitier figures in the stories of three of the movies – "In the Heat of the Night" and "Guess Who's Coming to Dinner," in which he acted, and "Doctor Dolittle," in which he was cast in a featured role until its chaotic filming led to his being written out of the script. He had become an unexpected star – in 1967, Harris tells us, “Box Office magazine … rated Poitier as the fifth biggest star in Hollywood, ahead of Sean Connery and Steve McQueen. His drawing power was a shock to an industry that had, until recently, treated his employment in movies as something akin to an act of charity.”

But at the same time, a “rift had grown between Poitier and a younger, more militant black cultural intelligentsia” that mocked him as an Uncle Tom. The author of one of these denunciations, Clifford Mason, now admits that he “jumped all over Sidney because I wanted him to be Humphrey Bogart when he was really Cary Grant,” but he persists in his criticism of the “role that Sidney always played – the black person with dignity who worries about the white people’s problems – you don’t play that part over and over unless you’re comfortable with that kind of suffering.”

Racial tensions and the protest against the war in Vietnam played a large role in shaping these movies. Harris, a writer and former editor for Entertainment Weekly, not only demonstrates how the filmmakers responded to social and political change, but he also has a working knowledge of the film industry that allows him to elaborate on how a colossal flop like “Doctor Dolittle” came about (and how it could be nominated for a best picture Oscar over better-received movies such as “In Cold Blood,” “Cool Hand Luke” and “Two for the Road”). Its producers were inspired by the smash success of “My Fair Lady,” “Mary Poppins” and “The Sound of Music.”

“Historically,” Harris comments, “the only event more disruptive to the industry’s ecosystem than an unexpected flop is an unexpected smash, and, caught off guard by the sudden arrival of more revenue than they thought their movies could ever bring in, the major studios resorted to three old habits: imitation, frenzied speculation, and panic.” Imitation was the first impetus behind “Doctor Dolittle” – Alan Jay Lerner, Rex Harrison and Julie Andrews were the talents the producers sought for the film, but they wound up with only one of them. The panic came later – a good deal, but not all, of it caused by the irascible and demanding Harrison, whom Harris presents as a man filled with "anger and paranoia." Among other things, Harrison was an anti-Semite, which led to confrontations with his co-star Anthony Newley, whom he disparaged "sometimes to his face, as a 'Jewish comic' or a 'cockney Jew.' "

Harris has created what seems likely to be one of the classics of popular film history, useful to dedicated students of film and cultural historians, and also to trivia buffs. (Did you know that Beatty’s original choices to play Bonnie and Clyde were his sister, Shirley MacLaine, and Bob Dylan?) Harris writes with a wit that’s sly, not show-offy. He can encapsulate the woes of shooting “Doctor Dolittle” in four words: “The rhinoceros got pneumonia.” And he can slip in a bit of insider humor with a reference to Newley’s then-wife, Joan Collins, who “reentered the Hollywood social scene she loved with the vigor of an Olympic athlete” – the syntax leaving it up to the reader to decide whether the prepositional phrase modifies “reentered” or “loved.”

Indeed, almost the only complaint about “Pictures at a Revolution” is that, except for an “Epilogue” that briefly sums up the later careers of the major figures, it ends at the Oscar ceremony. You want Harris to go on, to talk about how the success of “Bonnie and Clyde” and “The Graduate” also caused the studios to resort to their old habits of “imitation, frenzied speculation, and panic.”

And there were other consequences: “Kramer vs. Kramer” now seems like little more than a well-made domestic drama, while the film that it defeated for the best picture in 1979, Francis Ford Coppola’s audacious mess of a movie, “Apocalypse Now,” is regarded as a classic. “Kramer vs. Kramer” also won Oscars for its writer and director, Robert Benton, one of the writers of “Bonnie and Clyde,” and for Dustin Hoffman, who had become a movie star in “The Graduate.” In eleven years, Benton and Hoffman had gone from being icons of a film revolution to pillars of the establishment. That’s the way things work in Hollywood. If you can’t beat ’em, assimilate ’em.
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Jun 22, 2011

Megankellie rated it

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Recommends it for: comedy nerds, film nerds

Recommended to Megankellie by: film nerd.

Shelves: showbiz-reality, history

This is pretty film-geekily interesting and just the complete detail you want behind the scenes of the five movies that were nominated for Best Picture in 1967 - In the Heat of the Night, The Graduate, Bonnie and Clyde, Guess Who's Coming to Dinner, and Dr. Dolittle. Great history and context and the detailed battle of getting something produced and marketed. So detailed, you start from the second the screenwriters behind Bonnie and Clyde thought of the script and the million years until they sa...more

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Jul 24, 2009

Kasa Cotugno rated it

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Shelves: history, show-biz

The reader doesn't have to had been around in 1968 to find this book interesting, but it enhances the enjoyment. Those who remember movies prior to the formation of the rating system, when the infamous Hays Code was dictating what could and could not be seen, will recognize the advances in maturity nascent in four out of the five movies nominated for the Oscar that are featured here. Harris employs a straight chronological structure, following the development of all five films, managing to mak...more

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May 22, 2010

John rated it

Mark Harris interviewed writers, directors, actors, and other associated people, who worked on the Best Picture nominees for 2007 (Bonnie & Clyde; Doctor Doolittle; The Graduate; Guess Who's Coming To Dinner; In The Heat Of The Night). This is the launchpad for an investigation of the end of the old studio system and the rise of independent film.

What a great read!

Sidney Poitier is one of the main characters of the book and the author spends a lot of time setting the sc...more

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May 26, 2009

Trish rated it

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Shelves: non-fiction

My boss passed this on to me, knowing I'd enjoy the behind-the-scenes (or screens) information about the five films competing for the 1968 Academy Awards: Bonnie and Clyde, Guess Who's Coming to Dinner?, Dr. Doolittle, In the Heat of the Night, and The Graduate. Harris does a wonderful job of weaving together the disparate stories behind each film's (often convoluted) genesis and (frequently fraught) filming. If I had to pick a favorite anecdote, it would be the tipsy squirrel on the set of Dr. ...more

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Jan 08, 2009

Taylor rated it

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Shelves: non-fiction, film

The book is essentially a production history of the 5 films nominated for the Best Picture Oscar in 1968. The strength of the book lies in the way Harris compares and contrasts the production histories, seperating the films into New Hollywood, Old Hollywood and MOR. Bonnie and Clyde and The Graduate represent New Hollywood, Doctor Doolittle represents Old Hollywood and In The Heat of the Night and Guess Who's Coming to Dinner represent something in the middle - films that tackled the subject of ...more

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Jan 06, 2012

James Perkins rated it

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At the tail end of the 1960s, America was full of social activism, as the young protesters were fed up with the old guard. In Hollywood, mirroring reality in microcosm as its movies mirrored reality on celluloid, the old was also on its way out: the studio system was about to end, the Hays Code was being phased out, and young up-and-coming directors and stars were starting to make their mark. This book tells the story of the five movies nominated for Best Picture at the 1967 Oscars and how, in t...more

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Nov 13, 2010

Steven rated it

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Fantastic book about the American film industry, circa 1967. By examining the five Academy Award nominations for Best Picture of 1967, Harris dissects the movies, the people associated with them, and the effects that each film has had since. It was a turning point in American movie making. The old guard (Guess Who's Coming to Dinner, Doctor Doolittle) were being brushed aside by the new upstarts (Bonnie and Clyde, The Graduate). In the Heat of the Night rounded out the five and in many ways...more

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Jan 09, 2009

James Loftus rated it

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Recommends it for: everyone

This is one of the best books I have read in recent memory and certainly one of my favorite non-fiction reads in a very long time. The book follows the five 1967 Oscar nominated films (The Graduate, In the Heat of the Night, Guess Who's Coming to Dinner, Bonnie and Clyde and Doctor Dolittle) from inception right up to the awards ceremony. The thesis of the book is that this awards ceremony and these films mark a transition point in Hollywood. The social commentary is interesting the book and ...more

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Mar 19, 2011

Sharmayne rated it

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As good a book as exists about one of my favorite subjects...behind scenes Hollywood. This masterpiece succeeds on every level. Following five movies from conception, casting, filming, theatrical release and ending at the Oscars in 1969. Balanced between the emergence of an upstart generation of filmmakers inspired by Europes New Wave and Old Guard Hollywood who just don't 'get it.' Of course, lots of great stories about the Stars! Spencer Tracy and Kathering Hepburn during his last days, their ...more

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Dec 04, 2011

Elderberrywine rated it

Shelves: library

A rare treat for filmoholics like myself. Harris takes the five Oscar nominees for Best Picture in 1967 (a watershed year when the major studios truly lost their firm grip on the industry), and examines their convoluted paths to that point. The movies were Bonnie and Clyde, The Graduate, Guess Who's Coming to Dinner, In the Heat of the Night, and, believe it or not, Doctor Dolittle, and their histories are far more entwined than one could ever imagine. Hollywood is a very small town, after al...more

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Dec 08, 2011

Jay rated it

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Shelves: media, linkedin-review

Wonderful production history of the five movies up for the Best Picture Academy Award in 1967. The movies are a diverse lot, including "The Graduate" and "Bonnie and Clyde" as movies that set new conventions in film. Also included were "Doctor Doolitle", a big budget musical, "Guess Who's Coming to Dinner" and "In the Heat of the Night", Sidney Poitier's two entries. The descriptions of these films starts with their source material, and continues...more

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Jan 04, 2010

Chris rated it

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Shelves: movies, non-fiction, 2010

A terrific book. Harris looks at the five Oscar nominees for Best Picture in 1967 and reveals nuanced layers to the seismic changes that were about to occur in 1970's American cinema. Page-turing anecdotes center around some of the more revolutionary movies nominated in '67 like The Graduate and Bonnie and Clyde, but I found the stories and interviews surrounding 20th Century Fox's mess of a musical Doctor Dolittle to be the most interesting part of the book. The bloat and excess of Dolittle was...more

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Jan 20, 2009

Larry added it · review of another edition

A great story about a critical time in American movie making- the early to mid-60s when you saw a transition from the big musicals, and Doris Day comedy romances, and big war epics to racier, disturbing, and anti-hero driven films. You can see how "Mean Streets", "The Conversation", "Midnight Cowboy" and even "Pulp Fiction" and "Reservoir Dogs" are the offspring of "Bonnie and Clyde" and "The Graduate".

My one crit...more

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Sep 02, 2011

Carrie rated it

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Shelves: film-production-theory-and-history, nonfiction, read-in-2011, history

Pictures at a Revolution is an incredibly well-researched history of the five films nominated for the Academy Award for Best Picture in 1968. Harris argues that this particular class of nominees represents the shift in power from Old Hollywood to New Hollywood. His point is made strongest (and most interestingly) when he analyzes the ways in which Bonnie and Clyde and The Graduate challenged the Motion Picture Production Code and the differences between In the Heat of the Night and Guess Who's C...morePictures at a Revolution is an incredibly well-researched history of the five films nominated for the Academy Award for Best Picture in 1968. Harris argues that this particular class of nominees represents the shift in power from Old Hollywood to New Hollywood. His point is made strongest (and most interestingly) when he analyzes the ways in which Bonnie and Clyde and The Graduate challenged the Motion Picture Production Code and the differences between In the Heat of the Night and Guess Who's Coming to Dinner treatment of race and civil rights issues. I also appreciated learning about the influence of the French New Wave and the ways in which the work of Truffaut and Godard impacted the visual style and critical reception of films like Bonnie and Clyde.

The problem I had with the book was that I felt, at times, it was too detailed. While the stories about Doctor Doolittle's disastrous production are very funny, they felt out of place in the book's thematic narrative. And while many of the book's characters are fascinating (Sidney Poitier, Warren Beatty, Dustin Hoffman, Mike Nichols and Arthur Penn are particularly compelling), the degree to which the book discusses each actor, writer, director, producer, editor and director of photography is a little tiresome. Certainly, there are great stories to be told about each of the films discussed, but Harris exhausts all of them and then some.

When reading about film, I tend to enjoy theory and criticism more than history. It's a matter of personal taste, and I'm not going to argue with Pictures at a Revolution for being what it was. It's a history book, not a book of film criticism or theory. That said, there are a few moments where film analysis is brought to the forefront, and those moments are great. One of my favorite parts was learning that Mike Nichols now sees The Graduate as a film about Jewish identity in an assimilated world. I feel like an entire book could be written just about that, and that might be a book that would appeal to me more. But, for what it is, Pictures at a Revolution is quite good.(less)

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Jan 02, 2009

Steven rated it

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Shelves: culture, history

This made a list of best non-fiction book for 2008 in the New York Times, and since it was in my library, I thought I'd check it out -- and it seems I was the first person to do so.

I have only seen one of the five 1967 Best Picture Nominees which are the subject of this book -- and that one, arguably the worst of the lot, "Doctor Dolittle" not since I was a child. My first mission is to put all five of these films on my Netflix list and bump them to the top of the queue. Ho...more

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Jul 29, 2010

Joel rated it

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For serious movie history buffs only. Harris does a pretty good job picking apart the changing winds in Hollywood during the late 1960s, and the book is meticulously researched and footnoted. At times, especially as he gets caught up in the wonderful(ly boring) world of budgets and detailing the history of seemingly everyone even loosely connected with these five films. That said, when he gets into the meat of what makes this movies work (or not work), production history, etc. it's a pretty fasc...more

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May 03, 2011

Mary Menzel added it · review of another edition

Painstakingly researched nonfiction about a watershed year for Hollywood, 1967, in which the five films who would be nominated for the Best Picture Academy Award were representative of the slide from old guard to "new Hollywood" -- Doctor Doolittle, Guess Who's Coming to Dinner?, In the Heat of the Night, The Graduate, and Bonnie and Clyde. Tons of behind the scenes stuff, insightful and never heavy-handed analysis of what it all meant, colorful characters indeed, most with huge egos....more

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Apr 30, 2011

Kevin Bigley rated it

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Recommends it for: Film Buffs, and only Film Buffs

Recommended to Kevin by: Mister Eddie O'Keefe

Old Hollywood versus New Hollywood, although a highly interesting topic and consuming matchup with tremendous stories to tell, has some equally dull ones to go along with them. Pictures at a Revolution focuses on many things, but mainly on the journey of five films: Bonnie and Clyde, The Graduate, In the Heat of Tonight, Guess Who’s Coming to Dinner, and Doctor Dolittle. These five movies are described as highlighting a revolution and becoming the turning points in a year of film that saw New...more Old Hollywood versus New Hollywood, although a highly interesting topic and consuming matchup with tremendous stories to tell, has some equally dull ones to go along with them. Pictures at a Revolution focuses on many things, but mainly on the journey of five films: Bonnie and Clyde, The Graduate, In the Heat of Tonight, Guess Who’s Coming to Dinner, and Doctor Dolittle. These five movies are described as highlighting a revolution and becoming the turning points in a year of film that saw New Hollywood begin to emerge, and the death of the decrepid studio system.
Harris is a skilled writer and it shows, however, the book lags. He chooses to juggle several balls in the air and command multiple narratives (I even feel that “multiple” is an understatement). Due to this enormous task, its pace takes some getting used to. Within a given chapter, the reader might be expect to follow the narratives of industry patrons ranging from Sidney Poitier, Warren Beatty, the writers of Bonnie and Clyde, Arthur Penn, Mike Nichols, Stanley Kramer, Jack Warner, Bosley Crowther, Jack Valenti, Norman Jewison, Faye Dunaway, Richard Zanuck, Rex Harrison, Dustin Hoffman, Katherine Hepburn, Spencer Tracy, Buck Henry, Arthur Jacobs, and Rod Steiger. As you can guess, it takes some remembering as Harris jumps from person to person five times per chapter without notice, and sometimes in the middle of an amusing story.
The strength in the book is the overall arc and message. The narratives follow disclosed themes in each of the thirty chapters (budget, problems with actors, casting), so the narratives, more times than not, relate to each other in theme. Also, the finale lures the reader to the 1968 Academy Awards, in which the message and theme of revolution are clear; Audrey Hepburn and Old Hollywood are seated on one side of the aisle, while Warren Beatty and the New Hollywood are seated opposite the aging titans. This book also, ranging from case to case of course, can inform one of modern struggles in modern film. So many films, directors, and producers attempt the balancing act of edgy and real; violence and sex. Harris brings the reader to a time of the extreme, when studios were still using a Catholic ratings system and enforced a strict studio code, while the French New Wave were using sex to revolt, and Bonnie and Clyde chose to apply the overuse of violence in their film to familiarize the audience with fantastical murder, but then to bring them crashing down to realistic death.
Overall, the book is quite the taking on. It can read as a woven together work of art, or a collection of poorly taped together essays. Regardless, the message is clear, and it relates to today. It encourages filmmakers to stretch the limits and push the boundaries for the sake of art. It details a revolution of art in the States that many overlook, but hopefully everyone someday acknowledges.
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Jan 28, 2010

matt rated it

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I thought this book was pretty great, striking a good balance between entertaining gossip and detailed and well-researched analysis. That is, it was fun to read and also really informative about the business and culture out of which five very different films were nominated for Best Picture in 1968. I also had a very new and different appreciation for the five films as I watched (or re-watched) them in conjunction with reading. One of the better film books I've read in some time.

If y...more

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Mark Harris is a former environmental columnist with the Los Angeles Times Syndicate and the author of the book on green burial, Grave Matters: A Journey Through the Modern Funeral Industry to a Natural Way of Burial (Scribner, 2007). The book follows a dozen families who conduct natural burials for their dead, including burials in backyard grave sites and "natural cemeteries," as well a...more

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