Fifty Key American Films

by John White (editor), Sabine Haenni (Editor)

Fifty Key American Films explores and contextualises some of the most important films ever made in the United States. With case studies from the early years of cinema to the present day, this comprehensive Key Guide provides accessible analyses from a range of theoretical perspectives. This chronologically ordered volume includes coverage Amongst a raft of well-known films, the work of some of America’s best known directors, such as Lynch, Scorsese, Coppola and Scott, is discussed. This book is essential reading for students of film, and will be of interest to anyone seeking to explore the impact of American cinema.

Genres: Nonfiction, Film

288 pages, Paperback

First published March 1, 2009

About the author

Librarian Note: There is more than one author in the Goodreads database with this name.

John White (1956- ) is teacher of Film, English and Media at Parkside Community College and Anglia Ruskin University in Cambridge.

Reviews

[Paul Bryant · Rating 2 out of 5]

Something you should be really grateful for but you probably don’t ever think about it

You should be really happy you are not doing a Film Studies course. Because if you were they might easily assign you this book and they would say go and watch Brokeback Mountain and read the final essay in this book, and so you would watch the excellent movie – that part is no problem - but then you would have to read this sort of thing :

Of course every film evolves and mutates, as historical artifact, as critical touchstone, as artistic achievement. Beyond, however, the sheer volume of ideological debates, generic turf wars, scholarly investments, pre- and post-production narratives, burgeoning and truncated star trajectories and liberal-political disquiets about “positive” representations that encircle Brokeback Mountain, beyond the film’s inevitable embroilment in speculations about the future of cinema (or particular storylines and niche markets), Brokeback Mountain ironizes and enriches all of these discussions because the film itself is so intensely structured by the trope of original, inscrutable meanings and moments that years of retrospection and discourse finally overwhelm.

[Josh · Rating 4 out of 5]

A useful entry point into the history of american cinema. Easy, readable chapters on films.