"In addition to being among the most celebrated of contemporary filmmakers, Quentin Tarantino is possibly the most joyously infectious movie lover alive. For years he has touted in interviews his eventual turn to writing books about films. Now, with Cinema Speculation, the time has come, and the results are everything his passionate fans--and all movie lovers--could have hoped for. Organized around key American films from the 1970s, all of which he...

"The early history of the formation of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences and its most famous award-the Oscar-as told by its former executive director who reveals many previously unknown stories"--

Examines the issues of this period, including competition with other leisure activities, transformation of the theater, changes in production, and the arrival of conglomerates.

Hollywood historian and film reviewer Leonard Maltin invites readers to pull up a chair and listen as he tells stories, many of them hilarious, of 50+ years interacting with legendary movie stars, writers, directors, producers, and cartoonists. Maltin grew up in the first decade of television, immersing himself in TV programs and accessing 1930s and '40s movies hitting the small screen. His fan letters to admired performers led to unexpected correspondences,...

Explores the challenges American cinema faced in the 1950's from the divorce of production companies from theater chains forced by an anti- trust decision, to the growth of television.

Covers the period of 1939-1949, when the film industry came to grips with the development of the documentary, a shift to independent production, renewed government antitrust activity, and the emergence of television as a competitor.

A lively and colorful biography of Hollywood's first superagent-one of the most outrageous showbiz characters of the 1960s and 1970s whose clients included Barbra Streisand, Ryan O'Neal, Faye Dunaway, Michael Caine, and Candice Bergen Before Sue Mengers hit the scene in the mid-1960s, talent agents remained quietly in the background. But staying in the background was not possible for Mengers. Irrepressible and loaded with chutzpah, she became a driving...

Through an authoritative narrative and lavish photography, this is an in-depth history of the stars, films, achievements, and influence of the Hispanic and Latino community in Hollywood history from the silent era to the present day. Overcoming obstacles of prejudice, ignorance, and stereotyping, this group has given the world some of its most beloved stars and told some of its most indelible stories. Viva Hollywood examines the stars in front of...

"For a brief period of about five years in the early 1940s, Preston Sturges sat on the top of Hollywood. At the time, he was one of the few people, along with Orson Welles and Frank Capra, who both wrote and directed his films. Sturges's films including The Great McGinty (1940), Sullivan's Travels (1941), The Palm Beach Story (1942), The Miracle of Morgan Creek (1942), and Hail the Conquering Hero (1944) have become classics of American comedy and...