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Product Description
Product Description
Kiss Me Deadly, Bonnie & Clyde, Get Carter, Little Caesar, Goodfellas - these films may be classics, but their origins are often far less familiar. This book provides a chance to compare the sources with the original films, looking at everything from pulp novels to real-life criminals, and placing the films in the context of the times in which they were made. From the Big Sleep to Point Blank, The Godfather to LA Confidential, Hardboiled Hollywood takes you behind the scenes at the scene of the crime.
About the Author
Max Decharne started out as the Gallon Drunk drummer before graduating to lead singer of the Flaming Stars. He is also an author and journalist for Mojo and Bizarre. He currently divides his drinking time between London and Berlin.
--This text refers to the
Hardcover
edition.
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3 of 3 people found the following review helpful
Entertaining and Thoroughly British
7 Feb 2005
Format:Hardcover
The book is lively and entertaining from beginning to end. As an examination of the ways in which filmmakers have transformed texts both classic and pulp into resonant crime movies, HARDBOILED HOLLYWOOD has a bite and a fervor to it that other books with blander approaches have missed. What a quirky selection of movies he calls the "Great Crime Films" It's a strange classification anyhow, for what links THE GODFATHER to PSYCHO--yes, both of them have killings in them, but other than that they're here because the author, Max Decharne, has a thing for them.
He doesn't bring that much new to the table in his chapters on those two films, but dig a little closer and you'll find some interesting commentary on films by Val Guest, Mike Hodges, and John Boorman. Yes, three British directors whose work in the noir field is often slighted. But for Decharne, HELL IS A CITY, GET CARTER and POINT BLANK rank right up there with THE BIG SLEEP and KISS ME, DEADLY, and as he explains it, his reasons are often cogent. And the gossip he gives is fascinating. I particularly enjoyed hearing about the career of Ted Lewis, the man who wrote the novel on which GET CARTER (the Michael Caine version, not the Sylvester Stallone version) was based.
Decharne always has a sly kind of wit which produces a chuckle every page or so--no bellylaughs, just one brief "ha" and then another.
He doesn't bring that much new to the table in his chapters on those two films, but dig a little closer and you'll find some interesting commentary on films by Val Guest, Mike Hodges, and John Boorman. Yes, three British directors whose work in the noir field is often slighted. But for Decharne, HELL IS A CITY, GET CARTER and POINT BLANK rank right up there with THE BIG SLEEP and KISS ME, DEADLY, and as he explains it, his reasons are often cogent. And the gossip he gives is fascinating. I particularly enjoyed hearing about the career of Ted Lewis, the man who wrote the novel on which GET CARTER (the Michael Caine version, not the Sylvester Stallone version) was based.
Decharne always has a sly kind of wit which produces a chuckle every page or so--no bellylaughs, just one brief "ha" and then another.
1 of 1 people found the following review helpful
Behind-the-scenes examination of the origins of these tales
10 Oct 2004
Format:Hardcover
Film fans with an affinity for crime films and a host of such viewing under their belts won't want to miss Max Decharne's studious Hardboiled Hollywood, a studied behind-the-scenes examination of the real-world origins of these tales. Real life crimes were often considered too brutal to turn into films, so Hollywood modified the stories for screen and sensitive audiences, creating fictional couples, classic good/evil confrontations, and embellishments which went beyond reality. Decharne's guide provides a change to compare actual sources with finished film results and is a 'must' for avid viewers.
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