Amazon.co.uk: The Best Film Books

The Best Film Books
A Listmania! list by BS on parade

1. Easy Riders, Raging Bulls: 21 Great Bloomsbury Reads for the 21st Century (21st Birthday Celebratory Edn) by Peter Biskind

The list author says:
	"Epic book about what Hollywood got up to in the 70's. Drugs, sex and movies. Great indepth chapters on the making of Star Wars, Exorcist & Apocalypse Now etc. Essential reading."

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2. High Concept: Don Simpson and the Hollywood Culture of Excess by Charles Fleming

The list author says:
	"Funny pornographic decent into hooker & drug hell. Also fascinating details on how mega budget action films get produced. Very entertaining book. Hollywood is weird."

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3. Money into Light: The Emerald Forest Diary by John Boorman

The list author says:
	"Documents the hell & misery of directing. Eye opener if you imagined it was a reasonable sane job. Shame book ends before the film was released. Emarld Forest is a dreadful movie by the way"

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4. Stanley Kubrick: A Biography by John Baxter

The list author says:
	"In depth look at how his movies were made. Each film gets a long exhaustive chapter that tells you everything you need to know. Well written as well."

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5. Bach Steven : Final Cut (Onyx) by Steven Bach

The list author says:
	"Books by accountants are dull no matter how close they got to the creative process. This is the only one I've been entertained by. Tells how Heaven's Gate got way out of hand."

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6. Steven Spielberg: A Biography by Joseph McBride

The list author says:
	"In depth look at how his movies were made. Much more detailed biography then John Baxter's book."

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7. Blockbuster: How the Jaws and Jedi Generation Turned Hollywood into a Boom-town by Tom Shone

The list author says:
	"Great book length magazine article about how & why mega budget films are made & released. Intelligently written but unpretentiously good humoured about dumb movies."

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8. William Friedkin: Films of Aberration, Obsession and Reality by Thomas D. Clagett

The list author says:
	"Abusive, mad director. Had 2 massive hits in a row then lost it with an endless series of dreadful movies. Hasn't made a competent film since The Exorcist in 1973. Explains Cruising in detail."

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9. Cronenberg on Cronenberg (new edition) (Directors on Directors) by Chris Rodley

The list author says:
	"Robert Altman, Tim Burton & David Lynch books too short & vague to satisfy. Terry Gilliam, Howard Hawkes & Martin Scorsese books are okay. David Cronenberg book is the best I've read in this series."

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10. Rebels on the Backlot: 6 Maverick Directors and How They Conquered the Hollywood Studio System (P.S.) by Sharon Waxman

The list author says:
	"Easy Riders, Raging Bulls for the 90's. Pivots around what an amazing year 1999 was for intelligent, quality mainstream films. Definitely worth reading. Tarantino thankfully doesn't dominate too much."

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11. Clint: The Life and Legend by Patrick McGilligan

The list author says:
	"Negative biography. Goes into lots of details about how bad a director he is. Lots of stuff on his lazy techniques & super quick shooting schedules. More informative than you'd expect."

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12. Devil's Candy by Julie Salamon

The list author says:
	"Great indepth look at how Bonfire was made. Amazing how much money, time & effort goes into shooting forgettable establishing shots (something like 6 mths & $40,000 for 2 secs of a plane landing!)."

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13. Hitchcock: A Definitive Study of Alfred Hitchcock by Francois Truffaut

The list author says:
	"Loads of stuff about Hitch's techniques & tricks. Shows how he breaks scenes down & manipulates time for his own ends. Talks informatively about his famous shots & sequences."

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14. Smoking in Bed: Conversations with Bruce Robinson by Alistair Owen

The list author says:
	"Funny anecdotal book length interview. Fascinating chapters on Khmer Rogue atrocities & WW2 atomic secrets. His one butchered Hollywood movie is discussed very candidly."

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15. Rebel without a Crew by Robert Rodriguez

The list author says:
	"Interesting account of how, with no contacts, he made a $7,000 film & how he sold it to Columbia who paid $100,000 to re-edit it to make it watchable."

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16. Adventures In The Screen Trade by William Goldman

The list author says:
	"Informative going over of his career writing mainstream movies. Which Lie Did I Tell is also good if you can stomach him mentioning Butch Cassidy on every 2nd page."

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17. The Kid Stays in the Picture: A Hollywood Life by Robert Evans

The list author says:
	"Non essential but funny autobiography of the ultimate Hollywood weirdo producer. Includes a murder & lots of drugs. Films covered include Godfather, Chinatown & Cotton Club."

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18. An Evening with Kevin Smith [DVD] [2004] [NTSC] DVD ~ Kevin Smith

The list author says:
	"Worth it for the extended anecdotes about writing a Superman script for a weird Hollywood producer and the details of filming a documentary for pop star Prince."

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19. Sergio Leone: Something to Do with Death by Christopher Frayling

The list author says:
	"Only made 7 films. 5 are classics.Dynamite is an interesting dud.Everything you�ll ever want to know is in here.Very detailed long chapters on each film.Goes from super cheap to super expensive films."

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20. David Lean: A Biography by Kevin Brownlow

The list author says:
	"Most of book is boring (he made very stodgy boring movies for a long time).The very large chunk on the epics is good.I don�t recommend unless you love L of Arabia & want to know about Ryan�s Daughter."

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21. The Greatest Sci-fi Movies Never Made by David Hughes

The list author says:
	"Interesting stuff about movies lost in development hell. Best chapter is on how Supernova got mangled by the studio. Also covers Dune before David Lynch & alternative versions of the Alien series."

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22. The Unkindest Cut: How a Hatchet Man Critic Made His Own 7, 000 Dollar Movie and Put it All on His Credit Card by Joe Queenan

The list author says:
	"Amusing book about a critic trying to make his own $7,000 film. Ends up costing $65,193.67. Proves that super cheap releasable movies do not exist. His other books about films are amusing as well."

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23. Scenes from a Revolution: The Birth of the New Hollywood by Mark Harris

The list author says:
	"Interesting look at the making of five movies. Covers a few mediocre movies and directors that good film books would normally ignore. "In Heat of the Night" is fascinating with its race politics."

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24. Open Wide: How Hollywood Box Office Became a National Obsession by Dade Hayes

The list author says:
	"Follows Terminator 3, Legally Blonde 2 & Sinbad as they're readied for release (market research, advertising & tracking of opening grosses). Sounds like a dry subject but I found it to be interesting."

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25. Down and Dirty Pictures by Peter Biskind

The list author says:
	"Good book about 90s independent film making. Concentrates on the film company Miramax (funny & horrifying) & the Sundance Film Festival (boring). As much about the business as it is about the films."