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Classic American Films: Conversations with the Screenwriters Hardcover – 1 Nov. 2007
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Classic American Films explores the origin and development of many of the most influential and revered films in cinema history, and does so with the aid and insight of the people who actually wrote the screenplays. These lively, candid, in-depth interviews are filled with fascinating new material (details, anecdotes, judgments, and opinions) about the creative and collaborative processes that went into the making of these extraordinary films. In the past, Hollywood screenwriters―the original artists―have often been overlooked. This book is a special tribute to the invaluable contributions of these cinematic visionaries, many of whom are considered among the greatest screenwriters in American film history. As Orson Welles once said, In my opinion, the writer should have the first and last word in filmmaking. This book allows them to have that exciting opportunity.
Some of the highlights from these interviews include: Betty Comden and Adolph Green's explaining how a nightclub skit became the premise for Singin' in the Rain; Ernest Lehman's description of how, while in conversation with Hitchcock, his unconscious suddenly solved the plot problems in North by Northwest; Carl Gottlieb's remembrance of the terrible pressure involved with writing the script for Jaws while shooting was already underway; and Sylvester Stallone's account of how he received final approval to star in Rocky from studio executives who thought he was just another actor.
- Reading age7 - 17 years
- Print length296 pages
- LanguageEnglish
- Dimensions15.6 x 1.75 x 23.39 cm
- PublisherPraeger Publishers Inc
- Publication date1 Nov. 2007
- ISBN-100313348987
- ISBN-13978-0274978755
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About the Author
WILLIAM BAER has taught film and screenwriting at the University of Evansville for the past fifteen years. He is currently the film critic at Crisis, and for years his work has appeared regularly in Creative Screenwriting. A recent Guggenheim recipient (2007), he has also received a Fulbright (Portugal) and an N.E.A. Creative Writing Grant in fiction. His twelve books include Elia Kazan: Interviews.
Product details
- Publisher : Praeger Publishers Inc (1 Nov. 2007)
- Language : English
- Hardcover : 296 pages
- ISBN-10 : 0313348987
- ISBN-13 : 978-0274978755
- Reading age : 7 - 17 years
- Dimensions : 15.6 x 1.75 x 23.39 cm
About the author

William Baer, a recent Guggenheim fellow, is the award-winning author of thirty-five books, including fifteen novels, most recently: Equinox, Advocatus Diaboli, The Gravedigger, Mary Pickford Mystery, Murder in Nashville, and New Jersey Noir: Barnegat Light. His other books include Times Square and Other Stories, One-and-Twenty Tales, Classic American Films, Writing Metrical Poetry, Psalter, Formal Salutations: New & Selected Poems, and The Unfortunates (recipient of the T.S. Eliot Award).
A graduate of Rutgers and New York University, he completed his dissertation in creative writing at the University of South Carolina under the direction of James Dickey. After attending the Johns Hopkins’ Writing Seminars, he served as a Fulbright at the University of Coimbra in Portugal and then attended the University of Southern California’s Graduate School of Cinema, where he received the Jack Nicholson Screenwriting Award. He’s also been the recipient of a Creative Writing Grant in fiction from the National Endowment for the Arts, and he lives happily in a log cabin in northern New Jersey, loving pizza, sports, books, and chocolate.
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