Smart, funny, and unforgettable, Pauline Kael is the most interesting and influential film critic in America. Her ability to skewer an actor or director and her wit, insight, and thorough knowledge of the film business make her by far the most rewarding regular observer of the movie scene.
5001 Nights at the Movies
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Book Description
--This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.
Editorial Reviews
Amazon.com Review
This series of capsule movie reviews by the great Pauline Kael is actually an anthology of her writings for the "Goings on About Town" section of the New Yorker magazine. In 5001 Nights, Kael digs into the heart of each movie she considers with extraordinary penetration and exuberance. And while every movie you know may not appear here, each of Kael's reviews is detailed enough to provide tremendous insight into the movies that are covered. This book is as much fun to browse as it is to read through. Whether you've run the rounds at your local video store, Kael will lead you to treasures you may not know are out there.
--This text refers to an alternate
Paperback
edition.
Review
"She is, indeed, the Edmund Wilson of film reviewers."---Larry McMurtry"She’s the best film critic we’ve got."---Details "A great critic…with a body of criticism that can be compared with Shaw’s criticism of music and the theatre."---The Times Literary Supplement (London)"Kael changed the way we see. Poets aren’t the only unacknowledged legislators of the world; great critics write the text as well."---San Francisco Examiner
--This text refers to an alternate
Paperback
edition.
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Customer Reviews
Most Helpful Customer Reviews
21 of 23 people found the following review helpful
By Michael Aita
Format:Paperback
This is a very good anthology of Pauline Kael's writings, but capsule reviews are very unsatisfying to those who are familiar with the strengths of her reviews as they were originally written. Kael is known for her flowing, "conversational" writing style; by chopping many of her reviews into two or three paragraphs, the main reasons for reading her in the first place tend to evaporate. In a typical Kael review, she literally layered opinions on top of opinions. It was not enough for her to simply review a movie--she had to express exactly how the directors and actors had grown (or diminished themselves). One looked forward to reading her because she had such a superb way of relating the film she was writing about to other films, whether by the same director or not, and she could intelligently speculate on how the film tied in to current events or may have been a product of them. She would talk expertly about how many films seemed to evolve out of other less superior ones and then expand due to a director's vision and desire to update a particular theme. Kael focused on what a movie is about--what it is really saying--and her dedication and playfulness was quite infectious (the many reviewers who used her style became known as Paulettes.) For a reference book, "5001 Nights At The Movies" is fun to look through; it is full of reviews but it is Kael-lite. She didn't call one of her best books "Deeper Into Movies" for nothing!
9 of 9 people found the following review helpful
By Eugene Koh
Format:Paperback
As someone who is just beginning to explore the classics, I love being able to see what Pauline Kael thought about many of the most important movies of our time. Since I often agree with her, it helps me save time and money in determining which movies I want to rent (and if not available to rent, buy). All movie titles are in alphabetical order, and there is an index in the back which contains film titles, directors, actors, etc.
However, the capsule reviews can occasionally be misleading. From the capsules, I thought Pauline liked (or at least didn't dislike) "8 1/2" by Fellini and "Hiroshima Mon Amour" by Resnais. But in her book "I Lost It At The Movies", the full reviews are a pretty harsh pan.
I also wish that she had a "Best Movies" list. Nevertheless, still a very useful (but thick) book.
11 of 12 people found the following review helpful
Format:Paperback
Gosh... Movie reviewers can certainly offend easily. I agree with Pauline Kael's assessments roughly 50% of the time, but I still love reading her. She is always intelligent (even when she is wrong wrong wrong) --- and what a great writer! She manages to be "mean" over and over again without exactly being mean-spirited. And why on earth is a movie reviewer not supposed to have political opinions? I never understand this peculiarly American criticism. Can you review "Triumph of the Will" or "Rambo" or "La Chinoise" without venturing into the realm of politics? Probably, but why would you want to? I don't think the type of person who makes this criticism is really looking for a dry, studied dissection of film technique, but perhaps I'm wrong. Anyway, she's no more "political" than any other worthwhile reviewer I can think of. This book is full of buried treasures --- quite a few films in it that I had never even heard of before. It's just a darned entertaining read, too. Every few pages, there is a laugh-out-loud funny turn of phrase. Usually a pretty mean turn of phrase but it's hard to have harsh feelings towards someone who writes, for example, in her review of "Funny Lady", "The moviemakers weren't just going to make a sequel to 'Funny Girl'---they were going to kill us." Or, in a review of "The Last Tycoon", "...so enervated, it's like a vampire movie after the vampires have left."
Most Recent Customer Reviews
5.0 out of 5 stars
Brevity as the Soul of Crit
For those who might think that Pauline Kael couldn't write anything of value without a 1,500 word running start, here, in its entirety, is her opinion of the 1936 Hollywood costume... Read more
Published 1 month ago by Roochak
4.0 out of 5 stars
5001 nights at the movie
Good condition and timely delivery. I was disappointed in the brevity of the reviews themselves. I wish she would have done less movies and more space on each.
Published on March 21, 2011 by Johnathan D. Istre
5.0 out of 5 stars
Fun, funny, informative
Always enjoy Ms. Kael's reviews, even when I heartily disagree with them. Her wit, obvious love for the craft and identification of both historical and directorial trends make for... Read more
Published on October 9, 2010 by Hourly Internet Recruitment
5.0 out of 5 stars
Movie Reference Gem
Pauline Kael's 5001 NIGHTS AT THE MOVIES is the best short note movie reference book. Kael has the ability both to describe and unload with a paragraph or two, which is the... Read more
Published on February 21, 2010 by olingerstories
5.0 out of 5 stars
The definitive critic's guide to films
This covers - as you may have guessed - 5001 movies, and her views are clear, intelligent and valuable. I find myself looking in this for reference and just curiosity. Read more
Published on August 8, 2008 by CJ
5.0 out of 5 stars
As much fun as a giant buttered popcorn!
Pauline Kael was at her tangy, erudite best in the long-form reviews she wrote for "The New Yorker." Nevertheless, these capsule reviews she culled from her longer articles to... Read more
Published on March 8, 2008 by Miles D. Moore
4.0 out of 5 stars
Kael Encapsulated
Pauline Kael did not specialize in capsule reviews, and in her NEW YORKER columns, any film that did not merit much more than one or two paragraphs was literally and figuratively... Read more
Published on December 30, 2007 by Gregor von Kallahann
1.0 out of 5 stars
A Disappointment...
This book should be entitled " 5001 Nights at the Movies ( and about a dozen that I actually enjoyed ). I've never seen so many negative film reviews. I am lifelong movie fan. Read more
Published on February 22, 2007 by James H. Overton
5.0 out of 5 stars
Lotta 3 paragraph reviews by an insightful reviewer.
The trick with reading any review of anything such as a play, a movie, a record or any art or exhibition is to know the reviewer. Read more
Published on February 10, 2007 by Chris bct
5.0 out of 5 stars
'Perils' of Pauline
There's no doubt that Pauline Kael turned film criticism into an art form--she loved movies, was grounded in the details of every film she reviewed, was a writer of great abilily... Read more
Published on July 15, 2006 by Tony Rome
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