Customer Reviews

After Midnight: The Life and Death of Brad Davis

5 star:		(11)
4 star:		(2)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(2)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

This book is neither interesting nor educational(regarding Hollyowood, I mean). However, it makes [unintentionally] one excellent point about actors: Brad Davis' life and career show that not only women are treated as "piece of meat" in Hollywood; it also applies to men, who happen to be handsome, sexy, etc. Looks can help actors' career and they can also destroy it, if actors are not allowed "out of their stereotypes" or if they become too impressed with themselves. Maybe Davis was not handsome per se, but there was an undeniable and irresistible sensuality/mystery about him. You can almost feel it, watching his films and looking at the photos. Davis' wife stayed with him, despite of all the hell he put her through, because she had always been desperately in love with him. And now she is still angry. She testifies in the book that Davis was self-destructive, unstable, and careless person, who was a hustler in his young days and later spent many nights on the town, "cruising and boozing". Yet, she is still afraid to admit who he really was. Why write this book, then? This book is very depressing and certainly is very uninspiring to AIDS-affected people, their families, gay people, and even young actors, who are starting in the business. I feel for Susan Bluestein as a woman, who chose a difficult life and a difficult love, but she does not seem to be a person, who knew Davis best. May be there is somebody else, or may be noone could ever really know him...In any case, Davis's made an important contribution to the world of cinema.

I was extremely disappointed with "After Midnight". The author, his widow, has written the book from her own life's perspective, and there is sadly little about the true Brad Davis. His homosexuality, or perhaps bisexuality, is mentioned only in passing, and anyone in New York or Hollywood that knew him will tell you that this was a huge part of his life. I guess a book written by his wife can't be expected to delve too deeply into this area, but even other interesting details - his drug addiction, his acting technique, etc. are only minimally suggested here. I wanted to put the book down after two chapters, but kept waiting for it to get interesting. I suggest the publishers retitle the book "My Life with Brad Davis - The Saga Of A Wife Kept In The Dark", or something similar, to indicate to readers that this book is about Susan Bluestein, and tells very little about Brad.

This is a book that is interesting and compelling, even heartbreaking at times, and since the only people who would be buying this book are more than likely fans of Brad Davis or of Midnight Express, it's worth reading.

But the key words of that last sentence are "at times." Those who previously used the word "annoying" to describe this book are right. To get to the moving moments, one must bear with Susan Bluestein Davis, who is so self-absorbed and, well, annoying, that it's hard to get through the book. For example, the first three chapters are filled with her listing every famous person she or Brad has ever met or whom Brad has been compared to. It's frustrating. I expected to be reading about Brad Davis, but the book is more to be about Brad Davis in relation to her. What seems to have kept their relationship alive is the deep denial Bluestein was/is living with, which kept her so dedicated to him, while in return he gave her "the best sex [she] ever had in her life." And that's it. Davis treated Bluestein so badly-he treated everyone very badly, but especially her. Then again, she found ways to justify his behavior. She stood by him through everything, but only by avoiding as much of the truth as possible. It's hard to criticize someone who has been through so much.

I would have rather read a biography of Davis written by someone else. His widow may be the best source, and she did promise him to write the book, but her narrative takes away from what could have been a much more powerful book.

I originally bought the book because "Midnight Express" was one of my favorite movies and was the vehicle that prompted me to stop using marijuana when I was 17 years old. Brad Davis' performance in that film left me frozen in my seat and changed my life from one of "partying and getting high" to focusing on a career and educating myself.

I was deeply disappointed that Susan failed to see that her husband did at times in his life have sexual relations with men. She admits it by saying he was a hustler and hustled men in New York City before he was a big star. Yet several times in the book she says "Brad was not Gay" or "I know that Brad was never Gay". He may not have been gay, but he certainly was bisexual. He had to have some desire or homosexual tendancies to have had sex with men. He had more gay friendships then most gay men I know.

The underlining message of Susan's book is that she wants the stigma of AIDS to be accepted (we all do) and not have victims chastized for acquiring the virus. Well many of us want our gay lifes to be accepted as well. Just as Brad did not chose to be an AIDS victim...we did not chose our sexuality. When people start to accept people for whatever they are...be it color, religion, sexuality or misfortune of being ill with AIDS or Cancer...and we are able to accept diversity in society the world will be better place.

I hope that Susan and Alexandra (Brad's daughter) continue to live well in the wake of the hell they endured through life with Brad Davis. However, they cannot and should not forget his wonderful contributions to entertainment with his roles in "Midnight Express", "RFK" and "Roots". All of these performances of Brad's are memorable ones for me. But Midnight Express was the one that changed my life forever and I owe that to Brad Davis and Billy Hayes, the character on which the story was based.

This is a difficult book to read, not because of how it is written but because of how painful it is. To those that argue that this is not a biography, the author states at the beginning that it is not a biography but a memoir through her eyes of her husband Brad Davis covering the years that they were together. A true biography of Brad Davis has yet to be written. That said, I was glad that I read it. One criticism that I have is that I did not get a good sense of what Brad Davis was like before he was clean and knew that he was positive. It was only then that he came alive as a person for me. I realize that before he got off alcohol and drugs that his life & the life of his family was in constant turmoil, but I really would have liked to have had a clearer picture of Brad and not the state of his addiction. I would have loved to have had a better sense of all the wonderful and unique things about him that made her fall in love with him. I am in awe that no matter how unfaithful he was to her, he was nothing but loyal and absolutely committed to her. People confuse faithfulness and loyalty, but here is a prime example of how they are not the same thing. I am sorry that Midnight Express became an albatross around Brad Davis's neck because it was the most powerful performance. To see him in that is to remember him forever. Finally, I must say that I appreciated all the info regarding all the Hollywood & New York performers, agents, etc. of the time. Maybe others know all about who was doing what then, but I sure don't. It helped place things for me. I am about to start reading a biography of someone supposedly very important in the theatre world that I have never heard of & I certainly hope that the writer gives enough information that I have some perspective. Otherwise, it will be like reading a novel written in a biography form.

The movie, Midnight Express is my all time favorite movie. Brad Davis' performance was electrifying! The book was well written by his wife. I work in the mental health field and witness similar tragedies as Mr. Davis' every day. From drug and alcohol abuse to sexual abuse and self mutilation. How heart breaking a life this man had. He had to sleep with his mother till the age of 16. No human being can ever come out of such an experience and not be traumatized. He was turning his life when he was diagnosed with HIV. I often think of what he could have done with his career had he bbeen aloud to live longer? Hopefully he is in a better place now then when he was alive!

This week I picked up 'After Midnight' at the library, and read it in less than 24 hours. It was riveting, poignant, honest (from Susan's standpoint), sad, horrific, very darky comical, and ultimately redeeming. Irony of ironies, I finished it yesterday, September 8th, the 13th anniversary of Brad's death. I wasn't even aware of what day it was. As for what Susan wrote, she wrote it from her point of view, and she knew things about Brad and had experiences with him that others didn't know about. Just as others knew things about him and had experiences with him that she didn't know about and still doesn't. So, it isn't fair to judge her and say 'Oh, she was just in denial'; maybe she was/is, but that isn't the point. She was trying to write the history about a relationship of a man and a woman over a roughly 20 year time span. Hopefully, one of these days, more people will come forward, and we will be told their true stories about Brad as well, in order to better understand him.

Brad Davis was one of the most underrated actors in Hollywood. Best known for his Golden Globe-winning performance in 1978's "Midnight Express", Brad also had roles as Sally Field's love-interest in the 1976 TV film "Sybil" as well as a small part in "Roots".

In "After Midnight" readers are taken into the private and public life of Brad's by his wife with whom he married in 1976. Having a daughter together, Susan writes about Brad's early struggles in trying to get his career off the ground on Broadway in New York City, which eventually led him to Hollywood and his conquests in garnering roles in films and TV. Susan discusses Brad's addiction to alcohol and drugs and his promiscuous lifestyle as a hustler in the late sixties and early seventies, a lifestyle that would later cost him his life.

The most touching part of the book are the pages where Susan writes about her eventual discovery that her husband tested positive for HIV in 1985. She details not only what Brad with through during his final six years of life, but what she and her child endured.

"After Midnight" is an extraordinary memoir in dealing with a beloved person's struggle with HIV as well as how that disease effects those around the infected person. Inroads have definitely been made in the fight against AIDS/HIV in the last 25 years, so the reader must realize that we're dealing with a case of HIV here in this book in the early days of AIDS. What is also amazing is how Susan stood by her husband until the time of his death in 1991 which is a testament to the love of her husband.

Brad Davis packed a lot of life into his short time on earth. A talented actor, his early abuse led to abuse of drugs and self destruction. It seemed he was loved by many friends and fiercely loved by his wife and he finally quit the hard life but it was too late. This book was well written.

Sheds light to Brad Davis who suffered through abuse by his parents at very young age. Unfortunately, the abuse was what set the stage that made him at times, an insufferable family man who was struck with the disease known as AIDS.

Seriously, Brad Davis had a mystique which is conveyed through his work but apparently he knew all this, and rarely remained humble; in fact, he took advantage of it whenever he could. You had to feel for the wife, but her incessant devotion to Brad, despite her knowing of Brad proclivities made me feel that at least in part; she deserved to be treated as the doormat that she had become to define.

There was so many countless "if only" scenarios in this book that it left for me a deep impression. A sincere, straight-forward book, I give it five stars.