Customer Reviews

Dreams and Dead Ends: The American Gangster Film

5 star:		(3)
4 star:		(0)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(2)

 

 

An incredibly intelligent book. Jack Shadoian knows his field with astonishing depth and bredth. Using his characteristically witty and well-turned style, Shadoian illuminates the historical and social milieu from which these famous films sprouted. I recommend Dreams and Dead Ends as de rigeur for any film scholar.

This is the essential gangster movie, film noir text.
Scholars and enthusiasts of the film world have been waiting for
this reissue for ages, and finally, it's here.
Shadoian's comprehensive knowledge of film
history and his academic acumen are elegantly
showcased by his witty, well-turned writing,
making this text indispensable in the classroom,
in the personal library and on the coffee table. A
must for anyone with a even passing interest in
the femme fatale, the disenchanted ..., the
moody canted shadows and rain-slicked streets
steeped in shadows and blood. Keep this book handy by
the TV/VCR/DVD player.

The author hits the mark on bridging the gap between Gangster-noir-neo-noir films. He knows the genre extremely well. Very informative,enjoyable, and educational. He has an excellent sense of perspective and conveys this in his chapters. My only fault that I would mention is that he has such an expansive knowledge of the english language that I frequently found myself looking up words from my dictionary. Now really, is that his fault or mine? Overall 5 stars!!!

ordered the product early january, received it more than a week after the deadline of feb 2, product was fine, it just took way too long to arrive.

This book is unfortunately filled with pretentiousness and original research. Its like listening to the pothead on your friend's couch over-interpret the hell out of every movie he's ever seen. Filled with countless reifications (treating an abstraction as though it exists or assigning human qualities to inanimate objects) and endless pontificating about every minute detail in a movie, this book was an unbelievable waste of money.

These are all pseudo-intellectual, academic wannabe articles that are completely full of s*** and have no value. You can flip through and read any one sentence and come to the same conclusion. Completely useless, except to other 'academics' who like to BS in order to pretend that they have some use to the world.