George Lucas: A Biography (Paperback)

~ John Baxter (Author)

Editorial Reviews

Product Description

The first major biography (since 1983) of the great movie mogul George Lucas, whose marketing techniques have transformed the film business. His fourth Star Wars film, The Phantom Menace, released in 1999, was perhaps the most eagerly awaited cinematic event of all time. George Lucas is one of the most innovative bigtime players on the movie scene. His three Star Wars films and the trio featuring the action hero Indiana Jones (all six of which Lucas conceived, produced and co-wrote) comprise the most popular group of films ever made. To finance them, he masterminded a revolutionary redrawing of the financial agreements under which films were produced in Hollywood, snatching away control of funding, intellectual content and the distribution of profits from studios, and placing them in the hands of the film-makers themselves. Yet Lucas remains (like Stanley Kubrick, the subject of John Baxter's recent biography) an enigma and a recluse. He has specially built the Skywalker Ranch a long way from Hollywood -- a Victorian village community in a redwood forest where he and his friends can work in splendid isolation, free of studio pressure but with the highest technology.

About the Author

John Baxter is a film critic, novelist, biographer and broadcaster, whose books on the cinema include The Hollywood Exiles, The Cinema of John Ford, and highly praised biographies of Ken Russell, Fellini, Bunuel, Steven Spielberg, Kubrick and Woody Allen. Born in Australia, John Baxter now lives in Paris.

Product Details

• Paperback: 464 pages
• Publisher: HarperCollins Entertainment (September 18, 2000)
• ISBN-10: 0006530818
• ISBN-13: 978-0006530817
• Product Dimensions: 7.8 x 5 x 1.2 inches
• Shipping Weight: 12 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 2.5 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (2 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #1,171,478 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

2.0 out of 5 stars Author with a pre-conceived dislike of Lucas..., June 2, 2007

By	Jack Cade (New York, NY) - See all my reviews

It's one thing to chronicle a man's life clearly (and a biographer of any notable subject ought to have the professional courtesy to address the notions out there about his subject, then dispassionately analyze and either support or reject them) and another to set out to prove a set of pre-conceived notions. Baxter, much as he did with his Kubrick biography, already decided that Lucas was a cold-hearted [...] who took credit for everyone else's work and from a few cliche'd ideas, made a fortune.

Notwithstanding that this is precisely what a producer's job is, Baxter focuses on every negative aspect of Lucas, Coppola and Spielberg's lives. There is more than a sense of professional jealousy/envy at work here. It seems as if Baxter has decided that he is going to "out" the hack that is Lucas and prove that his wife, his producer and his special effects technicians should all be given credit over Lucas for Star Wars' conception.

As another review has cited here, the book is crisply written and entertaining, but one does weary of Baxter's negative view after awhile.

3.0 out of 5 stars A brutally honest look at Lucas's life, June 17, 2004

By	Lars Peder Kallar Devold (Trondheim, Norway) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

This book is the antithesis of the usual sycophantic, revering style biographies of living people is written in. Clocking in at 406 pages, it includes history and facts, but also much to my chagrin, frequent analysises of the subject's character, almost all of them devastatingly negative. The authors view on whether Lucas created the blockbuster mentality or not, should have been included in a book of its own. Baxter seems to have gone in writing with the presupposition that Lucas is a cold-hearted money-hound and written the book from there. No chapter fails to mention either his greed, antisocial traits or lack of emotion. I have no trouble with honest biographies, but this one seemed a little bit much.

For all its faults, though, it's an intriguing read, with lots of gossip, industry insider information and explanations of special effects. There are many pictures, most of them good, and they really flesh out the book.