George Lucas [Paperback]

John Baxter (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: September 18, 2000

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.

Editorial Reviews

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 Pb (September 18, 2000)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0006530818
• ISBN-13: 978-0006530817
• Product Dimensions: 7.8 x 5 x 1.2 inches
• Shipping Weight: 12 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 3.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (3 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #766,156 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

4 of 4 people found the following review helpful:

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 review is from: George Lucas (Paperback)

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.

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

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

This review is from: George Lucas (Paperback)

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.

4.0 out of 5 stars A fairly good book - a bit wordy and over-critical; but worthwhile, September 21, 2011

By 

Will Jerom (Florida, USA) - See all my reviews

Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: George Lucas (Paperback)

Baxter's book is a worthy read, establishing some of the major episodes of Lucas life, without any glamorizing comments about it. There is quite a bit on the making of Lucas' films, not much about his person or his religious views (though some). Overall I think Baxter captures at least one acceptably critical view of Lucas' life, and is worth the read as a balance to the Dale Pollock biography. I would agree with the other reviewers that there is an unnecessary level of critical commentary here. I don't think it went to quite the extent the other reviewers (to date) have made out. Baxter's portrayal of Lucas life covers most of the same events as the Dale Pollock biography, and I really didn't think the book became too critical of Lucas until Chapter 16 (of 26 chapters), which he titled "Twerp Cinema" (Copolla's offhand remark). Why choose for this chapter title the offhand remarks of Coppola over the praise of any one of his fans? Thereafter the criticism does increase, but is not incessant, but does seem to belittle what major accomplishes Lucas has made. So critical yes, but the bias does not seem to skew or distort the major facts of journey of Lucas life, and has some interesting commentary about his personal and business relationships and competition with such figures as Coppola and Spielberg. If you are not expecting a hagiography, you should be satisfied enough with this book.