History of the American Cinema: A New Pot of Gold: Hollywood Under the Electric Rainbow, 1980-1989 [Hardcover]

Stephen Prince (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: November 12, 1999 | Series: History of the American Cinema (Book 10)

Facing an economic crisis in the 1980s, the Hollywood industry moved boldly to control the ancillary markets of videotape, video disk, pay-cable and pay-per-view, and the major studios found themselves targeted for acquisition by global media and communications companies. This volume examines the decade's transformation that took Hollywood from the production of theatrical film to media software.
Some of the films discussed in this volume include:
Platoon
Do the Right Thing
Blue Velvet
Diner
E.T.
Batman
Body Heat

--This text refers to the Paperback edition.

Editorial Reviews

Review

"Prince . . . argues that 1980s Hollywood was not monolithic but diverse. " -- Choice

"Prince's book pushes us to reconceptualize the interactions of economics and ideology." -- Dana Polan, Film Quarterly --This text refers to the Paperback edition.

From the Inside Flap

"Stephen Prince's A New Pot of Gold is good at sustaining a coherent historical narrative and critical commentary on the 1980s--a period when video and film grew closer together, and when Hollywood came under the control of global capitalism."--James O. Naremore, author of Acting in the Cinema --This text refers to the Paperback edition.

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Hardcover: 592 pages
• Publisher: Charles Scribners & Sons; 1 edition (November 12, 1999)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 068480493X
• ISBN-13: 978-0684804934
• Product Dimensions: 10.3 x 7.4 x 1.5 inches
• Shipping Weight: 2.6 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (3 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #2,749,824 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars All 10 volumes now published, September 23, 2003

By A Customer

This review is from: History of the American Cinema: A New Pot of Gold: Hollywood Under the Electric Rainbow, 1980-1989 (Hardcover)

All 10 volumes of this magnificent Series, founded and edited by Charles Harpole, are now (Oct. 2003) published by Scribner/Thomson/Gale and the University of California Press. The latter does the paperback versions at vastly lower prices. Movie scholars and buffs should own the whole series in hardback and will the books to their children, because this is very likely the only multi-volume series on American movies ever to be done... given publishing business these days. And, no library of any size should be without the whole Series.

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Recommended for movie buffs and film historians., March 4, 2000

By 

Midwest Book Review (Oregon, WI USA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: History of the American Cinema: A New Pot of Gold: Hollywood Under the Electric Rainbow, 1980-1989 (Hardcover)

Stephen Prince's A New Pot Of Gold details the crisis of the 1980s in American film when Hollywood faced challenges from rising costs and stagnant ticket sales. Both are excellent histories of different eras in American filmmaking.

3 of 4 people found the following review helpful:

2.0 out of 5 stars Disappointing entry in an excellent series, October 23, 2000

By 

Mark Klobas (Tempe, AZ, USA) - See all my reviews
(VINE VOICE)   

This review is from: History of the American Cinema: A New Pot of Gold: Hollywood Under the Electric Rainbow, 1980-1989 (Hardcover)

This was one of the volumes in the History of the American Cinema series that I was most looking forward to, and while a good book it fails to measure up to the best in the series. Prince never seems to be able to offer the insight of Cook (in vol. 9) or the mastery of Koszarski (in vol. 3). I had hoped for more about an era that looms as large in the public imagination as that decade does, yet Prince is unable to meet the challenge.