Idol Worship [Paperback]

Michael Ferguson (Author)

Editorial Reviews

Review

Ferguson painstakingly plows through HollywoodÂ’s past and digs up the dirt on every male sex icon there ever was! --Instinct Magazine, February 2004

About the Author

Michael Ferguson is also the author of Little Joe, Superstar: The Films of Joe Dallesandro

Product Details

• Paperback: 357 pages
• Publisher: STARbooks Press; 2nd edition (June 1, 2005)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1891855484
• ISBN-13: 978-1891855481
• Product Dimensions: 10 x 7.1 x 0.9 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.7 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 4.4 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (8 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #541,853 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

29 of 30 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars A Labor of Love, April 25, 2004

By 

A. Hickman (Blagoevgrad, Bulgaria) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Idol Worship (Paperback)

Michael Ferguson's "Matinee Idol," subtitled "A Shameless Celebration of Male Beauty in the Movies," makes a fitting companion to Daniel and Jackson's "Bent Lens," not becuase it's about gay film, or even gays in film--it is not--but because it rewrties Hollywood history from the point of view of a gay (male) voyeur. The journey is fascinating. Along the way, Ferguson offers tantalizing insights into the fantasy side of movies, as well as into the public and private lives of the actors who make them. His choices run the gamut of hunks from Valentino to Tyrone Power, and Jan-Michael Vincent to Gael Garcia Bernal, with occasional forays into such related subjects as musclemen and porn stars. There are extra-long articles on some of Ferguson's favorites, including Matt Dillon, Keanu Reeves, and Brad Pitt, but he also takes the time to pay homage to the occasional wannabe, such as Jack Beutel and Rodney Harvey. The text has a tendency to go on too long, and Ferguson may at times appear overly obsessed with the pubic trail that leads from an actor's belly button into his speedo, but that's a minor quibble, and the kind of thing that will inevitably appeal to some readers. Worse is the writer's frequent misplacement of his modifiers (as here on Bernie Schwarz's metamorphosis into Tony Curtis: "Like virtually every other Jew in town, a name change was mandated and he became Jimmy Curtis") and his problems with parallelism (as in this iconoclastic comment regarding "Some Like It Hot": "The film has been deified as one of the greatest screen comedies ever despite not being very funny and my opinion thankfully won't diminish the love audiences and critics have for it." In addition, as in "Bent Lens," there is no index; there is, however, an appendix of sorts, which offers a credit each for a near-exhaustive list of actors, including many not treated in the main text. One criminal, and puzzling, omission, is George Nader, who was doubly interesting in that he was actually gay, in addition to being a pal of Rock Hudson's and a '50s beefcake favorite. But everyone is bound to have his/her quibbles on the point of omissions, a fact that argues, in true Hollywood fashion, for a sequel to the text. I, for one, would buy it.

14 of 16 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A book for everyone, June 16, 2004

By A Customer

This review is from: Idol Worship (Paperback)

While at first glance this book may seem like it is only for the gay market, I have to tell you this is not so. As a hetro male who is into movies this book was everything I could hope for. Bravo to the author for the research done for this book, had to be a labor of love. Love old movies? Not me, until I read this book. Now I want to see Valentino's films. What sets this book apart from others is the authors's comments, always on target and usually funny. The author's own personal relanship with the actors and movies also makes this a great read - and every one will have someone they would rather have seen in this book - such is the joy of any list

10 of 11 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Excellent, December 7, 2006

By 

Suspira (Pittsburgh, PA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Idol Worship (Paperback)

I really liked this book. As a film historian and writer and as one who has worked as a researcher for many authors, I will say that it is the only - and I mean this - the ONLY book that gives a balanced and accurate view of the highly exaggerated sex lives of some of our stars of the classic era. Ferguson seems to have gone back to the beginning of some of these stories and attempted to verify them rather than just adding on more fabrications as many books have. It's not a book for gay people necessarily, it's not a gossipy book nor written in a gossipy fashion.