Kubrick [Paperback]

Michael Herr (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: July 10, 2001

Kubrick is Michael Herr's memoir of his nearly twenty-year friendship and collaboration with Stanley Kubrick, one of the greatest filmmakers of all time and the creator of such classics as Dr. Strangelove, 2001: A Space Odyssey, and A Clockwork Orange. From their first meeting at an advance screening of The Shining in 1980, Kubrick and Herr began an intense intellectual exchange that grew into the artistic collaboration that ultimately produced the groundbreaking Vietnam film Full Metal Jacket. Filled with personal insights and previously untold anecdotes, Kubrick is a probing view into the inner life of a man whose creative passion and powerful intellect changed the art of filmmaking forever--and of the complicated, often misunderstood man behind the art.

Editorial Reviews

From Library Journal

This slim volume comprises one man's impressions of one of our most provocative filmmakers. Stanley Kubrick's death in 1999 and the posthumous release of his last film, Eyes Wide Shut, prompted much revisionist exploration of his workDbut none is to be found here. Herr (Dispatches), who collaborated with Kubrick on the screenplay of Full Metal Jacket, doesn't deign to simplify complexities or dispel misconceptions. Nor does he offer particularly compelling insights. No pretense is made toward biography. In fact, much of what Herr presents is candid speculation. Kubrick is depicted as a man of dichotomies: an intellectual who was also a fan of popular culture, an American expatriate in England who never fully abandoned his Hollywood roots, and an artist whose vision married both beauty and violence. More than merely an account of a friendship, this is an elegy to and a meditation upon the Kubrick legend. All but the largest film collections may be hard pressed to justify expenditure on this modest book.
-DJayne Plymale, Univ. of Georgia, Athens
Copyright 2000 Reed Business Information, Inc. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

Review

"'They say [Kubrick] had no personal life, but that's ridiculous. It would be more correct to say that he had no professional life, since everything he did was personally done' Michael Herr; 'Kubrick is a captivating little book rather like an Arthur Miller play: it plays out on a small scale but invokes the epic themes of friendship, art, sex and war it is intimate, honest and affectionate' Guardian" --This text refers to an alternate Paperback edition.

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Product Details

• Paperback: 112 pages
• Publisher: Grove Press (July 10, 2001)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0802138187
• ISBN-13: 978-0802138187
• Product Dimensions: 7.5 x 5.4 x 0.5 inches
• Shipping Weight: 5.6 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 3.8 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (18 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,143,095 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

7 of 7 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars Well-written defense of a friend, February 8, 2001

By A Customer

This review is from: Kubrick (Hardcover)

Originally meant as a "Vanity Fair" profile to herald the release of "Eyes Wide Shut", the material in Michael Herr's "Kubrick" was eventually published by the magazine as a eulogy. Regardless, Herr's intentions were honorable -- to introduce a Kubrick who was warm, witty and tireless in his quest for good conversation.

This somewhat restores the balance for fans who thought that Frederic Raphael's "Eyes Wide Open" unjustly underscored criticism of the director as a paranoid misanthrope. The Kubrick in Herr's book is eccentric, but never morose. In fact, whether he's talking current events, "The Godfather" or Homer, the director often comes off as an engaging smart ... who just wants to know everything.

Herr also offers some snapshots of Kubrick's artistic process -- such as the tight-ship handling of the "Full Metal Jacket" set and the initial preparations of the "Eyes Wide Shut" promotional campaign. But, ultimately, "Kubrick" is Herr's defense of his friend and little more. A touching, and literate, gesture, but not essential for those more interested in Kubrick's body of work than in his personal demeanor.

9 of 10 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A New Defence of "Eyes Wide Shut", July 10, 2000

By 

R. W. Rasband (Heber City, UT) - See all my reviews
(VINE VOICE)    (REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Kubrick (Hardcover)

This is not just a reprint of Herr's "Vanity Fair" piece about Kubrick (although there's nothing wrong with republishing articles in book form--remeber Tom Wolfe's "Radical Chic"?) The final section of this small book is a brand new hell-raising defence of "Eyes Wide Shut" as a modern masterpiece: Herr also assails those critics who he believes did dirt to the memory of Kubrick.. Herr is a very seductive, stylish writer, and this memoir of the late, great director is loving, but clear-eyed and a good antidote to Fredric Raphael's vitriolic "Eyes Wide Open."

8 of 9 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars Reprint of two Vanity Fair articles, May 17, 2000

By A Customer

This review is from: Kubrick (Hardcover)

If you read the tremendous Vanity Fair articles written by Michael Herr on Kubrick, there is no real need to order this book. The book is merely the two articles in a bound volume.