The Men Who Made the Movies [Paperback]

Richard Schickel (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: February 20, 2001

One of our most thoughtful film critics here takes on eight of Hollywood’s finest directors in conversation, reminiscing about their working lives which spanned the most intriguing decades of American filmmaking. The directors are Alfred Hitchcock, Frank Capra, Vincente Minnelli, George Cukor, Howard Hawks, William A. Wellman, King Vidor, and Raoul Walsh. Speaking with them, Mr. Schickel found in these men a special quality: “They felt in their bones the character and quality of a vanished America.” There was something valuable to be learned from them, not merely about the cinema but about the conduct of life. Each of these directors created a canon of work that even today sustains critical analysis without sacrificing popular appeal. Each maintained his artistic integrity while working in an atmosphere generally credited with ruining rather than nurturing talent. Their attitudes, Mr. Schickel writes in his introduction, were "composed of a toughness that was never harsh, a pride in achievement that was never boastful, a self-reliance and an acceptance of the difficulties under which they had labored which contained neither self-pity nor a desire to blame others for the things that had gone wrong." Rich in behind-the-scenes stories about such modern classics as It Happened One Night, Dawn Patrol, The Champ, Born Yesterday, Father of the Bride, and Shadow of a Doubt, as well as in anecdotes about the men and women of Hollywood, this book is an enduring tribute to the men who made the movies. With 33 black-and-white photographs. “Immensely readable and richly informative...it provides a real education in just how movies are made.... One of the best introductions to the cinema that one could ask for.”—Library Journal.

Editorial Reviews

From Library Journal

First published in 1975, this is a who's who of great film directors. The book offers interviews with Alfred Hitchcock, Frank Capra, Vincente Minnelli, George Cukor, Howard Hawks, William Wellman, King Vidor, and Raoul Walsh, all of whom were among the Hollywood elite who just about invented what we know as "the movies." Each interview covers numerous subjects and is accompanied by photos. Essential for film collections.
Copyright 2001 Reed Business Information, Inc.

Review

Immensely readable and richly informative...it provides a real education in just how movies are made...one of the best introductions to cinema that one could ask for. (Library Journal )

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Product Details

• Paperback: 320 pages
• Publisher: Ivan R Dee (February 20, 2001)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1566633745
• ISBN-13: 978-1566633741
• Product Dimensions: 9.1 x 6 x 0.8 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 5.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (2 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,478,072 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Most Helpful Customer Reviews

7 of 8 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Revealing Interaction with Eight "Masters", April 29, 2002

By 

Robert Morris (Dallas, Texas) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: The Men Who Made the Movies (Paperback)

For more than 20 years, I relied on Schickel for guidance when determining which films to see; also, for gaining a better understanding of the films I had seen. In this volume, he provides interviews with eight great directors: Hitchcock, Capra, Minimill, Cukor, Hawks, Wellman, Vidor, and Walsh. In recent weeks, I have also read Robert J. Emery's two The Directors (Take One and Take Two) and Bogdanovich's Who the Devil Made It which also offer interviews and conversations with various great directors. Don't worry about duplications; that is, what Cukor, Hawks, Hitchcock, Walsh, and Wellman have to say. Bogdanovich, Emery, and Schickel have different questions to ask, different nuances of film making to explore, and approach the directors from quite different perspectives. The responses they obtain from the same directors differ. For that reason, I strongly urge fellow film buffs to purchase all of these volumes. The order in which they are read is unimportant.

What differentiates Schickel from Bogdanovich and Emery is the fact that, for many years, he wrote film reviews for Time magazine and thus had an immense audience with which to share his opinions about more than a thousand films. Also, he is the author of more than 20 books about film making which include biographies of Marlon Brando, Cary Brando, and James Cagney. Over the years, he has earned and richly deserves his reputation as one of the most thoughtful and knowledgeable of film authorities. In this volume, he interacts with eight of the greatest film directors. At no time does he seem intimidated by them nor does he ever disrupt the flow of information exchanged with self-serving observations. He guides each director into subject areas which are probably of great interest to most film buffs but he also allows each director to ramble, digress, etc. when reminiscing or when sharing specific opinions about films and actors with whom they were associated. Sure, there is some delicious gossip. And yes, some insights not otherwise available. However, for the most part, Schickel sets up various subjects and then allows each director (many of them a personal friend) to proceed wherever he may wish, at whatever pace he may prefer. His brilliant orchestration of responses ensures their scope and depth. That is to say, he did not merely turn on the recorder and then let each of the eight take it from there. On his reader's behalf, Schickel remains actively involved, indeed engaged in the exchange of information but at no time is intrusive. Within its genre, this is indeed a "classic."

4 of 8 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Covers special challenges and observations, May 27, 2001

By 

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

This review is from: The Men Who Made the Movies (Paperback)

This film critic's survey of eight of Hollywood's finest directors and their works uses the interview process to explore the work of American filmmakers over the last decades. Hitchcock, Capra, Cuckor and others share their achievements in a revealing set of interviews covering special challenges and observations.