Customer Reviews

The Movies That Changed Us: Reflections on the Screen

5 star:		(4)
4 star:		(1)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

To be truthful, Nick Clooney doesn't really change the way we look at movies. Rather, he provides some profound insights into movies and how they affect us. By doing so, you'll never see a movie as you formerly did after reading the book. For he spotlights how certain movies, special movies that stand alone, change the way that we see the world, conduct our lives, create our moral benchmarks, even peer into our own souls.
If you're seeking movie reviews, this book will take you beyond the ordinary parameters that we've come to expect and thrust you into a realm where you will ponder the immense power of this medium.
For me, personally, one of the most telling chapters dealt with Martin Scorsese's "Taxi Driver." The movie has always been high on my list of well-made, powerful expositions on the seamier side of our political and social underbelly. But, after reading Clooney's insights into this "movie that changed us", I can clearly see the reverbrations that it has wrought in our world.
Clooney writes with verve and wisdom, two qualities not always joined together. For the film aficianado and those intrigued by social history, this book is a must. It is a book that will provoke discussion and argument, but for which we are all richer for having read it.

Few movie fans will dispute Nick Clooney's underlying point: That some movies change the way we, the audience, looks at the world. A wonderful book could be written around that idea, each chapter tracing the impact of a different movie. _Movies That Changed Us_ is, unfortunately, not that book.

Clooney's grasp of historical context--or, to be charitable, his presentation of it--is too narrow and too shallow to do justice to the points he's trying to make. If you're going to make the case that a movie "changed us" you have to be able to draw the Before and After pictures in convincing detail. You also have to be able to show that the movie itself was a catalyst for change . . . not just an indicator of larger forces that actually brought the change about. Clooney (especially when writing about changes outside of the movie business) frequently fails to do this,

The chapter on _The Graduate_ suggests that Clooney recognizes this problem. He argues that the movie (with its jaded view of romance, sex, marriage, and social norms) "killed the romantic comedy." It's an interesting argument, but what if the same shift in attitude that made _The Graduate_ incomprehensible to the middle-aged parents of 1967 made the romantic comedies of the 1930s, 40s, and 50s incomprehensible to their kids? Clooney never even considers the possibility.

The same problem sinks the chapter on _The Big Parade_, one of a cluster of films from the twenties and early thirties that painted war as bleak, unheroic, and tragic. Clooney credits such films with making the West slow to move against Hitler . . . but couldn't the too-fresh memories of 10 million young lives lost in a pointless war have been behind *both* the films and the hesitancy to go to war again? Clooney never stops to ask.

The book also suffers from sins of omission: Connections that seem so obvious and important you can't imagine why Clooney doesn't mention them. Why argue that the "Omaha Beach" scene in _Saving Private Ryan_ is powerful because of its realism, and *not* contrast it with the far more "Hollywood" battle scenes later in the picture? Why spend a chapter on the 1964 anti-war movie_Dr. Strangelove_ and not connect it to the nuclear-disarmarment movement that had been gaining strength since 1946? Why write about the impact of _Star Wars_ and talk only about computer-controlled cameras . . . not the "summer blockbuster" category that it (and _Jaws_) more or less created?

I study and write about popular culture for a living, but when I bought this book I *wasn't* expecting a scholarly tome. I was looking for something entertaining and thought-provoking to read at lunch . . . unfortunately, it isn't even a good lunchtime book.

Nick Clooney's book is entertaining, informative and insightful. After reading this book you will never look at classic films the same way. Highly recommended.

For me to say that Nick Clooney is a skilled, authorative writer, is to say nothing in as much as that is his main occupation, and he certainly doesn't need my approval to keep doing what he seems to have a gift for.It seems meaningless to comment on his choice of subject matter by acknowledging the years he spent hosting a TV production relating to just that subject. However to state that on picking up the book, opening it randomly, and not being able to put it down for two chapters might give you an indication of his ability to captivate the reader. The easy flow of the narrative was as though he was sitting there telling you the story in person. The last time I was so absorbed by a book, It was written by his sister, Rosemary (Girl Singer). Perhaps it's in the genes.

I own this autograghed book about the movies and the movie stars. What was most interesting to me was Nick's near stardom of his own. He had a very mature voice and looked almost exactly like his son George. 'course I like his white hair. I used to listen to him early every morning on Cicinnati Radio. I miss you, Nick, old friend.

After hearing the NPR piece about this book, I thought that it had great potential, and my friends and I actually began a movie series to watch all 20 movies on his list. We bought the book to encourage conversation about each work. Unfortunately, Clooney writes poorly and seems more interested in writing about the studios (and their heads) than about the actual impact the movies may have had on the U.S. Other than one or two short paragraphs directly relating to each movie, Clooney rambles on about other, uninteresting topics. It's painful to read. He tries to wrap up each chapter with a momentous sentence, which only ends up seeming hyperbolic.

In addition, this book ought to have been edited more carefully. Clooney roams from topic to topic, without any understandable reason, and there are some egregious errors (e.g. the synopsis for "The Great Dictator" is incorrect). Practically every film has to do with war, and I'm hard-pressed to believe that they are the only ones that impacted our culture. It is also surprising that his list contains nine movies from the '30s and '40s, but only one from the past 25 years.

Underneath it all, there may be some merit to his choices, but the book certainly doesn't help understand why. I learned more from reading the reviews on IMdB.com.

This is a marvelous book written by a fabulous guy. He told me the film which changed him was FRANKENSTEIN! But I really think he was pulling my leg a little. In case he was really telling me the truth, I'd suggest he see VAN HELSING. This is a good addition to anyone's library if he has the slightest interest in the film world. Nick had insider information and a life-long interest in movies. After all, his sister Rosemary made many films, as has his son George.

The choices made for this publication were excellent and the accompanying photos added to Nick's commentary. The movie he looked for in vain has been written several times. At least,it seems like I've seen that storyline in more than one film through the years. His personal story of growing up as he did (similar to Civil War times) has been portrayed, but I'd love to see his version put on the big screen. Now that his son, George, is a producer and director, perhaps he could do the script as well and show his dad and two sisters as they were in childhood. All Nick Clooney fans would mob the theater to see the old days.

I miss Nick on the radio. Whatever happened to his producer, Pat Monohan; guess he went to Texas. They brought me great joy and I miss them.