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Harold Schechter (Author)


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Book Description

January 10, 2000
Meet the REAL Rocky, the REAL Psycho, and the REAL English Patient...

Read the real-life stories that inspired Hollywood's biggest blockbusters.

Who can forget the bone-crushing terror of Jaws, the mother-loving horrors of Pscyho, the daredevil exploits of Indiana Jones, or the romance of The English Patient? For a century, the movies have dazzled, frightened, thrilled, and touched us. But did you know that some of the silver screen's most imaginative flights of fancy are firmly rooted in realty? If you've been amazed by Hollywood's greatest hits, wait until you discover...

The purportedly possessed teen who inspired The Exorcist
The vaudeville comics fictionalized in The Sunshine Boys The 1927 Dumb-Bell Murders that inspired Double Indemnity
The Hungarian spy in Africa who became The English Patient
The real-life boxer who was the model for Rocky
The con artist brothers depicted in The Sting
Plus the true stories behind Rope, The Bridge on the River Kwai, The Great Escape, Indiana Jones, Jaws, and many other films

Full of surprising revelations and fascinating anecdotes, Real to Reel is compulsory reading for every movie fan.


Editorial Reviews

From Library Journal

Film buffs Schechter (Deviant) and Everitt (editor of Fangoria magazine) survey a range of popular films and the real-life events that inspired them. Each movie discussed here--including All the King's Men (based on the life of politician Huey Long), Badlands (about spree killer Charlie Starkweather), Hoosiers (Indiana's Milan High School), and Saving Private Ryan (the Niland brothers)--gets its own chapter; chapters are arranged in alphabetical order, by film title. But the truth is, the book's premise is thin--almost every movie ever made has some (usually uninteresting) relation to real life. Much like many of the films in Joseph Roquemore's History Goes to the Movies (LJ 11/1/99), the movies highlighted here often end up to be only tenuously connected to authentic characters and incidents. (True, there was a mother-fixated human taxidermist named Ed Gein, but he didn't run a motel or behave exactly the way Anthony Perkins did in Psycho.) For specialized film collections only.
-Kim R. Holston, American Inst. for Chartered Property Casualty Underwriters, Malvern, PA
Copyright 2000 Reed Business Information, Inc.

About the Author

Harold Schechter and David Everitt have written several books together. On his own, Schechter is the author of a bestselling series of true crime books, including Deviant and Deranged.

Product Details

  • Paperback: 259 pages
  • Publisher: Berkley Trade (January 10, 2000)
  • Language: English
  • ISBN-10: 0425172716
  • ISBN-13: 978-0425172711
  • Product Dimensions: 8.8 x 6 x 0.9 inches
  • Shipping Weight: 10.4 ounces
  • Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #2,010,256 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

Harold Schechter is a professor of American literature and culture. Renowned for his true-crime writing, he is the author of the nonfiction books Fatal, Fiend, Bestial, Deviant, Deranged, Depraved, and, with David Everitt, The A to Z Encyclopedia of Serial Killers. He is also the author of Nevermore and The Hum Bug, the acclaimed historical novels featuring Edgar Allan Poe. He lives in New York State.

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