Spike Lee: By Any Means Necessary [Hardcover]

Jim Haskins (Author), James Haskins (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: April 1997

Examines the life and works of the filmmaker who has chosen to explore the many dimensions of the black American experience.

Editorial Reviews

From School Library Journal

Grade 7 Up. This well-rounded, informative portrait of the filmmaker is appealing and engaging to read. Lee's Brooklyn childhood is chronicled, as are his college days and film-school experiences. Haskins offers insight into his subject's relationship with his family and other factors that shaped him as a youth. The majority of the discussion, of course, is devoted to his professional career and fierce determination to succeed. His abilities as a shrewd marketer and entrepreneur, the controversies nearly all of his films have generated, and the filmmaker's tireless work as an advocate for more opportunities for black artists are also discussed. Black-and-white stills from Lee's films and candid photos appear in a center insert. Fans will welcome this biography, and those unfamiliar with the man will find it an enlightening introduction. K. Maurice Jones's Spike Lee and the African-American Filmmakers (Millbrook, 1996) looks at the director specifically in the context of the history of African-American film. For biographical information, Haskins's book is the better choice.?Edward Sullivan, New York Public Library
Copyright 1997 Reed Business Information, Inc.

From Booklist

Gr. 6^-10. Compiling information from previously published interviews, Haskins has put together a profile of a leading African American filmmaker, noting important connections between Spike Lee's life and the films he has chosen to make. There's a strong emphasis here on the value of education and family ties: Lee is a third-generation graduate of Atlanta's Morehouse College, and he's made most of his films with on-and off-screen help from his father and siblings. After recounting Lee's early years, Haskins takes readers behind the cameras on each of Lee's 10 films to see what it takes to make a movie, from fund-raising and studio deals to editing and promotion. Because the book's structure is strictly chronological, some readers may lose interest before they get to Lee's fascinating career. But those who stay with it will find a well-told tale of how the feisty and principled filmmaker struggled to make movies the way he wanted to, all the while avoiding the siren call of Hollywood. Source notes and 16 pages of black-and-white photos are included. Randy Meyer

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Reading level: Ages 12 and up
  
• Hardcover: 160 pages
• Publisher: Walker & Company; First Edition edition (April 1997)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0802784941
• ISBN-13: 978-0802784940
• Product Dimensions: 8.5 x 5.7 x 0.7 inches
• Shipping Weight: 11.2 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 3.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (4 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #960,573 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
  • #74 in Books > Teens > Biographies

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Heterodox, February 9, 2007

By 

Pamela Jarmon-Wade "Tx Red Rose" (Houston, Texas) - See all my reviews
(VINE VOICE)    (REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Spike Lee: By Any Means Necessary (Hardcover)

Spike Lee also known as Shelton Jackson Lee has provided a vehicle with this book that really delivers. This book provided insight into the personal life of Spike Lee, the heterodox film maker. Spike Lee revealed more info than most people are willing to do, such as the rift between him and his Dad. His feelings about his white stepmother. The interaction of he and his siblings... and his father's heroin usage.

His biographical information mentally reminded me of his movie, "Crooklyn". The book also offers awesome behind the scenes info on the making of "School Daze", "Malcolm X", "Jungle Fever", "Do The Right Thing", "She's Gotta Have It", "Crooklyn", and "Get On The Bus".

I really enjoyed this book. I am not an aspiring film maker, but I am a fan of Spike Lee. This book is a page turner and a quick read. Spike is a true example of the fruits of faith, belief in a dream, and determination.

By:
Pam Jarmon-Wade

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars Spike Lee: by any means necesscary, December 15, 2006

A Kid's Review

This review is from: Spike Lee: By Any Means Necessary (Hardcover)

Spike lee: by any means necessary by Jim Haskins is a book for the person who wants to make a movie but is not spike lee has an smart idea of how to make the money. Spike Lee was born march 20, 1957 in Atlanta, Georgia. Most of his life was spent in Brooklyn. His parents are William "bill" lee, a jazz composer, and his mom was a teacher. He also had three brothers David, Cinque, Chris and a sister Joile. He followed in his dad and grandpa's college Morehouse in Atlanta. Morehouse is where spike became interested in filmmaking. Lee mastered film making at NYU 1982. He has also made many movies including School daze and Do the right thing. The way he incorporated his life into his movies was brilliant. I especially liked his characters in his movies.
Spike lee's first movie out of college was messenger. This movie is a drama about a New York messenger. During the production of this film it was halted because spike was five thousand dollars over his twenty eight million budgets. He decided to pick up the phone and call wealthy black entertainers. He called from Bill Cosby to Michael Jordan. The day after he called he got a check from Bill Cosby. He was eventually able to make his movie.
The movie School Daze is based on his four years at Morehouse during homecoming weekend. The movie deals with conflict between light and dark skin blacks. The light skin blacks are rich, have expensive things and popular. The dark skin blacks were uncool.
One of my favorite characters was a guy in the movie Two-one-two the guy is Chris Rock. He would go into a store and say "How much for a rib" Then store clerk would say the price and he would say " Who! How about I pay you a quarter for the ribs."
The clerk would say " two dollars fifty cents a rib"
The guy would reply " how about you let get the rib for a days work." What was so crazy about this was at the end when he was going to pay he pulls out a roll of cash.
To sum it up the book describes spike lee's life excellently this book is for the up coming film star.

A.W.

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

1.0 out of 5 stars slow ride, January 7, 2003

A Kid's Review

This review is from: Spike Lee: By Any Means Necessary (Hardcover)

Spike Lee written by Jim Haskins is about Spike Lee's life. Spike Lee is a movie director, and has directed over twenty films, like Malcolm X, and Summer Of Sam. It ranges from his family history before he was born to the present. But it goes in great detail about the movie industry and how it's a dog eat dog world out there. This book was missing a lot of the fun and positive things about being in the movie industry. It really focused on several of his own failures and obstacles. But it did not really go into details about why some of his movies were more successful than others.
This book was written really well. It had good sentence fluency, but lacked in voice because the author wasn't very interested. The word choice was bad because they used simple words, and organization was also bad because they jumped around. The ideas were also terrible because this is not an interesting fellow: he's just a dead beat.
My overall opinion would be one star because this book is really slow and boring. I would have rather sat and fiddled my thumbs together. But people that love his movies might like this book.