X-Rated [Paperback]

David McCumber (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: February 1, 2000

Jim and Artie Mitchell were the undisputed pornography kings of America, their drug-fueled orgies with swinging porn stars made the O'Farrell Theatre, their San Francisco sex club, an international legend. Multi-millionaires after such mega-hit flicks as "Behind the Green Door, theirs was a blood bond that survived battles with the Mob and the Meese Commission, bitter divorces and mind-numbing addictions. Jim and Artie Mitchell's world exploded in tragedy on February 21, 1991, when the seemingly mild-mannered Jim gunned down his younger sibling in cold blood.

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

This depressing trip through the San Francisco porn industry recounts sex impresario Jim Mitchell's murder of his abusive, alcoholic brother and partner, Arnie.
Copyright 1993 Reed Business Information, Inc. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

From Library Journal

In 1991, the killing of Artie Mitchell by his older brother Jim stunned San Francisco. After all, the city's famous, or rather infamous, citizens had been innovative pornographers whose classic Behind the Green Door transformed the adult film industry and whose O'Farrell Theatre was the "Carnegie Hall of Public Sex." What led these colorful, unpredictable brothers to their tragically violent end? Journalist McCumber attempts to find the answers, but his book is an awkward mishmash of two separate stories. On the personal level, it is a classic Cain and Abel tale of the responsible older brother tired of taking care of an abusive sibling addicted to sex, drugs, and alcohol. On a broader front, the Mitchells' story symbolizes the sexual revolution of the 1960s and 1970s. Because McCumber tries to cram in so much material, parts of his book has a rushed, sketchy feel , while other sections (especially the chapter discussing Artie's relationship with women) bore the reader with excessive details. McCumber's occasional Hunter Thompson-type prose is distracting and weakens his book. Still, as the Mitchells knew, sex sells, so there probably will be demand.
- Wilda Williams, "Library Journal"
Copyright 1992 Reed Business Information, Inc. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Paperback: 544 pages
• Publisher: Pinnacle (February 1, 2000)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0786011130
• ISBN-13: 978-0786011131
• Product Dimensions: 6.8 x 4.1 x 1.5 inches
• Shipping Weight: 8 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 2.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (7 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,314,524 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

6 of 8 people found the following review helpful:

1.0 out of 5 stars Not written, transcripted, August 16, 2000

By 

BUELENS YVES (BRUSSELS Belgium) - See all my reviews

This review is from: X-Rated (Paperback)

I managed until page 125 or so and couldn't read anymore. Sorry. The subject is interesting although somewhat "light" on the cultural revolution at the end of the 60s. What stopped me was the writing : this book is not written, it reads like a transcript from some audio tape. I never read anything so poorly written.

3 of 4 people found the following review helpful:

1.0 out of 5 stars Dreadful writing, December 19, 2006

By 

Marcus Nesmith (Vancouver) - See all my reviews

This review is from: X-Rated: The Mitchell Brothers : A True Story of Sex, Money, and Death (Hardcover)

David McCumber, now at the Seattle Post-Intelligencer, was an editor at the San Francisco Chronicle in the mid-1980s, where the late Hunter S. Thompson made a brief, unsuccessful stint as a columnist. McCumber knew the Mitchells and the O'Farrell Theatre; this book, therefore, perhaps was inevitable. McCumber is also a far better editor than writer, if this book is any indication.

The Mitchells, according to their biographers, saw an opportunity to make big money in porn and did just that. To the biographers, Jim and Artie were "Okie outlaw pornographers" who hired their good ol' boys from childhood as important members of their porn empire. The O'Farrell Theatre was (and remains) a mirrored house of sleaze where bikini-clad strippers hustled greenbacks from customers too shy and ugly to get girls any other way. The Mitchells made millions and spent them just as fast on women, cars, parties, drugs and so on until Artie, crazy from too much for too long, got out of control and everyone said to Jim, "Do something about him, will you?" The whole sordid tale was told much better by Hubner.

4 of 6 people found the following review helpful:

1.0 out of 5 stars Sophomoric, April 25, 2004

By A Customer

This review is from: X-Rated (Paperback)

This is truly a pitiful book. David McCumber, a Hunter S. Thompson wannabe, is not only a terrible writer, he's very fast and loose with his facts and opinions. At one point he spends wasted time glorifying attorney Michael Kennedy, a genuine bottom feeder, and the First Amendment Rights of the Porn Industry. The author is very transparent trying to convince the reader the sex-industry is a victimless crime at best. He fails miserably by then going through the dreary list of women who were abused, ruined, commited suicide or were murdered in the industry. McCumber can't write, is a pathetic left over from 60's hedonism, and all in all an embarrassment. Don't buy it!