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Skywalking: The Life And Films Of George Lucas, Updated Edition Paperback – May 31, 1999
| Dale Pollock (Author) Find all the books, read about the author, and more. See search results for this author |
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- Print length368 pages
- LanguageEnglish
- Publication dateMay 31, 1999
- Dimensions9.06 x 6 x 0.89 inches
- ISBN-100306809044
- ISBN-13978-0306809040
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Product details
- Publisher : Da Capo Press; Updated ed. edition (May 31, 1999)
- Language : English
- Paperback : 368 pages
- ISBN-10 : 0306809044
- ISBN-13 : 978-0306809040
- Item Weight : 1.22 pounds
- Dimensions : 9.06 x 6 x 0.89 inches
- Best Sellers Rank: #411,596 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
- #141 in Individual Directors
- #275 in Movie Director Biographies
- #942 in Movie History & Criticism
- Customer Reviews:
About the author

Dale M. Pollock received a BA in Anthropology from Brandeis University in 1972 and MS in Communications from San Jose State University. In 1977, he became the head film critic for the Daily Variety until he was hired by the Los Angeles Times to be their chief entertainment correspondent. In 1984 he wrote Skywalking: The Life and Films of George Lucas, which has sold more than 150,000 copies. In 1985, Pollock joined David Geffen’s company as a development executive. He joined A&M Films as vice president in charge of production, and was named president in 1990, producing such films as The Beast, A Midnight Clear and Mrs. Winterbourne. Pollock ran his own film company Peak Productions for 10 years, producing the box office hit Set It Off. In 1999 he became Dean of the School of Filmmaking at the (then) North Carolina School of the Arts, stepping down in 2006 to become Professor of Cinema Studies at UNCSA. Pollock was awarded an Endowed Professorship in Film in his name at the University of North Carolina School of the Arts School of Filmmaking, and is the 2016 recipient of the University of North Carolina Board of Governors Award for Teaching Excellence.
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But what makes it a truly excellent read is that it is NOT a scandalous tell-all: in fact, it actually maintains a pretty positive, sympathetic and at times even celebratory tone and outlook (at least until the epilogue added in 1999, where a jaded Pollock gets a little snippy recounting Lucas's complaints, heh). Reading it I felt like I got to walk in Lucas's shoes a bit, and while I may still find some of the things he does infuriating, honestly I can't say I wouldn't be pretty much the same way if I had lived the life he had. It's the sort of transfer of understanding that every biography strives for, and 'Skywalking' achieves it.
If that weren't enough, it's also fun to realize just how much George Lucas really IS both Anakin and Luke Skywalker rolled into one. As Han Solo would say, "It's true. All of it. It really happened."
EDIT: There's a couple of quotes near the end where Lucas talks about what might happen if he were to ever sell off the Star Wars property (remember this is 1983!) that must be seen to be believed!
The most packed sections deal with American Graffiti and A New Hope, and again, the information is fantastic - especially the details on the two years of drafts for ANH. Raiders and Empire definitely could have been given more, but at that point, Lucas was more of a hands off producer, and in many ways, they don't add to the story.
So why four stars? As you hit the 3/4 mark, you suddenly begin to wonder how the book is going to fill up its remaining quarter, since you're up to Jedi in the history. What follows is a really painful to read character analysis of George Lucas that literally tries to analyze him down to an atomic level. It's wildly bipolar - you'll regularly come across sentences like "Lucas is one of the greatest producers in the world - but many think him a subpar director, and a bad husband." Also, it gets REALLY, REALLY gossipy, with just about everyone coming out of the woodwork to criticize him over anything, and then letting Lucas respond. I'm all for the behind the scenes stuff, especially when it's revealing, but this just feels exploitative. And it goes on, and on, and on, and on...
Then you hit the last chapter, cobbled together from what the author has read about the Phantom Menace's production (he clearly wasn't allowed within ten miles of George Lucas after the first publication), and it's laughable. These last two chapters, about 1/4th of the book, are terrible.
BUT! It's absolutely worth reading for the first 3/4ths for a great portrait of Lucas. Just stop reading when it starts getting stupid.
Top reviews from other countries
This biography came out in the 1980's at the height of Star Wars but not many people seem to know about it.
Highly recommended if you are a fan of Star Wars, George Lucas, or a fan of movie making.
Where it is okay, it's mostly probably accidental: how only a rather indulged little JD like Lucas could wind up making movies like 'Star Wars'. No Englishman could have pulled it off, that's for certain. It's all about time, place, family circumstances, early tastes for comic books etc. etc. Who could we offer? Michael Reeves? Kingsley Amis said years ago there were certain things only the Americans could do properly: play jazz, make westerns and animated cartoons, for example. So, yes, Lucas is some kind of genius - certainly more to my taste than, say, Picasso, but not in the same league as Louis Armstrong. The movies themselves are mostly crap - though not as bad as something like 'The X-Files' - but you get the feeling Lucas knows they're crap. They're also - needless to say - entertaining - in the way that Abbott and Costello are entertaining. Nothing much wrong with that - until you start watching Laurel and Hardy, Keaton, Chaplin or Harold Lloyd all over again.
The majority of 'science fiction' movies are, unfortunately, either junk or overrated - like 'Forbidden Planet'. I prefer the junk, just like I prefer a cheeseburger and large fries over quiche and salad. Give me 'Earth Versus The Flying Saucers' over 'The Day The Earth Stood Still' any day of the week. Martians kick butt - yay!







