Film

Published to coincide with MGM's rerelease of the video, this stunning photographic retrospective captures all the glamour and excitement of a true film classic.

A six-foot-four poet fresh out of grad school with limited acting experience, Gunnar Hansen played the masked, chain-saw-wielding Leatherface. His terrifying portrayal and the inventive work of the cast and crew would give the film the authentic power of nightmare, even while the gritty, grueling, and often dangerous independent production would test everyone involved, and lay the foundations for myths surrounding the film that endure even today.

Critically-acclaimed author Hansen here tells the real story of the making of the film, its release, and reception, offering unknown behind-the-scenes details, a harrowingly entertaining account of the adventures of low-budget filmmaking, illuminating insights on the film's enduring and influential place in the horror genre and our culture, and a thoughtful meditation on why we love to be scared in the first place.

Before the international success of Platoon in 1986, Oliver Stone had been wounded as an infantryman in Vietnam, and spent years writing unproduced scripts while driving taxis in New York, finally venturing westward to Los Angeles and a new life. Stone, now 73, recounts those formative years with in-the-moment details of the high and low moments: We see meetings with Al Pacino over Stone's scripts for Scarface, Platoon, and Born on the Fourth of July; the harrowing demon of cocaine addiction following the failure of his first feature, The Hand (starring Michael Caine); his risky on-the-ground research of Miami drug cartels for Scarface; his stormy relationship with The Deer Hunter director Michael Cimino; the breathless hustles to finance the acclaimed and divisive Salvador; and tensions behind the scenes of his first Academy Award-winning film, Midnight Express.

Chasing the Light is a true insider's look at Hollywood's years of upheaval in the 1970s and '80s.

He's been a dancer, a baker, a lion tamer, an award-winning actor, and a Hollywood legend. But Christopher Walken has never been the subject of a comprehensive biographical reference--until now.

Here at last is a complete A-to-Z guide to this one-of-a-kind performer, featuring entries on everything from the Actors Studio (the legendary theatrical workshop where Walken spent eleven years as a janitor) to Zombie Movies (one of Walken's favorite film genres). Along the way, readers will discover:

- Acting secrets and behind-the-scenes trivia from each of Walken's 100+ films--everything
from Annie Hall to Hairspray and beyond.
- Recipes and kitchen tips from "Chef Walken"--including a look at his short-lived TV show,
Cooking with Chris.
- Walken's music videos for Madonna, Duran Duran, and Fatboy Slim.
- The secrets of maintaining his extraordinary hair.
- Observations and reminiscences from Steven Spielberg, Quentin Tarantino, Tim Burton,
Woody Allen, Dennis Hopper, and countless others.

Plus more bizarre B movies and Saturday Night Live appearances than you can shake a cowbell at! Complete with fascinating trivia and dozens of photographs, Christopher Walken A to Z offers the definitive look at a pop culture phenomenon.

For the first time, cinema reflected life and society, presenting both on the big screen with a compelling and penetrating truth. Directors became household names, often overnight, and films routinely broke box office records.

With censorship relaxed, the subject matter could include alienation, descents into madness, drug addiction, dysfunctional relationships, promiscuity, alcoholism, PTSD, and any big news story of the day. Audiences gladly absorbed this new, shocking reality; in fact, they avoided films that candy-coated the truth. Musicals evolved, westerns all but died for several years, science fiction and fantasy made an incredible resurgence, and horror dominated the box office along with disaster films. But by and large, films about social issues were the best draw.

With 120 color and black and white photographs, this book celebrates the cinema of the 70s. What a decade!

Instant New York Times bestseller

The long-awaited first work of nonfiction from the author of the #1 New York Times bestselling Once Upon a Time in Hollywood: a deliriously entertaining, wickedly intelligent cinema book as unique and creative as anything by Quentin Tarantino.

In addition to being among the most celebrated of contemporary filmmakers, Quentin Tarantino is possibly the most joyously infectious movie lover alive. For years he has touted in interviews his eventual turn to writing books about films. Now, with Cinema Speculation, the time has come, and the results are everything his passionate fans--and all movie lovers--could have hoped for. Organized around key American films from the 1970s, all of which he first saw as a young moviegoer at the time, this book is as intellectually rigorous and insightful as it is rollicking and entertaining. At once film criticism, film theory, a feat of reporting, and wonderful personal history, it is all written in the singular voice recognizable immediately as QT's and with the rare perspective about cinema possible only from one of the greatest practitioners of the artform ever.