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Title: Which Lie Did I Tell?: More Adventures in the Screen Trade (Vintage) by William Goldman ISBN: 0375703195 Publisher: Vintage Books Pub. Date: 20 February, 2001 Format: Paperback Volumes: 1 List Price(USD): $15.00 |
Average Customer Rating: 3.76
Rating: 4
Summary: You'll, at least, like parts of it
Comment: I found the book entertaining and helpful, but I haven't read his first memoir which many reviewers seem to like better. Goldman has an easy style that a reader can just breeze through, but his strong opinion may be a turnoff to some. The writer of ABSOLUTE POWER, a mildly entertaining Eastwood vehicle, has the chutzpah to harshly criticize SAVING PRIVATE RYAN. His observations are interesting and I am still trying to decide if they are valid. Either way, he takes a stand and that makes the book more daring.
I enjoyed the anecdotes quite a bit. It was funny to hear Goldman quote Michael Douglas asking Val Kilmer if he wanted a career like Mickey Rourke or Eric Roberts when Kilmer was being difficult on the set of GHOST AND THE DARKNESS.
What I liked best was Goldman's breakdown of stories into screenplays. He goes a good way to explaining why some stories are great, but won't film well. He explains the difference between a screenplay you give to the studio head and the screenplay the director uses to shoot from.
Finally, he writes the first hour of a screenplay. He asks us to evaluate it. He then consults several Hollywood screenwriters to evaluate it. It's interesting how much insight a particular person will have on a certain element of the work, while ignoring something others are bothered by. This goes a good way to explaining why a script doctor can be good or bad for a film.
I was expecting to read a straight forward memoir of Hollywood, but what I got was a how-to class on screenwriting as well, and it was a pleasant surprise.
Rating: 4
Summary: Like most sequels, this ain't quite as good BUT..
Comment: ...it still is very much worth a read. (Goldman has such an easy going, conversational writing style, you can polish off this book a few hours.) One of my favorite all time books is his first Adventures in the Screen Trade, which was the first book that I ever read about how Hollywood really works. (His analysis of The Great Santini is classic.) This book is highly entertaining, but it does not have the sheen of originality that the first book had. And I was really getting a bit tired reading about Butch Cassidy (he even acknowledges that the book's reader might hurl the thing across the room, due to his constant references of that film.) I would much rather have read his thoughts on The Last Action Hero. What the hell was going through the movie makers minds on that one? But overall, this book was lots of fun, especially his analysis of There's Something About Mary and Fargo. And it was fun reading about why that Chevy Chase Invisible Man movie was so horrendous. So, if you like movies, go ahead and read this, but make sure you read the first Adventures in the Screen Trade first.
Rating: 5
Summary: How to get the toys over the mountain
Comment: William Goldman's follow-up to "Adventures in the Screen Trade" follows much the same form as that book. It's intended for an audience of prospective Hollywood screenwriters, but can be equally enjoyed by those interested in frank Hollywood gossip and tales from an insider. Goldman is a perfect tour guide across this terrain, for he loves to teach from his experiences, and is an entertaining and economical writer. Most of this book feels like a private chat with a friendly old uncle who's lead an exciting and adventure filled life.
Goldman starts by revisiting a successful section from his earlier memoir: anecdotes from his experiences writing his most recent work. Tales of adapting his own "The Princess Bride", his love for the material and for Andre the Giant; the good intentioned but eventual failures of "The Year of the Comet" and "The Ghost and the Darkness" (the latter is a good example of how the material can get away from the writer once an egotistical star is on board, in this case Michael Douglas); and how he went about adapting "Misery" and "Absolute Power". This last example was my favourite, for even though the book it's based on was pulp, and movie barely registered, Goldman uses it as a fine example on the problems of adapting, and how you need to be ruthless just to make the thing work. He takes you through his process step-by-step, and the parts where he's racking his brain on how to make the sucker work are tangible in their frustration. Also, there were some nifty Clint Eastwood moments that make you respect the Man with No Name even more.
The second section takes a look at several of Goldman's favourite film scenes (from a screenwriter's point of view), and proposes to analyze why they worked. While his passion for these moments is palpable, Goldman skimps on the analysis. Why was the zipper scene in "There's Something About Mary" so effective? Why does the chess scene in "The Seventh Seal" resonant still? He does a fine job, though, finding the importance of the cliff scene from "Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid". But then he should know that one inside out, because he wrote it (Warning: if you have never seen or do not at all appreciate "Butch and Sundance", I'd stay away from this book; Goldman has enthusiastic affection for his first big hit, and returns to it often for examples; I myself love the movie and was glad to read more about it). The best part of this section is his attempt to wrestle credit for the crop-duster scene in "North by Northwest" from Alfred Hitchcock, and give it to the screenwriter, Ernest Lehman. I was convinced.
The third section offers the reader a chance to be screenwriter. Goldman presents several newspaper clippings as examples of possible source material for an original screenplay. He then takes us through the process of molding and shaping the materiel to the demands of the screen. It's pedantic Goldman at his best.
In the final section, Goldman presents an original screenplay he's written to various professional screenwriters, to show the function of a "script doctor" (Goldman's latest and most notorious Hollywood incarnation). The screenplay he's written, a tired detective adventure called "The Big A", is still in process, and it's a treat reading Goldman thinking out loud. He doesn't know where to go with the story at some points, and presents the reader with various possibilities. He's unsure about a scene he's just written, and admits to its inadequacies. He's having problems with character, and admits to that too.
But Goldman is not nearly as hard on himself as those he's solicited for help are. This was my favourite section of the book. On the one hand, the submissions he's received are biting, witty, and malicious in the most entertaining of ways. On the other hand, they full of a variety of great ideas, all of which would turn "The Big A" into a bona fide movie. Tony Gilroy (who wrote "The Devil's Advocate") is particularly effective on both of these fronts; his writing is lovable curmudgeonry at its best.
If Goldman ever decides to finish off this trilogy, I'll be right there waiting. Whether in narrative prose or memoir form, his writing is easily digestible, fun, and most importantly, informative. He wears his passions on his sleeve, and invites the reader to do the same. I was right there with him the whole time, lapping up his nuggets of wisdom. I guess the best praise I have is that everytime I finish a Goldman book, I get the itch to go write a screenplay myself. And feel perfectly equipped to do so.
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Title: Adventures in the Screen Trade: A Personal View of Hollywood and Screenwriting by William Goldman ISBN: 0446391174 Publisher: Warner Books Pub. Date: 1989 List Price(USD): $18.95 |
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Title: The Big Picture: Who Killed Hollywood? and Other Essays by William Goldman, Herb Gardner ISBN: 1557834601 Publisher: Applause Books Pub. Date: 2001 List Price(USD): $16.95 |
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Title: William Goldman: Four Screenplays With Essays: Marathon Man, Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid, the Princess Bride, Misery by William Goldman, William Goldman ISBN: 155783265X Publisher: Applause Books Pub. Date: 1997 List Price(USD): $18.95 |
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Title: Story: Substance, Structure, Style and The Principles of Screenwriting by Robert McKee ISBN: 0060391685 Publisher: HarperCollins Pub. Date: 1997 List Price(USD): $35.00 |
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Title: Hello, He Lied: And Other Truths from the Hollywood Trenches by Lynda Rosen Obst ISBN: 0767900413 Publisher: Broadway Books Pub. Date: 1997 List Price(USD): $14.95 |
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