Movies Books

The position Russo takes and the interpretations he offers are nothing short of fascinating, and THE CELLULOID CLOSET holds up extremely well to re-reading. Even so, it is essentially an excellent work by an amateur writer. For all the power of its interpretations and arguments, the text is badly structured, and too often the tone of the prose seems less about the films under consideration than about the personality that considers them. And there are frequent factual errors in the text, with Russo's comments on the cult favorite The Rocky Horror Show perhaps the most glaring case in point.

Although Russo's omnipresent personality tends to undercut his prose at times, it is an engaging personality, and in a certain sense it drives the narrative--and indeed does a great deal to make the book's shifting structure seem more acceptable than it would have otherwise been. And after a careful re-reading of the text, I have come to the conclusion that the errors involved are best described as "surface" errors; they do not seem to me to undercut the power of Russo's interpretations, arguments, or positions, all of which are extremely well presented and very astute. Even so, given the book's somewhat problematic nature, I would take issue with those who describe it as "definitive," which is a rather sweeping word. I would prefer to describe it as a fascinating analysis of a difficult subject written by a gifted amateur author--who manages to overcome his limitations to present an endlessly fascinating series of interpretations, arguments, and positions. The book deserves a place on the bookshelf of every one who loves film as much as the writer did, and I recommend it strongly. But it would be a mistake to take it as an absolute.

GFT, Amazon Reviewer

It also points the way to plenty of interesting movies that deal, in one level or another, with the subject. It would never have occurred to me to rent "Victim" (the 1961 movie) or "Suddenly Last Summer" if it weren't for this book. (What can I say--I'm provincial.)

The newer addition includes some of the changes in the 80s. I wish that Vito Russo were still alive. The topic of gays in the movies is one that's still moving forward and backward at the same time, and it would be interesting to read his take on movies like "Beautiful Thing," and "Boys Don't Cry" as well as "To Wong Foo" and "Braveheart."

It was up for sale again not long after I got it.

i aelso fink flash iz fuhn + awsum x 9

<3 (osupsons)

- mucks

That is when I stumbled upon this book (first edition) in my school's library. After reading this book, I never looked at the history of films, film themes, etc. in quite the same way.

As the years went by, I had read other film theory books that dealt with femininity and feminist thought, but this one always remained my favorite. So when the opportunity presented itself where I could add this book to my personal film library I was more than glad to.

I think I like this book so much because it introduced me to a series of films that while important in the women's studies and cinema may have been forgotten in the annuls of overall film theory and criticism. One outstanding example is "Letter from an Unknown Woman." The depth with which Ms. Haskell discusses this film immediately made me want to go out and see the film; and indeed I did.

I highly recommend this book not just to read but as an addition to any film lovers' library.

To sum it up, I've never read a book written in a style so evocative of its subject. It's clear that he's writing about something he loves.

That's not to say there aren't hilarious articles dealing with the categorization of movies by various odds and ends included in them (such as the opening essay, which deals with older men falling love and having sexual relations with jailbait in the movies). Some of the funniest articles I've read from Queenan are in this book, such as his attempt to "be Mickey Rourke for a day." In this article, he details how he went four days without bathing, dressed up all in black, and determined to travel throughout New York acting like Mickey Rourke, doing and saying things that he has said in his movies or in interviews. This includes trying to find a prostitute who will fondle a blond woman like the prostitute Rourke makes do this to Kim Basinger in 9 ½ Weeks, smoking tons of cigarettes, and repeatedly telling complete strangers that "sometimes, you just gotta roll the potato." He also swears a lot.

The funniest article in the book has to be his list of 25 of the most senseless movies ever made. These are not movies that are just plain stupid, because usually even stupid movies are easy to follow. No, these are movies that make no sense whatsoever. Included in this list is Joe vs the Volcano, The Night Porter, The Two Jakes, and King David. He goes on to describe just why these movies have made the list. In this essay, he reaches the heights of vicious humour and commentary as he savages these films. Even if you disagree with him (as my wife does on a couple of them), you will still find this article worth reading and laughing at.

Other categorization essays include bad clerics in movies, musicians in movies (and why they usually are terrible), the first installment of "Don't Try This at Home" (where he tries various things that happen in movies and see if they are even remotely realistic), and a complete castigation of the use of bad accents in movies. These articles vary between wonderful and passable, with most being toward the former. "Don't Try This at Home" is the only one that is a letdown. Queenan's at his funniest when he lists movies by category and shows why it is a bad thing that they are in this category.

I was quite surprised, however, to find some truly introspective articles in this book as well. No, Queenan doesn't let his trademark wit leave him, but these articles are tempered by some true compliments and compassion. These articles were written before most of Hollywood started avoiding him, so there are some articles with actual interviews. Queenan uses these interviews as starting points to analyze the careers of the actor or actress in question, and he does a surprisingly fair job of it. The article on Sean Young is very fair to her, even though it does tend to emphasize the fact that she was taking high school algebra lessons right before the interview. Even so, he sounds quite impressed that she'd be willing to do this. Other interviews with Keanu Reeves and Jessica Lange, while perhaps showing them in not the best light, are extremely complimentary of their work, even in bad films. I found these articles very interesting and I'm glad I read them. They showed me a side of the stars that you normally don't see (and that is probably why nobody will talk to him anymore).

He is a bit less compassionate when he is analyzing a career without the input of the celebrity in question, such as when he questions Barbra Streisand's move away from light comedies to the pretentious and disastrous movies she's made since. He also has a brilliant analysis of Alfred Hitchcock movies (or at least brilliant-sounding, since I have never seen one of his movies) and how they represent some of Hitchcock's true feelings about things. It's very insightful, and will take the reader past the surface of his films and dig deep into how these movies reflected his own neuroses. I found it fascinating. Even in these articles, though, he finds some good things to say about the subjects, and that's what made them even more interesting.

The only real misses in this book are the shorter articles. I don't know if it's because Queenan needs time to really delve into his subject to make it interesting, or if he just needs time to get himself going, but the shorter articles inevitably fall flat. Thankfully, that shortness makes them easy to digest before moving on to the meatier, far better essays.

The book is still sprinkled with vulgar language and some of the articles are on the sharp side, so if you don't like biting humour and quite a few f-words, this book probably isn't for you. But if you don't mind that stuff and you like movies, this book is definitely worth reading. You may not always agree with Joe Queenan, but you will definitely enjoy the ride.

Read and laugh.

Anyway, I was talking to Joe Queenan the other day and ventured the opinion that he is the undisputed king of snide remarks and deprecating asides. He responded, "I am the king," a line he stole from a mattress retailer out of L.A. He repeats that line to himself aloud every once in a while because he likes the way it sounds. "I am the king." There is a certain quick tempo to the "am" as though he is realizing as he says it that he is indeed the king.

Queenan is actually an entertainment biz critic who came up the hard way, a man who has mastered the fine art of the gratuitous put down and the non sequitur character assassination. He is a kind of like a low rent George Sanders from All About Eve (1950)--a film I know he saw as a kid because I can see his unconscious self still striving to emulate the Sanders character because, after all, the guy's girl of the evening was Marilyn Monroe in her cinematic debut. Ah, how the unrealized dreams of our youth do so guide our wayward path! Although he tries to keep hidden which babes he really likes in the movies, usually insulting one and all, especially the young and fetching ones (slyly kissing it up to his nonexistent female readership), it can be seen that he goes for those blond bombshells, but apparently doesn't want somebody, perhaps his wife, to know.

Our hero, for all that, does have a certain brassy felicity with words that commands attention, the same way a loud highschool band outside your bedroom window might. And the indefatigable choir boy from the mean streets of Philly really has seen more movies, especially bad ones, than I could ever sit through, and so has picked up a little bit of the art of cinema, enough anyway to qualify as a couch potato afficionado. Reading his rude lectures to semi-admired directors and his haranguing of actors he doesn't approve of (that appears to be ALL actors with the exception of David Bowie (yes!)and perhaps John Gielgud on a good day, and certainly NOT, e.g., Olivier, whom he refers to as "Lord Larry"), reminds me of a beer league basketballer critiquing the state college coach's substitution patterns. You have to sort carefully through all the snide remarks and deprecating asides to sift out a kernel of evidence that Queenan actually liked something he saw. My lord, what a life, to spend a significant part of your waking hours watching films you hate. But apparently somebody has to do it. Occasionally in a campy aside on a very bad film, Queenan will pretend to like something. He's like the tough kid who can't allow that he likes anything other than blood and guts for fear of losing face and looking like a wuss.

Anyway, this collection of his work ("essays" is what he calls them) from mostly Movieline Magazine and Rolling Stone in the early nineties will afford one a few chuckles and some real delight if he is lambasting one of your bêtes noires. Otherwise you might find that our boy grates rather annoyingly on the nerves. But, hey, that was the idea.

Richard Bolitho is assigned in this story as fourth lieutenant on the 80 gun two-decker third rate ship-of-the-line, Trojan. The year is 1777 and they are anchored off Staten Island as part if the inshore squadron under Admiral Coutt. Trojan's captain is the remote Captain Pears, and the first lieutenant a man named Cairns. In our modern navy, Cairns would be called the Executive Officer--next under the captain in the chain-of-command.

There is much action for Trojan, both as convoy escort, and in attacking a fort in North Carolina and again in the Carribean. Bolitho is of course heavily involved, in shore parties, as well as sea battles, and eventually gets temporary command of a prize and undergoes a sea battle in his own command.

This is a great series, and Kent (a pseudonym) displays more than a speaking acquaintance with the royal navy, its customs and conditions, in the late 18th century (not the 19th, as the Library Journal says in their review).

This is the third in the Richard Bolitho series, preceded by Midshipman Bolitho, and Stand into Danger. I am currently reading the fourth book in the series, Sloop of War. It is a thoroughly entertaining series, especially (but not exclusively) for aficianados of sea stories, and particularly historical square-riggers.

I recommend that the reader begin with the first book of the series, Midshipman Bolitho, and read them in order as they portray the protagonist, Richard Bolitho, through his career in sequential order. Each story does stand alone, however.

It is interesting to see the American Revolution through the eyes of an officer in the Royal Navy.

Joseph (Joe) Pierre, USN (Ret)

author of Handguns and Freedom...their care and maintenance
and other books

4th Lt. Bolitho is now small fry on a large third-rate (80-gun) ship. Tasked to supress rebel privateers working close inshore, duty combines endless waiting, tense anticipation, and the sudden shock of small and bloody actions. Bolitho is centrally and most audaciously involved in successive fierce actions, 2 in small boats, 1 between brigs, 1 aboard a 3rd-rate, and once in the taking of a fort ashore. As we see the chances of battle visibly empty the ranks above him, he advances by skill and survival. Kent does a great job of developing characters here, as we can even understand the motivations of the arrogant and the cowardly officers with whom Bolitho is juxtaposed, and with whom he must deal at critical moments. In the course of rising in rank Bolitho collects another devoted acolyte, a midshipman, and begins to build a reputation in the fleet for dash and success through unorthodox, bloody, and killing conflicts.

The narrative structure is somewhat loose and episodic. The cover art is exciting and "ripped from the very pages" of this novel, but there are absolutely no other visual aids like maps, sail plans, or ship diagrams. Kent focuses on exciting action rather than technical details, and from the point of view of the seamen and under officers in these early novels. So far Bolitho has been blessed with mostly competent and empathetic superiors rather than hacks or unprofessional political appointees, and visibly grows in the abilty to command.

I am truly blown away by the content and pictures of the locations from Episode I. The art is unbelievable. The detail level is extreme and it must have taken an enormous amount of time for these two artists to complete this work. Every detail you could possibly want is here.

This is a lot like the Star Wars Cross-Section books of the ships only it is not as technical. Imagine those books but for the locations and you have a pretty good idea of what this is.

What's really great is how you get to look at things from angles that the film doesn't show you. The long shots really put everything into scope. You also get to see areas that you can't in the movie such as this place Watto can fly up to above his countertop in the junk shop. I can't wait to study this book some more and then rewatch The Phantom Menace again. I believe I'll look at it in a whole new way.

My fingers are crossed for an Episode II version. I'd buy it in a heartbeat.