Picture Ratings Books

Or maybe a Sharon Stone (she is not spared in these pages). Quite simply, this book is impossible to put down. James Ulmer's clever rating system is interesting enough in itself -- but the best part of the book is his personal stamp. He makes no bones about being star-struck, yet his mission is the demystification of the gods, and he does it with gimlet-eyed clarity and intelligence. A dirt-filled riff will turn on a phrase into a sharp insight into the celebrity cult and our fascination with it. Some of his observations of actors are priceless. My image of Marlon Brando struggling up the Brooklyn waterfront ramp will now forever be juxtaposed with him struggling up the aisle of an L.A. supermarket, dressed in a muumuu and eating from an as-yet-unbought gallon of Breyers ice cream. This is a great summer (or winter) read, but don't take it to anyplace where you're self-conscious about laughing out loud. Because you will.

For anyone who enjoys following the cult of celebrity -- go backstage with James Ulmer and find all of the behind-the-scenes gossip (ok really thruths) about today's biggest stars. Ulmer has been compiling this list for industry insiders for years and this is the first time he's published his info for the general public -- can't wait for the next installment!

The title only tells half the story. The lists are fun to browse (the 200 top stars), especially the inside dirt on each star. But the essays are really hilarious: weird twisted perks, gossip and insecurity, naughty inside references - a pretty amazing picture of business and culture in Hollywood, where Ulmer says nothing binds people together like money, tribal membership "and the desire to see your best friend fail." Yikes. This book definitely goes on my holiday gift list.

It's fun and funny to see how the industry perceives itself, this book is a hoot. The information they based the ratings on is already outdated, (Russell Crowe's career trajectory arrow is going sideways? Hello?) but it's still worth the $$ for the essays, especially the one on star perks, (you will not believe the story about a certain actress and a baby opposum) and the "inside dirt" remarks.

FINALLY IT'S BEEN DONE!!!
Someone has finally written a scholarly work on the subject of the film ratings that is thoughtful and accurate! This book focuses on the criteria that distinguish R-rated films from those officially rated X or NC-17, but it also gives an excellent overview of American classification and Hays Code activities over the history of cinema.
Since I have done extensive research on this subject myself, I have been appalled at how much junk has been written in the mass media about it; most writers don't seem to be bothered by glaring factual errors and their own confusion about the subject. Instead of misattributing such confusion to the supposed inconsistencies of the ratings board (although their criteria do change over time, quite deliberately) this author Sandler correctly sorts the objective from the subjective, assesses the actual film content and key rating decisions, to provide an authoritative work on both the criteria, the process, the politics, and the occasional flubs involved in the ratings process.
This is the most important, authoritative book on the ratings system since Stephen Farber's 1972 insider work "The Movie Ratings Game" (and that was not written with scholarship in mind). This book does not go into details about the criteria for other ratings (my own research does that and is still being prepared for publication) but it provides a welcome change from the misguided and biased articles (and films) that have been appearing on the subject for many years.
Finally, a true scholar publishes an excellent work on the subject!!!
Although a previous book "Freedom and Entertainment" was also scholarly and of decent quality (and benefited from the newly available recollections of ratings board chair Richard Heffner, who was in the position longer than anyone else), that book had made some superficial errors and didn't quite convince as being rooted in a thorough and comprehensive understanding of the ratings system. By supplementing the Heffner material with actual content descriptions and comparisons, this book has filled in the last methodological step that was needed to produce a valid model of the system's operation. Bravo!! At long last!!
Finally placed into valid perspective is the long controversy over the supposed favoring of major studios over independent productions, as well as the numerous accusations about inconsistency in the application of ratings (not that the system is devoid of inconsistencies, but they are of a form different from what many have attributed to them).
Unfortunately falling outside this book's subject matter is the recent, widely publicized Harvard study on so-called "ratings creep," which would have made at least a nice footnote in the section in which Jack Valenti defends the rating system by explaining the many conflicting societal forces whose needs it must serve and try to balance. The blatant problems with the Harvard study included the assumption that unaccountable, pandering film websites would be less malleable in their standards over time than the main body that is answerable to congress and various interest groups.
In the meantime, this book is the most important one currently available on the subject! Anyone who wants to truly understand the system (and not just criticize) must buy and read this book! Nothing else comes close, except the very early and out-of-print book by Stephen Farber, called the "Movie Ratings Game" and (in third place) the recent "Freedom and Entertainment" (both of which have many key points summarized and included here anyway).

Awesome job!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Dr. Kevin Sandler's diligent and unwavering quest to complete this work and answer some of the toughest questions in the movie business has finally paid off. Most of the general public know that Hollywood does not make X-Rated movies; however, not many know WHY this is the case and how this and the ratings system itself (with its methods shrouded in secrecy) came to fruition.
This incomparable text is a wonderful read due not only to its content, but also to Sandler's writing style. Through the course of his book, Sandler tackles the complex and interesting questions noted above, the story of which is compelling enough that his book itself could be made into a film (ala Kirby Dick's "This Film Is Not Yet Rated").
With the recent passing of Jack Valenti and with much of the criteria used to help determine what rating a film receives kept well-guarded under the auspices of the MPAA, research in the area that Sandler has been able to find his way into by mean of interviews, access to archives and other hard work has made "The Naked Truth: Why Hollywood Doesn't Make X-rated Movies," a labor of love on the part of the author and a work that needed to be written not only for film scholars, but for anyone and everyone to understand how and why the movies we go and see in the theater are the way they are and end up the way they do.