ROANOKE TIMES
Copyright (c) 1997, Roanoke Times
DATE: Sunday, January 19, 1997 TAG: 9701210005
SECTION: BOOKS PAGE: 4 EDITION: METRO
MOVIE BOOKS IN BRIEF
Reviewed by MIKE MAYO
ROGER EBERT'S BOOK OF FILM.
Edited by Roger Ebert. Norton. $30.
With its dense text and lack of illustrations, this eclectic collection of essays and fiction about film is aimed at the serious moviegoer. Of course, it would be impossible for any single book to describe so vast an industry, but critic (and frequent guest at the Virginia Film Festival) Roger Ebert probably does as well as anyone could. He includes the usual suspects - James Agee, Hitchcock, Fellini, Kurosawa, etc. - along with some surprising choices: Tolstoy, Gorky, Walker Percy. Contemporary criticism ranges from Susan Sontag's humorless droning to the sharp wit of Libby Gelman Waxman (aka Paul Rudnick) to ideas taken from the Internet about Quentin Tarantino.
Individual readers will find a lot to disagree with and a lot to appreciate.
If the book had a good index, it would earn two thumbs up.
LEONARD MALTIN'S 1997 MOVIE & VIDEO GUIDE.
By Leonard Maltin. Signet. $7.99 (paper).
The current popularity of film and video guides can be traced directly to Leonard Maltin's first "TV Movie Guide" published more than 25 years ago. The paperback has gone through many editions and title changes, and now comes out annually. Thousands of movie fans keep a copy right next to the remote.
Though the book has grown in the number of films it reviews - 1997 contains more than 19,000 - and in the information it provides, the basic thrust hasn't changed. Each capsule review gives you an idea of the film's content, director and cast and a four-star to BOMB rating. Symbols indicate films' availability on cassette and laser disc. With some titles, information on screen-ratio and the running times of various versions are included.
For quick, affordable, easy-to-use information, Maltin's book is still the best book on the market for most moviegoers and videophiles. But if that kind of all-inclusive guide merely whets your appetite, read on.
VIDEOHOUND'S GOLDEN MOVIE RETRIEVER, 1997.
Edited by Martin Connors, James Craddock, Julie Furtaw. Visible Ink Press. $19.95 (trade paper).
"VideoHound's Golden Movie Retriever" covers more titles (20,000-plus) in a much larger trade-paperback format. The "Hound's" reviews tend to be longer, too, with more cast and crew information, but the real value of this guide lies in its extensive indexing.
Suppose, for example, that you pick up a tape of "Independence Day." Then you start thinking, where else have I seen that guy Bill Pullman who plays the president? Wasn't he in that weird little Alex Baldwin thriller? What was the name of it? Then you go to the cast index and find that yes, indeed, Bill Pullman co-starred with Baldwin and Nicole Kidman in that weird little thriller "Malice."
Because the book is so much larger and heavier, it's not as handy as Maltin's, but for the serious videophile it's much more useful. And despite the size, the clean type is easy to read. For my money, it's the best popular video guide on the market.
VIDEOHOUND'S SCI-FI EXPERIENCE.
Edited by Carol Schwartz. Visible Ink Press. $17.95 (trade paper).
Visible Ink also does more specialized video guides. I wrote several short reviews and articles for this one, and Visible Ink will be publishing my book, "Video Originals," next year. Despite that connection, I still recommend the "Sci-Fi Experience" without reservation. It contains about 1,000 reviews that cover the territory from the serious ("The Day the Earth Stood Still") to the silly ("Godzilla vs. Biolante"). When the subjects deserve it, the tone is cheeky, particularly in the sidebar quotes ("Men caused the vruin of dis vorld and it vas time for da vimmen to tak over," says Zsa Zsa Gabor in "Queen of Outer Space"). The photographs are well-chosen, with virtually none of the overly familiar publicity stills, and the captions by Susan Stefani and Jane Hoehner are terrific.
Mike Mayo reviews movies and videos for this newspaper.
Spelling memoir far from spellbinding
Reviewed by JOHN A. MONTGOMERY
AARON SPELLING: A Prime-Time Life. By Aaron Spelling with Jefferson Graham. St. Martin's Press. $23.95.
Any American over 10 years old who is completely unfamiliar with the work of Aaron Spelling is an anomaly. Billed as "the most prolific producer in television history," Spelling has played a major hand in some very popular series over the past 30 years: "The Mod Squad," "Starsky and Hutch," "Charlie's Angels," "The Love Boat," "Fantasy Island," "Hart to Hart," "Dynasty," "Hotel," "Beverly Hills 90210" and "Melrose Place." He also has produced a number of films and notable TV movies.
It would be grossly inaccurate to dismiss the credits on Spelling's glittering resume as "lucky." And yet it would be equally off-base to portray his autobiography as compelling. I humbly would suggest that he stick to a visual medium.
Spelling complains that too many of his shows are simply tabbed as fluff and that a more complete representation would acknowledge his serious work. I suspect this book will draw the same polarized reactions: Spelling sees it one way, the critics another.
Spelling had a collaborator (Jefferson Graham), but the writing often seems unnatural. A habit that I found particularly annoying is an overused segue into quoting others. "Let 'Joe' tell you about it in his words," Spelling writes, looking for substantiating evidence regarding a particular impression, and then "Joe" starts talking as if he's just walked on stage.
And I guess that's what is so irritating about it: The entire book seems "staged."
About 20 percent of the 240-page book is excerpts from scripts, which only will be of interest to those who want to relive Alexis Colby's temper tantrums and similarly gripping television history.
The most interesting chapter deals with Spelling's undeniable ability to spot talent early. Spelling cast Michelle Pfeiffer, Jack Nicholson, Tommy Lee Jones, Timothy Dalton, Lou Gosett, Richard Gere and Richard Dreyfuss - among others - in small parts when they were unknowns. Spelling opens with this observation: "You can't get a gauge on what the American public likes by listening to the Beverly Hills and Bel-Air crowd.
"They won't admit to watching 'Dynasty' or 'Melrose Place.' Instead it's always '60 Minutes,' news and sports. And if you believe that, there's a bridge I'd like to sell you in Brooklyn."
This book is primarily a string of anecdotes, but the plot is weak and the character development shallow. Hmmm ... sounds like a TV show.
John A. Montgomery is president of the Blue Ridge Writers Conference.
Typecast stars: One story finished, one not
Reviewed by DIANE SALYER
SPLIT IMAGE: The life of Anthony Perkins. By Charles Winecoff. Dutton. $24.95.
MAN OF STEEL: The Courage and Career of Christopher Reeve. By Adrian Havill. Signet. $5.99 trade paper.
Seldom in the annals of film has one actor been so identified with a single film role. The film was "Psycho," made in 1960 by the great Alfred Hitchcock, and the young actor whose career was made - and virtually ruined at the same time - was Anthony Perkins, son of famed stage actor Osgood Perkins.
Perkins, who at a young age was billed as "the next Gary Cooper" after playing Cooper's son in "Friendly Persuasion" (1956), garnered an Oscar nomination and had a promising career as a young leading man along the lines of James Dean.
Hollywood in the 1950s was at the pinnacle of masquerading its closet gays as tough guys; neither Rock Hudson, Dean nor Perkins would ever mesh comfortably with that image. To add to the confusion, Perkins came from a dysfunctional family; he had an absentee father and his overly protective mother was of undecided sexual orientation herself.
In 1973, Perkins married Berry Berenson, sister of supermodel Marisa and granddaughter of designer Elsa Schiaparelli. The union was dismissed among the Hollywood and Broadway glitterati as a "cover-up" for Perkins' (and possibly his bride's) homosexuality, but the couple genuinely appeared to be in love. The Perkins family grew quickly with the birth of their first son, Osgood, and later with a second son, Elvis. Rumors abounded that Perkins still engaged in homosexual flings despite his marriage vows, but Perkins and his wife stayed married until his death from AIDS in 1992.
In this biography, Winecoff has put together an informative package on the saddest and least understood of Hollywood legends. The reader cannot help but be moved at realizing the wasted potential of a man afraid of his own shadow, one who crumbled in crisis.
"Split Image" is not a sensationalized paperback printed quickly to capitalize on tragedy, but a moving tale of a lost boy trapped in the image of a grown man.
"Man of Steel," however, is different. It was obviously written in an attempt to tell Christopher Reeve's story before it has been completed. Also a leading man, Reeve was typed, like Perkin, by one role. Reeve may never be able to grow out of the "Superman" persona.
Like Perkins, Reeve was first and foremost a stage actor, and he emphasizes that he worked in the movies "so he could do theater for $200 a week." He clearly intends to keep working and is starting a directing project.
Havill unfairly jumped the gun on Reeve, who is writing his own story. This mass-market paperback is fine for those fans of Reeve who collect everything ever written about him, but the story is not over yet.
Let's hear about it in his own words.
Diane Salyer resides in Roanoke after spending many years in professional theater.
LENGTH: Long : 174 lines ILLUSTRATION: PHOTO: 1. Movie critic Roger Ebert. 2. Television producerby CNBAaron Spelling. (headshots) 3. Anthony Perkins' (left) chapter in
Hollywood history has been written, 4. Christopher Reeve deserves
to be able to write his own.