Robert Shaw: More Than a Life

Book Description

A gripping biography of the actor best known for his role in Jaws.

Customer Reviews:

Robert Shaw : More Than A Life.......2004-08-04

I have just finished reading Robert Shaw : More Than a Life and found it an interesting read. I knew little of Shaw before this book and always wondered why he was not given more credit as an actor. The book, which is filled with recollections from family and friends gives great insight into a truly complicated man. He was constantly conflicted about acting versus writing. He excelled at both. When he was happy in his work, he was happy in his life. The suicide of his father, the death by drugs and alcohol of his second wife Mary Ure and the early death of Erroly Flynn at age 51 (same age as Shaw) all influenced his life and his work. It was also interesting to learn of the tax problems that plagued Shaw and others who worked in and out of Britain. If you like biographies, movies, and men who lived bigger than life, I highly recommend this book.

More than a Life - more than a Star.......2002-08-04

This is an excellent and engrossing account of a complex, flawed, difficult, passionate, honest, immensely talented and hugely underrated actor, author and playwright.
The book provides a superb overview of his life, and provides a counter-balance to the only other completed (to date) biography, the rather more subjective view of his former manager John French.
Robert Shaw's brilliance as a performer and writer was underpinned by the early experience of his father's tragic suicide; the resultant fiery over-competitive will to succeed was best channelled in performances that displayed his talent for supreme intensity backed by intelligence. On this form Shaw commanded the camera; witness his scene-stealing in From Russia with Love and Jaws - then witness again in his other works; this is Gold standard British talent that is yet to be fully appreciated by his profession and public...this book helps redress the balance a bit and lets us know what we are now missing.

Robert Shaw, much more than just a great actor.......2002-04-13

My wife bought me this biography because she knows how big of a Robert Shaw fan I am. However, before reading this book, my knowledge of Shaw was limited to his work in the movies. I had no idea he was a brilliant writer as well as a father of ten. After reading this biography I read one of his books, The Man in the Glass Booth and realized how big of a talent he was with writing. It was mentioned several times in his biography that he enjoyed writing more than he enjoyed acting. It also tells about his time doing Shakespeare and there is a section about his time spent acting in Jaws. This is truly an exceptional biography about an exceptional actor/writer.

For my friend Robert because I love him.......2002-04-08

When I saw Mr Shaw for the first time (in Jaws)I was about nine years old.
Now I'm twenty and Shaw was far before mine time but I feel that he can learn me how to life because this great biographie from a man who I love and dream about.
I'm sure that I'm the most fanaticus of the "Shaws-fan" from the Netherlands.
I have a private archief from this unique person and I dream about him and think most of the time how sweet he was for childeren.
Mr Shaw is deep in my heart because I discover his live and read this colourful biographie and I will thank Garmean and Gaston for this great great great book, thank you!!!!!!!!!!!!
This book is the most best biography because the spirit that Shaw in his short live had give this book the most power.

(sorry for my bad english I think)

Love you all Gilian Schmidt,

the Netherlands

Robert Shaw - British Film Star........2001-05-27

While he never reached the mega-stardom of Sean Connery, Richard Burton, or Peter Sellers. Robert Shaw was still one of Britains major stars. A very talented, but difficult man, it is not hard to see why he had problems in his life. A tragic childhood experience (his father commited suicide), haunted Shaw all though his life. Determined to succeed, Shaw was over competitive, which alienated him from many people. Basically he was a decent man, who while had many faults, never had the self-disgust of Richard Burton, or the utter selfishness of Peter Sellers. 'From Russia with Love,' made him a star, but it was his role as 'Quint' the shark killer in 'Jaws,' which made him a major player in Hollywood, but success came to late, for like so many of the character,s Shaw played in his films, he had used all his skill and determination to get to the top, only to fail at the last minute. His death in 1978, at the early age of 51, robbed Britain of one of her truely international stars. A total family man, Shaw was also a talented author and playwright (something he was returning to at the time of his death). It's good to see a biography of this talented but neglected man. The authors do a completely fair study, pointing out his strengths as well as his faults. Recommeded.

New Documentary: A Critical Introduction

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New Documentary: A Critical Introduction
Stella Bruzzi
Manufacturer: Routledge
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

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ASIN: 0415182964

Book Description

New Documentary provides a comprehensive account of the last two decades of documentary filmmaking in the US, Britain and Europe. Bruzzi discusses key genres, filmmakers, and issues for the study of non-fiction film and television. Bruzzi discusses the relationship between recent, innovative examples of the genre and the more established canon of documentary. She also explores how issues of gender identity, queer theory, performance, "race" and spectatorship are important to our understanding of contemporary documentary.

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Coming Attractions
Terence Stamp
Manufacturer: Grafton
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

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ASIN: 0586207368

The Culture of History: English Uses of the Past 1800-1953

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The Culture of History: English Uses of the Past 1800-1953
Billie Melman
Manufacturer: Oxford University Press, USA
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover

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ASIN: 019929688X

Book Description

In this original and widely researched book, Billie Melman explores the culture of history during the age of modernity. Her book is about the production of English pasts, the multiplicity of their representations and the myriad ways in which the English looked at history (sometimes in the most literal sense of 'looking') and made use of it in a social and material urban world, and in their imagination. Covering the period between the Napoleonic Wars and the Coronation of 1953, Melman recoups the work of antiquarians, historians, novelists and publishers, wax modellers, cartoonists and illustrators, painters, playwrights and actors, reformers and educationalists, film stars and their fans, musicians and composers, opera-fans, and radio listeners. Avoiding a separation between 'high' and 'low' culture, Melman analyses nineteenth-century plebeian culture and twentieth-century mass-culture and their venues - like Madame Tussaud's Chamber of Horrors, panoramas, national monuments like the Tower of London, and films - as well as studying forms of 'minority' art - notably opera. She demonstrates how history was produced and how it circulated from texts, visual images, and sounds, to people and places and back to a variety of texts and images. While paying attention to individuals' making-do with culture, Melman considers constrictions of class, gender, the state, and the market-place on the consumption of history. Focusing on two privileged pasts, the Tudor monarchy and the French Revolution, the latter seen as an English event and as the framework for narrating and comprehending history, Melman shows that during the nineteenth century, the most popular, longest-enduring, and most highly commercialized images of the past represented it not as cosy and secure, but rather as dangerous, disorderly, and violent. The past was also imagined as an urban place, rather than as rural. In Melman's account, City not green Country, is the centre of a popular version of the past whose central Images are the dungeon, the gallows, and the guillotine.

Distorted Images: British National Identity and Film in the 1920s (Cinema and Society)

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Distorted Images: British National Identity and Film in the 1920s (Cinema and Society)
Kenton Bamford
Manufacturer: I. B. Tauris
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover

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ASIN: 1860643582

Book Description

The 1920s is a neglected period in British film history, yet this is a fascinating period in the cinema when, confronted with audiences' preference for the American cinema of Griffith and deMille, the British cinema-going public was being encouraged to "buy British." In this rigorous, illuminating exploration of the cultural construction of "Britishness" by the British film industry, Kenton Bamford investigates the image of nation and of British men and women that films projected, the class attitudes and values that underpinned those images, and the realities of the reception of British and American films across classes. Using an exciting array of original source materials, he looks at the culture of the stage and popular fiction on which the cinema fed and demonstrates the stultifying aura of middle-class gentility that stifled creativity, innovation and democracy in British films. He also uncovers some unsung heroes of British cinema, including British star Betty Balfour and director George Pearson.

The Beatles Movies (Cassell Film Studies)

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A well researched academic trawl through visual fabland

The Beatles Movies (Cassell Film Studies)
Bob Neaverson
Manufacturer: Cassell
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

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America Divided: The Civil War of the 1960s

ASIN: 0304337978

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A well researched academic trawl through visual fabland.......1999-04-07

Taking the Beatles' incursions into the world of film chapter by chapter, this fascinating and well-researched book uses reminiscences of people who were there to create a thorough and absorbing account of the construction of a uniquely varied visual repertoire. The author's enthusiasm for the material in question is tempered by a willingness to probe deeply and critically into the guts of the Beatles' creative processes. Despite the somewhat dry academic style of this book, I still found myself reading it from cover to cover, almost in one sitting. This is a recommended book on a seminal but often scorned chapter in movie history.

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Excellent Intro to Film Noir Theory. Concise and Readable.
A Brilliant Trip Down These Mean Streets

Film Noir
Andrew Spicer
Manufacturer: Longman
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

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ASIN: 0582437121

Book Description

"Yes, I killed him. I killed him for the money and for a woman. I didn't get the money, and I didn't get the woman. Pretty, isn't it?" -- Fred MacMurray in Double Indemnity, 1944

An examination of 'classic' film noir (1940-59) which explores its contexts of production and reception, its visual style, narrative patterns and themes and character development.
Traces the complex development of 'neo-noir' from Night Moves and Taxi Driver to Pulp Fiction and Memento.
Is an accessible, informative and stimulating introduction Film Noir

This is an examination of a celebrated, but also contested, body of films whose history is more extensive and diverse than American black and white crime thrillers of the forties. A background chapter situates film noir within its cultural context, describing its origin in German Expressionism, French Poetic Realism and in developments within American genres, the gangster/crime thriller, horror and the Gothic romance and its possible relationship to changes in American society. Andrew Spicer discusses 'classic' film noir (1940-59) and investigates 'neo-noir' and British film noir. Films discussed include both little known examples and seminal works such as Double Indemnity, Scarlet Street, Kiss Me Deadly and Touch of Evil. A final section provides a guide to further reading, an extensive bibliography and a list of over 500 films referred to in the book. Film Noir is an accessible, informative and stimulating introduction that will have a broad appeal to fans and enthusiasts of the film noir genre.

Andrew Spicer is at the University of West England

Customer Reviews:

Excellent Intro to Film Noir Theory. Concise and Readable........2004-08-11

"Film Noir" is an excellent introduction to film noir theory. Author Andrew Spicer, a professor of film studies, has packed all of the key definitions, elements, and influences on film noir into just over 200 very readable pages. "Film Noir" is well organized, in the style of a text book. Pictures are few, as are detailed descriptions of plots. The book covers both classic and neo-noir,1940-2000, with about half of the book dedicated to each. The discussion of classic noir includes the definitions and evolution of the style, the conditions of production, themes, narrative strategies, gender roles, and three noir auteurs (Anthony Mann, Robert Siodmark, Fritz Lang). Spicer divides neo-noir into two periods: modernist and post-modern. Modernist refers to the 1967-1976 period when films were characterized by the near-complete collapse of the Hollywood studio system, unprecedented directorial power, and a conspicuous absence of femmes fatales. The post-modern era began in 1981, with studios jumping back into the noir picture and dedicating big budgets and big stars to noirs, betting on commercial success. Most of the films discussed in "Film Noir" are American, but the book's last chapter is dedicated to British film noir. Appendices (although they are not labeled as such) include excellent lists of American and British film noirs, organized chronologically and grouped by era. There is an index of names and an index of films. "Film Noir" is academic, but it's a good, concise analysis for anyone who wants analysis but isn't up to heavy-duty film theory that is so often tedious. It's a very readable, useful intro to film noir theory, covering 60 years of American and British noir, with the occasional reference to German and French films as well.

A Brilliant Trip Down These Mean Streets.......2002-12-07

This is a textbook designed to introduce film noir to college students. However, it could be read with profit by anyone with an interest in the film noir phenomenon.

Spicer packs an incredible amount of information in the small space he has. He refers to the latest books and is incredibly thorough. He does a fine job on the origins of film noir, covering not only "tough guy" authors and German expressionism, but also Weimar "street films," French poetic realism and expressionism in American film before noir.

What I found especially interesting was the way Spicer continually breaks down noir and neo-noir into different eras. He sees a difference between noir of the Forties and Fifies, and he distinguishes between early neo-noir and late neo-noir, with Body Heat being the breaking point. I found that very useful, since the neo-noir era has lasted so long by now. It is hard to think of The Long Goodbye and Reservoir Dogs as fitting in the same era, so it is good to have a distinguishing framework.

Spicer also covers British film noir, and he breaks that down into different eras as well. To someone very familiar with the American noir cannon, this is like discovering a new continent of films.

So I would strongly urge any film noir enthusiast to get Spicer's book. You will learn something you didn't know before, or find out about films you will want to see.

Customer Reviews:

A hard man who lived a hard life.......2006-03-12

If you ever saw the movie Lock, Stock and Two Smoking Barrels , you probably noticed the mob enforcer character, "Barry the Baptist", who "baptized" his victims in trash-bins filled with water. While reading an article about the movie, a mention was made of the real mobsters and hard-edged sorts that were used in bit parts. One such role was played by Lenny McLean, who portrayed Barry, and was called out as "in real life, the hardest man in England".

As an American fight fan, I'd never heard of Lenny McLean. So I did a bit of Internet research and happened upon his autobiography -- this book -- over at Amazon.co.uk. I bundled it with a few other UK-only purchases (at the time, certain AJ Quinnell books were only available there, too) and received it days later. It was a captivating, compelling read -- the working-class, Cockney nomenclature notwithstanding -- that details McLean's rise from an abused child to the top of England's unlicensed fight game.

An unlicensed fight can take place anywhere: a warehouse, tavern, gym... wherever there's enough room for two willing fighters and a plethora of bettors. The rules? Let's just say there aren't many. Head butts, hair-pulling, elbows, knees, and the like are all part of the game. One might consider UK's unlicensed fights as the logical ancestor to today's UFC or mixed martial arts.

Over time, McLean proved himself the most dangerous man in the fight game. He participated in thousands of these no-holds-barred bouts, and it can be argued he lost only once. And in a rematch of that fight, he handily won. McLean doesn't shy away from describing his experiences on the seamy side of things. He details his role as a real-life mob enforcer willing to do anything -- except kill -- to collect or intimidate. Even his tangles with the law -- including a murder charge for which he was found innocent -- are fully described in colloquial, yet entirely satisfying, prose.

The book's ending is filled with promise for a new life as an actor: McLean appeared in several TV and film roles. But during the filming of LS&2SB, McLean was stricken by a bout with the flu. Subsequent testing showed that he was suffering from advanced lung and brain cancer and he passed away in July 1998, just days before the release of the film. The book is a fascinating testament to a hard man who lived a hard life, but was equally dedicated to his family and destined for great things no matter the odds.

lenny#1.......2005-07-18

one of the best books i have ever read

a must buy

They broke the mold after Lenny.......2005-07-11

What an amazing book. The story of a kid, horribly beaten by his step father, who grows into the hardest bare knuckle boxer in the world. But what makes the story so great is McLean's ethic's and moral's. He clearly draws a line in the sand and if crossed there's trouble. Not just a hard man but a real character. This is a great read.

A Fitting Tribute.......2004-10-21

After reading "The Guvnor", and managing to get through it in a matter of days, I wanted to know more about Lenny Mclean, and so bought this tribute compiled by his close friends and family. It didn't teach me a great deal about Lenny's story, but then again that isn't the purpose of this book. The people who contribute include his friends from prison, from his bare knuckle boxing career, fellow actors, and of course his wife and children. It also goes into more detail about his acting career, short as it may have been, and his final battle with cancer, which he ultimately lost, but not without facing it head-on to the end. It gives more of an insight into the man he really was, and it is a fantastic tribute to the man who was, and always will be known as "The Guvnor."

Saints and Avengers: British Adventure Series of the 1960s

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The Other British Invasion
An excellent book for anyone interested in these shows!

Saints and Avengers: British Adventure Series of the 1960s
James Chapman
Manufacturer: I. B. Tauris
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

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ASIN: 1860647545

Book Description

Series like "The Avengers" and "Danger Man", with their professional secret agents, or "The Saint" and "The Persuaders", featuring flamboyant crime-fighters, still inspire mainstream and cult followings. Saints and Avengers explores and celebrates this unique television genre for the first time. James Chapman uses case studies to look at the thrillers' representations of national identity, and the world of the '60's and '70's. Chapman also asserts that this particular type of thriller was a historically and culturally defined generic type, with enduring appeal, as the current vogue for remaking them as big budget films attests.

Customer Reviews:

The Other British Invasion.......2005-09-05

In Saints & Avengers, author James Chapman profiles nine TV series. He says that all but one are available on home video, but he must mean in the U.K., because a quick search shows that only about half are easily available in the U.S. Some of these shows never aired in the U.S., so the American reader may not be as interested in some parts of this book.

The subtitle is British Adventure Series of the 1960s and that is an accurate description of the purpose of this book. Chapman examines how the British TV series differed from the American shows of the same time and how these shows in particular typified the decade.

Even in the 60s, American television was a dominant cultural force, but British series such as The Avengers and The Champions were still able to capture a large American audience. For one thing, there were few spy series in the U.S., with westerns and detective drama more common. When Brit spy shows came to America, we were ready for them. (Come to think of it, I can't even think of any American spy heroes, fictional or not.)

Chapman also looks at how the shows belonged to the Sixties and couldn't succeed beyond the end of the decade. He points out the failure of The New Avengers and The Return of the Saint. On the other hand, it seemes that viewers in the Seventies were receptive to a completely different type of series, as The Prisoner showed.

Chapman's writing is clear and engaging, except in the introduction, when he gets bogged down in academic jargon. Don't let that keep you from moving right on to the rest of this thoughtful and entertaining look at some of the best television there has ever been.

An excellent book for anyone interested in these shows!.......2004-02-14

This book works on three levels:

1. Read as a whole, it provides a fascinating account of the rise and fall of the British TV export market in the 1960s. I always wondered why there are all these great British shows that aired on American network TV back then, but none do now. This book provides the answers.

2. Chapman provides very interesting and well-cited academic insight into these series, examining their themes and cultural implications, and how they fit into their time, without ever becoming dry or boring. This book is not a text book; it's very readable.

3. Read in pieces, the book provides solid backgrounds and analysises of each program it discusses. The most pages are devoted to Secret Agent (Danger Man), The Avengers, The Saint, and The Persuaders, which should make sense to an American reader, since these are the shows most commonly available here on DVD. It is worth buying this book even if you are just into ONE of these shows and want to know more about it. However, I found myself reading every chapter, and becoming interested in the other shows discussed as well, and trying to track them down.

Amazon.com

In this satisfying, straight-ahead biography of the star of My Fair Lady, Mary Poppins, and The Sound of Music, Robert Windeler walks a fine line between adulation and gossip. While his admiration for the former singing sensation shines through the text, he grapples earnestly with her parents' alcoholism, her extramarital affair, and the long stretches in her career without a Broadway or Hollywood hit. What emerges is a multidimensional portrait of a former British child star who lost her way in early success and found herself--and an interesting new toughness--through some midlife failures, which lead to her 1995 Broadway comeback in Victor/Victoria and her defiance of the Tony Awards. There's much more in Andrews of the scrappy survivor Victoria Grant (of Victor/Victoria) than any magical nanny.

Customer Reviews:

Couldn't put it down. - Diane.......2005-09-20

A great book with lovely pictures. I just couldn't put it down.
The writer obviously knew her well and shared her amazing story. It was witty, sad and yet it often made you smile. She's also a gutsy lady with a gentle kind nature and very, very talented. Recomend this to anyone..

Long-winded and overheard.......2005-08-24

Julie's a great actor, but this bio isn't as interesting as its subject. An editor is needed for Mr. Windeler's overdrawn overdone prose.

rawther opiniated, yet still delightful.......2003-11-26

What's with the cover picture? I mean, I love Victor/Victoria, but Julie is a beautiful woman... why did he choose this picture? Also, there were times in the book where Windeler's personal opinion was a little offensive to me. I suppose that is alright, because he is allowed his opinion, but it seemed to me like he was bashing the movie "Star!", which happens to be one of my favorites. Other than the difference in opinion that occurred occasionally between the reader and the author... this book was a delightful, yet 'real' holiday about Julie Andrews. It's loaded with anecdotes and great accounts of 'The Adventures of Julie and Carol (Burnett)' (as I call them). Over all, this is a good read for the Julie Fanatic, just keep in mind that you don't always have to agree with what this biographer has to say . ;)

A Woman of Wonders.......2002-03-27

This book about Julie Andrews is extremely interesting. Julie has had many inspiring experiences in her life and continues today to have many more. This book explains how she became what she is today. Also, this book tells the reader many interesting facts about Julie Andrews personal life and career.

GREAT BOOK!.......2002-01-28

Julie Andrews: A Life on Stage and Screen is a great read and I have to say that I found it rather informative. Aside from a few spelling and grammatical errors, it was a good book. Any serious Julie fan should read this!

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