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Trade Paperback
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9781250266293
Overview
Overview
From the New York Times bestselling author of Fifth Avenue, 5 A.M. and Fosse comes the revelatory account of the making of a modern American masterpiece
Chinatown is the Holy Grail of 1970s cinema. Its twist ending is the most notorious in American film and its closing line of dialogue the most haunting. Here for the first time is the incredible true story of its making. In Sam Wasson's telling, it becomes the defining story of the most colorful characters in the most colorful period of Hollywood history. Here is Jack Nicholson at the height of his powers, as compelling a movie star as there has ever been, embarking on his great, doomed love affair with Anjelica Huston. Here is director Roman Polanski, both predator and prey, haunted by the savage death of his wife, returning to Los Angeles, the scene of the crime, where the seeds of his own self-destruction are quickly planted. Here is the fevered dealmaking of The Kid Robert Evans, the most consummate of producers. Here too is Robert Towne's fabled script, widely considered the greatest original screenplay ever written. Wasson for the first time peels off layers of myth to provide the true account of its creation. Looming over the story of this classic movie is the imminent eclipse of the '70s filmmaker-friendly studios as they gave way to the corporate Hollywood we know today. In telling that larger story, The Big Goodbye will take its place alongside classics like Easy Riders, Raging Bulls and The Devil's Candy as one of the great movie-world books ever written.- Format: TradePaperback
- Author: Wasson, Sam
- ISBN: 9781250266293
- Condition: Used
- Dimensions: 8.20 x 1.10
- Number Of Pages: 416
- Publication Year: 2021
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A (sort of) Big Goodbye
Bill H. - 6 years 1 month agoThe Big Goodbye provides as much detail as anyone could ever need about the making of "Chinatown". But it seems, to me, to fall short by several measures. It's padded with details about false starts that never make their way into the movie. Robert Towne's screenplay and supporting material was close to 500 pages long; about 75% bigger than it should have been, and author Sam Wasson examines several plot lines that are dropped early in the pre-production process. Based on the acknowledgements, and the endnotes, actors Jack Nicholson and Faye Dunaway, and screenwriter Towne were never interviewed for the book; significant omissions. Finally, the book is laden with some heavy philosophizing which attempts to connect "Chinatown" with the end of the Hollywood studio system. There may be something to this but it appears to grasp for more significance than may be warranted. #SummerReads