An exhaustive survey that glows with insider/outsider appeal.
With the panache of a seasoned sportswriter, former New Yorker editor Conley (Stud: Adventures in Breeding, 2002) takes readers through the action sequences and behind the scenes into the lives of the world’s legendary stunt professionals.
Most viewers have seen only their backs as they flip cars, screech brakes, fall from bridges or bolt through walls of flame. Conley shows us their faces, fears, flubs and passions. Gone are the Keystone Kops days when Hollywood’s rowdy gag masters (a “gag” is what they call the dangerous stuff) were recruited from rodeos and the circus, winged it on the set and paid the price with frequent trips to the hospital. Generations later, in the age of extreme sports, high-tech action and professional stunt elitism, the grandsons and daughters of the originals carry on. Hanging out with well-known stuntpeople like Ronnie Rondell, Jeff Galpin, Mike Kirton and Debbie Evans, among many others, Conley extracts the stories behind Hollywood’s most celebrated gags from the industry’s most prominent adrenaline addicts. On the sets of The Bourne Supremacy, Tarantino’s Death Proof and The Dukes of Hazzard movie, he tracks down trends and learns how old-school players adjust to the times. In breezy, conversational prose, the author casually fuses a good measure of history with after-shoot barstool shoptalk from the legends. He even includes a hands-on chapter with a step-by-step lesson in how to perform spinouts à la The Italian Job in the comfort of one’s own cul-de-sac. Not content with mere observation or interviews with directors, actors, coordinators and career stuntmen, Conley goes for active participation. At one point, he gets himself soaked head-to-toe with gasoline and set aflame just to earn the book’s title, giving an all-new meaning to the term “immersion journalism.” Despite the temptation to glorify, his account remains levelheaded and evenhanded.
An exhaustive survey that glows with insider/outsider appeal.Pub Date: July 1, 2008
ISBN: 978-1-59691-023-2
Page Count: 224
Publisher: Bloomsbury
Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: May 1, 2008
This is not the Nutcracker sweet, as passed on by Tchaikovsky and Marius Petipa. No, this is the original Hoffmann tale of 1816, in which the froth of Christmas revelry occasionally parts to let the dark underside of childhood fantasies and fears peek through. The boundaries between dream and reality fade, just as Godfather Drosselmeier, the Nutcracker's creator, is seen as alternately sinister and jolly. And Italian artist Roberto Innocenti gives an errily realistic air to Marie's dreams, in richly detailed illustrations touched by a mysterious light. A beautiful version of this classic tale, which will captivate adults and children alike. (Nutcracker; $35.00; Oct. 28, 1996; 136 pp.; 0-15-100227-4)
Pub Date: Oct. 28, 1996
ISBN: 0-15-100227-4
Page Count: 136
Publisher: Harcourt
Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Aug. 15, 1996
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
An extravaganza in Bemelmans' inimitable vein, but written almost dead pan, with sly, amusing, sometimes biting undertones, breaking through. For Bemelmans was "the man who came to cocktails". And his hostess was Lady Mendl (Elsie de Wolfe), arbiter of American decorating taste over a generation. Lady Mendl was an incredible person,- self-made in proper American tradition on the one hand, for she had been haunted by the poverty of her childhood, and the years of struggle up from its ugliness,- until she became synonymous with the exotic, exquisite, worshipper at beauty's whrine. Bemelmans draws a portrait in extremes, through apt descriptions, through hilarious anecdote, through surprisingly sympathetic and understanding bits of appreciation. The scene shifts from Hollywood to the home she loved the best in Versailles. One meets in passing a vast roster of famous figures of the international and artistic set. And always one feels Bemelmans, slightly offstage, observing, recording, commenting, illustrated.
Pub Date: Feb. 23, 1955
ISBN: 0670717797
Page Count: -
Publisher: Viking
Review Posted Online: Oct. 25, 2011
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Feb. 1, 1955
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