- Hardcover: 508 pages
- Publisher: HarperCollins Canada / Trade (Nov 26 1998)
- Language: English
- ISBN-10: 0002557754
- ISBN-13: 978-0002557757
- Product Dimensions: 23.4 x 17.4 x 5.6 cm
- Shipping Weight: 980 g
- Average Customer Review: 3.5 out of 5 stars See all reviews (11 customer reviews)
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Product Details |
Product Description
From Publishers Weekly
Given the maelstrom of Allen's recent life, this engaging new biography is welcome, even if not definitive. Baxter (The Hollywood Exiles) follows Allen's tangled amours and artistic discoveries from his childhood in Brooklyn through his stint as a 1950s comedy writer and onward, exhaustively detailing the making of movie after movie, from What's New, Pussycat? to Deconstructing Harry. Fair-minded but harsher than Eric Lax was in Woody Allen (1991), Baxter has done yeoman work in canvassing the published record (he lacked Lax's access to Allen and his peers). While Baxter unearths eerie tidbits about Allen's relations with two teenage girls, his psychologizing often rests on others' judgments, such as film theorist Maurice Yacowar's views on sex and death, and Allen's ex-partner Mia Farrow's take on the gap between nebbish persona and hard-nosed auteur. He considers Allen's affair with Farrow's adoptive daughter Soon-Yi more a lapse of taste than an indictable offense. Cinephiles will particularly enjoy Baxter's discussions of Allen's influences: he finds an early debt to Jules Feiffer, hears echoes of Fellini in Annie Hall and describes the brief involvement in Stardust Memories of French student radical Daniel Cohn-Bendit. (As a critic, Baxter likes the comedies more than the dramas.) Allen finds real happiness, Baxter concludes, not in his messy private life but in his work. Though the reader might wish for a broader attempt to sum up Allen's prodigious output and place in American culture, this book remains the most detailed look at an AmericanAnay, New YorkAoriginal. Photos not seen by PW. (Dec.)
Copyright 1999 Reed Business Information, Inc. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.
Copyright 1999 Reed Business Information, Inc. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.
From Library Journal
Woody Allen is one of the few truly independent directors working today. Baxter, who has previously published studies of filmmakers Bu?uel, Fellini, and Kubrick, here weaves a narrative about Allen's life and work. He describes Allen's insecurities, phobias, and melancholy; his ambivalent views toward women, sex, and his Jewish identity; and his general neuroticismAa recurrent motif in his films (Allen originally planned to title Annie Hall "Anhedonia," which means the inability to experience pleasure). He also chronicles the filmmaker's early academic and social failures and his escape to Manhattan (where he wrote for Sid Caesar before turning to stand-up comedy and then film directing). Some new information can be gleaned hereAreaders might be surprised to learn that Allen looked to Bob Hope as a role model, for exampleAbut a fair amount of Baxter's material is marginal, second-hand, or overly familiar, particularly coverage of the Soon-Yi Previn scandal. This likely results from Baxter's being denied access to Allen and most of his colleagues. In the end, Allen comes across as a cold, aloof character who nevertheless helped shape 20th-century filmmaking. Useful mostly for large film collections.AStephen Rees, Levittown Regional Lib., PA
Copyright 1999 Reed Business Information, Inc. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.
Copyright 1999 Reed Business Information, Inc. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.
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Most helpful customer reviews
4.0 out of 5 stars
Great learning tool,
By
This review is from: Woody Allen: A Biography (Hardcover)
I read this because I had NO background information on Woody Allen and thought this would be a fun way to get to know him. Consequently, I am knee-deep in Woody Allen movies. I had never been exposed to him before and learned a great deal by reading this book. For the beginner, it's a nice way to be introduced.
5.0 out of 5 stars
A balanced biography,
By
This review is from: Woody Allen: A Biography (Hardcover)
This is a very fair, even-handed look at the life of Woody Allen and his films. It is NOT critical of him, as several of the negative reviewers below seem to suggest. The author writes with candor and doesn't censor himself. Those are qualities I expect from a biography. Why read a bigraphy if you don't expect to come across a few warts? I've been a fan of Woody's for over 25 years. I like him. And, I like this book.
5.0 out of 5 stars
More than the Early Funny Ones,
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This review is from: Woody Allen: A Biography (Hardcover)
I enjoyed this book very much. I liked the author's tone, which was neither worshipful nor condemning. I thought his examination of the films was pretty interesting. His idea that Allen really owes more to Fellini than to Bergman sounded pretty convincing to me.Face it, any book on Woody Allen becomes instantly obsolescent, because by the time it gets on the shelves, Allen has made at least one more movie that might move his career in a new direction. I thought this book did a fine job of showing the many changes in Allen's career, from stand-up and TV (stuff that I really wasn't aware of - like Allen subbing for Johnny Carson) to movies and how the movies changed. Baxter's assessments of the many movies seemed mostly on the mark to me. The definitive work on Woody Allen will only be written after he is dead and thus can no longer make any movies, but until that sad day, I think this book will do very nicely.
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