Product Description

``As polished and perceptive a biography as you would hope from a writer who has done justice to Fellini and Bunuel.'' New Statesman & Society Steven Spielberg is one of the cinema's greatest enchanters, with a spellbinding capacity--and a box office record--matched by very few. His power now exceeds that of the greatest moguls of Hollywood's golden era, and films like the Indiana Jones trilogy, ``ET,'' ``Close Encounters of the Third Kind,'' ``Jurassic Park,'' and the Oscar-winning ``Schindler's List''--seen by billions around the world--have forever changed the way movies are made. How was it that this ``movie brat'' became one of the most formidable players on the global entertainment scene? John Baxter has applied considerable scholarship in his quest to discover what makes Spielberg tick, and it is a success story that he tells with relish. Now in paperback, with a filmography and 55 photographs. John Baxter is a film critic, novelist and biographer; among his many books are Bunuel, Fellini, The Hollywood Exiles, and The Cinema of John Ford. 460 pp 5 x 8 55 b/w photos

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #1148028 in Books
• Published on: 1997-05
• Original language: English
• Number of items: 1
• Binding: Paperback
• 457 pages

From Booklist
Steven Spielberg is pretty much America's official dream merchant, building upon the legacy of previous cultural fantasists such as Frank Capra and Walt Disney. "The first appeal of [an American popular artwork] is, and must be," says Baxter, "commonplace delight," at which Spielberg excels. "His films . . . are machines for delighting us," Baxter continues and then tells us how those machines are put together. Exploring the filmmaking, a portrait of the filmmaker emerges. Spielberg, notably comfortable with the idea that a hiqh-quality motion picture can be entertaining and vice versa, has met with so much commercial success that his artistic successes may be overlooked. Examining Spielberg's career film by film, Baxter redresses any lack of appreciation for the man's artistry and produces an excellent book about the contemporary director who just may have the best cumulative record of achievement to stand upon in public and declare himself to be "king of the world" --of popular culture, that is. Mike Tribby

From Kirkus Reviews
A slight biography of Spielberg, perhaps the most successful filmmaker of all time. Attempting a biography of an artist at mid-career is always a daunting task, but the remarkable success of director Spielberg (Jaws, Jurassic Park, Schindler's List, etc.) makes such a book inevitable. Unfortunately, Spielberg would not be interviewed for the book. Thus Baxter (Fellini, 1994, etc.) is left with already- published reports and new interviews with co-workers. So while he describes the making of each film and probes the differences between the childlike visionary perceived by the public and the driven, often prickly director and businessman who operates behind the scenes, Baxter never finds the key to the unique personality and talent of this quixotic artist, nor does he get beyond the now- familiar story of Spielberg's evolution from film-obsessed child to filmmaker-phenomenon. Baxter also comes to his subject with the thesis, hardly original, that the superficial plot lines and comic- book mise-en-scŠnes of Spielberg's films have led to the decline of the narrative film as an art form. But because Baxter never seems to grasp the nature of Spielberg's dazzling style (which at its peak, in thrillers like Jaws and Jurassic Park, involved rigorously planned camera angles and deftly timed editing), he fails to adequately define how that style might have been misused (in more character-driven films such as The Color Purple). In addition, Baxter's credentials as biographer and critic are undermined by mistakes any freshman film student could have corrected (Frank Capra's remake of Lady for a Day is Pocketful of Miracles, not A Hole in the Head, Fran‡ois Truffaut's The Green Room is far from his ``last'' film, Broadcast News was directed by James L. Brooks, not Albert Brooks, etc.). Despite some entertaining behind-the-scenes gossip, Baxter's biography is ultimately as superficial as he accuses Spielberg's films of being. (24 pages b&w photos) -- Copyright ©1997, Kirkus Associates, LP. All rights reserved.

Review
Mr. Baxter's [book] is no more than serviceable.... It has the added handicap of being constructed mainly from secondary sources and a comparatively scant dozen or so fresh interviews ... As a critic, Mr. Baxter is even a little scary: He bizarrrely declares Schindler's List to be "essentially a 'buddy' movie" between Oskar Schindler and the Nazi commandant, Amon Goeth. What is more, Mr. Baxter's book is marred by factual errors ... -- The New York Times Book Review, Shawn Levy

Customer Reviews

I want more !
The book only scrathes the surface of this splendid director. Several chapters on the directors movies are simply to "thin". There's no information that we haven't heard of before. Instead read the book on GEORGE LUCAS by same auther. It's much better.

Don't be fooled
Despite its respectable cover this is only slightly more serious than the celebrity tell-alls of recent months. Incidentally it also has at least a couple of factual flaws even mild Internet research could have corrected

Entertaining but troubling
As someone relatively young, born and raised when Spielberg was already popular for Jaws, I've always found him an iconic figure but have never exactly been a fan-boy. Enjoyed the movies, but never really succumbed to worship. That said...

Mr. Baxter's attempt seems admirable on sight alone -- it's a large book -- but while reading I couldn't help but take issue with his tone and perspective. Rather than acknowledging the obvious talent it takes to craft the stories the way Spielberg does, the author focuses on an idea that Spielberg is more manipulative businessman than creative force. A simple viewing of even some of his earliest work, like Jaws, diminishes Mr. Baxter's point considerably.

Let's talk about the creative process and how he's able to visualize and achieve what he has; his business acumen at a young age just seems too obvious a point to harp on.

This book has plenty of interesting anecodotes and armchair-psychology ideas. But I'm struggling to get to page 200, don't feel compelled to finish and don't feel I've gleaned much as to HOW Spielberg gets things done as a director. I understand that biographers probably often feel the need to develop a strong point-of-view; maybe Mr. Baxter's attempt just missed the mark (for me).