Opening Shots

James Dean as a boxer's corner man in a Martin-and-Lewis comedy film? Gregory Peck as a Soviet partisan fighting Nazi invaders? Sally Field as a Lolita-like teenager on a Westward bound wagon train? Kevin Costner in a soft-core "T & A" film? Michael Douglas as an antiwar activist who joins the Army? Every career has to have a beginning, and acting in films isn't any different, as readers of Damien Bona's Opening Shots: The Unusual, Unexpected, Potentially Career-Threatening First Roles That Launched the Careers of 70 Hollywood Stars will discover when they explore this witty, informative, and even a bit biting tome by the author of Starring John Wayne as Genghis Khan and Inside Oscar: The Unofficial History of the Academy Awards. Starting with Woody Allen's appearance in 1964's What's New, Pussycat? and concluding with Pia Zadora's debut in that same year's epic Santa Claus Conquers the Martians, Bona, a former lawyer who switched to entertainment reporting (he has contributed film-related articles to TV Guide, Entertainment Weekly, and Premiere), examines and sometimes skewers some of filmdom's greats (and not-so-greats) in their fledgling film appearances. Of course, Bona points out the good "opening shots" as well as the weird or just-plain-bad ones. Take Robert Duvall's career-starting role of Boo Radley in the 1962 classic To Kill a Mockingbird, where he plays the oft-talked about but not-seen-till-almost-the-end of Robert Mulligan's adaptation of Harper Lee's best-selling novel. He is only onscreen for three and a half minutes (appearing 113 minutes into the film, at that!) and has no dialog, but he does save Jem and Scout from a vicious attack, revealing himself to be not a monstrous freak but just a mentally retarded man with the gentleness of a child trapped in an adult man's body. Many of the 70 entries deal with short first roles that don't add or detract from a film's positive qualities, but the more fascinating ones involve such possible career-enders as Sally Field's appearance in 1966's The Way West "as one Mercy McBee, a teenager whose personality is entirely defined by her sex drive." Who would have thought that this future two-time Academy Award winner (and TV's cute Gidget) made her film debut as a 19th Century Lolita of the Oregon Trail? Equally silly was Walter Matthau's villainous turn in Burt Lancaster's only directorial effort, 1955's The Kentuckian, a Western which starred Lancaster, Dianne Foster, Diana Lynn, and Donald McDonald, with Matthau earning fifth billing as a saloon keeper with a very cruel streak. He clashes with Lancaster for various reasons, not the least of which is the fact that they both want the attentions of the lovely Miss Lynn. Now, the idea of Matthau as a heavy is not ridiculous, since he could play cold and unendearing characters (as he did in 1964's Fail-Safe), but the idea of rumpled, New York City-born-and-bred Matthau as a villain in a Western is, sadly, rather ridiculous. Another sur

What a fun book! Every chapter is thoroughly researched and provides juicy details about each actor's screen debut. Mr. Bona engages you at every turn. He should be at your next dinner party. A must-read for movie afficionados!