Who the Hell's in It: Portraits and Conversations

If you love the old movies and their stars, you'll love reading Mr. B's reminiscences. He met and worked with so many of them! His wonderful writing style is conversational, not scholarly, which is not to say that he doesn't know his subject. Peter Bogdonovich loves and understands movies and moviemaking, and has a great appreciation for actors and actresses. His book is a great read!!

I picked up this book and flipping through it came upon some still pictures of John Wayne from several of his movies. This made me turn the pages back to the beginning of that chapter and read it. Then I turned the page and the next chapter was Henry Fonda. I was getting tired of standing up so I took it home with me. The author has been working with actors virtually all of his life. And he has done this, not as a reporter, but as one of their own. He's acted, directed, written, just about everything in the movie business. In this book he is not writing from second hand reports, he knew and associated with the people he is writing about. Well in a few cases he knew people around them, like Arthur Miller, Marilyn Monroe's husband. This book has 25 chapters, one each for 25 of the most memorable people Hollywood has produced.

If you're looking for a book that spills the dirt on some of the biggest names in Hollywood (when Hollywood WAS Hollywood), this ain't it! Bogdanovich, as he did with the great directors in "Who The Devil Made It?", has penned love-letters to some of tinsel town's greatest performers. As with the first volume, almost all of these pieces are told from the personal viewpoint of his inter-actions with each of the stars, a ploy that could become tedious in less capable hands. It is important to remember, however, that, before he was a director, and sometime actor, Bogdanovich was one of the best writers on the art of film, a talent he retains to this day. The pieces vary in length from less than 10 pages to an almost novella length essay on Jerry Lewis. The problem, if any, is that the short pieces often seem TOO short and the longer ones, especially the Lewis piece, could have stood a little trimming. But, all in all, these mash notes (you won't find many negative comments on any of his subjects) are beautifully written and speak of a time and place we shall never see again. If you love film, this is your next big read!