Letters from Hollywood, 1977-2017

323 Pages·2020·2.978 MB·English

by  Bill Krohn

Letters from Hollywood

Letters from Hollywood
1977–2017
•
Bill Krohn
Published by State University of New York Press, Albany
© 2020 State University of New York
All rights reserved
Printed in the United States of America
No part of this book may be used or reproduced in any manner whatsoever
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For information, contact State University of New York Press, Albany, NY
www.sunypress.edu
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Names: Krohn, Bill, author.
Title: Letters from Hollywood : 1977–2017 / Bill Krohn.
Description: Albany : State University of New York Press, [2020] | Series:
SUNY series, horizons of cinema | Includes bibliographical references
and index.
Identifiers: LCCN 2019016747 | ISBN 9781438477633 (hardcover : alk.
paper) | ISBN 9781438477657 (ebook)
Subjects: LCSH: Motion pictures—California—Los Angeles—Reviews.
Classification: LCC PN1993.5.U65 K76 2020 | DDC 791.43/75—dc23
LC record available at https://lccn.loc.gov/2019016747
10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1
For my best friend, Dr. Barry Lew

Contents
Acknowledgments ix
Introduction
1 How I Became the Los Angeles Correspondent for
Cahiers du cinéma 3
2 On Daney (1977) 9
3 Serge Daney (1944–1992) 35
Directors Who Started in Silents
4 Allan Dwan: The Cliff and the Flume 41
5 Raoul Walsh: Objective, Burma! 49
6 Haunted Hollywood: 1979 53
7 John Ford: December 7: The Movie 63
8 Hawks at Work: The Making of Land of the Pharaohs 77
9 Alfred Hitchcock: Shelling the Lifeboat 87
10 Alfred Hitchcock: Dark Carnival 97
Directors Who Started in Talkies
11 “All This Is So”: Orson Welles’s Shakespeare Films 105
12 Ulmer without Tears 117
13 Phil Karlson Confidential 129
viii Contents
14 Nicholas Ray: We Can’t Go Home Again 135
15 Robert Aldrich: Sodom and Gomorrah 149
16 Blake Edwards: Skin Deep 161
17 Sergio Leone: Once Upon a Time in America 167
Directors Who Started in Television
18 Lucille Ball: I Love Lucy 175
19 Le Cas Wood 181
20 Robert Altman: Prêt-à-Porter 187
21 Stanley Kubrick: Full Metal Jacket 191
22 John Frankenheimer: Jonah 199
23 Monte Hellman: Iguana 217
24 Monte Hellman Today 225
Directors Who Counterattacked
25 Woody Allen: Zelig 231
26 William Friedkin: Cruising 239
27 Francis Ford Coppola: Peggy Sue Got Married 251
28 Richard Brooks: In Cold Blood 253
29 Star Wars: Reversing the Signs 259
30 Dante’s Inferno 263
31 John Landis: The Stupids 269
32 Ang Lee: The Ice Storm 277
33 Tim Burton: Ed Wood 285
34 David O. Russell: Flirting with Disaster 291
Index 295
Acknowledgments
I am grateful for the generous help of these people, who in various ways
made it possible for me to write my letters from Hollywood: Catherine
Benamou, Harold Bloom, Serge Daney, Manny Farber, Barbara Frank,
Danny Johnson, Adrian Martin, Andy Rector, Ouardia Teraha, Serge
Toubiana, and all contributors past and present to Cahiers du cinéma. My
special gratitude to the staff of the Margaret Herrick Library, Academy
of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences, Beverly Hills, in particular, Barbara
Hall and Val Armendarez.
ix