The Magnificent 60s

Hollywood in the 1960s walked a tightrope between boom and bust. Yet the decade spawned many of the greatest films ever made, saw the advent of the spy thriller, the revival of science fiction and horror, and represented the Golden Era of the 70mm roadshow. Blockbusters like Lawrence of Arabia and The Sound of Music shared marquees with low-budget hits such as Lilies of the Field and Easy Rider. New stars emerged--Steve McQueen, Sidney Poitier, Barbra Streisand, Sean Connery, Faye Dunaway, Clint Eastwood and Dustin Hoffman. Veteran directors like Billy Wilder and William Wyler were joined by the post-war generation of Robert Aldrich and Stanley Kramer, and the new wave of Stanley Kubrick and John Schlesinger. This book explores a period when filmmakers embraced revolutionary attitudes to sexuality, violence and racism, and produced a bewildering list of critically acclaimed classics that remain audience favorites.

Introduction -- Engineering The great escape : from book to film (and in-between) -- Tunneling in : The great escape : style, theme, and structure -- After-lives -- Appendix : "It really happened".

Hollywood in the 1960s walked a tightrope between boom and bust. Yet the decade spawned many of the greatest films ever made, saw the advent of the spy thriller, the revival of science fiction and horror, and represented the Golden Era of the 70mm roadshow. Blockbusters like Lawrence of Arabia and The Sound of Music shared marquees with low-budget hits such as Lilies of the Field and Easy Rider. New stars emerged--Steve McQueen, Sidney Poitier, Barbra Streisand, Sean Connery, Faye Dunaway, Clint Eastwood and Dustin Hoffman. Veteran directors like Billy Wilder and William Wyler were joined by the post-war generation of Robert Aldrich and Stanley Kramer, and the new wave of Stanley Kubrick and John Schlesinger. This book explores a period when filmmakers embraced revolutionary attitudes to sexuality, violence and racism, and produced a bewildering list of critically acclaimed classics that remain audience favorites.

The story behind The Magnificent Seven could have been a movie in itself. It had everything—actors’ strike, writers’ strike, Mexican government interference and a row between the screenwriters that left one removing his name from the credits, all under the lingering gloom of post–McCarthy era Hollywood. A flop on release, it later became a box office hit. This book tells the behind-the-scenes story: how Yul Brynner became the biggest independent producer in Hollywood; why John Sturges was not the first choice after Brynner surrendered the director’s chair; why Sturges quit; the truth about the Mirisch Company (producers); the details of the film’s botched release and unlikely redemption; the creation of Elmer Bernstein’s classic score; and how internecine fighting prevented the making of the television series in 1963. Myths about Steve McQueen, his feud with Brynner and the scene-stealing antics of the cast are debunked. A close examination of the various screenplay drafts and the writers’ source material—Akira Kurosawa’s Seven Samurai—shows who wrote what. Extensive analysis of Sturges’ directorial work is provided.

How has a group conceived as a short-lived commodity outlived many more 'real' bands by nearly fifty years? Why are The Monkees still important, and what does this tell us about their music, their TV show, and our understanding of popular culture today? Despite being built in Hollywood, and not necessarily to last, that is precisely what their music, TV, and cinematic output has done. They in many ways unique--as the first 'made for TV' band, their success introduced methods of marketing pop that have since become standard industry practice; their 'big screen' use of film and images in live performance is likewise now a firmly established principle of concert staging; and in the way they changed the rules of the game, taking control over their own affairs at the height of the success, risking magnificent failure by doing so. The Monkees invented a new kind of TV, gave a new model to the music industry, and left behind one of the most enigmatic movies of the modern era, Head. This book is about all that and more. Beginning by exploring the origins and personalities of the four Monkees before looking in depth at their work together on screen, on stage, and on record, The Monkees, Head, and the 60s is the first serious study of the band and the first to fully acknowledge their importance to the development of pop as we now know it. “Jack Nicholson actually brought the book to my attention. Since neither of us are inclined to read books talking about ourselves - or for that matter about the movie world - I was surprised with this one. Peter Mills began as a musician, so his appreciation of The Monkees both as phenomenon and critic is well-founded. The Monkee history is astonishing. As for “Head”, no one has so thoughtfully elaborated on its meaning. The movie is elusive. But not to him or anyone who reads the book. And that includes me.” - Bob Rafelson (creator of The Monkees / director of “Head”)

Documents the cultural revolution behind the making of 1967's five Best Picture-nominated films, including Guess Who's Coming to Dinner, The Graduate, Doctor Doolittle, In the Heat of the Night, and Bonnie and Clyde, in an account that discusses how the movies reflected period beliefs about race, violence, and identity. 40,000 first printing.

"A novel of a Hollywood courtesan and her procurer, who rise in the film world of the 50's and early 60's. Clint the agent, and Dorothy the star, manipulate the Hollywood Godfather, Castro, JFK, an international playboy ... and one another"--Cover

With his dynamic on-air personality and his trademark cry of ''Burn, baby! BURN!'' before spinning the hottest new records, Magnificent Montague was the charismatic voice of soul music in Chicago, New York, and Los Angeles from the mid-1950s to the mid-1960s. In this memoir Montague recounts his momentous radio career, which ran from the era of segregation to that of the civil rights movement. He also tells the broader story of a life spent in the passionate pursuit of knowledge.