Movie History

The story of two outsiders and obsessives whose collision prompted an evangelistic alliance on the furthest frontiers of underground music. Steve Davis first met Kavus Torabi - guitarist with Gong, Guapo, Cardiacs and Knifeworld - in the mid-2000s at a gig by French underground rock legends Magma. Over the next few years, this unlikely duo's shared affinity for visionary psychedelic music would become the foundation of not only a firm friendship, but also the most infectiously inclusive broadcasting style since the much-mourned death of John Peel.

Greg Mitchell's The Beginning or the End chronicles the first efforts of American media and culture to process the Atomic Age. A movie that began as a cautionary tale inspired by atomic scientists aiming to warn the world against a nuclear arms race would be drained of all impact due to revisions and retakes ordered by President Truman and the military.

What did President Ronald Reagan think of Rocky IV? How did the Matthew Broderick film WarGames inform America's missile defense system? What Michael J. Fox movie made such an impression on President Reagan that he felt compelled to mention it in a speech to the Joint Session of Congress? Over the course of eight years, Mark Weinberg travelled to Camp David each weekend with Ronald and Nancy Reagan.

In It's Only a Movie, the incomparable Mark Kermode took us into the weird world of a film critic's life lived in widescreen. Now, The Good, The Bad and the Multiplex takes us into the belly of the beast to ask: 'What’s wrong with the modern movie business – and how can we make it right?'

Melody Ellison loves singing and gardening, and is inspired by friends and family and the Civil Rights Movement to make changes in her community. Melody's story of leadership and making one's voice heard is sure to engage today's readers as they learn what it was like to be a girl in 1964. This Step 3 Step into Reading leveled reader is great for American Girl fans ages 5 to 8. This exciting Step into Reading is based on an American Girl story by Denise Lewis Patrick.

Looking for a spooktacular Halloween activity? Put your frighteningly fun trivia knowledge to the test with this spine-tingling book of 100 trivia questions all about Halloween! Inside you'll find an engaging mix of questions covering everything from the history of Halloween, its origins and traditions, symbols and costumes, scary movies and TV specials, favorite candies, and so much more. From easy questions to ones that'll make your head spin faster than a flying witch on a broomstick, this book has something for everyone! With fun facts about Halloween traditions around the world, sweet ...

There's no business like show business! In 1912, long before Hollywood had a foothold in the world of movies, Flying A Studios opened its doors in downtown Santa Barbara. As one of the earliest studios on the West Coast, Flying A Studios produced more than 1,000 films, which put Santa Barbara on the map as a prominent center for movie magic. The movie business evolved quickly. A decade later Hollywood had become the new center of international film production, but Santa Barbara never lost its celebrity allure. Since those early days, the area has continued to attract a wide range of ...

One-Eyed Jacks, a quintessential western. The only film directed by the iconic actor Marlon Brando. Not a financial or critical success at the time, however now with attention rekindled by a re-master by Steven Spielberg and Martin Scorsese my belief it's one of the finest westerns ever made is fortified by the most film knowledgeable in the industry. The film is not listed among the top 100 westerns by my peers in Western Writer's of America. I take umbrage with that conclusion, as it's at or near the top of my list.

Based on characters created by Archie Comics, Josie and the Pussycats was a box office disappointment for MGM and Universal who produced and distributed the movie but has gone on to become a cult classic in the years since. Best Movie Ever is the product of dozens of hours of interviews with members of the movie’s cast and crew, as well as industry analysts, comic book creators, and the fans who helped keep the movie alive after the filmmakers had been told it was “dead on arrival".

An examination of African American imagery and participation in American movies includes a timeline of important African American events in film history and discusses the achievements of noted celebrities.

As any actor, producer, director, or screenwriter can attest, working in the movie business isn't easy. After Jack Nicholson filmed his first screen test for Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer, studio mogul Louis B. Mayer politely told him afterwards: "I don't know what we can use you for, but if we ever do need you, we'll need you real bad.” In the late 1960s, Paul, John, George, and Ringo–better known as The Beatles–were set to star in a movie version of J.R.R. Tolkien’s epic fantasy novel, The Lord of the Rings, until Tolkien objected over the loudness of their music.

Ranging from the shattered gentility of Edith Wharton's heroines to racial confrontation in the songs of Nina Simone, American Rhapsody presents a kaleidoscopic story of the creation of a culture. Here is a series of deeply involving portraits of American artists and innovators who have helped to shape the country in the modern age. Claudia Roth Pierpont expertly mixes biography and criticism, history and reportage, to bring these portraits to life and to link them in surprising ways.

Paul Newman, the Oscar-winning actor with the legendary blue eyes, achieved superstar status by playing charismatic renegades, broken heroes, and winsome antiheroes in such revered films as The Hustler, Cool Hand Luke, Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid, The Verdict, The Color of Money, and Nobody’s Fool. But Newman was also an oddity in Hollywood: the rare box-office titan who cared about the craft of acting, the sexy leading man known for the staying power of his marriage, and the humble celebrity who made philanthropy his calling card long before it was cool.

Updated information about every instrumental recording that reached number one on Billboard's popular recorded music charts from 1950 to the present. There is a great deal of information about every instrumental song that topped the pop charts, as well as every one of the recording artists, and each recorded song’s songwriters. The author conducted massive research to compile the interesting stories found in this book. The text covers the instrumentalists from Anton Karas’ recording of “Third Man Theme,” which reached number one in 1950, through Baauer reaching the top of the charts...

Based on very real and practical commentary, life experience, and occasionally, tongue-in-cheek-misfortunes of horror legends, Necessary Death explores how the horror genre offers individuals a unique opportunity for insight and understanding of their own lives.

Whether for game night with family and friends, preparing for the competition at the local pub, or passing the time during long family car trips, this is the book for you....

We've all heard that you learn more from failure than you do from success. Which means that all those hours spent watching crappy movies wasn't a waste of your precious and ever-dwindling life span; it was an education! And Better Living Through Bad Movies can show you how to extract the profound, life-affirming lessons from films like Battlefield Earth, Coyote Ugly, and Indecent Proposal.

The 10 best Bond movies...ever? It doesn't get much more subjective than this. Or much more fun!

Warren Beatty guarded his privacy even before he became a movie star, when he burst onto the screen in 1961 as the earnestly handsome all-American boy in Splendor in the Grass. When he started acting, Beatty kept secret the fact that actress Shirley MacLaine, already a star, was his older sister. Over time, he has cultivated a mystique, giving few interviews and instructing others not to talk about him. Until now.

Movies under the Influence charts the entangled histories of moviegoing and mind-altering substances from early cinema through the psychedelic 1970s. Jocelyn Szczepaniak-Gillece examines how the parallel trajectories of these two aspects of American culture resulted in them being treated and regulated in similar ways. Rather than looking at drug use within film, she regards cinema and intoxicants as kindred experiences of immersion that have been subject to corresponding forces of ideology and power.