Peter Bart has written several inside histories of the film business and I have loved them all. As a former New York Times reporter and Vice-President of Paramount Studios, as well as editor-in-cheif of Variety magazine for 20 years, Bart reveals the inside stories behind the great films of the 1970's, not just a witness to the deals, but instrumental in making them happen.
In the late 1960's, the Gulf & Western corporation purchased Paramount studios and started with fresh management. Producer Robert Evans and reporter Peter Bart became the new heads of the studio, inheriting a pile of over budget and overblown turkeys such as Paint Your Wagon (starring singing star Clint Eastwood) and Darling Lili (in which German spy Julie Andrews seduces Rock Hudson). The failure of those movies were covered up by shell companies, yet G&W saw Paramount going under and were ready to shut it down. People were gravitating towards personal films and one of the first from Bart/Evans was written by an unknown, starring an unknown model's assistant and an ex-soap opera star, Love Story. This phenomenal success began to turn the company around, and between 1967 and 1975 they aggressively recruited a colourful young cast of filmmakers resulting in the release of such films as The Godfather, Chinatown, Harold & Maude, Rosemary's Baby, Paper Moon, and True Grit.
Infamous Players is both a memoir of Hollywood sex and drugs excess in the 1970's, and a revealing look into the machinations behind the films, as Bart and others in the industry vie to create great movies with different combinations of actors writers and directors. The Great Gatsby could have starred Warren Beatty or Marlon Brando, Marlon and Al Pacino might not have been in The Godfather. Indeed, G&W were ready to shut down the studio in the final hours of filming Godfather, and it's squeaking through rose the company from the ashes. It also highlights the changing times as the mafia and big business take up a stake in Hollywood, mixing with its most important players.
It's a captivating read for any film buff, with frank perspectives that are not always flattering, but an honest look at how Hollywood really works. If you are into film history, it's a great treat from someone who was not only in the the room, but made the decisions that changed the course of moviemaking. It's an entertaining page-turner about a unique cultural moment.
Peter Bart has written several other books about the industry including The Gross, Shoot-Out Who Killed Hollywood?, and Boffo! How I Learned To Love The Blockbuster And Fear The Bomb. My favourite of his was Fade Out, the inside scoop on the calamitous last days of MGM as billionaire Kirk Kerkorian ran the studio into the ground and then sold the parts off. If you are into filmmaking and Hollywood, movie stars and directors, and want a first hand account, Peter Bart's books are highly recommended. They are all great.
For film nerds like me, who love the personal films of the seventies, Infamous Players is highly recommended!
2011 / Hardcover / 274 pages
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