Woody Allen: A Life in Film

(Paperback)

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Description

In an unprecedented television program last year, Woody Allen spoke to the camera for the first time about the entire range of his work, in an interview with Richard Schickel, the distinguished film critic and historian. Mr. Allen talked about how he does it, why he does it, its roots in his early life, and his current thinking about the state of his art. The result Woody Allen: A Life in Film, was one of the most popular and critically acclaimed programs in the history of Turner Classic Movies. But the presentation contained only a small fraction of Mr. Schickel's four-hour interview with the famed writer-director-actor. This new book reprints the complete conversation between the two men and includes a long essay of introduction by Mr. Schickel, which places Woody Allen's entire career in critical perspective. Readers will find Mr. Allen's reflections on his major preoccupationsthe battle of the sexes; the conflict between reality and fantasy in his major films; mortality, religion, and the role that chance plays in the unfolding of our lives. The book also offers insights into Mr. Allen's working methods as a writer and the growth of his skills as a director, as well as his assessment of himself as an actor and his surprising views of his long life in the public eye. Brief but sharply honed, Woody Allen: A Life in Film is an essential book for anyone seeking to understand the life and times of one of the most important and least understood American filmmakers of our era.

Reviews

...This book also offers new, tasty, nutritious stuff for Woody loyalists to savor. -- Owen McNally * Hartford Courant *
This is an urbane and readable work and will be of great interest to avid Allen fans... -- Andrea Slonosky * Library Journal *
Even those who have lost who have lost patience with Allen's recent efforts will want to read what he has to say about his 1970s masterworks. -- Gordon Flagg * Booklist *
As usual, Richard Schickel has nailed his subject, and this time his subject is a particularly hard one to nail. -- Jeanine Basinger, film historian and author of The Movie Musical
Witty, surprising, important (but never self-important), andbest of allmoving...a compact but very real treasure...graceful and perceptive...wonderful. -- Steven Bach
Clearly, Allen is comfortable talking to Schickel...a brisk read. * Chicago Tribune *
The author pleads a strong case that as a gifted writer and actor of limited range, Woody Allen deserves a more prominent position in the motion picture arts. * Foreword Reviews *
Thoughtful, critical insights into Allen's screen works. * Newport News Press *
Fascinating biography of a giant in film * Forecast *
Schickel is a thoughtful observer and critic, a lively writer. * Virginia Quarterly Review *
Schickel may well be the smartest, most practiced and least axe-grinding interviewer Allen has ever had. * The Buffalo News *
A breezy, readable entry to Allen's vast bibliography...with an excellent Introduction and Afterword. -- Richard A. Blake * America: The Jesuit Review of Faith & Culture *

Author Bio

Richard Schickel's most recent book is Good Morning, Mr. Zip Zip Zip, his memoir of growing up in the World War II years. A film critic for Time for many years, Mr. Schickel has written biographies of Clint Eastwood, Marlon Brando, James Cagney, D. W. Griffith, Cary Grant, and Walt Disney, as well as The Men Who Made the Movies, His Picture in the Papers, and Intimate Strangers, a pioneering study of celebrity. He also produces films for television. Mr. Schickel lives in Los Angeles.