Adventures in the Screen Trade: A Personal View of Hollywood and Screenwriting

Adventures in the Screen Trade: A Personal View of Hollywood and Screenwriting
by William Goldman

Adventures in the Screen Trade: A Personal View of Hollywood and Screenwriting
List Price: $19.99
Our Price: $11.31
You Save: $8.68 (43%)
Availability: Usually ships in 1-2 business days
Buy Used: from $3.27 (click here)
Category: Book
See more book details and other editions


or

Book Summary Information

Author: William Goldman
Edition: Paperback
Audio: English (Unknown); English (Original Language); English (Published)
Published: 1989-03-10
ISBN: 0446391174
Number of pages: 594
Publisher: Grand Central Publishing

Book Reviews of Adventures in the Screen Trade: A Personal View of Hollywood and Screenwriting

Book Review: Mixed feelings about this book
Summary: 3 Stars

It's hard to review this book. On the one hand, I agree with a lot of what Goldman says (as well as what he says in his follow-up book, "Which Lie Did I Tell?"). There's little doubt, unless you're under 25 and still think digital effects are the reason to go to movies, that Hollywood is rotting from the inside out. On the other hand, I get the feeling that Goldman would be coming up with excuses for why he never really quite made it as big in Hollywood as it looked like he once would, even if none of the problems with Hollywood existed. Because--and here's a secret--Goldman really isn't a great screenwriter. I know I'm going against the trend here. I know he worked on some major 70s films and I know he used to make bread most of us can only dream about, but honestly, his greatest contributions are Butch Cassidy and The Princess Bride, and Butch really isn't a great screenplay (it's a great *idea* for a screenplay, though) and even Princess Bride--despite all the hype in a relatively boring year--is merely so-so. If I had to pick a favorite Goldman work, of all the ones I've seen I'd vote for All The President's Men.

The book is a great introduction to Hollywood for anyone who still have visions of the dream factory dancing in their head. Since the early 1980s, when he wrote this book, things have only gotten more manic, more insecure, more crazy, with the product getting worse and worse every year. (In that sense this book is out of date, and the interested student should read "Which Lie" or some other recent book.) What I find schizophrenic about Goldman's book is that he properly cites the reasons for the decline of Hollywood, yet when he was writing he wasn't exactly turning out paradigm-changing works either. He contributed more than his share of phony, by-the-numbers screenplays; often in this book I get the feeling that Hollywood has just passed him by. And his ideas for movies like The Right Stuff pale compared with what was eventually made. I'm rather glad he walked that picture--one of my favorites of the 1980s--and that Kauffman wrote his own screenplay instead.

Still, some of Goldman's war stories are highly entertaining and revealing. His famous dictum NOBODY KNOWS ANYTHING has become mantra among aspiring Hollywood creatives, and it's largely true. And his definition of comic book movies is classic, and much food for thought, especially for aspiring creatives. At the same time, some of his movies are as bad as the ones he rips on.

The book includes the full screenplay to Butch Cassidy. I can't figure out why, other than he can't seem to let go of that one creation. Throughout the book it's "Butch this" and "Butch that," and 20 years later in his sequel ("Which Lie") book he's still on the Cassidy kick. I don't know a film school teacher or anyone else for that matter, besides Goldman himself, who thinks it's a work worthy of study, so the inclusion here strikes me as pure vanity. He also includes an adaptation of a short story he wrote called "Da Vinci." Neither story nor adaptation moved me much. I think he's brave, however, to let something this lame be read, along with critical comments about it, when he was still in the biz at that time. I know I would never show that draft to anyone.

The book is breezy fun, but you might want to either check it out at a library or get a really cheap used copy. Makes a good airplane book--you buy it on one coast, read it over the heartland, and throw it in the trash can when you get off the plane five hours later.

Summary of Adventures in the Screen Trade: A Personal View of Hollywood and Screenwriting

As befits more than twenty years in Hollywood, Oscar-winning screenwriter William Goldman's sparkling memoir is as entertaining as many of the films he has helped to create. From the writer of Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid, All the President's Men and Marathon Man, Adventures in the Screen Trade is an intimate view of movie-making, of acting greats such as Redford, Olivier, Newman and Hoffman, and of the trials and rewards of working inside the most exciting business in the world.

Entertainers Books

Book Subjects
Most talked about in Entertainers Books
El Sid: Saint Vicious ImageEl Sid: Saint Vicious
by David Dalton
Griffin; Published: 1998-07; Paperback; Book
Best price: $2.79
Price in other shops: $11.95
Moonwalk ImageMoonwalk
by Michael Jackson
Crown Archetype; Published: 2009-10-13; Hardcover; Book
Best price: $14.61
Price in other shops: $25.00
High Society: The Life of Grace Kelly ImageHigh Society: The Life of Grace Kelly
by Donald Spoto
Three Rivers Press; Published: 2010-10-05; Paperback; Book
Best price: $7.73
Price in other shops: $16.00
Stand & Deliver: The Autobiography ImageStand & Deliver: The Autobiography
by Adam Ant
Pan Macmillan; Published: 2007-04-30; Hardcover; Book
Best price: $105.86
San Antonio Rose: THE LIFE AND MUSIC OF BOB WILLS (Music in American Life) ImageSan Antonio Rose: THE LIFE AND MUSIC OF BOB WILLS (Music in American Life)
by Charles Townsend
University of Illinois Press; Published: 1986-10-01; Paperback; Book
Best price: $33.50
Price in other shops: $37.50
Orson Welles: Volume 1: The Road to Xanadu ImageOrson Welles: Volume 1: The Road to Xanadu
by Simon Callow
Penguin (Non-Classics); Published: 1997-02-01; Paperback; Book
Best price: $10.22
Price in other shops: $18.00
The Basketball Diaries ImageThe Basketball Diaries
by Jim Carroll
Penguin (Non-Classics); Published: 1987-07-07; Paperback; Book
Best price: $8.52
Price in other shops: $15.00
Hollywood Animal ImageHollywood Animal
by Joe Eszterhas
Hutchinson; Published: 2004; Paperback; Book
Love, Janis ImageLove, Janis
by Laura Joplin
It Books; Published: 2005-08-16; Paperback; Book
Best price: $8.50
Price in other shops: $14.99
A Paper Life CD ImageA Paper Life CD
by Tatum O'Neal
HarperAudio; Published: 2004-10-12; Audio CD; Book
Best price: $17.77
Price in other shops: $24.95
Similar Books and other products
Easy Riders, Raging Bulls: How the Sex-Drugs-and-Rock 'N' Roll Generation Saved Hollywood ImageEasy Riders, Raging Bulls: How the Sex-Drugs-and-Rock 'N' Roll Generation Saved Hollywood
by Peter Biskind
Simon & Schuster; Published: 1999-04-04; Paperback; Book
Best price: $9.00
Price in other shops: $18.00
Your Screenplay Sucks!: 100 Ways to Make It Great ImageYour Screenplay Sucks!: 100 Ways to Make It Great
by William M Akers
Michael Wiese Productions; Published: 2008-08-01; Paperback; Book
Best price: $12.08
Price in other shops: $19.95
Save The Cat! The Last Book on Screenwriting You'll Ever Need ImageSave The Cat! The Last Book on Screenwriting You'll Ever Need
by Blake Snyder
Michael Wiese Productions; Published: 2005-05-25; Paperback; Book
Best price: $12.24
Price in other shops: $19.95
Essentials of Screenwriting: The Art, Craft, and Business of Film and Television Writing ImageEssentials of Screenwriting: The Art, Craft, and Business of Film and Television Writing
by Richard Walter
Plume; Published: 2010-06-29; Paperback; Book
Best price: $9.50
Price in other shops: $16.00
The Writers Journey: Mythic Structure for Writers, 3rd Edition ImageThe Writers Journey: Mythic Structure for Writers, 3rd Edition
by Christopher Vogler
Michael Wiese Productions; Published: 2007-11-01; Paperback; Book
Best price: $15.85
Price in other shops: $26.95
Making a Good Script Great ImageMaking a Good Script Great
by Linda Seger
Silman-James Pr; Published: 2010-02-15; Paperback; Book
Best price: $9.40
Price in other shops: $14.95
Story: Substance, Structure, Style and The Principles of Screenwriting ImageStory: Substance, Structure, Style and The Principles of Screenwriting
by Robert McKee
It Books; Published: 1997-11-25; Hardcover; Book
Best price: $21.74
Price in other shops: $40.00
Screenplay: The Foundations of Screenwriting ImageScreenplay: The Foundations of Screenwriting
by Syd Field
Delta; Published: 2005-11-29; Paperback; Book
Best price: $9.12
Price in other shops: $16.00
Making Movies ImageMaking Movies
by Sidney Lumet
Vintage; Published: 1996-03-19; Paperback; Book
Best price: $8.47
Price in other shops: $15.00
Which Lie Did I Tell?: More Adventures in the Screen Trade ImageWhich Lie Did I Tell?: More Adventures in the Screen Trade
by William Goldman
Vintage; Published: 2001-02-20; Paperback; Book
Best price: $4.10
Price in other shops: $16.95