THE BRIGHT SIDE OF BILLY WILDER, PRIMARILY

by Wood Thomas ‧ RELEASE DATE: Feb. 20, 1969

Billy Wilder has been one of Hollywood's bright boys, producer, director, screen writer, comedy expert responsible for giving it some of its more memorable moments -- Sunset Boulevard, Witness for the Prosecution, Some Like it Hot, One Two Three among others that have grossed over $200,000,000. He started out in the ""good old days"" when ""It was a terrific training ground for highly sexed Writers... Fifteen pages a week and a lot of time to fool around, with the contract starlets."" Billy the man is a prankish czar -- ""A new dog totally uncorrupted by old tricks,"" capable of both crude and Subtle wit -- chiding an unresponsive actor -- ""Are you at the peak of your emotional powers at last?"" He is also able to get great performances out of very recalcitrant material and his nerve-shattering run-ins with Marilyn Monroe are recounted in full here. He's anti-critic, anti-art Film, a demonic perfectionist, as one co-worker put it -- ""Billy Wilder at work is actually two people. Mr. Hyde and Mr. Hyde,"" and a very interesting character. The Wilderest!

Pub Date: Feb. 20, 1969

ISBN: N/A

Page Count: -

Publisher: Doubleday

Review Posted Online: N/A

Kirkus Reviews Issue: Feb. 1, 1969

Categories: NONFICTION