McMurtry's modest essays on Hollywood screenwriting and films generally are among the most literate and absorbing in recent memory, especially when set beside William Goldman's Adventures in the Screen Trade. McMurtry does share one quality in common with Goldman in that neither writer much likes to read his own books. McMurty is even harsher on himself than Goldman, who is merely bored by his own novels. McMurtry takes an active hatchet to Horseman, Pass By (filmed as Hud, a movie McMurty thinks far superior to the novel), The Last Picture Show, and Leaving Cheyenne (filmed indifferently as Lovin 'Molly). Unfortunately, he never gets to his present reactions to the adaptation of Terms of Endearment—filmed as a tear-jerker but quite funny and moving, in which Jack Nicholson won an Oscar for a role that wasn't even in the novel. Most of these essays appeared first in American Film, where they seemed more facile than they do now bundled together. In fact, they have hardwon ideas that no screenwriter should overlook. McMurtry refuses to read or work on any project (always a book adaptation) until the very last moment when he's literally flying to Hollywood. Hollywood being so mercurial, the producer's deal may have fallen through before McMurtry has landed. Also, he resists doing first drafts before a director has been taken on. Otherwise, all he's doing is a first reading for the director while producing a digest for the producer to shuck around—a kind of scriptwriting that is death to the soul. He shoots down All the President's Men (its Oscar-winning script was supposedly by Goldman) for reducing a crucial national event by so many dimensions that the picture is a mere doorbell beside the full orchestral tones of Lina Wertmuller's Seven Beauties (also about a social cataclysm). He also is excellent on E.L. Doctorow's anguish over the novel-into-film Ragtime (a book Doctorow must have recognized as overhyped). A top-notch collection.
Pub Date: June 1, 1987
ISBN: 0743216245
Page Count: 228
Publisher: Simon & Schuster
Review Posted Online: Sept. 30, 2011
Kirkus Reviews Issue: May 15, 1987
A superb book about doing his job by a master of his craft.
The renowned writer offers advice on information-gathering and nonfiction composition.
The book consists of eight instructive and charming essays about creating narratives, all of them originally composed for the New Yorker, where McPhee (Silk Parachute, 2010, etc.) has been a contributor since the mid-1960s. Reading them consecutively in one volume constitutes a master class in writing, as the author clearly demonstrates why he has taught so successfully part-time for decades at Princeton University. In one of the essays, McPhee focuses on the personalities and skills of editors and publishers for whom he has worked, and his descriptions of those men and women are insightful and delightful. The main personality throughout the collection, though, is McPhee himself. He is frequently self-deprecating, occasionally openly proud of his accomplishments, and never boring. In his magazine articles and the books resulting from them, McPhee rarely injects himself except superficially. Within these essays, he offers a departure by revealing quite a bit about his journalism, his teaching life, and daughters, two of whom write professionally. Throughout the collection, there emerge passages of sly, subtle humor, a quality often absent in McPhee’s lengthy magazine pieces. Since some subjects are so weighty—especially those dealing with geology—the writing can seem dry. There is no dry prose here, however. Almost every sentence sparkles, with wordplay evident throughout. Another bonus is the detailed explanation of how McPhee decided to tackle certain topics and then how he chose to structure the resulting pieces. Readers already familiar with the author’s masterpieces—e.g., Levels of the Game, Encounters with the Archdruid, Looking for a Ship, Uncommon Carriers, Oranges, and Coming into the Country—will feel especially fulfilled by McPhee’s discussions of the specifics from his many books.
A superb book about doing his job by a master of his craft.Pub Date: Sept. 5, 2017
ISBN: 978-0-374-14274-2
Page Count: 208
Publisher: Farrar, Straus and Giroux
Review Posted Online: May 8, 2017
Kirkus Reviews Issue: June 1, 2017
Stricter than, say, Bergen Evans or W3 ("disinterested" means impartial — period), Strunk is in the last analysis...
Privately published by Strunk of Cornell in 1918 and revised by his student E. B. White in 1959, that "little book" is back again with more White updatings.
Stricter than, say, Bergen Evans or W3 ("disinterested" means impartial — period), Strunk is in the last analysis (whoops — "A bankrupt expression") a unique guide (which means "without like or equal").Pub Date: May 15, 1972
ISBN: 0205632645
Page Count: 105
Publisher: Macmillan
Review Posted Online: Oct. 28, 2011
Kirkus Reviews Issue: May 1, 1972
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