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Hollywood: A Third Memoir (2010)

by Larry McMurtry(Favorite Author)

3.03 of 5 Votes: 4

ISBN

1439159955 (ISBN13: 9781439159958)

languge

English

genre

Memoir & Autobiography

publisher

Simon & Schuster

review 1: I've read most of Larry McMurtry's fiction, so I was curious enough to reach for this slim memoir. In short chapters, using a conversational style, McMurtry reviews his life has a "journeyman" scriptwriter. He has a fondness for Hollywood that comes through, and he makes no bones about the motive behind his involvement with some 70 scripts: m-o-n-e-y. Writing fiction did not always pay the bills, nor did bookselling. So Hollywood stood him well and gave him enterance to the sometimes glamorous or not-so-glamorous world of movie sets, award ceremonies and fancy LA restaurants, etc. Often there is name-dropping, but this is done in a very self-effacing way. I learned he is good friends with Diane Keaton, but often he only has very quick incidental tidbits to report about the... more likes of Jack Nicholson and Shirley MacLaine, etc. His praise for writing partner Diana Ossana is heartfelt. A quick read for anyone who has an interest in this beloved Texas author and/or the inner workings of Hollywood.
review 2: This light-weight morsel of a memoir, is of little consequence. From THE LAST PICTURE SHOW to BROKEBACK MOUNTAIN, McMurtry replays his film writing career in a careless and ho hum manner. He declares he loves to write fiction and it is easy for him. He confesses that screen writing is different than fiction writing, and that he had not a clue when Alan Paluka hired him work on a script of SPAWN OF EVIL. He extolls the talents of his writing partner Diana Osanna and does not brag that he has worked on scripts with Diane Keaton and Cybil Sheppard. He does not brag at all. He seems rather amazed that the whole thing has played out the way it has, although LONESOME DOVE is mentioned no less than a million times and that seems to have been a ticket. The first part of an apparently on-going series of memoir was BOOKS: A MEMOIR. I quite enjoyed that book and its bookish message. This message seems to be that screen writing can be fun; it is tedious; you need some background; many screenwriters are unhappy; he is not. Life is good. (Cool pictures of the movie stars he has worked with on the cover of this book.) less

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