
The Friedkin Connection
A Memoir
Failed to add items
Add to Cart failed.
Add to Wish List failed.
Remove from wishlist failed.
Adding to library failed
Follow podcast failed
Unfollow podcast failed
3 months free
Buy for $35.09
No default payment method selected.
We are sorry. We are not allowed to sell this product with the selected payment method
-
Narrated by:
-
William Friedkin
-
By:
-
William Friedkin
About this listen
""[This book] captures the gut-wrenching shifts of a filmmaker’s life—the bizarre whipsaw from success to disaster.”—Variety
An acclaimed memoir from William Friedkin, a maverick of American cinema and Academy Award–winning director of such legendary films as The French Connection, The Exorcist, and To Live and Die in LA. The Friedkin Connection takes listeners from the streets of Chicago to the suites of Hollywood and from the sixties to today, with autobiographical storytelling as fast-paced and intense as any of the auteur's films.
In this book, William Friedkin, offers a candid look at a thrilling era of Hollywood cinema, when traditional storytelling gave way to the rebellious and alternative; when filmmakers like him captured the paranoia and fear of a nation undergoing a cultural nervous breakdown.
©2013 William Friedkin (P)2024 HarperCollins PublishersListeners also enjoyed...
-
The De Palma Decade
- Redefining Cinema with Doubles, Voyeurs, and Psychic Teens
- By: Laurent Bouzereau
- Narrated by: Dani Martineck
- Length: 7 hrs and 47 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Among a crop of fresh filmmakers including Steven Spielberg, George Lucas, Martin Scorsese, and Francis Ford Coppola revolutionizing Hollywood in the ’70s, Brian De Palma—a director from Philadelphia with a few social satires under his belt—charted a cinematic path unlike any of his peers. At times he was unfairly dismissed as a Hitchcock copycat; other times he was misunderstood for his peculiar mix of sexuality, humor, music, and violence. But, over the course of ten years, he created a new cinematic language.
-
-
A must for De Palma fans and cinephiles. Outstanding reader!
- By David FL on 09-19-24
-
Box Office Poison
- Hollywood's Story in a Century of Flops
- By: Tim Robey
- Narrated by: Tim Robey
- Length: 8 hrs and 57 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
From grand follies to misunderstood masterpieces, disastrous sequels to catastrophic literary adaptations, Box Office Poison tells a hugely entertaining alternative history of Hollywood, through a century of its most notable flops. What can these films tell us about the Hollywood system, the public’s appetite–or lack of it–and the circumstances that saw such flops actually made? Away from the canon, this is the definitive take on these ill-fated, but essential celluloid failures.
-
-
So biting and snarky !
- By Katie K on 07-04-25
By: Tim Robey
-
Martin Scorsese
- A Journey
- By: Mary Pat Kelly, Leonardo DiCaprio, Steven Spielberg
- Narrated by: Nancy Linari, P.J. Ochlan
- Length: 13 hrs and 34 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Few filmmakers, if any, make the kind of impact that Martin Scorsese has made on American cinema. The winner of every prestigious film award, including the Oscar, Scorsese is a living legend. Bestselling author and award-winning filmmaker Mary Pat Kelly’s groundbreaking biography reveals how this working-class boy from Manhattan’s Little Italy became one of our most acclaimed, celebrated, and influential filmmakers. Martin Scorsese: A Journey maps Scorsese’s personal and artistic evolution.
-
-
Good behind the scenes of early Scorsese films
- By Boxing Fan on 12-04-23
By: Mary Pat Kelly, and others
-
Kubrick
- An Odyssey
- By: Robert P. Kolker, Nathan Abrams
- Narrated by: Perry Daniels
- Length: 24 hrs and 33 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
The enigmatic and elusive filmmaker Stanley Kubrick has not been treated to a full-length biography in over twenty years. Stanley Kubrick: An Odyssey fills that gap. This definitive book is based on access to the latest research, especially Kubrick's archive at the University of the Arts, London, as well as other private papers plus new interviews with family members and those who worked with him. It offers comprehensive and in-depth coverage of Kubrick's personal, private, public, and working life.
-
-
A stellar biography for Kubrick lovers
- By Daniel on 09-10-24
By: Robert P. Kolker, and others
-
Adventures in the Screen Trade
- By: William Goldman
- Narrated by: Kiff VandenHeuvel
- Length: 13 hrs and 39 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
No one knows the writer's Hollywood more intimately than William Goldman. Two-time Academy Award-winning screenwriter and the best-selling author of Marathon Man, Tinsel, Boys and Girls Together, and other novels, Goldman now takes you into Hollywood's inner sanctums...on and behind the scenes for Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid, All the President's Men, and other films...into the plush offices of Hollywood producers...into the working lives of acting greats such as Redford, Olivier, Newman, and Hoffman...and more.
-
-
Classic in the field stands up
- By Jenny Jenkins on 01-01-24
By: William Goldman
-
Pandora's Box
- How Guts, Guile, and Greed Upended TV
- By: Peter Biskind
- Narrated by: Robert Petkoff
- Length: 12 hrs and 40 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Instead of focusing on one service, like HBO, Pandora’s Box asks, “What did HBO do, besides give us The Sopranos?” The answer: It gave us a revolution. Biskind bites off a big chunk of entertainment history, following HBO from its birth into maturity, moving on to the basic cablers like FX and AMC, and ending up with the streamers and their wars, pitting Netflix against Amazon Prime Video, Max, and the killer pluses—Disney, Apple TV, and Paramount.
-
-
The rise and fall of peak TV
- By AlexBenBlock on 02-16-24
By: Peter Biskind
-
The De Palma Decade
- Redefining Cinema with Doubles, Voyeurs, and Psychic Teens
- By: Laurent Bouzereau
- Narrated by: Dani Martineck
- Length: 7 hrs and 47 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Among a crop of fresh filmmakers including Steven Spielberg, George Lucas, Martin Scorsese, and Francis Ford Coppola revolutionizing Hollywood in the ’70s, Brian De Palma—a director from Philadelphia with a few social satires under his belt—charted a cinematic path unlike any of his peers. At times he was unfairly dismissed as a Hitchcock copycat; other times he was misunderstood for his peculiar mix of sexuality, humor, music, and violence. But, over the course of ten years, he created a new cinematic language.
-
-
A must for De Palma fans and cinephiles. Outstanding reader!
- By David FL on 09-19-24
-
Box Office Poison
- Hollywood's Story in a Century of Flops
- By: Tim Robey
- Narrated by: Tim Robey
- Length: 8 hrs and 57 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
From grand follies to misunderstood masterpieces, disastrous sequels to catastrophic literary adaptations, Box Office Poison tells a hugely entertaining alternative history of Hollywood, through a century of its most notable flops. What can these films tell us about the Hollywood system, the public’s appetite–or lack of it–and the circumstances that saw such flops actually made? Away from the canon, this is the definitive take on these ill-fated, but essential celluloid failures.
-
-
So biting and snarky !
- By Katie K on 07-04-25
By: Tim Robey
-
Martin Scorsese
- A Journey
- By: Mary Pat Kelly, Leonardo DiCaprio, Steven Spielberg
- Narrated by: Nancy Linari, P.J. Ochlan
- Length: 13 hrs and 34 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Few filmmakers, if any, make the kind of impact that Martin Scorsese has made on American cinema. The winner of every prestigious film award, including the Oscar, Scorsese is a living legend. Bestselling author and award-winning filmmaker Mary Pat Kelly’s groundbreaking biography reveals how this working-class boy from Manhattan’s Little Italy became one of our most acclaimed, celebrated, and influential filmmakers. Martin Scorsese: A Journey maps Scorsese’s personal and artistic evolution.
-
-
Good behind the scenes of early Scorsese films
- By Boxing Fan on 12-04-23
By: Mary Pat Kelly, and others
-
Kubrick
- An Odyssey
- By: Robert P. Kolker, Nathan Abrams
- Narrated by: Perry Daniels
- Length: 24 hrs and 33 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
The enigmatic and elusive filmmaker Stanley Kubrick has not been treated to a full-length biography in over twenty years. Stanley Kubrick: An Odyssey fills that gap. This definitive book is based on access to the latest research, especially Kubrick's archive at the University of the Arts, London, as well as other private papers plus new interviews with family members and those who worked with him. It offers comprehensive and in-depth coverage of Kubrick's personal, private, public, and working life.
-
-
A stellar biography for Kubrick lovers
- By Daniel on 09-10-24
By: Robert P. Kolker, and others
-
Adventures in the Screen Trade
- By: William Goldman
- Narrated by: Kiff VandenHeuvel
- Length: 13 hrs and 39 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
No one knows the writer's Hollywood more intimately than William Goldman. Two-time Academy Award-winning screenwriter and the best-selling author of Marathon Man, Tinsel, Boys and Girls Together, and other novels, Goldman now takes you into Hollywood's inner sanctums...on and behind the scenes for Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid, All the President's Men, and other films...into the plush offices of Hollywood producers...into the working lives of acting greats such as Redford, Olivier, Newman, and Hoffman...and more.
-
-
Classic in the field stands up
- By Jenny Jenkins on 01-01-24
By: William Goldman
-
Pandora's Box
- How Guts, Guile, and Greed Upended TV
- By: Peter Biskind
- Narrated by: Robert Petkoff
- Length: 12 hrs and 40 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Instead of focusing on one service, like HBO, Pandora’s Box asks, “What did HBO do, besides give us The Sopranos?” The answer: It gave us a revolution. Biskind bites off a big chunk of entertainment history, following HBO from its birth into maturity, moving on to the basic cablers like FX and AMC, and ending up with the streamers and their wars, pitting Netflix against Amazon Prime Video, Max, and the killer pluses—Disney, Apple TV, and Paramount.
-
-
The rise and fall of peak TV
- By AlexBenBlock on 02-16-24
By: Peter Biskind
-
Dark City (Revised and Expanded Edition)
- The Lost World of Film Noir
- By: Eddie Muller
- Narrated by: Eddie Muller, Erin Bennett
- Length: 12 hrs and 19 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Dark City expands with new chapters and a fresh collection of restored photos that illustrate the mythic landscape of the imagination. It's a place where the men and women who created film noir often find themselves dangling from the same sinister heights as the silver-screen avatars to whom they gave life.
-
-
Good overview, summary of the genre
- By Buretto on 03-31-22
By: Eddie Muller
-
The Godfather Notebook
- By: Francis Ford Coppola
- Narrated by: Francis Ford Coppola, Joe Mantegna
- Length: 1 hr and 19 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
The never-before-published edition of Francis Ford Coppola's notes and annotations on The Godfather novel by Mario Puzo reveals the story behind one of the world's most iconic films. In this one-of-a-kind audio production, Coppola provides listeners with unfiltered access to his creative process in his own voice. Featuring notes from eight scenes - handpicked by Coppola himself - The Godfather Notebook is a must-listen for fans of the 1972 film.
-
-
Pleasurable peek into the scriptwriting process
- By tru britty on 11-16-16
-
Cimino
- The Deer Hunter, Heaven’s Gate, and the Price of a Vision
- By: Charles Elton
- Narrated by: Michael Butler Murray
- Length: 12 hrs and 4 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
When it was finally released, Heaven's Gate failed so completely with reviewers and at the box office that it put legendary studio United Artists out of business and marked the end of Hollywood's auteur era. Or so the conventional wisdom goes. Charles Elton delves deeply into the making and aftermath of the movie and presents a surprisingly different view to that of Steven Bach, one of the executives responsible for Heaven's Gate, who wrote a scathing book about the film and solidified the widely held view that Cimino wounded the movie industry beyond repair.
-
-
Briskly paced, but misses the mark
- By Buretto on 04-03-22
By: Charles Elton
-
The Big Goodbye
- Chinatown and the Last Years of Hollywood
- By: Sam Wasson
- Narrated by: Sam Wasson
- Length: 11 hrs and 43 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Chinatown is the Holy Grail of 1970s cinema. Its twist ending is the most notorious in American film and its closing line of dialogue the most haunting. Here for the first time is the incredible true story of its making. In Sam Wasson's telling, it becomes the defining story of the most colorful characters in the most colorful period of Hollywood history. Here is Jack Nicholson at the height of his powers, as compelling a movie star as there has ever been, embarking on his great, doomed love affair with Anjelica Huston.
-
-
This book is cursed
- By Dobbs on 04-13-20
By: Sam Wasson
-
Louis B. Mayer and Irving Thalberg
- The Whole Equation
- By: Kenneth Turan
- Narrated by: Stephen Bowlby
- Length: 11 hrs and 32 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
One was a tough junkman's son, the other a cosseted mama's boy, but they dreamed the same mighty dream: that the right movies could make a profit and change both the culture and individual lives. Sharing a religion and an evangelical zeal for film, Louis B. Mayer (1884-1957) and Irving Thalberg (1899-1936) were unlikely partners in one of the most significant collaborations in movie history. Over the course of their decade-long relationship, as key players at Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer and major players in Hollywood, they joined forces in redefining and mastering the template for the film industry.
-
-
Lives of two Hollywood Giants
- By rumdok on 03-08-25
By: Kenneth Turan
-
The Path to Paradise
- A Francis Ford Coppola Story
- By: Sam Wasson
- Narrated by: Timothy Andrés Pabon
- Length: 14 hrs and 11 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Francis Ford Coppola is one of the great American dreamers, and his most magnificent dream is American Zoetrope, the production company he founded in San Francisco years before his gargantuan success, when he was only thirty. Through Zoetrope’s experimental, communal utopia, Coppola attempted to reimagine the entire pursuit of moviemaking. Now, more than fifty years later, despite myriad setbacks, the visionary filmmaker’s dream persists, most notably in the production of his decades-in-the-making film and the culmination of his utopian ideals, Megalopolis.
-
-
Narrator was awful
- By Cyrus Nowrasteh on 12-17-23
By: Sam Wasson
-
Rebel Without a Crew
- Or How a 23-Year-Old Filmmaker with $7,000 Became a Hollywood Player
- By: Robert Rodriguez
- Narrated by: Robert Rodriguez
- Length: 7 hrs and 31 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
This is both one man's remarkable story and an essential guide for anyone who has a celluloid story to tell and the dreams and determination to see it through. Part production diary, part how-to manual, Rodriguez unveils how he was able to make his influential first film on only a $7,000 budget. Also included is the appendix, The Ten Minute Film Course,” a tell-all on how to save thousands of dollars on film school and teach yourself the ropes of film production, directing, and screenwriting.
-
-
Awesome
- By Brad Nash on 04-17-25
By: Robert Rodriguez
-
Who Knew
- By: Barry Diller
- Narrated by: Barry Diller
- Length: 12 hrs and 40 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Writing in his own singular voice, Barry Diller delivers both an astute and entertaining business memoir and a surprisingly frank coming-of-age story. After starting his career in the mailroom of the William Morris Agency, Diller went on to have one of the most extraordinary ascents in show business history, inventing the TV Movie of the Week for ABC at age twenty-seven, becoming CEO of Paramount Pictures at age thirty-two, and launching the Fox TV network at age forty-four.
-
-
What an amazing book!
- By Barbara W. on 06-10-25
By: Barry Diller
-
With Love, Mommie Dearest
- The Making of an Unintentional Camp Classic
- By: A. Ashley Hoff, Bruce Vilanch - foreword
- Narrated by: Kim Niemi
- Length: 10 hrs and 28 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Christina Crawford's book was an immediate bestseller, addressing the infrequently discussed topic of child abuse. When Paramount Pictures released the film, starring Faye Dunaway as Crawford, it was critically panned, and remains one of the most legendary critical bombs in film history. The lavish, big-screen adaptation drew unexpected laughter in the scenes depicting life in the Crawford household. Rarely have such good intentions been met with such ridicule.
-
-
AMAZING narrator for a wonderful book!
- By A. Diozzi on 06-16-24
By: A. Ashley Hoff, and others
-
High Noon
- The Hollywood Blacklist and the Making of an American Classic
- By: Glenn Frankel
- Narrated by: Allan Robertson
- Length: 14 hrs and 27 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
It's one of the most revered movies of Hollywood's golden era. Starring screen legend Gary Cooper and Grace Kelly in her first significant film role, High Noon was shot on a lean budget over just 32 days but achieved instant box-office and critical success. It won four Academy Awards in 1953, including a best actor win for Cooper. And it became a cultural touchstone, often cited by politicians as a favourite film, celebrating moral fortitude.
-
-
The Blacklist
- By Jean on 03-16-17
By: Glenn Frankel
-
The Rambo Report
- Five Films, Three Books, One Legend
- By: Nat Segaloff, David Morrell - foreword
- Narrated by: David Morrell, Nat Segaloff
- Length: 7 hrs and 18 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Packed with behind-the-scenes anecdotes, cultural insights, and debates about violence in the media, this is an explosive no-holds-barred report from the front lines of Hollywood mythmaking. A must-listen for Rambo fans, movies buffs, and anyone interested in American culture.
By: Nat Segaloff, and others
-
Action
- The Art of Excitement for Screen, Page, and Game
- By: Robert McKee, Bassim El-Wakil
- Narrated by: Robert McKee
- Length: 8 hrs and 54 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Action explores the ways that a modern-day writer can successfully tell an action story that not only stands apart, but wins the war on clichés. Teaming up with the former co-host of The Story Toolkit, Bassim El-Wakil, legendary story lecturer Robert McKee guides writers to award-winning originality by deconstructing the action genre, illuminating the challenges, and, more importantly, demonstrating how to master the demands of plot with surprising beats of innovation and ingenuity.
-
-
Loaded with practical information
- By Josephblu on 03-17-25
By: Robert McKee, and others
People who viewed this also viewed...
-
The De Palma Decade
- Redefining Cinema with Doubles, Voyeurs, and Psychic Teens
- By: Laurent Bouzereau
- Narrated by: Dani Martineck
- Length: 7 hrs and 47 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Among a crop of fresh filmmakers including Steven Spielberg, George Lucas, Martin Scorsese, and Francis Ford Coppola revolutionizing Hollywood in the ’70s, Brian De Palma—a director from Philadelphia with a few social satires under his belt—charted a cinematic path unlike any of his peers. At times he was unfairly dismissed as a Hitchcock copycat; other times he was misunderstood for his peculiar mix of sexuality, humor, music, and violence. But, over the course of ten years, he created a new cinematic language.
-
-
A must for De Palma fans and cinephiles. Outstanding reader!
- By David FL on 09-19-24
-
Box Office Poison
- Hollywood's Story in a Century of Flops
- By: Tim Robey
- Narrated by: Tim Robey
- Length: 8 hrs and 57 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
From grand follies to misunderstood masterpieces, disastrous sequels to catastrophic literary adaptations, Box Office Poison tells a hugely entertaining alternative history of Hollywood, through a century of its most notable flops. What can these films tell us about the Hollywood system, the public’s appetite–or lack of it–and the circumstances that saw such flops actually made? Away from the canon, this is the definitive take on these ill-fated, but essential celluloid failures.
-
-
So biting and snarky !
- By Katie K on 07-04-25
By: Tim Robey
-
Nick Drake
- The Life
- By: Richard Morton Jack, Gabrielle Drake - foreword
- Narrated by: Richard Morton Jack, Gabrielle Drake
- Length: 19 hrs and 4 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
In 1968, Nick Drake had everything to live for. The product of a loving, creative family and a privileged background, he was not only a handsome and popular Cambridge undergraduate, but also a new signing to the UK’s hippest record label, Island. Three years later, however—having made three well reviewed but low-selling albums—Nick had been overwhelmed by a mysterious mental illness. He returned to live in his family home in rural Warwickshire in 1971, and died in obscurity in 1974, aged just 26.
-
-
Foreshadowing the Inevitable Passing of Beauty
- By Mark on 07-31-24
By: Richard Morton Jack, and others
-
Blowing the Bloody Doors Off
- And Other Lessons in Life
- By: Michael Caine
- Narrated by: Michael Caine
- Length: 6 hrs and 39 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
One of our best-loved actors, Michael Caine has starred in over 100 films in his six-decade career, spanning classic movies like Alfie, Zulu, and The Italian Job (the inspiration for the book title) to playing Alfred opposite Christian Bale's Batman in Christopher Nolan's blockbuster Dark Knight trilogy. Caine has excelled in every kind of role - with a skill that's made it look easy. As he says, "Small parts can lead to big things. And if you keep doing things right, the stars will align when you least expect it."
-
-
Pleasant Surprise. Pleasure experience.
- By A reader lives a thousand lives before they die. on 10-25-18
By: Michael Caine
-
This Was Hollywood: Forgotten Stars and Stories
- Turner Classic Movies
- By: Carla Valderrama
- Narrated by: Carla Valderrama
- Length: 7 hrs and 3 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
From former screen legends who have faded into obscurity to new revelations about the biggest movie stars, Valderrama unearths the most fascinating little-known tales from the birth of Hollywood through its Golden Age. The shocking fate of the world's first movie star. Clark Gable's secret love child. The film that nearly ended Paul Newman's career. A former child star who, at 93, reveals her #metoo story for the first time. Valderrama unfolds these stories, and many more, in a volume that is by turns riveting, maddening, hilarious, and shocking.
-
-
Hollywood Fun
- By Ernie D. Casciato on 01-06-21
By: Carla Valderrama
-
Trouble Boys
- The True Story of the Replacements
- By: Bob Mehr
- Narrated by: Mary Lucia
- Length: 20 hrs and 34 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Written with the participation of the group's key members, including reclusive singer-songwriter Paul Westerberg, bassist Tommy Stinson, and the family of late guitarist Bob Stinson, Trouble Boys is a deeply intimate and nuanced portrait, exposing the primal factors and forces - addiction, abuse, fear - that would shape one of the most brilliant and notoriously self-destructive bands of all time.
-
-
Oh Sister!
- By Cherrybomb on 06-29-17
By: Bob Mehr
-
The De Palma Decade
- Redefining Cinema with Doubles, Voyeurs, and Psychic Teens
- By: Laurent Bouzereau
- Narrated by: Dani Martineck
- Length: 7 hrs and 47 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Among a crop of fresh filmmakers including Steven Spielberg, George Lucas, Martin Scorsese, and Francis Ford Coppola revolutionizing Hollywood in the ’70s, Brian De Palma—a director from Philadelphia with a few social satires under his belt—charted a cinematic path unlike any of his peers. At times he was unfairly dismissed as a Hitchcock copycat; other times he was misunderstood for his peculiar mix of sexuality, humor, music, and violence. But, over the course of ten years, he created a new cinematic language.
-
-
A must for De Palma fans and cinephiles. Outstanding reader!
- By David FL on 09-19-24
-
Box Office Poison
- Hollywood's Story in a Century of Flops
- By: Tim Robey
- Narrated by: Tim Robey
- Length: 8 hrs and 57 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
From grand follies to misunderstood masterpieces, disastrous sequels to catastrophic literary adaptations, Box Office Poison tells a hugely entertaining alternative history of Hollywood, through a century of its most notable flops. What can these films tell us about the Hollywood system, the public’s appetite–or lack of it–and the circumstances that saw such flops actually made? Away from the canon, this is the definitive take on these ill-fated, but essential celluloid failures.
-
-
So biting and snarky !
- By Katie K on 07-04-25
By: Tim Robey
-
Nick Drake
- The Life
- By: Richard Morton Jack, Gabrielle Drake - foreword
- Narrated by: Richard Morton Jack, Gabrielle Drake
- Length: 19 hrs and 4 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
In 1968, Nick Drake had everything to live for. The product of a loving, creative family and a privileged background, he was not only a handsome and popular Cambridge undergraduate, but also a new signing to the UK’s hippest record label, Island. Three years later, however—having made three well reviewed but low-selling albums—Nick had been overwhelmed by a mysterious mental illness. He returned to live in his family home in rural Warwickshire in 1971, and died in obscurity in 1974, aged just 26.
-
-
Foreshadowing the Inevitable Passing of Beauty
- By Mark on 07-31-24
By: Richard Morton Jack, and others
-
Blowing the Bloody Doors Off
- And Other Lessons in Life
- By: Michael Caine
- Narrated by: Michael Caine
- Length: 6 hrs and 39 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
One of our best-loved actors, Michael Caine has starred in over 100 films in his six-decade career, spanning classic movies like Alfie, Zulu, and The Italian Job (the inspiration for the book title) to playing Alfred opposite Christian Bale's Batman in Christopher Nolan's blockbuster Dark Knight trilogy. Caine has excelled in every kind of role - with a skill that's made it look easy. As he says, "Small parts can lead to big things. And if you keep doing things right, the stars will align when you least expect it."
-
-
Pleasant Surprise. Pleasure experience.
- By A reader lives a thousand lives before they die. on 10-25-18
By: Michael Caine
-
This Was Hollywood: Forgotten Stars and Stories
- Turner Classic Movies
- By: Carla Valderrama
- Narrated by: Carla Valderrama
- Length: 7 hrs and 3 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
From former screen legends who have faded into obscurity to new revelations about the biggest movie stars, Valderrama unearths the most fascinating little-known tales from the birth of Hollywood through its Golden Age. The shocking fate of the world's first movie star. Clark Gable's secret love child. The film that nearly ended Paul Newman's career. A former child star who, at 93, reveals her #metoo story for the first time. Valderrama unfolds these stories, and many more, in a volume that is by turns riveting, maddening, hilarious, and shocking.
-
-
Hollywood Fun
- By Ernie D. Casciato on 01-06-21
By: Carla Valderrama
-
Trouble Boys
- The True Story of the Replacements
- By: Bob Mehr
- Narrated by: Mary Lucia
- Length: 20 hrs and 34 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Written with the participation of the group's key members, including reclusive singer-songwriter Paul Westerberg, bassist Tommy Stinson, and the family of late guitarist Bob Stinson, Trouble Boys is a deeply intimate and nuanced portrait, exposing the primal factors and forces - addiction, abuse, fear - that would shape one of the most brilliant and notoriously self-destructive bands of all time.
-
-
Oh Sister!
- By Cherrybomb on 06-29-17
By: Bob Mehr
-
Mavericks
- Life Stories and Lessons of History's Most Extraordinary Misfits
- By: Jenny Draper
- Narrated by: Jenny Draper
- Length: 8 hrs and 21 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
In her first book, popular TikTok historian J Draper uses her characteristic wit and intellect to introduce us to extraordinary figures marginalized by history, and the lessons we can learn from them. Witty and engaging TikTok historian J.D. Draper digs out unusual stories of individuals that have shaped the world, and discovers the lessons their unique experiences can teach us. Breaking away from history as told through the lens of kings, queens and nobles, this book instead lifts the lid on 24 fascinating stories of little-known underdogs, mavericks, trailblazers and oddballs.
-
-
excellent writing
- By Anonymous User on 05-04-25
By: Jenny Draper
-
Willie, Waylon, and the Boys
- How Nashville Outsiders Changed Country Music Forever
- By: Brian Fairbanks
- Narrated by: Tyler Darby
- Length: 13 hrs and 48 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
The tragic and inspiring story of the leaders of Outlaw country and their influence on today’s Alt-Country and Americana superstars, tracing a path from Waylon Jennings’ survival on the Day the Music Died through to the Highwaymen and on to the current creative and commercial explosion of Chris Stapleton, Brandi Carlile, Zach Bryan, Jason Isbell, and the Highwomen.
-
-
Great book. Author should have listened to this before it was uploaded
- By Robert Gowan on 06-14-25
By: Brian Fairbanks
-
The Family
- By: Ed Sanders
- Narrated by: Rhett Samuel Price
- Length: 24 hrs and 2 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
In August of 1969, during two bloody evenings of paranoid, psychedelic savagery, Charles Manson and his dystopic communal family helped to wreck the dreams of the Love Generation. At least nine people were murdered, among them Sharon Tate, the young, beautiful, pregnant, actress and wife of Roman Polanski.
-
-
The most complete history of the saga
- By Douglas on 07-15-24
By: Ed Sanders
-
The Hag
- The Life, Times, and Music of Merle Haggard
- By: Marc Eliot
- Narrated by: Marc Eliot
- Length: 17 hrs and 50 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Merle Haggard was one of the most important country music musicians who ever lived. The Hag tells, without compromise, the extraordinary life of Merle Haggard, augmented by the deep secondary research, sharp detail, and ample anecdotal material that biographer Marc Eliot is known for, and enriched and deepened by more than 100 new and far-ranging interviews.
-
-
A Major Disappointment
- By Kafe Society on 02-17-22
By: Marc Eliot
-
George Lucas
- A Life
- By: Brian Jay Jones
- Narrated by: Jay Snyder
- Length: 18 hrs and 18 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
On May 25, 1977, a problem-plagued, budget-straining, independent science-fiction film opened in a mere 32 American movie theatres. Conceived, written, and directed by a little-known filmmaker named George Lucas, Star Wars reinvented the cinematic landscape, ushering in a new way for movies to be made, marketed, and merchandised. Simply put, George Lucas is one of the most influential filmmakers of the past 50 years.
-
-
The General in his Labyrinth
- By Joselo on 09-15-17
By: Brian Jay Jones
-
1917
- Lenin, Wilson, and the Birth of the New World Disorder
- By: Arthur Herman
- Narrated by: Stefan Rudnicki
- Length: 16 hrs and 36 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
In this incisive, fast-paced history, New York Times best-selling author Arthur Herman brilliantly reveals how Lenin and Wilson rewrote the rules of modern geopolitics. Through the end of World War I, countries marched into war only to increase or protect their national interests. After World War I, countries began going to war over ideas. Together, Lenin and Wilson unleashed the disruptive ideologies that would sweep the world, from nationalism and globalism to Communism and terrorism, and that continue to shape our world today.
-
-
Another book you wish was part of every university world history curriculum
- By Bruno Carleston on 11-26-18
By: Arthur Herman
-
Scarface and the Untouchable
- Al Capone, Eliot Ness, and the Battle for Chicago
- By: Max Allan Collins, A. Brad Schwartz
- Narrated by: Stefan Rudnicki, Max Allan Collins, A. Brad Schwartz
- Length: 18 hrs and 36 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
A Mystery Writers of America “Grand Master” - author of the gangster classic Road to Perdition, longtime Dick Tracy writer, and multiple Shamus Award winner - teams with an acclaimed rising young historian in this riveting, myth-shattering dual portrait of Al Capone, America’s most notorious gangster, and Eliot Ness, the legendary Prohibition agent whose extraordinary investigative work crippled his organization.
-
-
HERE ISTHE REAL STORY OF NESS AND CAPONE!!
- By Sandra J Sanders on 08-18-21
By: Max Allan Collins, and others
-
Con/Artist
- The Life and Crimes of the World's Greatest Art Forger
- By: Tony Tetro, Giampiero Ambrosi
- Narrated by: Richard Ferrone, Tony Tetro, Giampiero Ambrosi
- Length: 8 hrs and 29 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
The art world is a much dirtier, nastier business than you might expect. Tony Tetro, one of the most renowned art forgers in history, will make you question every masterpiece you’ve ever seen in a museum, gallery, or private collection. Tetro’s “Rembrandts,” “Caravaggios,” “Miros,” and hundreds of other works now hang on walls around the globe.
-
-
Incredibly interesting!
- By Carole Wooten on 12-07-22
By: Tony Tetro, and others
-
This Is Berlin
- Radio Broadcasts from Nazi Germany
- By: William Shirer
- Narrated by: Grover Gardner
- Length: 21 hrs and 41 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
This collection of William L. Shirer’s radio broadcasts tells the vivid story of WWII and brings the suspense of the times to life for today’s audience. As the first journalist hired by CBS to cover the war in Europe, Shirer compiled two and a half years’ worth of wartime broadcasts including Hitler’s invasion of Austria, the armistice between France and Nazi forces in June of 1940, daily roundups of news from Paris, Vienna, Berlin, London and Rome, documenting the conditions of these countries under invasion.
-
-
Another banger from Willy and Grover
- By Garrett Webster on 04-08-24
By: William Shirer
-
Secrets of the Occult
- By: Richard B. Spence, The Great Courses
- Narrated by: Richard B. Spence
- Length: 11 hrs and 44 mins
- Original Recording
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
From spirituality to politics and science, the occult has had an astonishing influence on the human experience across the centuries. It may surprise you to learn that everyday activities like attending church services or reading your daily horoscope all fit the broad definition of the occult. As you will see in the 24 illuminating episodes of Secrets of the Occult, the mystic and obscure are threaded through our ordinary lives in more ways than you may realize.
-
-
insightful and well-presented.
- By Robert H. on 12-14-22
By: Richard B. Spence, and others
-
The Lonely Life
- An Autobiography
- By: Bette Davis
- Narrated by: Suzanne Toren
- Length: 13 hrs and 7 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
The Lonely Life details the first 50-plus years of Davis' life - her Yankee childhood, her rise to stardom in Hollywood, the birth of her beloved children, and the uncompromising choices she made along the way to succeed. The book was updated with new material in the 1980s, bringing the story up to the end of Davis' life - all the heartbreak, all the drama, and all the love she experienced at every stage of her extraordinary life.
-
-
Bette really liked herself...
- By Anonymous User on 01-14-19
By: Bette Davis
-
Music
- A Subversive History
- By: Ted Gioia
- Narrated by: Jamie Renell
- Length: 17 hrs and 55 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Histories of music overwhelmingly suppress stories of the outsiders and rebels who created musical revolutions and instead celebrate the mainstream assimilators who borrowed innovations, diluted their impact, and disguised their sources. In Music: A Subversive History, Ted Gioia reclaims the story of music for the riffraff, insurgents, and provocateurs. Gioia tells a 4,000-year history of music as a global source of power, change, and upheaval.
-
-
Squeezing cherry-picked facts into a simplistic narrative
- By Erik A. Ritland on 11-24-20
By: Ted Gioia
Friedkin shows humility
Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
First hand details about movies from the source.
Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
Brilliant talk about film
Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
Names names
Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
Exorcist, French Connection Director Insightful, Truthful in Memoir
Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
Thank you, William Friedkin
Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
It’s hard to think of someone I wouldn’t recommend this book to, though it does get graphic enough about movies and what they depict that people would probably want to consider that.
The Perfect Old School Director Movie Book
Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.