Cut! And That's a Wrap! : Two books savor the Hollywood of Wilder and Ford.(Review) (book reviews)

Newsweek International, November, 1999 by Jones, Malcolm

Not so very long ago, Hollywood was a place where pretension was outlawed. The greater the artist, the louder that artist insisted he was no more than a craftsman. John Ford, who won a record four Oscars for directing, famously announced himself, "I'm John Ford, I make Westerns." Billy Wilder, whose Oscars numbered a measly two, put it only slightly differently: "I don't make cinema, I make movies." With the major players refusing to testify, it's no surprise so few great books have ever been written about Hollywood. What is a wonder is that somehow eager readers suddenly have been dealt a pair of aces back to back: two first-rate works on Ford and Wilder. It's enough to make you fall for Hollywood endings.

Wilder, lucky for us, has grown more loquacious in his...

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