This is my second book I have read by Mark Harris after reading Five Came Back.

This book is about changing Hollywood changing based on looking at the five Best Picture nominees of 1967. The list of best pictures represented, in this narrative, of both the old studio system and the new Hollywood taking chances in a way that didn't really exist in Hollywood prior to 1967.

The influence from the New Wave from Europe - Truffaut- for example, really represented a new way of doing things that represented the end of the Hollywood system (Dr. Doolittle) from production, acting, sources and subjects that changed significantly (Bonnie and Clyde).

I really enjoy movies, and I really enjoyed reading this book. The backstories of how these movies came to be from the actors, producers and directors. Mike Nichols, Arthur Penn and the like trying to navigate this new(er) environment is just fascinating.

This is a well-written book and the narrative is great. This is a really good read, with a really good sense of social history as well (Guess Who Came to Dinner, In The Heat of The Night, The Graduate). I can't wait for Harris' next book assuming he takes on another Hollywood topic.

Pictures at a Revolution captures the essence of the “New Hollywood” with highly nuanced and detailed writing that captures the emergence of actors such as Dunaway and Hoffman, the insight and artistry of directors Nichols and Penn embodied in a dynamic that captures not only the turbulence of the 60’s but also the conflict in Hollywood with the old breed of Studio filmmaking versus the emerging spirit of independence manifested in four of the five films referenced, and in response to an audience that expected films and acting to reflect and capture the spirit and nature of the times.

Harris delves deep into the evolution of each movie providing rich detail and perspective relative to casting, screenplays, direction, production, actors. The strength of Harris’ book is the narrative which is a tightly woven mosaic of each film’s conception leading to its final manifestation with an abundance of behind the scenes happenings in between, ensconced in Hollywood’s historical past and the uncertainty and frenetic energy of the 60’s.

In my opinion, one of the best books not only about Hollywood, but one of the best books about the anatomy and physiology of filmmaking.

Harris's book is well-written and manages to present its material without pandering or (the other extreme) becoming nerdy. That's high praise for any book these days, no matter what the topic.

As promised, "Pictures at a Revolution" does tell the stories of the five films nominated for the 1967 Best Picture award, from conception of the films through the awards night, with a quick "Where are they now?" (or more accurately, a "Where did they go immediately after?") section at the end. The organization is loosely chronological, swapping among the story lines of the movies in question. Since the films were only connected by their place in time (there was no common director or writer among the five, they weren't all from the same studio; that sort of thing), the interlacing of the stories does lead to a mental stop-start for the reader. But Harris's style keeps it all entertaining enough that it is well worth remembering just where "Dr. Dolittle" was when we last had a sighting of it.

The book has received high praise from other reviewers with deep knowledge of the industry and the art, and the good news is that those recommendations hold up for the casual reader. I give the book four stars rather than five because I, at least, did not come away with any new way of looking at that time in moviemaking or model for understanding it. Perhaps the word "Revolution" overpromises. Harris does a wonderful job of capturing the sense of the new and the sense of change that was afoot in 1968, as the awards were being given. The fact that following that landmark year some good "big" movies were made and many very bad "little" movies were released is undeniable. And in looking at those years, that may simply be a case of art imitating life: it felt like a revolution at the time.

Highly recommended.

This is a product review for the Audio Book Unabridged version of Mark Harris's Pictures at a Revolution: Five Movies and the Birth of the New Hollywood. I greatly enjoyed the voice of the Lloyd James reading the book. His diction was excellent and his voice was pleasant on the ears. The story itself was well written and engaging. I especially enjoyed the analysis of the Sydney Poitier movies vis-a-vis the Civil Rights movement. But I want to tell potential buyers something about the actual CD's themselves. I sold this product used on Amazon and now I'm having to do a refund because the buyer says he is unable to play the CD's. So I returned to the actual listing and sure enough the Amazon listing for the product does not tell you what it says on the package. The audio CD's are "MP3 PLAYER READY" (I think the package may actually say IPOD READY. They do not play in regular stereo or walkman CD players. They are meant to be placed in a computer and ripped by Itunes for upload to one's IPOD. There are two CDs which have multiple duplicate files of the audio book on them. One file format is MP3, another is the file format used by Sony's PSP (I think), and another is for the file format used by ZUNE (I think). NONE of the file formats are WAVE formats, which is the format played by regular stereo CD players. The listing really should state this fact but since it does not I am putting it in the review. I hope this review assists people in making a decision about whether or not buying this very well written book in audio format is the best for them.

Excellent analysis of how the youngsters took over the playground in Hollywood through the perspective of the five Best Pictures nominees, each emblematic and even archetypal.

The book traces standard form films, two films representing the new of age of filmography, and one film that shouldn't have been there, Dr. Dolittle. Let's put Dolittle to rest with a quick statement, Rex Harrison, comes across as a real @ss. With all the later year prima donnas, I wasn't aware there were any with such bad behavior from old school films. Think John McEnroe.

In the Heat of the Night and Guess Who's Coming to Dinner are nice but flawed, films. This book really excels when discussing Bonnie and Clyde and The Graduate, two new age film lucky to be made that set the industry on its ears. Warren Beatty, like him or love him, shows his business acumen in getting this film made and establishing his persona for the rest of his career. The Graduate may have been the best movie and clearly the movie with the longest lasting legacy.

If there is a criticism of this book it is long and exhaustive. But, this is a critical transition year in the history of film and for me very much worth the attention. I strongly recommend this book for any film buff or student of the 60s.

A highly readable account of how the five pictures nominated for best picture for 1967 came into being - with the thesis being that 1967 marked a transition as the last of the old Hollywood studio system came apart (e.g. Jack Warner sells Warner Bros and then retires) and the new Hollywood appears (e.g. Warren Beatty, 20-something rising new star decides to control his destiny by producing his own film).

One of the things the book makes clear is how small town much of Hollywood was -- and how, to some degree, it divided up by age (there's a story of a party that Jane Fonda holds and invites her father and his friends and her contemporaries -- and how the guests clustered in different places, and went home at different times, during the night). It also vividly explains the gestation of each move, and sketches how the movies represent various trends in Hollywood of the time.

The book is very readable and full of wonderful material. The only reason I don't rate it 5 stars is that it assumes that you've seen all five movies and remember them well enough to grasp why the discussion of a particular scene is important (I only remember three of the movies well enough and sometimes felt a bit lost in the discussions of the two [Bonnie & Clyde and Heat of the Night] that I didn't remember) and that you're film literate enough that a casual mention of a particular film title (Planet of Apes, Reds, etc.) will resonate and convey a message.

At 496 pages, this may seem like a daunting read. However, the style of writing makes it easy for those folks who generally don't read to get into. It's got a lot of fun anecdotes (Did you know Ava Gardner believed she didn't have the ability to become a great actress?). I recommend to film fans, but I also recommend this to folks with a casual interest in 60s cinema. In fact, I recommend this book to anyone with an interest in the 60s in general. I'm only 28. But two things I enjoy reading are history and film studies. There are a lot of film and history books that are overly analytic, pretentious, and swamped in big words and dull writing. This book is easy to read with good and entertaining. After reading it, I actually started to read the bios of the people back then. You'll learn a lot about Hollywood by reading this book. The first thing you'll learn is an almost 500 page book can be both informative and entertaining.

Spannend, fundiert, faszinierend! Wer hätte gedacht das der eigentliche Horrorfilm der 60er Jahre Dr. Doolittle war. Wer sich für Geschichte und oder Filme interessiert, sollte lesen!

Exactly as offered! Quick send and well protected!

If you are a certain age this is a good overview

Increíble el viaje que te hace pasar la lectura de este libro. Datos importantes que, aplicados al contexto histórico actual, nos pueden dar una guía de cómo buscar la posibilidad de presentar algo interesante en el cine.

I found this a well researched and interesting book to read. The author takes the point of view that 1967 was a watershed year for movies - going from somewhat stodgy, old style, studio made pictures, to an era when films became more individual realizations of directors, paving he way for Coppola, Lucas, etc. (Of course, now the pendulum has swung back and we are back to mammoth movies that have little to say and are aimed to make huge dollars the first weekend or two.) The book touches on censorship and how it changed that year (leading to the end of the Production Code) and race relations and how even something as innocuous as a black and white person holding hands could be cut out when films were shown in the southern States. Thank god there has been some progress. It was also interesting to read about the production of the movies themselves - the nonsense that went on to create Dr. Doolittle - a horribly, boring film and that when The Graduate first came out critics were a little aghast that someone who looked like Dustin Hoffman, could have the lead role. All in all, if you are a movie fan, I recommend it heartily.