Everyone loves being an insider. I love knowing information that to which most people do not have access. Now anyone that has really perused my website knows that my biggest passion is baseball. I constantly read about the Twins in order to find nuggets of information that will come in handy and make my knowledge of the team even greater. For example, I like knowing that Corey Koskie is widely considered the Twin with the worst fashion sense. Will that knowledge ever help me? No, but I like knowing it anyway.
With that said, I read William Goldman’s book Adventures in the Screen Trade solely because he is the driving force behind my favorite movie and book. First, he wrote The Princess Bride as a story for his children, and then he turned it into the greatest movie ever made by creating a screenplay. Plus, I have loved pretty much every other book or movie that he has written. However, I had not been able to find a copy of what many consider his best work, Adventures… until I found it in a thrift shop over winter break.
Shelling out $1 for the book, I sat down and proceeding to digest all of it in the span of two days. I was astonished at the amount of incredible information in this book. I have never considered myself a movie buff, and I never read the Hollywood gossip stuff, but this book really struck a chord. Goldman humorously and cleverly opens up about all of the knowledge he has obtained from his work in movies and shows the general public the true stories about how movies get created.
First, Goldman tackles the subject of movie stars. He gives many factual examples of their insecurity, egos, and overall clout and shows how many great movie ideas can fail simply because stars do not want to portray a character a certain way. Unfortunately for me, the book was written the year I was born and all of the stars outdate me. When he gives stories about Paul Newman, Steve McQueen and Robert Redford, I have some trouble relating and imagining just how popular they were. Also, I am fairly unfamiliar with their context in society. For example, was Paul Newman considered powerful but surly like Russell Crowe, or just flat-out weird like Tom Cruise? Those are the answers that I really need. With that said, all of the information is fantastic and really sheds a light on the position of “star” in movie-making.
After tackling many other positions (movie producers, studio executives, etc.), Goldman finally gets to the meat of his book. With the initial passages helping set the stage, Goldman gives insightful details about each and every movie he had been a part of. For example, he talks about how memorable it was when Sir Laurence Olivier called him “Bill” on the set of “Marathon Man”.
He also notes that some of his movies were failures simply because of conditions that were unexpected. For example, the movie “A Bridge Too Far” was wildly successful in England but a miserable failure in the United States. The reason the American public ignored the movie was because it was too unbelievable. However, that was the exact reason that the British loved the film. After all, it told the true story of the greatest airborne operation of World War II. In fact, absolutely nothing in the movie was invented, but the American audience was simply unwilling to believe that such courageous (and in some instances – stupid) actions could have occurred on the battlefield. For each film, he hints at some of the reasons why it succeeded and failed, and gives a very honest and open critique of his own work.
A special section was devoted entirely to the film that really got him attention in Hollywood. His work on "Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid" earned him an Academy Award for screenwriting, and the whole story developed as a project of his. He did the research because he found the two outlaws fascinating and then churned out a screenplay. At first, every movie studio rejected the idea, but it finally was accepted and brought to fruition. The entire screenplay is actually included in the book along with Goldman’s critique of the screenplay’s strengths and weaknesses. Plus, many captivating stories are included in the description of the film. For example, Robert Redford got his big break in the roll of Sundance. However, that never would have happened if actors such as Warren Beatty, Marlon Brando or Steve McQueen.
Finally, Goldman concludes his book by finding a short story that he wrote over twenty years earlier. He then presented the story to different people in the industry to see how each would attack the process of turning it into a movie. For example, a chapter was devoted to how George Roy Hill, director of The Sting and Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid, visualized the process of creating the film. Again, this is very interesting stuff that really gives you an insider’s position of Hollywood.
Sadly, one consequence of the book was that Goldman was basically black-listed from the industry for a period of time. Many studio executives and stars did not like the way he portrayed their roles in movies. However, that storm blew past and Goldman played a role in more memorable films such as "The Princess Bride" and "Maverick". After reading Adventures in the Screen Trade, my respect for him only grew. I cannot imagine writing about my life and finding it interesting, but his ability to give amusing and insightful anecdotes really brighten the read. Plus, it’s always great to feel like an insider.