Rating: 
Summary: A vivid inside portrait of sex and power games
Review: Bad & The Beautiful is a fascinating and informative history of Hollywood in the 1950s which offers a vivid inside portrait of sex and power games, from the rise of tabloid journalism to the rise of legendary film icons. The authors focus as much on cultural trends and perceptions of stars and Hollywood as upon the films and creations that kept it in the limelight of American culture and innovation.
Rating:
Summary: Hollywood Babylon, 1950s Style
Review: Despite current nostalgia, 1950s Hollywood was a particularly strange and interesting era. It had commies to contend with, and even more seriously, television and the dismantling of the studio system. The fifties have been regarded as a bland cinematic decade, but there were some astonishingly thoughtful and influential films that became revered by French filmmakers and current Hollywood ones. The period is reconsidered in _The Bad and the Beautiful: Hollywood in the Fifties_ (W. W. Norton) by Sam Kashner and Jennifer MacNair. The authors admit that this is not a comprehensive history of that period in Hollywood; indeed, it is surprising that they have no chapters devoted to westerns or to science fiction. They call their book instead "a kind of archeological dig by two writers too young to have experienced the decade firsthand," and as such, it is a useful reminder of such things as the blacklist, novel and provocative tabloid journalism, influential gossip columnists, and a good deal of scandalous dirt.Plenty of the scandal is sexual, of course, and some of the stories are not at all new. Rock Hudson had a powerful effect on women, and one actress tried to get him to show proper affection on screen, begging a director, "Can't you get Rock to kiss me properly?" The director, Douglas Sirk, "declined, knowing why Hudson's kisses seemed awkward." Lana Turner gets a chapter, including tales of her promiscuity, as does Mae West and her hilarious geriatric sensuality. The forgotten affair between Kim Novak and Sammy Davis, Jr., gets an airing, too. Billy Graham's first religious film is included, as are the more familiar biblical epics of the period. There are excellent chapters here about particular films, like _Peyton Place_, _Sweet Smell of Success_, and _Rebel Without a Cause_. Did you know that in that last film, director Nicholas Ray hunted hard for the three leads, James Dean, Natalie Wood, and Sal Mineo, and seems to have had affairs with all of them? And James Dean did, with Natalie Wood, who also was with co-star Dennis Hopper. The book starts with _Sunset Boulevard_, a film it refers to through many chapters. In it, Gloria Swanson made her peculiar comeback as the bypassed and doomed silent film queen Norma Desmond. The book ends with the presidential campaign of John F. Kennedy, whose father had had an affair with Swanson, and whose campaign had unprecedented ties to Hollywood and its stars. In between is a wealth of the sort of trivia, titillation, and sleaze that could only come from Hollywood. Kashner and MacNair love their theme, have picked their subjects well, and have juicy bits to reveal to anyone interested in the movies.
Rating:
Summary: Hollywood Babylon, 1950s Style
Review: Despite current nostalgia, 1950s Hollywood was a particularly strange and interesting era. It had commies to contend with, and even more seriously, television and the dismantling of the studio system. The fifties have been regarded as a bland cinematic decade, but there were some astonishingly thoughtful and influential films that became revered by French filmmakers and current Hollywood ones. The period is reconsidered in _The Bad and the Beautiful: Hollywood in the Fifties_ (W. W. Norton) by Sam Kashner and Jennifer MacNair. The authors admit that this is not a comprehensive history of that period in Hollywood; indeed, it is surprising that they have no chapters devoted to westerns or to science fiction. They call their book instead "a kind of archeological dig by two writers too young to have experienced the decade firsthand," and as such, it is a useful reminder of such things as the blacklist, novel and provocative tabloid journalism, influential gossip columnists, and a good deal of scandalous dirt. Plenty of the scandal is sexual, of course, and some of the stories are not at all new. Rock Hudson had a powerful effect on women, and one actress tried to get him to show proper affection on screen, begging a director, "Can't you get Rock to kiss me properly?" The director, Douglas Sirk, "declined, knowing why Hudson's kisses seemed awkward." Lana Turner gets a chapter, including tales of her promiscuity, as does Mae West and her hilarious geriatric sensuality. The forgotten affair between Kim Novak and Sammy Davis, Jr., gets an airing, too. Billy Graham's first religious film is included, as are the more familiar biblical epics of the period. There are excellent chapters here about particular films, like _Peyton Place_, _Sweet Smell of Success_, and _Rebel Without a Cause_. Did you know that in that last film, director Nicholas Ray hunted hard for the three leads, James Dean, Natalie Wood, and Sal Mineo, and seems to have had affairs with all of them? And James Dean did, with Natalie Wood, who also was with co-star Dennis Hopper. The book starts with _Sunset Boulevard_, a film it refers to through many chapters. In it, Gloria Swanson made her peculiar comeback as the bypassed and doomed silent film queen Norma Desmond. The book ends with the presidential campaign of John F. Kennedy, whose father had had an affair with Swanson, and whose campaign had unprecedented ties to Hollywood and its stars. In between is a wealth of the sort of trivia, titillation, and sleaze that could only come from Hollywood. Kashner and MacNair love their theme, have picked their subjects well, and have juicy bits to reveal to anyone interested in the movies.
Rating: 
Summary: Perfect if you like Vanity Fair
Review: Great book, full of salacious and well-written anecdotes about Hollywood in the 50's.
Rating:
Summary: Great!
Review: Great! Awesome! Fabulous! The Bad and the Beautiful was sexy and super-fun. It was a great summer read. I was looking to find out more dirt about the hey-days of tinsel town. The authors did a great job at making you feel the glamour, the drama, and the gossip of the time. It was definitely worth the time.
Rating:
Summary: Great!
Review: Great! Awesome! Fabulous! The Bad and the Beautiful was sexy and super-fun. It was a great summer read. I was looking to find out more dirt about the hey-days of tinsel town. The authors did a great job at making you feel the glamour, the drama, and the gossip of the time. It was definitely worth the time.
Rating: 
Summary: Same Old Same Old...A Dearth of "Dirt"
Review: If you have even a passing interest in Hollywood, film stars and behind-the-scenes rumormongering then you probably already know everything in this book. Despite impressive blurbs by Ernest Lehman and James Ellroy, this is NOT a 1950's version of Otto Friedrich's "City of Nets", the most comprehensive, informative and stylishly written history of Hollywood in the 1940s. (The authors admit as much in "Acknowledgments".) It is NOT Kenneth Anger's outrageous "Hollywood Babylon", the untimate sleaze manifesto. And, unfortunately, it falls nowhere between the two. "The Bad and the Beautiful" is simply a rehash of the same shrewd-and-shabby reportage and open secrets that titillated America in the '50s, kept the latest issues of "Confidential Magazine" flying off the newsstands and, by rote, repetition and reprint earned the status of legend. There are no new revelations, insightful observations or unique perspectives offered in this tedious re-re-re-re-rewriting of Hollywood's infamous iniquities; and the bland, apathetic text cries out for some attitude with punch and pungency, like the ruefully jaded sarcasm A. J. Benza gave his commentaries on E!'s "Mysteries and Scandals." If, on the other hand, you've never heard the "inside scoop" on Lana and Johnny Stomp, Kim and Sammy, Nick&Jimmy&Natalie&Sal, the Blacklist, the Red Scare or purple prose "Confidential"-style, then this book will serve as an overview of those notorious debaucheries, and you can reference the comprehensive bibliography to locate better-written publications recounting all the sordid details.
Rating:
Summary: Patchy but with some interest for movie lovers
Review: If you read this book from cover to cover then you may be disappointed as not of all it new and interesting. Nevertheless, there are some chapters which deserve the attention of movie lovers including the genesis and production of SWEET SMELL OF SUCCESS, the dalliances of SAMMY DAVIS JUNIOR as well as the struggles he endured despite being an entertainer of genius. A book to be cherry picked and read at the airport.
Rating:
Summary: Patchy but with some interest for movie lovers
Review: If you read this book from cover to cover then you may be disappointed as not of all it new and interesting. Nevertheless, there are some chapters which deserve the attention of movie lovers including the genesis and production of SWEET SMELL OF SUCCESS, the dalliances of SAMMY DAVIS JUNIOR as well as the struggles he endured despite being an entertainer of genius. A book to be cherry picked and read at the airport.
Rating: 
Summary: It is bad not beautiful
Review: Probably the worst book i have ever read on the subject, it is a very poor rehash of very old tittle tattle, save your money.
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