BRANDO - Softcover

Richard Schickel

Softcover

ISBN 10: 1862055378 ISBN 13: 9781862055377

Publisher: Pavilion, 2001

Synopsis

In films like The Wild One and On The Waterfront Marlon Brando redefined the nature of screen heroism, redefined the standards of screen acting and helped the entire postwar generation to define itself. He became something more than a star; he became a cultural icon, one of those rare figures whose public life permanently invades, and in some measure, shapes our private reveries. Richard Schickel is a member of the generation that came of age as Marlon Brando entered his first claims on the world's attention. In this book, he recreates the excitement, the danger, the controversy of the years when Brando challenged everyone's ideas of how a movie star's life should be lived, and provides the first serious analysis of all Marlon Brando's movies, offering fresh and often surprising judgements on his work and the conditions under which it was performed.

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Review

It is quite a task to write the biography of an actor who has always been immensely private--and who has become increasingly reclusive in recent years--but Richard Schickel is well up to the challenge.

Brando is a well-researched companion to the career of one of Hollywood's most enduring legends. Although there are more-detailed biographies available (Marlon Brando by David Shipman) and a far more personal account (The Autobiography Songs My Mother Taught Me by Brando himself) Schickel's contribution to Brando lore certainly has its own merits. The biggest of these is the large format of this new edition, providing ample space for a treasury of photographs which together constitute a remarkable pictorial record of the actor's screen career.

With photos peppered throughout the main text, the volume looks appealing--indeed its simplicity invites the reader further into the story of this man's life. The writer, we can surmise, is a fan, but luckily not a fawning one. The text centres primarily on Brando's career, and while Schickel draws on his previous experience as a film critic, he does not over-intellectualise. Instead, his prose is accessible--a dry wit presides over proceedings and is never far from the surface; and the reader is presented with the beginnings of a well-argued insight into how the hidden mind of Brando might work.

Of course, the life of Marlon Brando will continue to spawn new theories about his motivation and career, and it would certainly be a weighty biography which included them all. Instead, Brando balances its beautiful images and informative text with care, rendering Richard Schickel's effort a fine selection for anyone seeking an introduction to this most elusive of actors. --Helen Lamont

About the Author

Richard Schickel has been reviewing movies for over thurty years, including for Time magazine and Life. He has written many books, including The Disney Version, His Picture in the Papers, and Schickel on Film. His critical-biographical study of Marlon Brando complements similar volumes on Cary Grant and James Cagney. He is also a writer-director of television documentaries.

About this edition

• Publisher: Pavilion
• Publication date: 2001
• ISBN 10: 1862055378
• ISBN 13: 9781862055377
• Binding: Paperback
• Number of pages: 192