Warren Beatty and Desert Eyes: A Life and a Story - Hardcover

Prominent film critic Thomson provides an unusual biography of one of Hollywood's most colorful actors. Much of the book is standard biography combined with heavy doses of sophisticated film criticism, requiring the reader to be familiar with Beatty's films and cinema scholarship generally. Yet alternating with this conventional material is a rambling work of fiction, not exactly about Beatty specifically but concerning the behind-the-scenes relationships in the glittery world of the motion picture industry. While this marriage of genres doesn't entirely succeed, Thomson has presented a challenging and thought-provoking study that covers Beatty and his films with a unique added dimension. The elusive Beatty was not interviewed by the author. Recommended for fans and subject collections. Richard W. Grefrath, Univ. of Nevada Lib., Reno
Copyright 1987 Reed Business Information, Inc.

In this speculative biography, film critic and novelist Thomson (Suspects, etc.) relates the movies in which Beatty has acted or produced to periods in his personal life. The narrative is somewhat fragmented by rhetorical questions and lengthy digressionsmany regarding filmmaking, but many others on distantly related topics. Thomson's analysis of Beatty's work is perceptive; however, when it comes to defining the man himself, he relies to a large extent on quotes from Beatty's sister Shirley MacLaine and on published interviews given by the actor's loversJoan Collins, Leslie Caron and Diane Keaton, among others. An oddity: Thomson alternates chapters of the Beatty story with a silly futuristic fiction of a California peopled with earthquake survivors who escape to the desert to continue their surrealistic lives. Photos.
Copyright 1987 Reed Business Information, Inc.