Pictures at a Revolution

Five Movies and the Birth of the New Hollywood

By: Mark Harris

Narrated by: Lloyd James

Length: 17 hrs and 19 mins

Publisher's summary

Here is the epic human drama behind the making of the five movies nominated for Best Picture in 1967 - Guess Who's Coming to Dinner, The Graduate, In the Heat of the Night, Doctor Dolittle, and Bonnie and Clyde - and through them, the larger story of the cultural revolution that transformed Hollywood and America forever.

It was the mid-1960s, and Westerns, war movies, and blockbuster musicals, such as Mary Poppins and The Sound of Music, dominated the box office. The Hollywood studio system, with its cartels of talent and its production code, was hanging strong, or so it seemed.

But by the time the Oscar ceremonies rolled around in the spring of 1968, when In the Heat of the Night won the 1967 Academy Award for Best Picture, a cultural revolution had hit Hollywood with the force of a tsunami. The unprecedented violence and nihilism of fellow nominee Bonnie and Clyde shocked old-guard reviewers and made the movie one of the year's biggest box-office successes. Just as unprecedented was the run of The Graduate, which launched first-time director Mike Nichols into a long and brilliant career and inspired a generation of young people who knew that, whatever their future was, it wasn't in plastics.

What City of Nets did for Hollywood in the 1940s, and Easy Rider and Raging Bull did for the 1970s, Pictures at a Revolution does for Hollywood and the cultural revolution of the 1960s. As we follow the progress of five movies, we see an entire industry change and struggle and collapse and grow - and we see careers made and ruined, studios born and destroyed, and the landscape of possibility altered beyond all recognition.

©2008 Mark Harris (P)2008 Tantor

Critic reviews

"Thorough and engaging....Fascinating." ( Publishers Weekly)
"Fresh and candid....A particularly accomplished debut book." ( The New York Times)

Excellent Book and Excellent Narration

The fastest 17 hours I've heard. I only saw one of the movies Mark Harris writes about, The Graduate, but that didn't matter. Harris wrote so well about the other revolutionary movies, I was interested all the way. I hope Mark Harris picks another set of movies and writes about them. Also, Lloyd James did a first-rate job on the narration. Very easy on the ears.

Very Interesting

Awesome view of the industry at the time and the old industry trying to grip to what it knew.

The narrator had this weird upward inflection thing when making a supporting comment that I feel he was told to stop doing 3 quarters through the book. That was the only thing I noticed to critique haha

If you like movies (let alone love them) this is a great bit of history.

Great story. Well read.

Deeper revealing story about the shift in the Hollywood machine that eventually leads to the modern blockbuster mentality.

Great stories about specific films, actors, directors, and producers and how they all contributed to the film Revolution on the late 60’s.

Mispronounced names

This is a wonderful book but the narrator consistently mispronounced names from beginning to end. Leslie "Karen"? Seriously?

Great stories, BUT where is this narrator from?

This book is truly fascinating in detail and broad scope. It succinctly tells with effortless continuity the tale of a brilliant year in movie-making. However, the narrator can't correctly pronounce anything. Where has this guy lived his entire life? You're going to have a tough go if you can't translate his mispronunciation of names familiar to any movie fan. At least he's heard of Sidney Poitier. He gets close on that one. Still, if you're a movie nut, you've got to hear these backstories. Really interesting stuff...

Everything you'd want in an audio book...

This very well-researched and thorough account of how the five films nominated for Best Picture in 1968 came into being is everything you'd want in an audio book. It not only gives you a clear account of the time period, but shows how the curtain was closing on the studio-system-relics and opening for a new breed of younger, hipper filmmakers. It really is a watershed moment, and the author proves his thesis wonderfully. It's the perfect audio book because although I may have tired reading it in book form, it was a great companion on my long commute into work, and I was a little bummed when it ended. I learned a lot and gained even further insight into William Goldman's statement that in Hollywood, "Nobody knows anything." You're surprised anything of merit ever comes through the system, but this book shows some prime examples.

Become an expert on the Best Pictures of 1967

Where does Pictures at a Revolution rank among all the audiobooks you’ve listened to so far?

At or near the top.

What other book might you compare Pictures at a Revolution to and why?

You could call it a prequel to Easy Riders Raging Bulls by Peter Biskind although Harris doesn't seek out the salacious nor the snark and yet it's every bit as entertaining.

What about Lloyd James’s performance did you like?

There is nothing not to like. He seems a master in this medium.

If you were to make a film of this book, what would the tag line be?

The Movie behind the Movies is even better.

Any additional comments?

I hope Mark Harris spends the rest of his life telling me about the people who makes the movies.

Movies

The book was informative and entertaining. Perhaps too long. It definitely could have been edited somewhat.

Great book!

I almost passed because of the bad reviews about the narrator. I'm glad I didn't! This is a great listen and the few mispronounced words was no big deal.

A must read that requires some commitment

Amazing read full of old Hollywood history. If you love film, this should be on your bucket list. A thoroughly deep look at possibly the most pivotal year in American cinema. Reads a lot more like novella than a biography, so you can easily get lost if your not paying close attention to the well over 20 hours of audio, but there is enough content here to keep almost anyone who loves movies intrigued