The films of Martin Ritt : fanfare for the common man / by Gabriel Miller.

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

Miller, Gabriel, 1948-

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

Ritt, Martin, 1914-1990.

Ritt, Martin.

United States--In motion pictures.

United States--Social conditions--20th century.

Local Subjects:

United States--In motion pictures.

United States--Social conditions--20th century.

Physical Description:

xvi, 240 pages, 16 unnumbered pages of plates : illustrations ; 23 cm

Place of Publication:

Jackson : University Press of Mississippi, [2000]

Summary:

In a Hollywood career that spanned more than thirty years, Martin Ritt (1914-1990) directed twenty-six films. Among them were some of Hollywood's most enduring works--Hud, Hombre, The Spy Who Came in from the Cold, The Molly Maguires, The Front, and Norma Rae.

In addition to displaying a passionate commitment to social issues, Ritt's body of work represents a sustained exploration of the American myth and American national character. This study of his films shows how his work articulates the communal, agrarian ideal and its perversion as industrialism and urbanism have denatured the landscape.

Encompassing a hundred years of American life, Ritt's films follow the common man through the chronology of social history, including the arrival of the railroads in the West, coal mining in nineteenth-century Pennsylvania, Jack Johnson's rise as the first black heavyweight champion, the television blacklist, spying and the Cold War, trade unions, and the war in Vietnam.

This book includes analyses of all twenty-six of his films. Ritt's work in theater, notably in the Group Theatre, which he joined in 1937, and his being blacklisted from television in the 1950s informed his directorial philosophy throughout his career. Many recognize him as America's finest director of social films.

Contents:

Chapter 1. Discovering a Vocation: Childhood, College Years, Work in the Theater and Television 3

Chapter 2. The Making of a Film Director: Edge of the City and No Down Payment 18

Chapter 3. William Faulkner and Jerry Wald: The Long Hot Summer and The Sound and the Fury 27

Chapter 4. Lost in Europe: Five Branded Women and Paris Blues 37

Chapter 5. Ernest Hemingway and Jerry Wald: Hemingway's Adventures of a Young Man 44

Chapter 6. The Death of the Western Hero: Hud and Hombre 52

Chapter 7. Rashomon Redux: The Outrage 67

Chapter 8. Secret Agent Man: The Spy Who Came in from the Cold 79

Chapter 9. "I Believe in America": The Brotherhood 92

Chapter 10. The Valley of Death: The Molly Maguires 108

Chapter 11. The African American Experience: The Great White Hope, Sounder, and Conrack 123

Chapter 12. Suburban Interlude: Pete 'n' Tillie 146

Chapter 13. Exorcizing the Blacklist: The Front and Casey's Shadow 152

Chapter 14. Unions and Road Movies: Norma Rae and Backroads 170

Chapter 15. A Portrait of the Artist: Cross Creek 181

Chapter 16. On the Road Again: Murphy's Romance 193

Chapter 17. Funny Girl: Nuts 200

Chapter 18. Summing Up: The Black Orchid and Stanley and Iris 205

Appendix 1. Martin Ritt's Theater Work 225

Appendix 2. Martin Ritt's Filmography 227.

Notes:

Includes bibliographical references (pages 233-236) and index.

"Martin Ritt's filmography": pages 227-228.

ISBN:

1578062764

1578062772

OCLC:

43913093