Ben Hecht : Fighting Words, Moving Pictures / Adina Hoffman.

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

Hoffman, Adina, Author.

Series:

Jewish Lives

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

Hecht, Ben, 1894-1964.

Hecht, Ben.

Screenwriters--United States--Biography.

Screenwriters.

Jewish authors--United States--Biography.

Jewish authors.

Physical Description:

1 online resource (263 pages) : illustrations

Place of Publication:

New Haven, CT : Yale University Press, [2019]

Language Note:

In English.

Summary:

A vibrant portrait of one of the most accomplished and prolific American screenwriters, by an award-winning biographer and essayistHe was, according to Pauline Kael, "the greatest American screenwriter." Jean-Luc Godard called him "a genius" who "invented 80 percent of what is used in Hollywood movies today." Besides tossing off dozens of now-classic scripts-including Scarface, Twentieth Century, and Notorious-Ben Hecht was known in his day as ace reporter, celebrated playwright, taboo-busting novelist, and the most quick-witted of provocateurs. During World War II, he also emerged as an outspoken crusader for the imperiled Jews of Europe, and later he became a fierce propagandist for pre-1948 Palestine's Jewish terrorist underground. Whatever the outrage he stirred, this self-declared "child of the century" came to embody much that defined America-especially Jewish America-in his time.Hecht's fame has dimmed with the decades, but Adina Hoffman's vivid portrait brings this charismatic and contradictory figure back to life on the page. Hecht was a renaissance man of dazzling sorts, and Hoffman-critically acclaimed biographer, former film critic, and eloquent commentator on Middle Eastern culture and politics-is uniquely suited to capture him in all his modes.

Contents:

Frontmatter

Contents

Prologue: The Man

1. The Root

2. The News

3. The World

4. The Times

5. The Screen

6. The Rogues

7. The Jews

8. The Cry

9. The Flag

10. The Child

Epilogue: The End

Sources

Thanks

Photo Credits

Index

Notes:

Description based on online resource; title from PDF title page (publisher's Web site, viewed 06. Apr 2020)

ISBN:

0-300-18240-6

OCLC:

1076873320