Research Catalog

Title

John Huston : interviews / edited by Robert Emmet Long.

Author

Huston, John, 1906-1987.

Publication

Jackson : University Press of Mississippi, 2001.

Items in the Library & Off-site

Details

Additional Authors

Long, Robert Emmet

Description

xliii, 186 pages : illustrations; 24 cm

Summary

"This collection of interviews brings the filmmaker John Huston vividly to life in his own words. Huston (1906-1987) had an extraordinary career that spanned more than forty years and nearly fifty films. Among these are such classics as The Maltese Falcon, Key Largo, The Treasure of the Sierra Madre, The African Queen, The Night of the Iguana, Prizzi's Honor, and The Dead. In these interviews ranging from 1952 to 1985 Huston talks about his approach to directing, the influence of painting upon his camera work, his association with stellar actors (Humphrey Bogart, Montgomery Clift, Errol Flynn, Marilyn Monroe, and others), his beginnings in Hollywood as a screenwriter, and the influence that the authors James Joyce and Ernest Hemingway had on his movies. Full of anecdotes about writers, directors, and actors with whom he collaborated, John Huston appears here as a man who had a rich, full life-amateur boxer, vagrant artist, painter, big-game hunter, director, and born storyteller. As a filmmaker particularly identified with the literary masterworks he transformed into cinema (Flannery O'Connor's Wise Blood, James Joyce's The Dead, Herman Melville's Moby Dick, and Tennessee Williams's The Night of the Iguana), Huston explores literary influences on his films. For him the act of writing is essential and basic. "I don't make a distinction between writing and direction," he says. "But to write and to direct one's own material is certainly the best approach. The directing is kind of an extension of the writing." Huston is known also for his innovative interaction with actors. In 1952 he said, "The trick is in the writing and casting. If you cast the right people, using only good actors, and adjust the script to suit the actors you've chosen, then it's best to leave them to work out their own gestures and movements. Your job is to explain to them the effect you want, and your skill lies in being able to do that exactly and vividly." The Huston who emerges from these interviews is a gifted raconteur, an admirable professional, and indeed a figure whose real life matched his prodigious legend. Robert Emmet Long is an independent scholar and freelance writer. His books include Ingmar Bergman: Film and Stage and The Films of Merchant Ivory. He lives in Fulton, N.Y."--! From Amazon.com.

Series Statement

Conversations with filmmakers series

Uniform Title

Conversations with filmmakers series.

Subjects

• Interviews
• Huston, John, 1906-1987 > Interviews

Genre/Form

Interviews.

Bibliography (note)

• Includes filmography (pages xxi-xliii) and index.

Contents

Interview with Huston / Karel Reisz -- Paris in the 90s / Al Hine -- An encounter with John Huston / Edouard Laurot -- Huston : "I direct as little as possible" / Kimmis Henrick -- A talk with John Huston / Dan Ford -- The innocent bystander / David Robinson -- Talking with John Huston / Gene D. Phillips -- John Huston / Louise Sweeney -- John Huston talking to Rosemary Lord / Rosemary Lord -- John Huston finds that the slow generation of King has made it a richer film / Joseph McBride -- Watching Huston / Gideon Bachmann -- An interview with John Huston / David Brandes -- Interview with John Huston / Urs Egger -- John Huston / G.Y. Dryansky -- John Huston, grand old man of American film / Barbara Thomas -- John Huston : at 74 no formulas / Bernard Drew -- Saints and stinkers : the Rolling Stone interview / Peter S. Greenberg -- Dialogue on film with John Huston / The American Film Institute -- Cracking the volcano / Todd McCarthy -- Two encounters with John Huston / Michel Ciment -- Playboy interview : John Huston / Lawrence Grobel.

Call Number

MWES (Huston, J.) 01-6315

ISBN

• 1578063272
• 9781578063277
• 1578063280
• 9781578063284

LCCN

00043516

OCLC

44516588

Author

Huston, John, 1906-1987.

Title

John Huston : interviews / edited by Robert Emmet Long.

Imprint

Jackson : University Press of Mississippi, 2001.

Type of Content

text

Type of Medium

unmediated

Type of Carrier

volume

Series

Conversations with filmmakers series

Conversations with filmmakers series.

Bibliography

Includes filmography (pages xxi-xliii) and index.

Added Author

Long, Robert Emmet, editor.

Research Call Number

MWES (Huston, J.) 01-6315