Is That a Gun in Your Pocket?: The Truth about Female Power in Hollywood

by Rachel Abramowitz

Book Overview

Ten years ago, Rachel Abramowitz began interviewing the most powerful women in the movie-making business in an effort to discover how they had infiltrated this male-dominated world. From superstar... This description may be from another edition of this product.

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0375758690
• ISBN13: 9780375758690
• Release Date: May 2002
• Publisher: Random House Trade
• Length: 624 Pages
• Weight: 1.17 lbs.
• Dimensions: 1.1" x 5.3" x 8.1"

Customer Reviews

Hollywood Behind the Scenes

Rachel Abramowitz has achieved what so many would like to accomplish. She has written an intelligent, compelling and very entertaining account of how women achieve power in Hollywood. The book opens with Dawn Steel's death in 1997 and for the next 500 pages it is almost impossible to put down.Abramowitz has done her research well. This was a book that took her seven to write and I can believe it. We learn how a studio runs and we glimpse the personal lives of the most powerful women in town.On the production side Dawn Steel, Sherry Lansing, Polly Platt are profiled and we learn a great deal about each one of these major studio players. Female directors and actresses such as Penny Marshall, Nora Ephron, Barbra Streisand, Jodie Foster have their careers and lives etched with great detail.The women that Abramowitz talks about happen to be high profile Hollywood producers, agents and actors. However, they could just as well be in any boardroom in any city in the US. It is also a story about the adversity that women face in big business.A difficult book to put down.

A compelling look at women and power in Hollywood...

I love movies almost as much as books and have long been concerned about the roles that women play both behind and in front of the camera. In Is That a Gun... Rachel Abramowitz provides a fascinating, intelligent look at the power dynamics in Hollywood and a deeply personal one at the women themselves.Abramowitz spent seven years researching this book and it shows. She interviews women who have occupied various positions in Hollywood - from director to producer, agent, executive - about their lives and work. The women are very different from each other, but they were all among the first women to assume power in Hollywood and as such they have shared experiences. She often provides a background of the women, taking us through their early lives to their arrival in Hollywood - both literally and figuratively - and through their struggles and achievements. Often, along the way, much is revealed about how certain movies, such as Flashdance, Fatal Attraction, Forest Gump and more, were made and about actors, directors, studio heads and so on.Abramowitz does not rely solely on the women's accounts. She interviews scores of tangential players - from directors to spouses, many famous in their own right, and so on - who corroborate stories and offer their own perspectives, sometimes unwittingly underscoring one of the major points of the book - that however much many of the women might want to deny that sexism affected them personally, they certainly weren't treated the same way that men were.Many, many women are profiled in this book, so many that there were some that I wanted to learn more about. Others, most notably Dawn Steel and particularly Sherry Lansing, play a more prominent role - in fact, I'd say that Sherry appeared throughout with the most consistency. But a lack of 'page time' does not mean a lack of details, description or insight. Her interviews with Jodie Foster are stunning, especially as Jodie discusses her work on The Accused, Taxi Driver and directing Little Man Tate. And learning about Barbra Streisand's struggles to get her films made was surprising and illuminating. I simply wished there had been more because what was there was so fascinating and interesting.Too much can be learned from this book to summarize here, and it is much more substantial than mere gossip even though it is sometimes just as fun. If you love movies and have ever questioned why 'chick flicks' meant for women are often totally sexist and completly insult your intelligence, this books helps point you in the direction of an answer. Yet beyond all of the information - and, yes, dirt - I was suprised to find out how human these women were, how unlike the stereotype of the typical powerful, agressive, tough and successful Hollywood career woman. It is a bit disheartening to see how many of them distanced themselves from each other and feminism, not wanting to admit to seeing sexism or being treated differently, but it becomes almost understandable given what some of

Terrific!

A highly readable, intelligent book about women and power (or lack of) in modern-day Hollywood. This was one of the best books I've read in quite a while and I would recommend it to anyone who wants a fascinating look behind-the-scenes. I hope this author continues to write more books.

Spellbinding!

What a wonderful read! My only regret is that I began to browse it over the weekend and then literally gobbled it down. I wish I had waited for a lazy summer day so I could have relished it slowly. I opened this book, which was a gift, skeptically as the subject matter is not my usual cup of tea. Then I couldn't put it down! Abramowitz must have conducted her interviews with exceptionally sensitivity to be able to give her stories such detailed drama and emotion. This is not gossip and this is not just for women. This is a must for anyone who wants to be a player in a very cutthroat world.

The Best Hollywood Book I've Read In Years!

This book is an absolute delight. The actors interviewed are revealed as real flesh and blood people with unique insights to the film industry. The author is without a doubt a skilled and keenly perceptive journalist. This is one book that should be read by every aspiring actress and every studio executive.