O.K. You Mugs: O.K. You Mugs: Writers on Movie Actors

By Luc Sante and Melissa Pierson

Book Overview

In this superb collection of essays edited by Luc Sante, author of Lowlife , and Melissa Holbrook Pierson, writers as diverse as John Updike, Patti Smith, and Pulitzer Prize-winning poet Charles Simic pay to homage the famous and the lesser known actors (some megastars, some lesser lights) who illuminate our Hollywood dreams. From a side-splitting tribute to Elmer Fudd to an earnest lament at the absence of great fat actors today, O.K. You Mugs is a dazzling anthology that focuses on those remarkable talents who gave some of the most memorable performances in the history of Hollywood. These essays are sure to delight any reader who claims to care about the movies. Including: o Jacqueline Carey on Margaret Dumont o Dana Gioia on Movie Fat Men o David Hajdu in Elmer Fudd o Greil Marcus on J.T Walsh o Patti Smith on Jeanne Moreau o Charles Simic on Gene Tierney o John Updike on Doris Day

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0375700927
• ISBN13: 9780375700927
• Release Date: November 2000
• Publisher: Knopf Publishing Group
• Length: 304 Pages
• Weight: 0.55 lbs.
• Dimensions: 0.7" x 5.2" x 7.9"

Customer Reviews

What's Good Is SO Good.....

Having read the posted reviews,I began to challenge my own previous judgment about this book.It's hard to disagree with the criticisms---maybe I'm just a soft touch for this sort of writing.The way I figure it--if there's one really outstanding essay among the bunch--my money spent will have been justified.So--did this book deliver? I say yes---no regrets on my part for having bought it.You're not likely to go for all 26 entries(I didn't),for it's all a matter of taste in the end.The Barbara Payton piece alone covered the cost for me.It's an up-close memoir of a kid growing up among the sleazy environs of a Sunset Blvd. dive where he encountered,and was befriended, by the notorious actress turned hooker-and-dipso---a priceless recollection of the Hollywood community and it's fading stars in free-fall.The Mitchum piece was fine by me---I've read other latter-day hep-cat appreciations of Mitch,and this one is as good as any---if the actor had not survived to enjoy(?) such a disreputable old age,he might have become a genuine cult immortal.John Updike on Doris Day is outstanding---even if you're only a casual viewer(or listener)of her work.I thought "Rogue's Gallery" was just great---Luc Sante should do an expanded version of this with profiles of more actors---his insights are flat on the money."Warner Bros.'Fat Men" gives us Sydney Greenstreet and Eugene Pallette---Hey,those two guys are worth my $18 anyday.Then there's Angelo Rossitto(excellent)and a neat piece of detective work wherein Stuart Klawans tracks down the "shoe-shine" man from the arcade number in "The Bandwagon"---the idea itself is inspired,and the execution lives up to it.Those are my favorites,but there is other good stuff---if you like offbeat essays on underappreciated film players,you'll be well rewarded here.