Book review – “Which Lie Did I Tell?”, “Hype and Glory”, “The Big Picture” and “Adventures in the Screen Trade” by William Goldman

These are Goldman’s non fiction works on the movie industry. Adventures in the Screen Trade is the acknowledged classic, spawning the famous line “nobody knows anything.” Packed full of great stuff about stars and directors, and funny stories about Goldman’s own career, with a final section where Goldman adapts his own short story. Quite brilliant – I’ve read this book (or at least bits of it) over twenty times (OK I admit I don’t read the last bit that often). I wish I could read his script for The Right Stuff.

Not that many film buffs are familiar with Hype and Glory, Goldman’s tale of judging the Miss America contest and being a jury member at the Cannes Film Festival. His take on movies is always worth reading (esp his précis of films like Pelle the Conquerer and Bird). Sometimes though the book is full of rich person problems – “my apartment in London was messy when I got there”, and “I was having trouble finding studs for a wedding”, and “my guidebook gave me incorrect visa advice”. The Miss American stuff is OK – Atlantic City is well evoked – but not as good as the film stuff. This book is a bit more personally revealing that Adventures – he talks about his then-recent divorce especially.

Which Lie Did I Tell is a follow up to Adventures. Although it’s not as good, it’s enormously enjoyable – I only wish there’d be chapters on Heat and The Chamber. This fills a bit less disciplined: Goldman goes off on tangents a few times, talking about stuff on the internet and women faking orgasms. And he liked Robert McKee! (Maybe he’s attracted to McKee’s brusqueness). Snaps to Goldman, though, for allowing everyone to see a still-in-development screenplay of his, The Big A (which doesn’t read very well). Fascinating to see writers’ give their feedback – Tony Gilroy shot up immeasurably in my estimation after the job he did (it was like the one George Roy Hill did on da Vinci in Adventures). As an aside, I’d argue that Year of the Comet didn’t fail due to being about red wine, it was because of slack pacing, inadequate stars and a silly finale. But he’s allowed to twist it that way he wants.

The Big Picture is a collection of essays Goldman has written over the years. Very fun, though a few too many of them are about which ones are going to win the Oscars. My faves were the ones where he quoted movie execs on films – these comments are brilliant.