Elia Kazan: A Life by Elia Kazan Summary and Reviews
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Book Reviews of Elia Kazan: A Life
Book Review: What a life! What a book!
Summary: 5 Stars
I became a part of Kazan's world upon reading the first sentence of this remarkable book. Kazan raises candor to the level of literature, something most writers simply cannot do. But it's so worth aspiring to as a means of written communication.
Kazan must have kept extensive personal files and journals to construct such a flowing narrative, which maintains a consistent energy through its 800+ pages. Kazan spares no one, least of all himself, in recounting motivations, actions and consequences throughout his extradordinary journey as an actor, a director and a writer.
What interested me first about Kazan was his association with the Group Theatre, Harold Clurman, and Clifford Odets. His later adventures with Tennessee Williams, Marilyn Monroe, and the House Un-American Activities Committee also make for engaging reading. However, there's a depth to the writing that goes beyond Kazan's show business background. I learned a lot about myself by reading this book, and that quality makes this a superb autobiography.
Book Review: Yesterday/Today: Right Wing Uses Same Tactics
Summary: 5 Stars
With a former Supreme Court Justice warning the USA today (March 10, 2006) about starting down the road toward a dictatorship, it seemes fitting to re-visit the House Un-American Activities Committee (HUAC) in the 1950s when the right-wing was trying to scare our citizens into giving the government supreme power, just as neocons are trying now.
Elia Kazan defends his decision to name names during the Hollywood Hearings of the 1950s, saying that his ideas toward the Communist Party had changed and he thought the higher ups (maybe from Russia) were dictating policies to the American communists in the movie business.
Maybe so, but he also admits the Hearings already had all the communists' names and admits they were only showing their power to control people here in Hollywood,using intimidation to instigate the blacklist. In real life, the USA government was the bully, not the old, tired communists of the 1930s.
If so, then why did he ever think the movie he directed, "On The Waterfront," was a good analogy for what he faced? The USA government caused the black list and precipated suicides and family break-ups in their Hollywood investigation.
It was the mob who caused the deaths and intimidation in "On The Waterfront." Is Kazan saying that Congress behaved like the mob? Or that the mob behaved like Congress?
Granted, Kazan was a great director, brilliant at times. But to him the bottom line was the bottom line, and to keep his position as an all-star director, he had to name names. While he tries to seem noble, the reader can see his 'reel' motivation was money and his career. So what if he named names! He was working.
Today, we see the right wing using similar tactics in the Bush administration: questioning people's patriotism, using smears and mud-slinging against opponents, trying to get people fired if they disagree with neocon policies, keeping a blacklist of university professors who oppose them, and most recently, equating the AARP group of loving gays instead of our troops.
After reading Kazan's book, I did gain a firm insight into right-wing politics, and these politicians use juxtaposition of images to label their opponents. Right-wingers still don't care if they distort the record. To them, winning is everything.
Book Review: a must read
Summary: 5 Stars
Kazan describes both personal and public events in a way that gives the reader a feeling of intimacy with the author. After reading the book I felt as I had known the man all my life. Kazan's frank accounts of his affairs with famous actresses of his day are unique for their detail and honesty. Compare this to the vague accounts in Brando's "Songs my Mother Taught Me." Apart from the gossip the telling of personal details of his relationship with his first wife and the description of the death of his second wife from breast cancer are wonderfully poignant. I felt as if I had been there myself. Kazan's description of his emotions at the time of these events rings so true that they are embarrassing to read, as if the reader had found his diary hidden in a drawer. He admits to emotions and motives most people would not honestly admit to even to their own conscience.