A cinematic memoir and critical exploration of nine classics of old
Hollywood by a contemporary comic novelist.
"North by Northwest isn't about what happens to Cary Grant, it's about
what happens to his suit. The suit has the adventures, a gorgeous New
York suit threading its way through America. The suit, Cary inside it,
strides with confidence into the Plaza Hotel. Nothing bad happens to it
until one of the greasy henchmen grasps Cary by the shoulder. We're
already in love with this suit and it feels like a real violation."
Todd McEwen grew up in Southern California, so his head was hopelessly
messed with by the movies. As the son of relatively normal people, Todd
had no in with Hollywood, a mere thirteen miles away, yearn and try as
he might.
This is a kid who loved the movies so much, he got up at 4:30 in the
morning to watch Laurel and Hardy. A kid who insisted on his birthday
that his father project 8mm cartoons onto the family's dining room
curtains so they could be slowly parted, just like at a real cinema.
This is a kid who liked to leave the movie and trudge up hundreds of
dangerous iron steps to visit the lugubrious and always surprised
projectionist. This is a kid who, years later, watched Chinatown over
60 times.
A love letter to old Hollywood, this is a book for anyone interested in
film. Movies discussed include Blotto, The Wizard of Oz, The Three
Stooges, To Catch a Thief, North by Northwest, The 39 Steps, The
Trouble with Harry, and many, many more.
