Awake In The Dark : The Best Of Roger Ebert

Roger Ebert has been writing film reviews for the Chicago Sun-Times for over forty years. In fact, no critic alive has reviewed more movies than he has. Yet his essential writings have never been collected in a single volume—until now. With Awake in the Dark, both fans and film buffs can finally bask in the best of Ebert’s work. The reviews, interviews, and essays collected here present a picture of his numerous contributions to the cinema and cinephilia. From The Godfather to GoodFellas, from Cries and Whispers to Crash, the reviews in Awake in the Dark span some of the most exceptional periods in film history.
            In addition, the extraordinary interviews gathered in Awake in the Dark capture Ebert engaging not only some of the most influential directors of our time—Martin Scorsese, Steven Spielberg, Woody Allen, Robert Altman, Werner Herzog, and Ingmar Bergman—but also some of the silver screen’s most respected personalities, including actors as diverse as Robert Mitchum, James Stewart, Warren Beatty, and Meryl Streep.
           America’s most celebrated film critic, Ebert is a writer whose exceptional intelligence and bursts of insight have shaped the way we think about the movies. Awake in the Dark will be a treasure trove not just for fans of this seminal critic but for anyone desiring a fascinating and compulsively readable chronicle of film since the late 1960s.
          “As film criticism becomes more marginalized, Ebert may come to be seen as the last of a kind—the critic who actually has the power to influence a national audience.”—Booklist
            “[Ebert's] writing is top-notch. In Awake in the Dark, Ebert has produced his most personal collection of reviews, essays, and interviews, providing insights into the man as much as the movies he loves. . . . This volume contains some of Ebert's most exciting writing.”—Gary Kramer, Filmbill

Foreword, by David Bordwell
Introduction     
Prologue: Death of a Dream Palace      
La Dolce Vita
 
Part 1
Interviews and Profiles
Introduction     
Warren Beatty 
James Stewart 
Robert Mitchum          
Mitch and Jimmy: Some Thoughts        
Lee Marvin      
Ingmar Bergman          
Martin Scorsese and Paul Schrader      
Robert Altman 
Werner Herzog
Meryl Streep   
Woody Allen   
Spike Lee        
Tom Hanks     
Errol Morris    
Steven Spielberg          
 
Part 2
The Best
Introduction     
1967:   Bonnie and Clyde       
1968:   The Battle of Algiers  
1969:   Z         
1970:   Five Easy Pieces        
1971:   The Last Picture Show           
1972:   The Godfather           
1973:   Cries and Whispers    
1974:   Scenes from a Marriage         
1975:   Nashville        
1976:   Small Change 
1977:   3 Women        
1978:   An Unmarried Woman           
1979:   Apocalypse Now        
1980:   The Black Stallion      
1981:   My Dinner with Andre           
1982:   Sophie’s Choice         
1983:   The Right Stuff           
1984:   Amadeus        
1985:   The Color Purple       
1986:   Platoon          
1987:   House of Games         
1988:   Mississippi Burning    
1989:   Do the Right Thing     
1990:   GoodFellas    
1991:   JFK    
1992:   Malcolm X      
1993:   Schindler’s List          
1994:   Hoop Dreams 
1995:   Leaving Las Vegas     
1996:   Fargo 
1997:   Eve’s Bayou   
1998:   Dark City       
1999:   Being John Malkovich           
2000:    Almost Famous          
2001:   Monster’s Ball
2002:   Minority Report          
2003:   Monster          
2004:   Million Dollar Baby    
2005:   Crash 
 
Part 3
Foreign Films
Introduction     
Tokyo Story    
The Music Room        
Au Hasard Balthazar 
Belle de Jour  
The Wild Child           
Claire’s Knee 
Last Tango in Paris   
Fellini’s Roma
Stroszek          
The Marriage of Maria Braun           
Wings of Desire          
Raise the Red Lantern
The Scent of Green Papaya   
Spirited Away 
City of God    
 
Part 4
Documentaries
Introduction     
Woodstock     
Harlan County, U.S.A.           
Gates of Heaven        
Say Amen, Somebody 
The "Up" Movies        
28 Up             
35 Up             
42 Up             
Shoah             
Dear America: Letters Home from Vietnam 

Roger Ebert is the Pulitzer Prize–winning film critic of the Chicago Sun-Times and has cohosted a weekly movie review program on television since 1975, first with Gene Siskel and since 2000 with Richard Roeper. He is the author of numerous books on film, including The Great Movies, The Great Movies II, and Roger Ebert’s Movie Yearbook.

Publisher: University of Chicago Press
Distributor: Chicago Distribution Center
Publication Date: 05-15-2008
Pages: 512
Measurements: 9.00in X 6.00in