Danbury Library Blog

Reading books about movies combines two of my favorite passions, and I highly recommend Pictures at a Revolution: Five Movies and the Birth of the New Hollywood by Mark Harris. Tracing the histories of the five 1967 movies nominated for a Best Picture Oscar - Bonnie and Clyde (DVD on order), Dr. Dolittle, The Graduate, Guess Who's Coming to Dinner, In the Heat of the NIght - Harris shows the growing struggle between the old Hollywood studio system, represented by the hugely expensive disaster Dr. Dolittle, and a new generation of filmmakers and stars, represented by Bonnie and Clyde's Warren Beatty and director Arthur Penn and The Graduate's Dustin Hoffman and director Mike Nichols. Somewhat in the middle were Guess Who's Coming to Dinner and In the Heat of the Night, both of which tackled the subject of race in very different ways; Stanley Kramer thought Guess was a powerful statement about interracial relationships, but what drew audiences was their final chance to see Spencer Tracy and Katharine Hepburn together, while Norman Jewison's Heat treated race relations more successfully and dramatically by avoiding Kramer's liberal Hollywood cliches. As either an introduction to or reminder of the era when American movies began to reflect the interests and passions of the late 1960's, this book is a fascinating read that should make you want to watch at least 4 of the Best Picture nominees of 1967. (By the way, the Oscar went to In the Heat of the Night.)