Cheap Spielberg: The Man, the Movies, the Mythology (Book) (Frank Sanello) Price

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Customer Reviews of Spielberg: The Man, the Movies, the Mythology

A Pop-Biography.
I'm not quite sure what Sanello was thinking, but his biography, SPIELBERG is the biography equivalent of a one-hit-wonder. The most significant part of the book is the first few chapters that deal with Spielberg's early life. I learned some things I didn't know before. However, I guess after Sanello finished talking with a few old friends and family, he figured that was all the real research he needed to do because the rest of the biography reads like an extended version of PEOPLE magazine. There are no juicy tidbits and no in-depth research or even assumptions about how Spielberg is able to do what he does. The few times that Sanello discusses skirmishes that Spielberg had with former cast members, a short ancedote is given about their careers after the film and that is about all. Not only that, but several times throughout the book, Sanello quotes himself verbatim from previous chapters; sounding more like a freshman college student taking Lit 101 than the famed biographer he is supposed to be. Overall, SPIELBERG was a major let down. It's worth reading for the first couple chapters about Spielberg's early days, but the rest of the novel you can read yourself in the trades, newspapers, and magazines.

Superficial and disappointing
Unlike weightier bigraphies like Kevin Brownlow's terrific "David Lean" or Simon Callow's 'Orson Welles-The road to Xanadu," this book feels like author Sanello didn't look much further than magazine articles and trade clips for research. According to the dust cover, he had over half a dozen interviews (7? that must have been exhausting!) with the director himself and a handful of stars (though never really truly substantiated), but it doesn't seem like he thought about interviewing parents, siblings, co-workers, crew members, etc. for any more details or elucidations about this icon of American pop culture. His obvious admiration and fawning over his subject distracts from any possible objectivity and also grows tiresome. The book offers a basic overview of the director's life and work but not much in terms of how he works, communicates, or thinks. For example, there's almost nothing about his relationship with pivotal Amblin producers Kathleen Kennedy and Frank Marshall. Didn't they ever argue, or disagree about anything? How were projects brought in to the company and what was Kennedy and Marshall's thoughts about their boss? There is also no insight from production designers or cinematographers or writers or producers he worked with. For more than just a cursory look at this director's career (up to 1995) look elsewhere.