Cult Movie Stars by Danny Peary

Cult Movie Stars Reviews

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  Aussiescribbler Aussiescribbler

  Danny Peary is my favourite film writer. I like to read film books to whet my appetite to watch more movies, and the beauty of Peary is the breadth of his interest. In his books he expresses his all-encompassing passion for the multiplicity of cinematic entertainment - from the most esoteric European art movies to b-grade westerns to porn movies to crowd-pleasing blockbusters to transgressive underground shockers. He encourages us to be filmic omnivores. For years I've been using his
  Guide for the Film Fanatic: A Critical Checklist of Over 1,500 Movies as a map of the territory in my explorations.
  
  Cult Movie Stars was Peary's penultimate film book. After this and
  Alternate Oscars, he concentrated on sports books. It is clear that, for a period of time, he watched an awe-inspiring number of movies. So perhaps it is forgivable that, with this book, he gets a little confused at times and makes some rather embarrassing errors. Mistakes large and small are scattered throughout the book. He says of Franklin Bolger : "It is a pleasure to see his wheel-chair bound pervert run over by a car in Faster, Pussycat! Kill! Kill!" Bolger wasn't in that movie. That character was played by Stuart Lancaster. What is strange about this is that he wrote an essay on that movie in
  Cult Movies 3: 50 More of the Classics, the Sleepers, the Weird, and the Wonderful. He also informs us, wrongly, that Jean-Claude van Damme played the creature in Predator. Most worrying of all, he gives us a death date of 1990 for Peter Boyle, an actor who was not just still alive when the book came out, but lived on until 2006, having achieved an even greater level of popular appreciation for his role on Everybody Loves Raymond.
  
  These shortcomings can easily be forgiven for a book which celebrates so many remarkable stars, from legends like Bette Davis and John Wayne and Rudolph Valentino to gloriously disreputable figures such as John Holmes and Divine. Whether he is paying loving tribute or taking bitchy shots at someone he feels achieved more prominence than their talent deserved, Peary is always entertaining. And he provides useful guidance for those wishing to explore a particular actors work, by hi-lighting key films in his write-ups and listing more beneath - separated into categories, e.g. "Cult Favourites", "Sleepers", "Also Recommended" etc. The black and white photos used as illustration are full of striking images.
  
  So if you ever find yourself stuck in a rut with your film viewing, seek out Danny Peary. There's nothing wrong with joining a few more cults.
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  Jason Vedder

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