Alan Lawless, director of the Rogers State University Stratton Taylor Library, will discuss the book “Pictures at a Revolution: Five Movies and the Birth of the New Hollywood” by Mark Harris Thursday, Jan. 15 at RSU.
The event will be held at 3 p.m. in room 207 of library and is free and open to the public. Refreshments also will be served.
“Entertainment Weekly” writer Harris gives readers a different take on the five films nominated for the 1967 Academy Awards: “Bonnie and Clyde,” “The Graduate,” “Guess Who’s Coming to Dinner,” “In the Heat of the Night” and “Doctor Dolittle.”
Instead of retelling stories about the production of these five films, Harris uses the films to discuss the challenges and innovations the movie industry faced in the 1960s. The author also profiles actors and producers and discusses the larger cultural issues such as the Civil Rights movement impacting the industry and the nation.
Cineaste magazine had this to say about Harris’ book: “a sure test of a great film book is that it makes the reader want to revisit even those classics he thinks he knows frame by frame. After devouring Pictures at a Revolution you’ll want to reshuffle your Netflix queue or cough up for the Blu-ray editions-though no doubt, skipping over Doctor Dolittle.”
Lawless said reading “Pictures at a Revolution: Five Movies and the Birth of the New Hollywood” did indeed make him rework his Netflix queue and he revisited many of the films discussed in the book in preparation for his library talk.
Lawless earned both his bachelor’s degree in history and his master of library science degree from the University of Oklahoma.
More information is available by contacting the RSU Stratton Taylor Library at 343-7716.