Overview

Lights! Camera! Arkansas! traces the roles played by Arkansans in the first century of Hollywood’s film industry, from Hollywood’s first cowboy star, Broncho Billy Anderson, to Mary Steenburgen, Billy Bob Thornton, and many others. The Arkansas landscape also plays a starring role; North Little Rock’s cameo in Gone with the Wind, Crittenden County as the setting for Hallelujah (1929), and locations all over the state’s southeastern quadrant in 2012’s Mud are all given fascinating exploration. Portrayals of Arkansans and Arkansas have appeared as appalling stereotypes, with I’m from Arkansas, from 1944, being one of the worst offenders. And sometimes these portrayals have been balanced, nuanced stories that became critically acclaimed standards. They have ranged from laughable box office bombs to laudable examples of film-making. Robert Cochran and Suzanne McCray screened close to two hundred films in their research for this spirited, chronological narrative. They’ve included an appendix on documentary films, a ratings section, and illustrations chosen by Jo Ellen Maack of the Old Statehouse Museum, where Lights! Camera! Arkansas! debuted as an exhibit curated by the authors in 2013

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9781557286727

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Reviews

A valuable resource for anyone interested in Arkansas's place in movie history. --Philip Martin, Arkansas Democrat-Gazette Not only will this book provide a welcomed foundation for appreciating and assessing Arkansas's relationship to American filmmaking, it identifies a heritage that future filmmakers associated with this state will recognize as their own. Congratulations to the authors for a job well done. --Frank Milo Scheide, noted film scholar This tender, cogent, droll, and beautiful book reminds you of so much you never knew and makes you all the richer for it. --Gill Dennis, screenwriter for Walk the Line

Not only will this book provide a welcomed foundation for appreciating and assessing Arkansas's relationship to American filmmaking, it identifies a heritage that future filmmakers associated with this state will recognize as their own. Congratulations to the authors for a job well done. --Frank Milo Scheide, noted film scholar A valuable resource for anyone interested in Arkansas's place in movie history. --Philip Martin, Arkansas Democrat-Gazette This tender, cogent, droll, and beautiful book reminds you of so much you never knew and makes you all the richer for it. --Gill Dennis, screenwriter for Walk the Line

This tender, cogent, droll, and beautiful book reminds you of so much you never knew and makes you all the richer for it. --Gill Dennis, screenwriter for Walk the Line

Author Information

Robert Cochran has lived in Arkansas, USA for thirty years and has produced many articles, books, and documentary films devoted to the arts in Arkansas, including Our Own Sweet Sounds: A Celebration of Popular Music in Arkansas and A Photographer of Note. Suzanne McCray, a Fort Smith native, is a faculty member in the College of Education and Health Professions at the University of Arkansas, USA and the Vice Provost of Enrollment.

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