Overview

The American West, as we know it, is defined by the movies, and the Western is the oldest film genre. When the movies were born, it was not that long after Promontory Point and the Civil War, so those memories were still there in the minds of the very first movie audiences as they watched The Great Train Robbery. And the myth-making is as important as the brutal truths of history. As the reporter tells Jimmy Stewart in Fords The Man Who Shot Liberty Valance, This is the West, sir. When the legend becomes fact, print the legend. Rendered in rare, evocative tones reminiscent of Edward Sheriff Curtiss immortal photographs, Western Portraits of Great Character Actors provides readers with a collection of stylised portraits that capture the allure and mystique of the Old West, complete with authentic costuming, weaponry and settings. From the epic feature film to the TV series and serial, this coffee table book will put the story of character actors and the significance of their memorable roles into an entertaining perspective. The subjects include such popular, recognizable actors as Karl Malden, David Carradine, Denver Pyle, R G Armstrong, L Q Jones, Horst Buchholz, Henry Silva, Ruta Lee, Morgan Woodward, Bo Hopkins, Clu Gulager and 72 others.

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9783283012908

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"""I admire Steve Carvers photographs in this fine collection, and as we both emerged from the tutelage of Roger Corman, I feel a connection. These images recall the long-ago past and, not unlike the great photographer of the American West, Sheriff Curtis, reveal the personalities of the actors who sat for Steves camera."" Francis Ford Coppola, Writer, Director, Producer. ""Steve Carver has taken a cinematic approach to still photography, creating a series of compelling and evocative Western images. Helping Steve with this worthy enterprise are some of the best characters Hollywood had to give A marvellous collection."" Walter Hill, Writer, Director, Producer Digital Camera World carried a double-page spread including several images and an interview with the Author where he discussed his photographic methods."

I admire Steve Carvers photographs in this fine collection, and as we both emerged from the tutelage of Roger Corman, I feel a connection. These images recall the long-ago past and, not unlike the great photographer of the American West, Sheriff Curtis, reveal the personalities of the actors who sat for Steves camera. Francis Ford Coppola, Writer, Director, Producer. Steve Carver has taken a cinematic approach to still photography, creating a series of compelling and evocative Western images. Helping Steve with this worthy enterprise are some of the best characters Hollywood had to give A marvellous collection. Walter Hill, Writer, Director, Producer Digital Camera World carried a double-page spread including several images and an interview with the Author where he discussed his photographic methods.

I admire Steve Carvers photographs in this fine collection, and as we both emerged from the tutelage of Roger Corman, I feel a connection. These images recall the long-ago past and, not unlike the great photographer of the American West, Sheriff Curtis, reveal the personalities of the actors who sat for Steves camera. Francis Ford Coppola, Writer, Director, Producer. Steve Carver has taken a cinematic approach to still photography, creating a series of compelling and evocative Western images. Helping Steve with this worthy enterprise are some of the best characters Hollywood had to give A marvellous collection. Walter Hill, Writer, Director, Producer

Author Information

Brooklyn native Steve Carver studied photography at the University of Buffalo and Washington University in St. Louis. He pursued a formal education in filmmaking at the American Film Institutes Center for Advanced Film Studies, also participating in the Directors Guild of America's apprenticeship program. Prolific motion picture producer Roger Corman hired Carver to direct four movies, including Big Bad Mama. Carver also directed American action star Chuck Norris in An Eye for an Eye and Lone Wolf McQuade. C. Courtney Joyner is a writer whose first major output was a string of more than 25 movie screenplays beginning with The Offspring starring Vincent Price, and Prison directed by Renny Harlin. His novels include the new fantasy-adventure Nemo Rising and the Shotgun Western series, both of which have been optioned for television. A noted film historian, he lives in Los Angeles. Stephen B. Armstrong, Ph.D., is a professor of English at Dixie State University in St. George, Utah. His writing has appeared in numerous publications, including Film Quarterly, Film Score Monthly, Filmfax and Quarterly Review of Film and Video. His books include Pictures about Extremes: The Films of John Frankenheimer, Paul Bartel: The Life and Films and Andrew V. McLaglen: The Life and Hollywood Career. He also directed Return to Little Hollywood, an award-winning documentary about the history of motion picture production in southern Utah. Roger William Corman was born April 5, 1926, in Detroit, Michigan. Initially following in his father's footsteps, Corman studied engineering at Stanford University but while in school, he began to lose interest in the profession and developed a growing passion for film. Upon graduation, he worked a total of three days as an engineer at US Electrical Motors, which cemented his growing realization that engineering wasn't for him. He quit and took a job as a messenger for 20th Century Fox, eventually rising to the position of story analyst. After a term spent studying modern English literature at England's Oxford University and a year spent bopping around Europe, Corman returned to the US, intent on becoming a screenwriter/producer. He sold his first script in 1953, The House in the Sea, which was eventually filmed and released as Highway Dragnet (1954). Horrified by the disconnect between his vision for the project and the film that eventually emerged, Corman took his salary from the picture, scraped together a little capital and set himself up as a producer, turning out Monster from the Ocean Floor (1954). Corman used his next picture, The Fast and the Furious (1954), to finagle a multi-picture deal with a fledgling company called American Releasing Corp. (ARC). It would soon change its name to American-International Pictures (AIP) and with Corman as its major talent behind the camera, would become one of the most successful independent studios in cinema history. With no forma

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