- Summary
- "He was, according to Pauline Kael, 'the greatest American screenwriter.' Jean-Luc Godard called him 'a genius' who 'invented 80 percent of what is used in Hollywood movies today.' Besides tossing off dozens of now-classic scripts--including Scarface, Twentieth Century, and Notorious--Ben Hecht was known in his day as ace reporter, celebrated playwright, taboo-busting novelist, and the most quick-witted of provocateurs. During World War II, he also emerged as an outspoken crusader for the imperiled Jews of Europe, and later he became a fierce propagandist for pre-1948 Palestine's Jewish terrorist underground. Whatever the outrage he stirred, this self-declared 'child of the century' came to embody much that defined America--especially Jewish America--in his time. Hecht's fame has dimmed with the decades, but Adina Hoffman's vivid portrait brings this charismatic and contradictory figure back to life on the page. Hecht was a renaissance man of dazzling sorts, and Hoffman--critically acclaimed biographer, former film critic, and eloquent commentator on Middle Eastern culture and politics--is uniquely suited to capture him in all his modes"--Jacket.
- Variant Title
- Fighting words, moving pictures
- Series
- Jewish lives
Jewish lives (New Haven, Conn.)
- Format
- Book
- Author/Creator
- Hoffman, Adina, author.
- Published
- New Haven : Yale University Press, [2019]
©2019
- Locale
- United States
- Contents
-
Prologue : the man
The root
The news
The world
The times
The screen
The rogues
The Jews
The cry
The flag
The child
Epilogue : the end.
- Notes
-
Includes bibliographical references (pages 219-229) and index.
Prologue : the man -- The root -- The news -- The world -- The times -- The screen -- The rogues -- The Jews -- The cry -- The flag -- The child -- Epilogue : the end.
