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Adventures of a Suburban Boy
Boorman begins with his archetypal English suburban boyhood in the 1940s and 50s, then recounts his big break during the 'gold rush' era of British television in the 1960s, and his subsequent graduation to feature initially with pop stars The Dave Clark Five on Catch Us If You Can, then with the legendary Lee Marvin on his first Hollywood picture - and first masterpiece - Point Blank. Among the many friends and collaborators of whom Boorman offers vivid portraits therein are Marvin, Sean Connery, Richard Burton, Marcello Mastroianni, Burt Reynolds, Jon Voight, Helen Mirren and Nicol Williamson.
320 pages, Paperback
First published November 1, 2003
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About the author
John Boorman
54 books13 followersJohn Boorman is an English filmmaker who is a long time resident of Ireland and is best known for his feature films such as Point Blank, Deliverance, Excalibur, The Emerald Forest, Hope and Glory, The General and The Tailor of Panama.
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Displaying 1 - 14 of 14 reviews
February 27, 2015
A charming memoir from British director John Boorman. Having reached creative maturity in the 60's and 70's, a time when Hollywood was reeling from the influence of television and its studios were relatively weak and directionless, Boorman managed to make innovative and free spirited movies somewhat in the vein of his New Hollywood contemporaries like Scorsese and Coppola. Of course with this artistic vision and power he created some AWFUL, just ABSURDLY bad movies (Exorcist II, Zardoz) as well as some classics (Deliverance, Point Blank, Hope and Glory)
Boorman is a polished writer with a wonderful sense of timing -- crucial for a filmmaker, I suppose. The story pivots from his hard scrabble childhood and adolescence in the London suburbs to the early days of ITV, then to BBC documentary work and finally to his productive career as a filmmaker. I liked the first half of the book better than the second half -- somehow it's more interesting to read about the flummoxed BBC bureaucracy in the 1960s than Boorman's later trials of trying to obtain financing in Hollywood. That said, the second half also has plenty of goofy celebrity anecdotes as well as shell shocked semi-repressed memories from the front lines of movie production. Boorman weaves detailed imagery (another good trait for a filmmaker?) and brings us into his strange and melancholy world.
Boorman is a polished writer with a wonderful sense of timing -- crucial for a filmmaker, I suppose. The story pivots from his hard scrabble childhood and adolescence in the London suburbs to the early days of ITV, then to BBC documentary work and finally to his productive career as a filmmaker. I liked the first half of the book better than the second half -- somehow it's more interesting to read about the flummoxed BBC bureaucracy in the 1960s than Boorman's later trials of trying to obtain financing in Hollywood. That said, the second half also has plenty of goofy celebrity anecdotes as well as shell shocked semi-repressed memories from the front lines of movie production. Boorman weaves detailed imagery (another good trait for a filmmaker?) and brings us into his strange and melancholy world.
July 25, 2016
c2003. Written by a consumate professional. This book contains some interesting vignettes on the start up of commercial TV in the UK but does focus on the trials and tribulations of making films - well, actually not just the actual filming but the often frustrating attempts to get a project off the ground. The one thing that worried me fairly frequently during the book was that it seemed that he ended up working without any income so how did he and his family survive? let alone to buy a lovely property in Ireland? "Little" things like that really bother me but I can only assume that 1 box office hit sets you up for life. Some passages are a little clunky and Mr Boorman certainly had a fixation on the grail story. I am afraid, being the philistine that I am, I only saw two of his films and that was “Hope and Glory” and “Excalibur”. I had heard of Deliverance but never wanted to watch it. Mr Boorman is also very scathing about semi-detached houses! No quotes or reviews on the cover at all. FWFTB: director, passion, innovative, fantastical, Arthurian. “ But voting Conservative was a way of reassuring himself that he would not slip down into the dreaded working class. Thus was England’s class system shored up.”
September 25, 2008
Interesting account of director John Boorman's life. He helmed "Deliverance," "Hope and Glory" and "Excalibur."
Here's my review:
http://www.variety.com/review/VE11179...
Here's my review:
http://www.variety.com/review/VE11179...
March 28, 2023
John Boorman, film director, producer, writer, cameraperson etc. tells his biography. He grew up in London before and during the Blitz, was drafted to fight in Korea and (like Stephen King) spent all his teen years watching films and wanting to tell stories.
I have not seen all the films, as Boorman had a habit of not making commercial films, some of which however did extremely well for the studio. We get talked through his experiences of making short films, marrying, and landing a job with a TV company, then switching to the BBC which was trying to get out of its rut of serious and minimal appeal programming. Whereupon he promptly, it seems to me, made serious and minimal appeal programming. He followed an ordinary expectant married couple for six months, making a monthly programme about what they thought about where they lived. I would be inclined to condense that into one show and make programmes about six different sets of people; artists, zookeepers, ship-builders etc. Perhaps we get the explanation when he finally admits to having had a crush on the pregnant wife. This just sounds creepy.
Boorman wanted to film the Arthurian myth but took a long time getting around to it. On the journey, he tried writing a treatment of The Lord Of The Rings.
"Tolkien was fascinated by the violence of ancient myth, yet lived the safe and privileged life of the Oxford don," he says. I don't know why he didn't know that Tolkien had been a second lieutenant who fought at the Somme. His editor should have caught that one.
We learn about making Deliverance and The Emerald Forest, out in wild environments. These brought challenges to all the production team. The actors from those years come across larger than life, especially Lee Marvin, who mainly played in more urban scenes, and Liam Neeson, Gabriel Byrne, Stephen Rae, Helen Mirren, Richard Burton. More men than women, since men presumably got better pay and bigger credits, but Boorman seemed to want to make films about men. Hollywood studios kept getting taken over, causing ripples down the line for funding. Several times Boorman tells us he took no pay in order to get the film made. He also gave Neil Jordan his start, though without mentioning Company of Wolves.
As the book closes, the author is 70, with Oscar nights and film festivals and awards behind him. He is proud of having planted and preserved trees in Wicklow, and raised his family. He greatly admires The Fellowship of The Ring. Decades ago I commented to a friend that Richard Adams's The Girl in A Swing should be filmed by Boorman; it wasn't, but would now have to be made as a period piece. There is still time.
Students of film and media will learn a lot (after the first several chapters) about the evolution of filming and cinema, the people who tried out techniques which became standard in editing or filming with camera manoeuvres; the issues with dubbing, colour palettes, filming historical record, budget cutting, getting funded for major productions, assembling a team and cast, working on various locations, even how the Oscar nominees are treated.
I borrowed this book from the RDS Library. This is an unbiased review.
I have not seen all the films, as Boorman had a habit of not making commercial films, some of which however did extremely well for the studio. We get talked through his experiences of making short films, marrying, and landing a job with a TV company, then switching to the BBC which was trying to get out of its rut of serious and minimal appeal programming. Whereupon he promptly, it seems to me, made serious and minimal appeal programming. He followed an ordinary expectant married couple for six months, making a monthly programme about what they thought about where they lived. I would be inclined to condense that into one show and make programmes about six different sets of people; artists, zookeepers, ship-builders etc. Perhaps we get the explanation when he finally admits to having had a crush on the pregnant wife. This just sounds creepy.
Boorman wanted to film the Arthurian myth but took a long time getting around to it. On the journey, he tried writing a treatment of The Lord Of The Rings.
"Tolkien was fascinated by the violence of ancient myth, yet lived the safe and privileged life of the Oxford don," he says. I don't know why he didn't know that Tolkien had been a second lieutenant who fought at the Somme. His editor should have caught that one.
We learn about making Deliverance and The Emerald Forest, out in wild environments. These brought challenges to all the production team. The actors from those years come across larger than life, especially Lee Marvin, who mainly played in more urban scenes, and Liam Neeson, Gabriel Byrne, Stephen Rae, Helen Mirren, Richard Burton. More men than women, since men presumably got better pay and bigger credits, but Boorman seemed to want to make films about men. Hollywood studios kept getting taken over, causing ripples down the line for funding. Several times Boorman tells us he took no pay in order to get the film made. He also gave Neil Jordan his start, though without mentioning Company of Wolves.
As the book closes, the author is 70, with Oscar nights and film festivals and awards behind him. He is proud of having planted and preserved trees in Wicklow, and raised his family. He greatly admires The Fellowship of The Ring. Decades ago I commented to a friend that Richard Adams's The Girl in A Swing should be filmed by Boorman; it wasn't, but would now have to be made as a period piece. There is still time.
Students of film and media will learn a lot (after the first several chapters) about the evolution of filming and cinema, the people who tried out techniques which became standard in editing or filming with camera manoeuvres; the issues with dubbing, colour palettes, filming historical record, budget cutting, getting funded for major productions, assembling a team and cast, working on various locations, even how the Oscar nominees are treated.
I borrowed this book from the RDS Library. This is an unbiased review.
August 26, 2019
I've always liked John Boorman as a film-maker, but he is a very thoughtful, creative person who shares many of my inspirations.
This is a very interesting book about film-making, particularly how some of his challenging films were made and how Hollywood works (the process by which finds can be made or not made), but also a very reflective piece on the the nature of being English, from the perspective of someone who is very much so, but has sufficient distance to look on it almost as an outsider would.
Very inspirational.
This is a very interesting book about film-making, particularly how some of his challenging films were made and how Hollywood works (the process by which finds can be made or not made), but also a very reflective piece on the the nature of being English, from the perspective of someone who is very much so, but has sufficient distance to look on it almost as an outsider would.
Very inspirational.
June 12, 2022
A man after my own heart.
May 14, 2025
Great stories of Lee Marvin, plus the making of Point Blank, Deliverance, Zardoz, Excalibur, and yes, Exorcist II: The Heretic.
August 27, 2012
A very intelligent memoir from director John Boorman. The director ties his childhood memories and certain events with his later films beautifully. Boorman has a great sense of storytelling and avoids the typical tell-all book about Hollywood filmmaking. Very telling are his portraits of certain personalities he has run across during his career...especially Christopher Isherwood and James Dickey.
This man has created some of my favorite films the past thirty years including "Deliverance", "Zardoz", and "Point Blank". Also totally worth the book is the trials and tribulations he had while making "Hell In The Pacific"; itself a hit-and-miss film, but totally worth watching for the Lee Marvin/Toshiro Mifune stand-off!
I sincerely hope Boorman continues his writing (and filmmaking career) for awhile longer...his long gestating project based on "Memoirs Of Hadarin" is something I am eager to see. He had better get this on film!
This man has created some of my favorite films the past thirty years including "Deliverance", "Zardoz", and "Point Blank". Also totally worth the book is the trials and tribulations he had while making "Hell In The Pacific"; itself a hit-and-miss film, but totally worth watching for the Lee Marvin/Toshiro Mifune stand-off!
I sincerely hope Boorman continues his writing (and filmmaking career) for awhile longer...his long gestating project based on "Memoirs Of Hadarin" is something I am eager to see. He had better get this on film!
October 10, 2012
A very good example of a film memoir,crafted by John Boorman,full of interest & nostalgia,punctuated with his often awkward experiences with real life & the fantasy world of modern cinema! Some of his thoughts about life reach poetic heights,as do many of his films.This is no trawl through boring 'motion picture' miscellany but a genuinely endearing study of a boy,a man & his journey through a rich life.I recommend it to any reader with more than a superficial interest in films,arguably the most superficial of all art forms.Boorman is not a superficial man,delving deep into his personal visions of life, his hopes & glories,& how they can become rich material too for his cinematic work.There are some vivid pen portraits of the people who have meant most to him; family members & film legends both.I will never regard Lee Marvin in the same light after reading Boorman's affectionate but realistic portrait of a man in torment.Wonderful stuff!
February 26, 2013
I bought this for 50p in a discount bookstore, expecting to throw it straight into the nearest bin once I'd read the chapter on the making of Zardoz (fabulous film, I don't care what anybody says...). It turned out to be rather good though. Boorman's childhood was fairly uneventful and his ruminations on life, the universe and everything are a little pedestrian, but once he gets into his directing stride the anecdotes come thick and fast - his follies (Hell In The Pacific, Exorcist 2 - The Heretic, the career of Charley Boorman) providing more memorable material than his successes.
October 14, 2014
John Boorman writes beautifully. His words are succinct, meaningful and honest. He sugar-coats nothing of his life spent filming the famous and consorting with the rich. He speaks of hard work, of passion, and of the many foibles of the film world. I believe that his film concepts were ahead of their time - his ideas would have been transformed greatly by today's technology - CGI and digitalisation. This book documents the grit along with the glamour. The beauty of fantasy is suffused with the pain of reality. It is a detailed and thorough account of a creative life lived to the full.
June 16, 2015
Boorman's autobiog goes up to the early '90s and he's certainly had a life worth writing about. He also manages to make his early years growing up as a boy in the London suburbs during the blitz - and, later, doing his national service - just as interesting as his life after fame and success came knocking. Well-written, thought-provoking, moving, insightful and funny, this book has it all. The chapter on his hair-raising experiences making 'Hell In The Pacific' is worth the cover price alone.
June 9, 2013
lots of personal stories of the movie making industry, you see how he fails and succeeds and continues on.
March 29, 2013
Moving and perceptive memoir from the director of some of the most striking pictures of the past 50 years. This is worth reading just for his poignant reminiscences of the great Lee Marvin.
Displaying 1 - 14 of 14 reviews