Going Steady: Film Writings, 1968-1969

The Film Writings #3

by Pauline Kael

In Going Steady Kael has deliberately kept her film reviews in chronological order so that the reader can follow ‘what was evolving in film during a crucial period of social and aesthetic change’ at the end of the sixties. From Godard’s Weekend to Kubrick’s 2001, via Barbarella , Bullitt and Yellow Submarine .

Genres: Film, Nonfiction, Criticism, Essays, Media Tie In

320 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 1970

About the author

Pauline Kael was an American film critic who wrote for The New Yorker magazine from 1968 to 1991. She was known for her "witty, biting, highly opinionated, and sharply focused" movie reviews. She approached movies emotionally, with a strongly colloquial writing style. She is often regarded as the most influential American film critic of her day and made a lasting impression on other major critics including Armond White and Roger Ebert, who has said that Kael "had a more positive influence on the climate for film in America than any other single person over the last three decades."

Reviews

[Bill]

You acnnot imagine how much fun it is to read reviews of movies you have never seen. Kael's reviews are more like essays describing what makes something good and what makes it not good. Every review is entertaining and honest and levels even bad movies with respect, which actually is so much more devastating than the dismissive reviews I am used to seeing. It starts all the movies out on the same plain and sizes them up in a way that makes a bad movie seem so absolutely disappointing its tragic. I think Pauline Kael is my new girlfriend.

[Zachary · Rating 3 out of 5]

Kael writes with remarkable energy and with a great ear for phrasing, such that there are endless examples of amusing, pithy statements that one could draw from her reviews and essays contained in this book. Unfortunately, most of the films and art she is writing about have failed to stand the test of time, and so the actual subjects of these essays are boring and particularly un-engaging for the modern audience. Her essay on trash and art at the movies holds up, as do some aspects of her reviews, but for the most part it feels that you read this book for the writing, to gain amusement from Kael's style and wit, but this too can become a remarkably tedious enterprise the further the book drags on.

[Frank · Rating 5 out of 5]

The first two years of Kael's "New Yorker" reviews are a great read. You don't have to agree with her to find her opinions, particularly when she champions filmmakers like Bernardo Bertolucci or skewers big budget Hollywood schlock, fascinating.

[SHUiZMZ · Rating 5 out of 5]

I become more & more interested in Kael's writing as I've seen more of the films she writes about. Her essays on film in general are the most illuminating.

[Duncan · Rating 5 out of 5]

Incredible collection, endlessly fascinating. Pretty much everything you need to know about film criticism is in this book.

[Zach Freeman · Rating 4 out of 5]

Good collection of reviews, though obviously dated - mainly I was interested in the Trash, Art and the Movies essay. Really well written piece about how we try to turn trash that we like into art (pretending that something enjoyable is automatically art) and that we tend to ignore the trashy part of art movies.

[Anita · Rating 4 out of 5]

Not sure if she generally disliked all movies in 1968 or if this is mostly a collection of her negative reviews, but damn, she can really say some deliciously mean things about directors, cinematographers, actors, and writers. I love her.

[Josh · Rating 3 out of 5]

Kael really loves Barbra Streisand... when she's young. And Katharine Hepburn before she became self-aware. And Intolerance. She opines like she knows movies, she writes like she loves them.