Vincent Curcio

When I am not devouring mysteries and police procedurals, I watch a lot of B&W movies from the 40's and 50's. There were some really great noir films in this period and one actress among my favorites, in these movies, is Gloria Grahame.

Perhaps known as more of a supporting type than lead, she was nonetheless nominated twice for an Academy Award: for Crossfire, and for The Bad And the Beautiful (which she won). Some of her other works include: The Big Heat, In a Lonely Place, and Macao, as well as the classic It's a Wonderful Life.

Of course no Hollywood star's biography would be complete without some salacious act or some form of controversy. Ms. Grahame garnered nationwide attention when she had an affair with her second husband's Nicholas Ray's 13 year old son Tony. She and Tony went on to marry and had two sons together. Oddly this marriage lasted the longest of all, about 14 years. She also had numerous surgeries on her mouth, supposedly to achieve the "perfect" look but succeeded in distorting her face, which in turn affected her voice.

She died in 1981 at the age of 58. All controversy aside I never miss a chance to see one of her movies whenever I can.… (more)

This is a tiresome, long, unfocused book that lauds its subject with overly purple prose and winds on endless tangents. By its conclusion, I felt largely relief that it was finally done. While certainly exhaustive and full of information about the explosion of the American automobile, I never got a real sense or feel for the subject, other than that the author thought he was really great, just totally awesome.

He painted a more compelling picture of Ford and William Durant in this book's pages than Chrysler himself. In fact, some of the best segments of the book hardly even mention Chrysler as the growth and development of the auto industry is explained. I say that they were "best" because they were educational, interesting, and not terribly written, but these same segments still filled me with irritation, because I was reading a book on CHRYSLER, for crying out loud. Get to the point!

Upon finishing the 666-page volume, my primary emotion was relief that the ordeal was, at long last, over. Long as it was, the book felt far longer, due to the wide-ranging, inclusive nature of the information contained therein and the lack of real connection between chapters or a thematic thread to tie things together. I considered giving up many times, but after having slogged my way through the first couple hundred pages, I thought, well, the least I can do is finish it and give it a negative review.

So. The only use I would recommend this book for (other than pressing leaves, a paperweight, kindling, et cetera) is if you're writing a paper on Chrysler -- and even then, you'll be much happier if you use the index extensively to cherrypick and skim your way through the book instead of actually submitting to the painful task of reading it.… (more)