Wisecracks : Great Lines from the Classic Hollywood Era
Editorial Reviews
Book Description
Although Hollywood did not invent the wisecrack, moviemakers, screenwriters, and actors have crafted pinpoint put-downs and split-second come-ons into an art form. This thematically arranged (and thoroughly indexed) collection of classic, comic one-liners features hundreds of celluloid icons, including Mae West, W. C. Fields, and Groucho Marx. Encompassing all film genres from frothy musicals to hard-boiled noir, run-of-DeMille epics to Looney Tunes cartoons, Wisecracks features the finest of classic film comebacks that are guaranteed to delight every film fan.
Hollywood's classic studio era spawned just about the sharpest comic dialogue there's ever been. Hollywood garnered the finest talent available from both the vaudeville tradition and the new sharpen-talking pulp novels to furnish their stars with their greatest moments. Scriptwriters like Raymond Chandler and S. J. Perelman along with teams of Tinseltown wannabes penned lines for everyone from Bogey to Groucho.
Wisecracks is a collection of the finest of these gambits, ripostes, oneliners, putdowns and come-ons as used by Hollywood's greatest idols. As well as featuring all the great comedy acts--the Marx Brothers, Bob Hope and Bing Crosby, Dean Martin and Jerry Lewis, Mae West, W. C. Fields--Wisecracks has the hard-boiled comebacks of classic film noir and the rapid-fire exchanges of screwball comedy sparring partners like Cary Grant and Katharine Hepburn.
"She tried to sit in my lap when I was standing up."
--Humphrey Bogart, The Big Sleep
"I'm no angel, but I've spread my wings a bit."
--Mae West, I'm No Angel
"If I get the electric chair my agent gets ten per cent of the current."
--Bob Hope, My Favorite Blonde
Wisecracks : Great Lines from the Classic Hollywood Era,Rosemarie Jarski,McGraw-Hill,0809225166,Film & Video - General,Film & Video - Guides & Reviews,Film & Video - Reference,Film & Video - Screenwriting,General,Motion pictures,Performing Arts,Performing Arts/Dance,Pop Arts / Pop Culture,Quotations, maxims, etc,Performing Arts / Film / Reference
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