|
Indecent Exposure: A True Story of Hollywood and Wall Street (Collins Business Essentials) | 
 enlarge | Author: David Mcclintick
Publisher: Collins Business
Category: Book
List Price: $16.95
Buy Used: $2.07
You Save: $14.88 (88%)
New (25) Used (32) from $2.07
Rating:  9 reviews
Sales Rank: 349590
Media: Paperback
Pages: 576
Number Of Items: 1
Shipping Weight (lbs): 1.1
Dimensions (in): 7.9 x 5.4 x 1.6
ISBN: 0060508159
Dewey Decimal Number: 364.162
EAN: 9780060508159
ASIN: 0060508159
Publication Date: December 1, 2002
Availability: Usually ships in 1-2 business days
| |
| Also Available In:
|
| Similar Items:
|
| Editorial Reviews:
Product Description
When the head of Columbia Pictures, David Begelman, got caught forging Cliff Robertson's name on a $10,000 check, it seemed, at first, like a simple case of embezzlement. It wasn't. The incident was the tip of the iceberg, the first hint of a scandal that shook Hollywood and rattled Wall Street. Soon powerful studio executives were engulfed in controversy; careers derailed; reputations died; and a ruthless, take-no-prisoners corporate power struggle for the world-famous Hollywood dream factory began. First published in 1982, this now classic story of greed and lies in Tinseltown appears here with a stunning final chapter on Begelman's post-Columbia career as he continued to dazzle and defraud...until his last hours in a Hollywood hotel room, where his story dramatically and poignantly would end.
|
| Customer Reviews: Read 4 more reviews...
Where Hollywood and Wall Street Intersect March 30, 2009
Barry O
Over twenty years after its original publication, this book is still a compelling page turner that I could not put down. Actor Cliff Robertson unwittingly uncovers an embezzler, which ultimately fuels massive incompetence and repeated mistakes that almost destroy Columbia Pictures. While we are now lamenting the greed, corruption, and incompetence that lead to our current financial crisis, it's interesting to note that Wall Street has always suffered from foolishness. A very well written book.
the best book ever! October 2, 2008
MarkTwain (Compton)
this is the best book i've ever read. amazing primer on the movie business. BUY IT!
 Cliff Robertson is only a minor character May 28, 2008
L. E. Eastman (USA)
I just finished this book, and Cliff Robertson is actually a very minor character. In fact, the subject of him being "blackballed" is barely mentioned. (It receives one paragraph in the Epilogue.) Robertson was the first person to suspect something was amiss at Columbia, but the book is actually about the power struggle between the President of Columbia, Alan Hirschfield, and the controlling interests of the shareholders, led primarily by Herbert Allen Jr. This is a long book, but it was so riveting that I found it difficult to put down. It is really well written, even if it does not paint any of the characters in a terribly sympathetic light. I can't help but think that if Hirschfield had shown more backbone in the beginning and stuck by his decision to fire the check-forger Begelman instead of caving in to Allen's demands, none of this epic battle would have happened.
A good, solid treatment of a fascinating subject December 25, 2007
Margaret Bartley
2 out of 2 found this review helpful
This is not really a tale of embezzlement and disgrace - it is the store of power struggles between the Board of Directors for Columbia Studios, who were clearly had personal loyalty in their underlings as their top priority, and the CEO, Alan Hirschfield, trying to do what he needed to do to save the studio.
I don't have access to people at this level, so I appreciate the peeping-Tom aspect of viewing the thought processes and actions of people who normally hide behind lawyers, secretaries, and call-screeners.
The author obviously interviewed many many people to put this book together, and I appreciate how he reported on the media coverage, as well. I never really thought of how people manipulate the news as part of the story, but course it is.
The book is like a newspaper story in that it is filled with information, but the narrative reads like a novel - very easy to read. The author does a good job of developing story-lines, so we have a sense of completeness, and a sense of an overview, while also sprinkling the famous names and the glamour that makes Hollywood so compelling to people.
I've never understood why Hollywood turns out bad movies month after month, year after year, when it is so easy to tell from the beginning that a movie is going to be awful. Why make awful movies?
This book doesn't directly address that issue, but it shows how irresponsible and irrational the leading powers that control Hollywood on both coasts are, and how corrupt the whole system is. It's obvious that normal things like making a good product become irrelevent to their attention span.
I guess it's not really corruption, if everyone knows it's happening, and it's just a way of getting things done.
My only complaint is that I wish I had more of a reality on the Board Directors. Their actions seem so irrational, but I'm sure it's because they were not forthcoming in their interviews, and did not take the opportunity to express their points of view. People at that level are notorious for avoiding the press, so it is not surprising.
The Ultimate Study in Greed and Hubris April 5, 2007
James A. Cobbs (Port Orange, FL)
2 out of 3 found this review helpful
I bought this book when it first came out and have reread it every year or so. Tends to be a bit long and sometimes slow, but it's great. Buy a used copy, or check at the library.
Being from the Washington D.C. area I kept constantly asking why someone didn't leak this to the press and blow the whole compiristy.
The only comparable book is "The Great Salad Oil Swindle"
|
|
|
| |
