Hollywood: A Third Memoir (2010) - Plot & Excerpts
Probably the weakest of the three memoirs. Part of the problem is that while it's about Hollywood, McMurtry's Hollywood is the Hollywood of script writers. He uses the same episodic style that he used in the first two books. Though, he does draws a few complete and lengthy portraits of a few eccentric behind-the-scenes players --mostly agents --but he doesn't say much about big names. In part, it's probably because that's the Hollywood he knew/knows. In the end, I read the first two books because of the book anecdotes. I read this one because I also appreciate film --but I appreciate film the way an avid reader appreciates books and found little to further that appreciation. While I wouldn't say it was bad, I would say it was rather unsatisfying as a book. You’d think a writer associated with at least four major films—“Hud,” “The Last Picture Show,” “Terms of Endearment,” and “Brokeback Mountain”--- as well as a major television miniseries, “Lonesome Dove,” would have more enlightening stories to tell than Larry McMurtry does in Hollywood: A Third Memoir. McMurtry seems determined not to do more than skim the surface regarding the movers and shakers that he was worked with over the years. For example, he may tell the reader that he and Peter Bogdanovich didn’t get along for years, but he kindly spares us the details as to why. Or he mentions that he’s been good friends with Diane Keaton and her sister, but gives us little insight into the friendship, since the book’s focus is supposed to be Hollywood and how it works/or doesn’t. The writing here is, frankly, lazy. McMurtry admits that Hollywood provided him with the means to enjoy his true passions, bookselling and writing, but his separate memoirs on those topics were equally slight. Not recommended.
What do You think about Hollywood: A Third Memoir (2010)?
Dashed-off, rambling, repetitive, unedited, and pointless --- couldn't finish.
—Charanjot
A fitting finale to the slim memoir trilogy, but he didn't dish the dirt.
—Britteny
