John hughes and eighties cinema, Christie, Thomas A.

Moving from the East-West tension plotlines of the later Roger Moore James Bond films into a conscious deviation towards less conventional subject areas during the Timothy Dalton era, Bond's evolving role as a Cold War hero is examined in order to ascertain just how the character was adapted to meet the demands of rapidly changing world affairs.

The Eighties saw a more nuanced approach to the Iron Curtain in comparison to earlier films in the series, with the films covering topics as wide-ranging as free-market capitalism and the home electronics boom, and the movie producers' ongoing efforts to ensure the cycle's continuing relevance to contemporary audiences are considered in detail.

Drawing on statistical data and a wide range of research material, The James Bond Movies of the Eighties considers issues such as the films' cultural impact, the series' radical shifts in style, and its often subtle approach to issues of ideology both domestic and international. Assessing this multifaceted era of the Bond series, this book evaluates differences in contemporary critiques and asks to what extent these motion pictures succeeded in charting the seismic shifts in the global balance of power which took place during that eventful period of history.

Fully illustrated, featuring film posters and stills from the movies.

Bibliography and notes. 340pp. ISBN 9781861714848.

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ABOUT THE AUTHOR: Thomas A. Christie has a life-long fascination with films and the people who make them. A member of the Royal Society of Literature and the Society of Authors, he holds an M.A. in Humanities with British Cinema History from the Open University of Milton Keynes, and a Ph.D. in Scottish Literature awarded by the University of Stirling.

This book is the first full-length analysis of all of John Hughes's films throughout the 1980s; not only the features that he directed, but also those for which he provided the screenplay. By analysing these pictures and discussing their social and cultural significance in the wider context of the decade, Hughes's importance as a filmmaker will be considered, and his prominent contribution to cinema assessed. The book concludes with a detailed analysis of Ferris Bueller's Day Off, a film which is considered to be among Hughes's most critically successful works and also one of his most structurally refined.

The new edition has been updated and revised in the wake of John Hughes' death in 2009.

Full illustrated. With bibliography, filmography and notes. 372 pages. ISBN 9781861713988.

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REVIEW ON AMAZON

If like me, you were fortunate enough to live through and grow up during the 80's and early 90's, you'll remember just how rich comedy was back then. This book on it's own puts most comedies of the modern era to shame as it is a homage to one of the most talented minds in the game. I am of course speaking of none other than the late great John Hughes. This is a great book for getting into the details of how a master of his art came about and created such cinematic gems. Hughes will be sorely missed which is why books like this keep his spirit and work alive

I'd say this book is for people who are nostalgic 20-somethings or cinema buffs, but all-round a good book for just about anyone who would like to know what made one of the funniest minds of Hollywood tick.

EXTRACT FROM THE INTRODUCTION

Think of the American cinema of the 1980s, and your mind is instantly bombarded by dozens and dozens of flamboyant moving images from this most distinctive of cinematic decades. You might be thinking of films which became classics such as Irvin Kershner's The Empire Strikes (1980), Steven Spielberg's Raiders of the Lost Ark (1981), Robert Zemeckis's Back to the Future (1985), or possibly even Tim Burton's Batman (1989). It was a decade that gave birth to some film franchises - one need only call to mind John Rambo's explosive first appearance in Ted Kotcheff's First Blood (1982), the harrowing exploits of Officer Murphy in Paul Verhoeven's RoboCop (1987), or even the improbably long-running knockabout antics of Cadet Mahoney and his fellow recruits which began with Hugh Wilson's Police Academy (1984).