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111 reviews for:
Alright, Alright, Alright: The Oral History of Richard Linklater's Dazed and Confused
Melissa Maerz
4.46 AVERAGE
111 reviews for:
Alright, Alright, Alright: The Oral History of Richard Linklater's Dazed and Confused
Melissa Maerz
4.46 AVERAGE
informative
lighthearted
reflective
fast-paced
A fantastic, thoroughly researched oral history of one of my favorite movies ever!
I was really excited to win this book in a Giveaway - it was different from my normal reading material and a refreshing and light read during the pandemic. I'm a fan of Linklater movies (Waking Life is one of the most original movies I have ever seen) and I really enjoyed reading the backstories and memories (sometimes conflicting memories!) and the "behind the curtains" peek at how Dazed and Confused was conceived of and filmed, etc. I thought the book was well-organized, and the stories and quotes were in the proper context of each chapter. Maerz also was able to cover the social context that explains the impact of both Slacker and Dazed and Confused and the influence on other film makers. I also appreciated that she included a lot of peripheral actors, people who worked on set, casting directors, etc. and that we were able to get a glimpse of the business-y part of how movies get made so you get a really well-rounded set of opinions and perspectives.
A lot of books that are built on snippets of dialogue and quotes can get redundant and scatter-y but Maerz kept it flowing, and I was engaged and entertained all the way through. (Matthew McConaughey's tale of getting "discovered" was hilarious - was worth reading for that part alone!) As a Gen X-er, I am the same age as a lot of the actors who starred in the movie so it's really interesting to see how their careers progressed over time (wow, I feel old thinking about it!) Though it's been a few years since I've seen the movie, I'll have to re-watch now that I have the insider scoop on everything that went in to it!
A lot of books that are built on snippets of dialogue and quotes can get redundant and scatter-y but Maerz kept it flowing, and I was engaged and entertained all the way through. (Matthew McConaughey's tale of getting "discovered" was hilarious - was worth reading for that part alone!) As a Gen X-er, I am the same age as a lot of the actors who starred in the movie so it's really interesting to see how their careers progressed over time (wow, I feel old thinking about it!) Though it's been a few years since I've seen the movie, I'll have to re-watch now that I have the insider scoop on everything that went in to it!
The first time I saw Dazed and Confused was in my basement with my cool older sister and two of her friends. It was the summer before my freshman year of high school and when in the movie the new freshman boys say that they're in high school now and all the girls will put out, my sister and her friends screamed with laughter and teased me mercilessly about how now I'd have to put out because I was in high school; completely mortifying. A few years later I started smoking pot, rediscovered Dazed and Confused, and it basically lived in my VCR for the next decade.
All of this is to say that I have very strong emotional attachments to this movie, and so my hopes for this book were really high. Friend, this book blew my hopes and expectations out of the fucking water. It was everything I had wanted and so much more. Who was wearing a wig, and how that ranked their priority in the film. How the director's friends could/could not handle their new status as his employees. How the real people on which the characters were based tried to sue for defamation. There is even an entire chapter where everyone talks shit about one of the actors! This book is so juicy, so filled with... EVERYTHING, I loved every word.
One other thing that was great: they put the photographs at the start of chapters and throughout the book, not stuck in the back in some separate photo spread. It's a small detail, but it totally changes the reading experience for the better and I appreciated it greatly.
All of this is to say that I have very strong emotional attachments to this movie, and so my hopes for this book were really high. Friend, this book blew my hopes and expectations out of the fucking water. It was everything I had wanted and so much more. Who was wearing a wig, and how that ranked their priority in the film. How the director's friends could/could not handle their new status as his employees. How the real people on which the characters were based tried to sue for defamation. There is even an entire chapter where everyone talks shit about one of the actors! This book is so juicy, so filled with... EVERYTHING, I loved every word.
One other thing that was great: they put the photographs at the start of chapters and throughout the book, not stuck in the back in some separate photo spread. It's a small detail, but it totally changes the reading experience for the better and I appreciated it greatly.
Excellent oral history of the production and legacy of Dazed and Confused. The people interviewed (cast and crew) are all so open and honest about their experience making the movie and you come away really feeling how special an experience it must have been.
There are chapters about the difficulties reigning in the ego of a specific actor or dealing with a specific unhappy actress that prove to be the most provocative and entertaining parts of the book. But they're also anomalies and not really in the spirit of what the book is capturing.
What the book captures is the nostalgia built from creating a film that was supposed to be anti-nostalgia. And there's a ton of charm captured on that front in this book.
There are chapters about the difficulties reigning in the ego of a specific actor or dealing with a specific unhappy actress that prove to be the most provocative and entertaining parts of the book. But they're also anomalies and not really in the spirit of what the book is capturing.
What the book captures is the nostalgia built from creating a film that was supposed to be anti-nostalgia. And there's a ton of charm captured on that front in this book.
informative
reflective
medium-paced
I had a blast reading this. The stories and testimonies bring you right back to not only the making of the film, but the feeling of nostalgia the film radiates.
It's got some interesting insights to the movie and Linklater. However, if you are a huge fan of the film, be prepared to learn the less than glorious minutiae of how a film gets made by real humans being, well, human. The book made me appreciate parts of the film more and loss interest in moments I previously identified with. My takeaway is that Linklater works hard, and Matthew McCaughey brought the soul to the film it really needed. So the book is really ok, ok, ok.