Description
Unashamed nudists, high-flying hopheads, brazen strippers, vicious vice lords, and high school girls who find themselves "in trouble" comprise the population of exploitation films. In the first full-scale history of these low-budget movies of decades past, Eric Schaefer reveals how this pioneering form of "trash film" purveyed the forbidden thrills of explicit sexual behavior, drug use, and vice that the mainstream movie industry could not show.
Bold! Daring! Shocking! True! is a meticulously researched, interdisciplinary study that is informed by a wide range of sources-including both mainstream and industry newspapers and periodicals, archival accounts, personal interviews, and the films themselves. Schaefer begins by exploring the unique mode of production of exploitation movies, their distribution, and the outrageous exhibition practices that were rooted in the traditions of sideshows and carnivals. His close analysis of dozens of films, such as The Road to Ruin, Modern Motherhood, One Way Ticket to Hell, and The Wages of Sin demonstrates that these films were more than simply "bad" movies. By situating exploitation films in a historical context and organizing them according to the social problems they addressed, Schaefer shows how they evolved during a period of forty years and how, during that time, they shaped public policies and attitudes. Finally, he focuses on the changes in the postwar American film industry that led to the decline of the classical exploitation film and set the stage for the rise of "sexploitation" in the 1960s.
Engagingly written, illustrated with rare photographs, posters, production stills, and ad slicks, and offering a full filmography, Bold! Daring! Shocking! True! reveals a forgotten side of film history and American culture. It will delight and inform those interested in film history, cultural studies, American studies and history, and the many fans of exploitation films.
A social and cultural history of exploitation films
About the Author
Reviews
"An astonishing scholarly achievement, one of the most impressive books I've read in a decade. Schaefer's research is broad and profound. This is not only the reference work on the subject; it is a model of elegant argument."-Matthew Bernstein, author of Walter Wanger, Hollywood Independent
"The exploitation film has enjoyed a cult following as 'turkey cinema,' 'trash,' midnight movie camp, psychotronic cinema, and the object of ridicule on Mystery Science Theater 3000. Yet Schaefer's book shows us that it must be central to any understanding of the way Hollywood cinema operates. This groundbreaking work will open up an entirely new field of film history."-Henry Jenkins, author of Science Fiction Audiences: Watching Doctor Who and Star Trek
"When I was in the business I billed myself as 'The Expert Exponent of Exploitation.' I hereby bestow that shibboleth to the genuine, absolute, factual Expert Exponent, Eric Schaefer. Nothing more need ever be told about this subject."-David F. Friedman, who was there when a lot of it happened, producer of Daughter of the Sun, Blood Feast, and other exploitation classics
Book Information
ISBN 9780822323747
Author Eric Schaefer
Format Paperback
Page Count 488
Imprint Duke University Press
Publisher Duke University Press
Weight(grams) 798g
Bold! Daring! Shocking! True! is a meticulously researched, interdisciplinary study that is informed by a wide range of sources-including both mainstream and industry newspapers and periodicals, archival accounts, personal interviews, and the films themselves. Schaefer begins by exploring the unique mode of production of exploitation movies, their distribution, and the outrageous exhibition practices that were rooted in the traditions of sideshows and carnivals. His close analysis of dozens of films, such as The Road to Ruin, Modern Motherhood, One Way Ticket to Hell, and The Wages of Sin demonstrates that these films were more than simply "bad" movies. By situating exploitation films in a historical context and organizing them according to the social problems they addressed, Schaefer shows how they evolved during a period of forty years and how, during that time, they shaped public policies and attitudes. Finally, he focuses on the changes in the postwar American film industry that led to the decline of the classical exploitation film and set the stage for the rise of "sexploitation" in the 1960s.
Engagingly written, illustrated with rare photographs, posters, production stills, and ad slicks, and offering a full filmography, Bold! Daring! Shocking! True! reveals a forgotten side of film history and American culture. It will delight and inform those interested in film history, cultural studies, American studies and history, and the many fans of exploitation films.
A social and cultural history of exploitation films
About the Author
Eric Schaefer is Assistant Professor of Visual and Media Arts at Emerson College in Boston.
Reviews
"An astonishing scholarly achievement, one of the most impressive books I've read in a decade. Schaefer's research is broad and profound. This is not only the reference work on the subject; it is a model of elegant argument."-Matthew Bernstein, author of Walter Wanger, Hollywood Independent
"The exploitation film has enjoyed a cult following as 'turkey cinema,' 'trash,' midnight movie camp, psychotronic cinema, and the object of ridicule on Mystery Science Theater 3000. Yet Schaefer's book shows us that it must be central to any understanding of the way Hollywood cinema operates. This groundbreaking work will open up an entirely new field of film history."-Henry Jenkins, author of Science Fiction Audiences: Watching Doctor Who and Star Trek
"When I was in the business I billed myself as 'The Expert Exponent of Exploitation.' I hereby bestow that shibboleth to the genuine, absolute, factual Expert Exponent, Eric Schaefer. Nothing more need ever be told about this subject."-David F. Friedman, who was there when a lot of it happened, producer of Daughter of the Sun, Blood Feast, and other exploitation classics
Book Information
ISBN 9780822323747
Author Eric Schaefer
Format Paperback
Page Count 488
Imprint Duke University Press
Publisher Duke University Press
Weight(grams) 798g
Details
Subtitle: |
A History of Exploitation Films, 1919-1959 |
Imprint: |
Duke University Press |
