Paul Bartel: The Life and Films

Director Paul Bartel enjoyed poking holes in the expectations of audiences and critics with amusing films about murder, greed and transgressive sex—among them Death Race 2000 (1975), Eating Raoul (1982) and Scenes from the Class Struggle in Beverly Hills (1989). He believed that strange stories that aroused laughter had the potential to disorient viewers and challenge their beliefs about American culture and values.

This first book-length study of Bartel's life and work traces his emergence...