Robert Redford and American Cinema: Modern Film Stardom and the Politics of Celebrity

by Michael Allen

Overview

Michael Allen's insightful study explores the long and diverse career of the actor and director Robert Redford, from his early work in theatre and TV to his contemporary status as an iconic and enduring star. Allen assesses Redford's importance to the American film industry during a period of great transformation: as an influential industry player, an award-winning director and a committed political activist. Allen considers Redford's individual achievements in the context of shifts and changes in the industry as a whole: some of which benefited Redford's own progress and development; some which he engineered himself, as well as discussing Redford's star persona in relation to ageing and masculinity.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781350141995
Publisher:	Bloomsbury Publishing
Publication date:	03/25/2021
Sold by:	Barnes & Noble
Format:	eBook
Pages:	248
File size:	2 MB

About the Author

Michael Allen is Senior Lecturer in Film and Electronic Media at Birkbeck, University of London, UK. He is the author of books including Live From the Moon: Filming and Televising the Space Race (I.B. Tauris, 2009); Contemporary US Cinema (2002) and Family Secrets: The Feature Films of D.W. Griffith (BFI Publishing, 1999).
Michael Allen is Honorary Research Fellow at Birkbeck, University of London, UK. He was Senior Lecturer in Film and Electronic Media and Programme Director for the MA Film and Screen Media at Birkbeck University, UK, for twenty years before retiring in 2023. He is the author of several books, including Robert Redford and American Cinema: Modern Film Stardom and the Politics of Celebrity (Bloomsbury, 2021), Live from the Moon: Film, Television, and the Space Race (Bloomsbury, 2009), and Reading 'CSI': Crime TV Under the Microscope (Bloomsbury, 2007).

Table of Contents

Acknowledgements
Introduction
1. Theatre and TV
2. Stardom
3. Politics
4. Independents
5. Director
6. The Over the Hill Gang
Conclusion
Bibliography
Index

Editorial Reviews

In Robert Redford and American Cinema, Michael Allen has provided the first comprehensive academic study of one of the most important male actors of the late 20th century. From his early career on stage and television to his eventual status as major star and sex symbol and subsequent career behind the camera, Allen argues that Redford represents the maverick spirit of the new Hollywood and indicates a trajectory for a generation of subsequent male leads. This is an important contribution to literature on Hollywood stardom and the complicated networks of meaning through which a star image is constructed. It's essential reading for anyone interested in American film culture in the late 20th century and the cultural and political landscape of the period.” —John Mercer, Birmingham City University, UK

From the Publisher