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Richard Koszarski chronicles the compelling and often surprising origins of New York's postwar film renaissance. He examines the social, cultural, and economic forces that shaped New York filmmaking, from city politics to union regulations
List of contents
Introduction
Part I: Roots
1. Not Just Another Location
2. The Pathé Studio: Miniature Hollywood or Just Another False Dawn?
3. Now It Can Be Told: Louis de Rochemont, Henry Hathaway, and the Birth of Docudrama
4. Race Movies: New York’s Original Independent Cinema
Part II: Revival
5. Eight Million Stories
6. The O’Dwyer Plan
7. Joe Lerner’s New York Noir
8. Just Passing Through
9. Pictures and Politics
Part III: Renaissance
10. Crime on the Waterfront
11. Obsessed with Film
12. The Golden Warrior
13. Kiss Me, Kill Me
14. “And the Winner in New York Is . . .”
15. Happy Ending
16. Thank You, Hollywood!
List of Abbreviations
Notes
Index
About the author
Richard Koszarski is professor emeritus of English and Cinema Studies at Rutgers University. He was formerly a curator at the Museum of the Moving Image and is the founder and editor emeritus of Film History. His many books include Hollywood on the Hudson: Film and Television in New York from Griffith to Sarnoff (2008).
Summary
The year 1955 was a watershed one for New York’s film industry: Elia Kazan’s On the Waterfront took home eight Oscars, and, more quietly, Stanley Kubrick released the low-budget classic Killer’s Kiss. A wave of films that changed how American movies were made soon followed, led by directors such as Sidney Lumet, William Friedkin, Francis Ford Coppola, and Martin Scorsese. Yet this resurgence could not have occurred without a deeply rooted tradition of local film production.
Richard Koszarski chronicles the compelling and often surprising origins of New York’s postwar film renaissance, looking beyond such classics as Naked City, Kiss of Death, and Portrait of Jennie. He examines the social, cultural, and economic forces that shaped New York filmmaking, from city politics to union regulations, and shows how decades of low-budget independent production taught local filmmakers how to capture the city’s grit, liveliness, and allure. He reveals the importance of “race films”—all-Black productions intended for segregated African American audiences—that not only helped keep the film business afloat but also nurtured a core group of writers, directors, designers, and technicians. Detailed production histories of On the Waterfront and Killer’s Kiss—films that appear here in a completely new light—illustrate the distinctive characteristics of New York cinema.
Drawing on a vast array of research—including studio libraries, censorship records, union archives, and interviews with participants—“Keep ’Em in the East” rewrites a crucial chapter in the history of American cinema.
Additional text
Keep 'Em in the East is an extraordinary achievement. Koszarski knows more about the history of filmmaking in New York City than anyone else, living or dead. This distills the central part of his lifelong research. No one will ever match it. For those who love New York and the movies, this book’s many surprises will provide an unending source of fascination and information.
