Is That a Gun in Your Pocket?: Women's Experience of Power in Hollywood
Despite her provocative title, Premiere senior writer Abramowitz's look at some of Hollywood's female players (including Paramount chief Sherry Lansing, writer/director Nora Ephron and actor/director Jodie Foster) turns out to be a rather scattershot account that only glances its target. The material is not much more developed than it was in Abramowitz's magazine articles. And as is typical in such an overview, the emphases given to the various women may seem debatable to some readers. For example, Abramowitz only briefly mentions Julia Phillips, the producer of The Sting, perhaps because Phillips already expressed herself so well in her classic slash-and-burn Hollywood memoir, You'll Never Eat Lunch in This Town Again. Although Abramowitz's book rarely captures the passion of Phillips's, it does provide some pathos in describing the rise and demise of Dawn Steel, the tough-talking studio executive who succumbed to a brain tumor. In what is perhaps a sign of the times, the profiled women seem reluctant to complain too loudly about any gender discrimination they have faced or to advocate too strongly any particular ties of sisterhood. Perhaps it's because, as Ephron notes, "If you're not helped by men, you don't get anywhere in this business, because they run it, women don't." Still, Abramowitz's analyses of these women's business experiences will appeal to media junkies as well as those looking to carve out their own careers in Hollywood. (May)Copyright 2000 Reed Business Information, Inc.