America on film
Subtitle: Hollywood and American history
By: Kenneth M. Cameron.
Publisher: Continuum
Published: 1997
Place of publication: New York
Language: eng
Number of pages: 272
Subjects: Historical films -- United States -- History and criticism.; Motion pictures and history.; United States -- In motion pictures.
Description: The challenge of making the great American historical film has attracted some of our finest talents: D. W. Griffith, John Ford, Robert Altman, Francis Ford Coppola, Martin Scorsese, Oliver Stone, Spike Lee. From the earliest flickering images of The Spirit of 76 (1905) through Nixon, America on Film subtly and entertainingly examines Hollywood's filming of American history, including biographies.

Among the many films considered, some omissions seem surprising: The Birth of a Nation and Gone with the Wind, for example, since they are based on fiction. But The Iron Horse, The Beginning or the End?, the Jackie Robinson Story, Patton, Quiz Show, Lenny, Malcolm, X, Apollo 13, and literally hundreds of others are all here.

Through these many movies, we see the interrelationships between image and substance, illusion and reality, racism and democracy, and cynicism and idealism, which form America's unique national identity.
Notes: Filmography: p. [244]-[257].
Includes bibliographical references (p. [258]-262) and index.