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If Chins Could Kill: Confessions of a B Movie Actor
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List Price: $14.95
Our Price: $10.17
Your Save: $ 4.78 ( 32% )
Availability: Usually ships in 24 hours
Manufacturer: L.A. Weekly Books
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Average Customer Rating: 
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Binding: Paperback
Dewey Decimal Number: 791.43028092
EAN: 9780312291457
ISBN: 0312291450
Label: L.A. Weekly Books
Manufacturer: L.A. Weekly Books
Number Of Items: 1
Number Of Pages: 368
Publication Date: 2002-08-24
Publisher: L.A. Weekly Books
Studio: L.A. Weekly Books
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Editorial Reviews:
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Okay, so at least you're interested enough to pick up this book and look inside. I think you and I are going to get along just fine.
Life is full of choices. Right now, yours is whether or not to buy the autobiography of a mid-grade, kind of hammy actor.
Am I supposed to know this guy? you think to yourself.
No, and that's exactly the point. Bookstores are chock full of household name actors and their high stakes shenanigans. I don't want to be a spoilsport, but we've all been down that road before.
Case in point: look to your left - see that Judy Garland book? You don't need that, you know plenty about her already - great voice, crappy life. Now look to your right at the Charlton Heston book. You don't need to cough up hard-earned dough for that either. You know his story too - great voice, crappy toupee.
The truth is that though you might not have a clue who I am, there are countless working stiffs like me out there, grinding away every day at the wheel of fortune.
If Chins Could Kill: Confessions of a B Movie Actor is my first book, and I invite you to ride with me through the choppy waters of blue collar Hollywood.
Okay, so buy the damned book already and read like the wind!
Best,
Bruce Campbell
P.S. If the book sucks, at least there are gobs of pictures, and they're not crammed in the middle like all those other actor books.
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Spotlight customer reviews:
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Customer Rating:
Summary: Sheer fun
Comment: Lest individuals considering reading this book think it intended exclusively for fans of Bruce Campbell's movies, let me stand as counterproof. I have enjoyed Bruce in XENA and HERCULES, two TV series that I moderately (very moderately, though XENA a great deal more than HERCULES) enjoyed, and I've seen him in random appearances like in THE X-FILES and films like BUBBA HO-TEP, I thought THE EVIL DEAD movies to be consistently awful. This is, perhaps, less a reflection on the movies than on my own dislike of the entire horror genre. Still, my point is that someone who hates THE EVIL DEAD can still enjoy this book. In fact, I'll add that while watching THE EVIL DEAD was torturous for me, I loved reading about making the film.
Though Bruce Campbell has managed to rack up a number of roles that have projected him into the public cultural eye -- especially as Ash in the EVIL DEAD films, the short-lived TV Western THE ADVENTURES OF BRISCO COUNTY JR., and as Autolycus in HERCULES and XENA -- his book illustrates precisely why he is best classified as a B actor: he has pretty much had to take a string of not-so-great roles in order to make a living. To his credit, he is almost always more enjoyable than the project he is in. He is also an enormously likable presence, even as Autolycus, who as the King of Thieves is a palpably absurd character. I have not watched BURN NOTICE, but a number of friends who are fans enjoy him in that, though they know him from nothing else.
Informationally, the great virtue of the book is that it takes you very much behind the scenes to present many of the practical aspects of a moderately successful TV and film actor. You also encounter a very large number of high school friends who have against all odds also managed careers in Hollywood. For instance, the other night I was watching Season One of FRIDAY NIGHT LIGHTS on DVD with a friend (one of my all time favorite shows) and in the opening credits I saw the name John Cameron. I immediately recognized it as the name of one of Campbell's friends. I did a quick check on IMDB and discovered that it was indeed the same John Cameron. The book is also filled with lots of goodies about the most successful of that high school group, Sam Raimi, who has directed and produced his way into being one of the biggest box office moguls in Hollywood.
The lone negative about the book is that it is oddly impersonal. For instance, he mentions his friend Rob Tapert repeatedly and noted his importance on HERCULES and XENA, but never mentions that he and Lucy Lawless married and have had several children. Nor does he mention that he (Bruce) portrayed Rob Tapert in a comical episode of HERCULES. Maybe he mentioned the Tapert/Lawless marriage in a paragraph that I accidentally skipped, but it isn't embedded in the texture of the book. What is part of the texture of the book is the ironical distance that Campbell keeps to everything, almost emotional distancing. He takes the stance of a neutral observer of his own life.
The ironical distancing allows Campbell to write about everything with humor. This isn't a funny ha-ha kind of book, but a funny smile kind of book. But even at the low points of Campbell's careers he is able to write about it with wit and even a kind of wisdom. The result is a book that is never anything short of completely entertaining and frequently revelatory. Campbell has followed this book up with a fictional work (MAKE LOVE THE BRUCE CAMPBELL WAY), but hopefully he will someday write the next installment in his account of his life as an actor.
Customer Rating:
Summary: Just a few pages in and I'm giddy pleased.
Comment: Really funny. I had to get this book after reading "Make Love".
My son asked what I was watching and I told him I was reading
a book.He said that is most laughing he had ever heard from reading.
Bruce is too cool.
Customer Rating:
Summary: Campbell: actor, author.
Comment: I'm a fan of Bruce Campbell's movies, so when I saw that he had written an auto-biography of sorts about himself as well as general life as a blue-collar actor, I new I had to pick this up.
The read was nothing short of enjoyable. Bruce writes in a way where it feels like he's sitting there with you in the room having a conversation with you.
He does not have the typical Hollywood story of abusive families, or drug addiction, or anything of that sorts, which is a refreshing change.
Look, if you like Bruce even a little then you'd be good to buy this book. It's a great read.
Customer Rating:
Summary: READ THIS BOOK!!
Comment: This book is a hilarious romp through the world of B-Movies and television. If you want to act, or love the world of professional make-believe, or if you just love a good belly laugh, THIS BOOK IS FOR YOU!!
Customer Rating:
Summary: I love Bruce Campbell
Comment: Bruce is my hero. This book is about his road and rise to a "b" movie actor. Very enjoyable. Not just for Bruce Campbell fans.
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