Rating: 
Summary: Great for Wilder fans, but should have been better.
Review: I'm a huge Billy Wilder fan, so I couldn't wait to get my hands on this book. It's a delight to hear the director in his own words, but Crowe's fawning questions rarely get to the heart of either the man or his work. The biography that came out last year, "On Sunset Boulevard," did a better job of revealing the true Wilder, warts and all, while presenting a more coherent overview of his life's work than a Q&A format would allow. This is a nice companion piece, but it's still a runner-up in the Wilder book derby.
Rating: 
Summary: A Great Read
Review: I've become incredibly obsessed with Cameron Crowe's Jerry Maguire and his new Untitled film and I admit to buying this book because I was more looking for insight about Cameron Crowe, not Billy Wilder. However, I must say that I was curious as to why Crowe chose a director I hadn't been exposed to yet (I'm a young filmmaker without much depth). I got what I wanted -- learned a great deal about Crowe and learned without seeing any of Wilder's films why he is who he is. I've now run out and watched many of Billy Wilder's films, largely because of my curiousity stemming from reading the wonderful interviews. Wilder is what I personally hoped some famous directors would be like -- quick witted, hillarious, and sweet.
Rating:
Summary: A Great Read
Review: If you wish to know more about how movies are made and the importance of various specialist's input to a successful film, read this book. Billy Wilder downplays his position but aptly describes the various functions of moviemaking.As I am of his era, it is most interesting to me to hear about the many stars of the 30's and 40's and their talents. I read this book based on others who have reviewed this book and their 4 and 5 star awards. I was not disappointed!
Rating:
Summary: A FILM HISTORY OF SIGNIFIGENCE
Review: If you wish to know more about how movies are made and the importance of various specialist's input to a successful film, read this book. Billy Wilder downplays his position but aptly describes the various functions of moviemaking. As I am of his era, it is most interesting to me to hear about the many stars of the 30's and 40's and their talents. I read this book based on others who have reviewed this book and their 4 and 5 star awards. I was not disappointed!
Rating:
Summary: Part of the bible
Review: In the tradition of Hitchcock/Truffaut, a young master of the craft interviews an old one. One difference from the earlier book, Wilder's productive career was over, so covered entirely if not exhaustively by this book. After a slow start, a little too much of how Crow got to do this, the book jumps into an anecdotal, charming and literate discussion of Wilder's movies, Wilder's career and Hollywood movie-making. If you have any interest at all in these areas, this is a must read book. If you are interested in screenwriting this isn't a must read book, this is part of the bible.
Rating: 
Summary: Smooth, pleasant, informative
Review: Interviews are like popcorn: they go down fast and easy. I ripped through this book in a day and a half (that's while working full time, with an evening for a mandolin lesson). Wilder's remarks are both engaging and interesting. Although he claims not to have viewed most of his films in a long time, his memory for (or perhaps willingness to talk about) specific scenes, shots, and actors in great detail, as opposed to events in his own life, is astonishing. And the wit! The early movie "Midnight" (directed by Mitchell Leisen, screenplay by Wilder and Brackett) was "very, very well done" because "[John] Barrymore was too drunk to write his own scenes." Despite wild studio claims, Cinemascope and other wide-screen tricks were not going to revolutionize films, he asserts: "The love story of two dachshunds, that was the only thing it was good for." William Wyler "had no original ideas, but he did them to perfection." On Woody Allen: "he's a very, very cunning, sly guy who I wish would not act." Though he revels in praise, Wilder is remarkably fair, even harsh toward his own work too. He recalls Pauline Kael's many criticisms of "The Front Page" and concludes "she was so absolutely correct.... I like Pauline Kael. She never had a good word to say about my pictures. Maybe a little bit ... 'Sunset Boulevard.' But she was more often right than wrong...." Crowe is humbly unintrusive, yet his questions are well researched and probing. You can feel the trust and the master-student relationship grow steadily. Another plus with this book are the plentiful and beautifully reproduced photos -- stills from the movies and on set/from parties/life. Perhaps too many photos: I could have lived without seeing the pale, topless image of (a probably morphine-ridden) Peter Lorre playing tennis, but on the other hand, the shot of Barbara Stanwyck's legs (not the first thing one remembers about her) on the set of "Balls of Fire" takes your breath away. I only wish I could be as sharp and witty as Wilder at 90 (or even half that age!).
Rating:
Summary: A master class with the master
Review: My whole adult (and even teen) life I've wanted to become a filmmaker for two reasons. 1) to meet and talk to Billy Wilder and 2) to make films. Well, after soaking up Crowe's real, in-depth, and very personal hours with Mr. Wilder, I truly feel like the first of those reasons has been pretty much done away with. This book is, hanging out with the master. As for the second reason, well, I'm still working on it.
Rating:
Summary: Cameron Crowe returns to his original calling
Review: One of the things I always loved about Cameron Crowe as a rock journalist was his ability to get in with those bands who were notorious for being sort of hands off and difficult, some of whom would only grant interviews under the condition that they send "The Kid". Well, "The Kid" is all grown up now, and has found another calling, but he didn't forget how to get that great interview from an unwilling subject. While I am not a huge Billy Wilder fan, and I bought the book because I am a Cameron Crowe fan, by the end, I have a new appreciation for Black and White movies (I am in my thirties...I don't DO black and white) and I have gotten a kind of fondness for Billy Wilder, who like it or not finally gave that interview no one has ever been able to get from him. The great thing about this book, is that you are seeing one great writer-director trying to deconstruct another great writer-director...by digging and pushing gently for more information. Wilder shrugs it all off as if his role in the film industry is such a minor thing, and Crowe searches for the grand "Wideresque" reasons for it all. The thread that holds the series of interviews together, is Crowe's commentary. "'Do you have a good ending for this thing?' asks Billy Wilder, the greatest living writer-director. It is the spring of 1998, and too much has been made of the rains of El Nino, so we will not mention the torrential downpour that has blanketed California on this strangely wet and strangely humid afternoon. We have just met outside his office tucked away on a Beverly Hills side street, and walked up the single flight of stairs to the room that serves as his quiet work space. He jingles the keys, finding the right one and looks down to see that the laces of his left shoe have come untied. Another step might well mean a fall, so he stays frozen in the hallway. He is ninety-one and bending down from a full stand has been a physical impossibility for a number of years. He does not look over to me, nor I to him. There is some embarrassment involved here for both of us, so I bend down and quickly tie his laces, and neither of us mentions it. We enter his office and sit down for the last of our conversations, a series of interviews that have stretched on for well over a year." It makes for great reading. And if it could turn this gen-Xer into a fan of Billy Wilder, then someone who already loves the man and his work will have to buy this book.
Rating:
Summary: Billy Wilder interviews are engaging film history
Review: Young writer-director Cameron Crowe begged legendary writer-director Billy Wilder to do a cameo in his film "Jerry McGuire." Wilder refused the role, but agreed to a series of interviews. The result, "Conversations With Billy Wilder," is a lively account of Wilder's amazing life and influential career. It also stands as an insightful lesson on filmmaking and film history. Wilder made classic films, including "Some Like It Hot," "The Apartment," "Double Indemnity" and "Sunset Blvd." Now in his 90s, Wilder hasn't made a movie for years. But he's consistently cited as an influence by such modern filmmakers as Steven Spielberg, Spike Lee and Crowe. Wilder is not given to biography or bragging, but Crowe (a former rock journalist) gets the old man talking about his films, his stars (Marilyn Monroe drove him crazy), his opinion of today's films (loved "Gump," hated "Titanic") and his early days in Berlin and Vienna. Wilder's wit and memory are sharp, which makes listening to him via these interviews a total joy. "Conservations" makes it clear that Wilder views himself as a writer who also directs. Wilder's careful attention to character and plot development is the reason his films remain vital, and why so many modern filmmakers emulate him. The book contains several side treats. One is the chance to see the friendship between Wilder, the old master, and Crowe, the young talent, develop and deepen. To use a movie comparison, it's a little like Luke and Yoda. It will be interesting to see how the friendship impacts Crowe's next film. Another treat is seeing the elderly, somewhat frail Wilder take great pleasure in having lunch, sipping a martini or betting on football. The book also contains numerous photos from Wilder's life and brief descriptions of all of his movies. Particularly given his reluctance for self-promotion, "Conversations with Billy Wilder" is a gift for anyone who loves movies.
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