Susan Sarandon: A True Maverick
by Betty Jo Tucker
(aka Elizabeth Lawrence)

Hats Off Books ~ ISBN: 1587363003

 Buy this book now!
(NOTE: this link will open a new window.
To return, simply close down the new window:))

I love making films with people who have a passion for their stories.
- Susan Sarandon

Susan Sarandon’s memorable performances in such movies as Thelma & Louise, Dead Man Walking, Bull Durham, Atlantic City and Lorenzo’s Oil have made her an American icon. Passionate and outspoken, she’s often controversial. Why did Sarandon choose acting as a career? What is her acting philosophy? How does she select roles? What motivates her to promote social and political causes? Why do some people object to this? How do critics rate her work and her movies? Betty Jo Tucker answers these questions and more in Susan Sarandon: A True Maverick, an analysis of Sarandon’s achievements from a film critic’s perspective. Tucker’s book also includes an annotated filmography of Sarandon’s movies and selected reviews of her key films.  

REVIEWS

Susan Sarandon: A True Maverick is no cardboard cut out biography. Instead, it is a treat to read, full of wonderful information about one of, if not the most beautiful woman working in film today. An amazing read and
one that I will read again and again. ~ Wolf's Picks

EXCERPT:

 In her professional life – and because of her ability to project a smoldering sexuality – Sarandon has created some unforgettable on-screen moments with many of her leading men. She’s certainly co-starred with some of the best, including Burt Lancaster, Dustin Hoffman, Kevin Kline, Barry Bostwick, Jeff Goldblum, Kevin Costner, Robert Redford, Jack Nicholson, Gene Hackman and Paul Newman. Who can forget the famous “pedicure” scene between Costner and Sarandon in Bull Durham? Or the explosive sexual chemistry between Sarandon and a much younger James Spader in White Palace? To me, these film moments rank right up there with classic romantic scenes between such perfect screen partners as Cary Grant and Ingrid Bergman, Glenn Ford and Rita Hayworth, Katharine Hepburn and Spencer Tracy. That kind of chemistry is hard to defie, but it reminds me of Mark Twain’s observation “Words are only painted fire; a look is the fire itself.”

 Buy this book now!
(NOTE: this link will open a new window. To return, simply close down the new window:))

REVIEWS of Betty Jo's books...

I Hate Betty Jo Tucker
Warren Epstein, film critic for THE GAZETTE in Colorado Springs, writes, "I hate Betty Jo Tucker. As a fellow Colorado film critic, I've loathed her for years. Sure, you can call it professional jealousy. But see it from my perspective. We all go to a film festival. Most of us get an article or two out of it. Betty Jo gets an adventure. She ends up being served dinner by the filmmakers, for heaven's sakes! Well, now I have to put up with her new book, CONFESSIONS OF A MOVIE ADDICT, and believe me, it's about as Betty Jo as it can be. She takes us behind the scenes of the entertainment industry, sharing her favorite celebrity interviews and revealing her personal connections and passions for the movies. As if we care. (OK, the mishap at her first X-rated film had me laughing. But just a little.) You'll probably read this book and fall in love with Betty Jo. Fine! See if I care."

Thumbs Up!
Betty Jo's passion for movies, the insights she brings to her reviews and interviews, and her marvelous talent for taking you right along with her into the theater make CONFESSIONS OF A MOVIE ADDICT a must-read --- even for non-addicts. ---- Liz Larrabee, author of RANDOM PIECES: VIGNETTES FROM THE THIRTIES and LIZ LARRABEE'S BOOK

A Funny Look at Movies
by James Colt Harrison, editor of National Film PreVue Magazine

If Oscar's were given for the funniest book of the year, then "Confessions of a Movie Addict" by Betty Jo Tucker would win hands down! Film critic Tucker is as star-struck today as she was as a little girl when she was frightened out of her wits by FRANKENSTEIN and later in high school when she did impersonations of Rita Hayworth singing "Put the Blame on Mame." She fell hopelessly in love with the movies and movie stars. The affection she developed warped her mind from that point on to her present day success as a film critic. It has been said you have to be nuts to be a movie critic, and Tucker would probably agree.

Tucker takes us through her life in a chatty, gossipy way that serves the book's topic well. She regales us with hilarious personal encounters with movie stars and directors. Her unique and jolly way of looking at films is sampled in the reviews that are also included in the book.

If you love movies as much as I do, you'll love CONFESSIONS OF A MOVIE ADDICT. I haven't had so much fun since I watched a Laurel and Hardy comedy. Short of doing pratfalls, Tucker will set you laughing out loud with her confessions.

SUSAN SARANDON: A TRUE MAVERICK (by Betty Jo Tucker)
Reviewed by Chris Mansel for The Muse Apprentice Guild

In a world of so many film critics that it is dizzying to contemplate, one of the rare figures that stands out is Betty Jo Tucker. Ms. Tucker writes with an endearing quality of a true fan of the movies that haven't allowed her to be cast in the work she re-creates in her reviews. Her new book, SUSAN SARANDON: A TRUE MAVERICK, is not, I repeat NOT just the average book written by a critic to either get closer to a celebrity or to treat the work of the actor like the pinnacle of the craft. A TRUE MAVERICK guides us through the artistry and the sometimes-turbulent life, private and public, of one of American Cinema's most talented actresses.

As you turn the pages of A TRUE MAVERICK you realize just how much a maverick the author is herself; it is best stated in the following passage:

"As an anti-war protestor during U.S. involvement in Vietnam, I understand Sarandon being upset when people think she doesn't love this country. ‘Peaceniks’ were suspect back then, too. I remember my job as a college dean being in jeopardy as a result of hiring the famous pacifist poet Daniel Berrigan to teach in the Upward Bound program. Those were troubled times, and calling fellow citizens traitors for harboring opinions about military action didn't help solve anything -- nor will it now."

Ms. Tucker focuses a special section of the book to The Myelin Project, and even has stated that all proceeds she receives from the sale of this book will go to this worthwhile fund. Susan Sarandon became involved with The Myelin Project while making the film, "Lorenzo's Oil." Another excerpt from TRUE MAVERICK:

 "When Lorenzo was five years old, he began doing strange things like bumping into objects. Augusto and Michaela soon received the horrifying news that their son had a rare, incurable genetic disorder that would cause him to lose all his bodily functions and die before he reached his teens. This disorder, known as adrenoleukodystrophy (ALD) only affects boys, but it is passed on through the mother. The Odones refused to look at this illness as incurable, so they began doing research on their own. After two years of fighting with the medical establishment and parents of other ALD boys, they discovered a blend of plant oils they thought would help their son."

A TRUE MAVERICK is as far-reaching and as endearing as Betty Jo Tucker herself. From the films of Susan Sarandon ("Dead Man Walking" and "The Cradle Will Rock") to the activism of an American citizen, you can call her a True Maverick, in a time when standing out in the crowd can’t be the safest place.

HER INFINITE VARIETY
(Film Critic Donald J. Levit Reviews SUSAN SARANDON: A TRUE MAVERICK)
 
Vampires and baseball are two longtime passions. Underrated The Hunger and praised Bull Durham are among the best modern movies of the two. But though both star Susan Sarandon, I had never quite been swept onto her bandwagon.

Until now.

Three years after Confessions of a Movie Addict, her humorous, human reflections on a half-century love affair with the world of cinema, Betty Jo Tucker’s Susan Sarandon: A True Maverick (both Hats Off Books) does the same for her more specific subject, the ageless/gracefully aging fifty-six-year-old superstar out of Edison, New Jersey.

This is thankfully not your cradle-to-now biographical chronology of fan factoids like baby steps and foods and adolescent crushes. Nor is it content simply to unleash the standard-issue encomium-after-praise. Balancing lots of compliments from a variety of sources, are the complaints of nay-sayers (particularly regarding her public stances on political and social issues), many conveniently grouped in the chapter, “Her Critics Speak Out.” Instead, it is a portrait of la Sarandon in her many facets as high-profile celebrity, woman, mother, significant other and social activist as well as a performer who tackles a range of on- and off-screen rôles which reflect on one another.

In this age of information and misinformation blitz, Tucker’s book seamlessly organizes a literal ton of material and makes it fun (even to the 1867 surname origin of the word maverick). Combining interviews, reviews (favorable and negative), articles and Web sites to bring her subject to readable reality, Tucker equally includes unfortunately lesser known activities such as the star’s work as Special UNICEF Representative, spokesperson for The Myelin Project (growing out of her portrayal of Michaela Odone in Lorenzo’s Oil) and fund- and consciousness-raiser for a number of human rights, women’s and health causes. Tired of sometimes not especially aware entertainment figures espousing this or that, I find myself convinced here, won over by the reasonableness of Sarandon’s giving something back, not telling the public what to think but helping it to know enough to make intelligent choices.

Adjectives recurring in others’ comments indicate the versatility of the woman and the actress--from tough/aggressive and yet vulnerable, sexy and also mature, crazy and at the same time no-nonsense--who herself speaks of a fondness for those “with a passion for their stories.” Tucker, too, is obviously such a person. The only regret is that there are not more pages of the author here. The book is short, with fully half taken up by a filmography, bibliography, list of Web sites and selected reviews, which are helpful but available elsewhere and in some cases already noted within the text. Though this is a way of saying that one wants more of this good thing, still the book will reward fans and amaze and convert others (like myself).

 

 Buy this book now!
(NOTE: this link will open a new window. To return, simply close down the new window:))

More Previews

Biography | Bookshelf | Guest Book | Home | Newsletter | Movie Reviews
Harry & Elizabeth Lawrence website

 

 

 

Special Offers for Authors on book promotion and web design

Get 2 BOOKS + a mystery gift  from  eHarlequin.com

 

Do you have some old dolls in the attic? If you have an old doll that's just collecting dust, or that's stored away in a box somewhere... Author Laura Mills-Alcott and her daughter restore old dolls from the 1920s - 1940s. They are currently buying dolls for a very special project, and may be interested in buying YOUR doll(s).  To find out more click here.

AUTHORS

The Romance Club Home Page