10,000 Ways To Die, by Alex Cox, ISBN 9781842433041, £16.99.
Alex Cox has written a big book about Spaghetti Westerns! If half or all of that grabs your attention, then 10,000 Ways To Die is for you.
Cox's thesis is that the Spaghetti Western was an entertainment uniquely of its age, yet still relevant in others - akin to the Elizabethan revenge tragedies referenced in his own Revenger's Tragedy - current concerns and foibles mirrored and hidden in genre. To that end he's assembled what amounts to a chronology of the Spaghetti (and sometimes Tortilla) Western, from its untidy genesis to its exploitative and gimmicky end.
His perspective is interesting above his scholarship, the messy business of getting films made is part and parcel of why the genre exists. It's an oddity, a product of the exigencies of the trade, the swinging Sixties evolving into jet-propelled cultural cross-pollination. Like the Japanese import album or the Polish film poster it's a thing in and of itself that cannot be considered entirely in isolation.
Cox doesn't, of course, but he does focus on the two Sergios: Leone, of course, and Corbucci. Their fingerprints run through the works in the book, sometimes behind the camera directly, sometimes not in front of it, sometimes in the same vague way that Kurosawa created the genre with Yojimbo. Other directors crop up through the work too, Dario Argento's early forays into scripting, a digression into the motif of the 'mercy-killing' in Eastwood's work; all manner of intriguing meanders abound.
'Thesis' is a pretty generous term though - the blurb on the front says 'take', and film puns aside this is more of an exploration. As a text this closely resembles the films it discusses - there's certainly an order, but the sheer number of versions, titles, cuts, edits, releases and shenanigans means that in some cases it's approximate and in others it's a best guess. That's not to say it isn't fascinating - on several occasions it is nigh impossible to resist putting the book down to trawl online retailers for copies of the films discussed.
This is a book for fans, by a fan - Cox is clearly more than fond of the genre, but brave enough to admit that for every triumph like The Big Silence or Quien Sabe? there is no small measure of schlock. The dross, such as it is, is still important - the 'funny' characters, the bizarre homages to Bond, the 'circus Western' all shape the genre - this is a piece about the evolution of an idea, and along the way there's plenty of entries that did not survive the (often incompatible) Darwinian winnowings of the market and critical acclaim.
As a book it's a big chunky thing, with one of those pseudo-dustjacket covers, concealing colour shots from Django. They're really handy for marking pages, which is itself useful because 10,000 Ways To Die lends itself to episodic reading. Each year is a section, each film gets a subsection, exploring its genesis, its story, how its features are drawn from those before and influence those that come after. The biggest weakness is that it's a book about obscure films, and while Cox can describe a scene ably (and there are a few colour stills in the middle) it'd be nice to see them too. If Moviedrome were still on our screens this could be a season of shows in itself, or a hook for a DVD box set. As it stands it's an entertaining read that leaves one itching to watch the movies it describes.
Perhaps 10,000 Ways To Die most closely resembles the ghost towns so much of the action it describes was filmed in - not the fancy facade, in truth, but the practical structures behind. Lovingly built, maybe even hurried, but quirky, essential, utilitarian, and as far as many would be concerned invisible - for those interested in the craft though, the nuts and bolts, or rather hammers and nails, it's fascinating.
Star Wars Fandex, by Christopher Cerasi, ISBN 978-0761152309, $12.95.
Fandex is not itself a Star Wars term, though it might well be. One can readily imagine watching Fandex steering his pod-racer through the twisting canyons of Tatooine, or a Seinar Systems Fandex glittering in the C-Beams off the Tannhauser Gate. This handy reference guide can help you avoid that sort of mistake.
Fan in the sense of unfolding; -dex is derived from index. With only 75 cards on what appears a sturdy plastic rod, this isn't comprehensive, but it does manage to hit the high points. There are others in this series, more compact sets like States or Presidents, also First Ladies. Others grow a little more expansive, there are a fair few Dinosaurs and Wild Flowers, but Mythology seems a pretty big thing to try to condense into what amounts to coaxial flashcards, and Star Wars is a similarly daunting entity.
The cards are topped with die-cut pictures, heads and shoulders of characters from across the series, silhouettes of vehicles like Naboo Starships, and a planet. Mustafar, in fact, the volcanic world where Anakin Skywalker becomes Darth Vader after a duel with Obi Wan Kenobi, completing Anakin's fall to the dark side. It's quite heavily pointed towards the prequel trilogy, and it's pretty obviously aimed at children. As such it's relatively solid, good thick card stock, but there's a worry about the corners - Yoda's ears keep catching on Mace Windu.
The cards pack in quite a bit of information, with side-bars (of sorts) and even translations into Aurabesh. They're beautifully printed, but what (if anything) distinguishes the Deluxe Edition sent to Eye For Film from the others is uncertain. The fandex is packed in a solid box, which is handy because it's such an odd shape - a sort of floppy microphone type thing. All the 'facts' appear to be correct, doubtless checked against the Lucasfilm Holocrons.
It's been ten years since The Phantom Menace, 32 since Star Wars came out, and there's been a mass of books published. This has got stuff from all of the films, and while that information is doubtless reproduced in the various other guides and encyclopedias out there, this does have an advantage in terms of portability. It's got a clear font, simple enough language, and it seems perfectly formatted to be kept in a cup holder to entertain children in traffic.
All in all it's a bit like the prequels themselves - it's definitely Star Wars, it's sumptuously produced, it's not especially exciting or new, and kids will almost certainly love it. Jar Jar's in it too.
