Second Sight: Notes on Some Movies, 1965-1970

1972, first edition, from Simon and Schuster
Richard Schickel
Second Sight: Notes on Some Movies, 1965-1970
Original price unknown, $8.95
Good condition hardcover
C

In 1989 Movietime had a great half-hour discussion program on current pop culture, called Word of Mouth, and one of the regulars was Richard Schickel.  I liked him on there, and I enjoyed his 1968 book The Disney Version.  But I think this is only the second time I've read this collection of his film reviews.  Although he's a good writer, there are two problems here.  One, most of the movies he criticizes I'll probably never see.  And the ones I have seen, like M*A*S*H and Bob & Carol & Ted & Alice, I don't really care what he thinks of, since I disagree with his attitudes towards, among other things, violence and what he calls "faggery."  I haven't seen every movie Rex Reed reviewed in the overlapping period, but his style was so fun anyway, I didn't mind.  The most interesting aspect to this book is Schickel's review of his reviews, the follow-ups he does one to five years later, sometimes disagreeing with himself, but I'm still not going to see those movies anyway, so I can't judge if the reassessments are merited.

This is probably the best of the books I'm getting rid of, but since it's of no use to me, it seems silly to cart it around through any more moves.