Product Description

Product Description
Maria Cooper Janis' heartfelt book offers an unprecedented look at her father's private side, from his Montana boyhood and his Hollywood home life, to his friendships with Ernest Hemingway, Pablo Picasso and Jimmy Stewart.Amazon.com Review
Gary Cooper off Camera is a tribute to a Hollywood starthat manages to be sentimental, glossy, and passionate all at the sametime. A fond introduction by Tom Hanks opens the book, but itsmultifaceted pleasures spring from the love of author Maria CooperJanis, who clearly felt it was a unique and great privilege to be thedaughter of Gary Cooper. Janis's writing--from the loving letter toher father's ghost to the text that accompanies the manyphotographs--is charged with filial warmth.

Though the book offersmany glimpses of Cooper on the set, it also sheds light on sides ofthe actor that never appeared on screen: the family man, thesportsman, the host and guest who opened his affections to manyHollywood luminaries. It is these photographs that really make thebook a delight. The camera has loved very few men as much as it didCooper, and this collection captures the ease and joy of an Americanicon who in films often played awkward and alienated figures. Pageafter page of extraordinary black-and-white shots reveal the warmrelationships Cooper had with his family, and with friends like PabloPicasso, Ernest Hemingway, and Jimmy Stewart. This volume offers atender view into a rare and fading kind of celebrity life, one thatappears to have been somehow both glamorous and private. --RaphaelShargel ... Read more

Customer Reviews (16)

great tribute to a great movie star
Great tribute to Gary Cooper by his beloved daughter. I enjoyed the trip down the memory lane and the candid photos of Cooper, Hemingway, Picasso, John F. Kennedy, Jimmy Stewart. I loved the pictures, but I wished there was more writing in this book. More of the life of the great movie star that was Gary Cooper!

Wonderful!
Sometime ago, I found myself searching for spiritual fulfilment. It was critical moment in my life and I felt as though, I was in a desert all alone, exhausted and thirsty, longing to discover an oasis. Art, music, literature and film are some of my interests and I begun exploring them with renewed passion. One day, while flipping through the DVDs at my local store, "High Noon" caught my attention. I didn't buy it then but it stuck on my mind and few days later I went back and bought it. I watched it in the evening. I watched Gary Cooper's performance in awe and I knew, I have found my oasis. Since then, I collected all of his available films, searching for the rare ones all over the world. Seeing these movies is one of the best things that ever happened to me. Gary Cooper gave me a wonderful world of emotional depth, a world of eternal love, friendship, gallantry, selflessness and patriotism. A world-refuge, where I'm able to lose myself for a while and then come back to reality inspired.

Naturally, after seeing 70 Gary Cooper films, I had pretty good idea what kind of a person he was but I wanted to know more about my favorite actor's life. I begun looking for some literature on him and decided not buy any of the biographies based on gossip and written to make their authors some easy buck. Instead, I bought few of his co-stars' autobiographies. Some are very interesting. Hermione Gingold for example, sums up Gary Cooper as a stoic and courageous man in just a few sentences. Nice, but I already knew it. Ingrid Bergman marvels on his naturalism. I agree with her 100%. And she tells interesting stories on filming "For Whom the Bell Tolls". Lilli Palmer shares insides on making of "Cloak and Dagger" but not much about Cooper. Patricia Neal, well, if only I could believed her, but I found her autobiography phoney. Her "remembering" of events and dialogs which supposedly have been happening about 40 y. before she wrote her book, simply lacks credibility. So, I almost gave up and then discovered Maria Cooper's loving tribute to her father.

The book is absolutely wonderful! It is written with love, respect and honesty. Maria is a gifted writer and I couldn't put her book down until I finished it. She shares insides of Cooper's early life, his career, their family life, his battle with cancer, which cut his life short and his last days; there are lovely family photos, photos of Gary &Rockywith their friends Jimmy and Gloria Stewart, the Hemmingways, Picasso, Audrey Hepburn, Gary with his parents, with his monkey pet and much more. My favorite one is Coop with Maria when she was a baby- so sweet!There are also few of his sketches and facts about his taste in food, past times, hobbies and believes.

To me, reading Maria's memoir was an incredible experience. It was like putting the finishing touches on a portrait of Gary, which I painted in my mind earlier, and it is now completed.

I highly recommend "Gary Cooper off Camera" to every Cooper fan. It is simply a must have.

Lastly, I thank Maria for sharing her love for her father with us. Thanks for the great book.

Fabulous for serious Cooper fans!!!
If you ever found Cooper handsome, this book certain has many photos to entertain and foster this thought.

The hardcover is a must! The narrative inside is perhaps average but if you supplement the book with a bio novel on Cooper you'll certainly feel its well worth the expense. Buy, buy, buy

GARY COOPER FANS...ATTENTION!!
This is a great book for initial insight into Gary Cooper by his daughter.It is very obvious she adored her father.The book is very informative about the personal life of "Coope" with many wonderful pictures, however, the book is more images than writing.The details are only touched on.If you are a Gary Cooper & you want many unseen pictures, this is the book for you...

Daddy's Girl
The cover photograph, of Gary Cooper spoon-feeding ice-cream to his daughter on the streets of "Hadleyville,"isa poignantclue to whatfollows. Maria Cooper was a girl wholived a very rarified life, and she lets us take a delicious peek at it.
... Read more

Customer Reviews (1)

Like reading a gossip magazine that lasts longer!
The book reads really well, so well that you're disappointed when it ends so quickly. Not just for Cooper fans, but all nostalgia movie fans. Excellent! ... Read more

Customer Reviews (4)

Update ofreviews
I bought the"Films of Gary Cooper" some 30 years ago and still enjoy reading it.However, I find that Mr. Dickens underrated, at least in my eyes and more recent reviews, two of his finestfilms.Those are "Man of the West" and "They came to Cordura".Whereas, Mr. Dickens thought they should be relegated to that movie boneyard in the sky more recent consideration and mine too, consider them to be very good films.

Aside from this, I highly recommend this book.I would not part with my copy.It is, in most respects, a very good review of Gary Cooper's movies.

The perfect reference book for fans of Gary Cooper's films
I bought this book in the fall of 1975 and after nearly 25 years, still find it hard to put down once I pick it up.

Brief overview
Read this book some 20 years ago. Found it rare among this series in that -- A), it was at times critical of both Cooper and some of his films; and B), it was filled with both positive and negatives from critics at the time of each film's release. As I said, rare for this series. Recently went to purchase it for a friend, and found out it is unavavilable? Why!?!

Brief overview
Read this book some 20 years ago. Found it rare among this series in that -- A), it was at times critical of both Cooper and some of his films; and B), it was filled with both positive and negatives from critics at the time of each film's release. As I said, rare for this series. Recently went to purchase it for a friend, and found out it is unavavilable? Why!?! ... Read more

Customer Reviews (4)

Opinionated and Misguided
Jeffrey Meyers is laboring under the misapprehension that people picking up Gary Cooper: American Hero are simply falling all over themselves to hear his, Meyers', opinions on Cooper's films, the Method, William Wyler's talent as a director, and myriad other subjects.

I may be the first to correct Mr. Meyers' assumption, but here goes.I bought Gary Cooper: American Hero because I wanted to learn about Gary Cooper, not Jeffrey Meyers.Cooper was an extraordinarily complex man; one who loved his family but chased every girl with whom he came in contact.A man who testified as a friendly witness with HUAC but publicly supported Carl Foreman during the making of High Noon.This is the man about whom I wanted to learn, and I certainly didn't learn anything here.

I did not buy the book so that I could read long-winded, self-important, spoiler-filled critiques of Cooper's films (one memorable quote, regarding Friendly Persuasion, is "nobody can persuade me to be friendly to this film.")Mr. Meyers, nobody cares whether you're "friendly" (inanely "cute" pun noted) to the film.Your job is provide a SHORT plot synopsis (preferably spoiler-free), include some background information on the making of the film, and share what the critics and audiences at the time thought of it.In noting that Friendly Persuasion won an award at Cannes, Meyers comments that the jury must have been temporarily insane.Objectivity must be a skill that was taught on a day that Mr. Meyers was absent from Biography 101.Actually, in fairness to Biographers the world over, I think Meyers missed the entire course.

Add to this a spectacularly useless "filmography" which consists not of Cooper's films in chronological order, but four categories graded by Meyers as Best, Important, Seeable and Poor films, and you have the makings of a truly terrible book.The sad thing is that if Meyers knew how to be a good biographer, if he were objective, willing to go to primary sources rather than lazily re-printing old information, and were able to check simple facts such as the glaring error regarding Clara Bow "not being able to have children" (her two sons must have been surprised to know this), he might have been able to give us an interesting book, as he is able to string sentences together in an occasionally readable way.

If the book were entitled "My View:Jeffrey Meyers Offers His Opinion on Gary Cooper's Films (with Fanciful Asides Regarding his Personal Life)" at least readers would know what they were getting.Gary Cooper: American Hero is a disservice to the man and his stellar film career.

Nope
This is a unimpressive and down-right sloppy book on one of the movies' greatest stars and actors.How could you write a blah book on Gary Cooper?The author seems to recycle too much "information" from previous books on Cooper or other stars, and is most outrageous in his passing on the lurid gossip from Jane Ellen Wayne's trashy fantasy COOPER'S WOMEN.Does Meyers REALLY believe Clara Bow in the 1930's talked to a "shocked but riveted public" about Cooper's penis size and sexual ability?? Where the heck does he believe such an interview would have been published in the 1930's!!! He further illustrates his lack of second-sourcing his information in the very same paragraph by claiming Cooper didn't have to worry about "knocking her up" since Bow couldn't have children - apparently quite oblivious to the fact that Bow gave birth to two sons several years after the Cooper affair in her marriage to actor Rex Bell!!!! The book concludes with Meyers listing Cooper's films as "best films", "important", "seeable"and a surprisingly large "poor" list including some popular favorites like IF I HAD A MILLION, THE PLAINSMAN, SOULS AT SEA, NORTHWEST MOUNTED POLICE, and CASANOVA BROWN.At least we know THESE are original opinions!Of note the back cover includes a very favorable comment on the book by Bill Clinton.Bill dude, you must have inhaled this time!!!

A simple-minded effort
There's nothing new here.Old facts, little analysis, a boring narrative. More of a fan magazine profile than an in-depth biography.Very poorlydone.

THE RELUCTANT STAR AND HERO
Though still seen today on cable Gary Cooper's movies only tell part of the story. A man that never said 2 words when one would do or even one when a look would do. The book helps us all to understand this Legend of the screen better. Little known facts about his childhood and extensive education are revealed. Proving that images of silence often conceal greater intelligence than the ramblings of the self absorbed. ... Read more

Product Description
This is a VHS video tape formated for the U.S. and Canada (NTSC) ... Read more

Customer Reviews (200)

Great Deal on Great Movie

High Noon is a wonderful film, and the extras included with this are a nice touch.

Great Classic Movie
One of the all time great movies in a collector's edition that includes some fun extras.Bought it for my hubby's 59th birthday and he was very pleased.

Good
Critically, as the film was innovative in its structure (avoiding most real Western`action' until the end of the film), and avoided a number of stereotypes popularized by higher profile filmmakers like John Ford and Howard Hawks, and Western icon John Wayne, derided it as un-American, as well as worse things. That is has become so lauded, even as it was a low budget project, with almost no great nor spectacular battle scenes, is another reason so many of the classic Western film lovers have railed at it. Cinematographer Floyd Crosby does a good, if not spectacular, job. There is one infamous goof that he and film editors committed, and that is in a crane shot, late in the film, where the camera pulls back and up to reveal the town deserted and Kane alone. Unfortunately, in the upper left hand corner of the film, telephone poles and wires are clearly visible. Crosby's mot notable touch was in not fetishizing the Western tableaux, instead not filtering the light reflected from the surroundings, which led to a blanched, dessicated look to the black and white cinematography; along the lines of then contemporary documentary films.

The DVD, put out by Lionsgate, comes with two disks. Disk one is in a 4:3 aspect ratio, and the transfer is spotless. The remastering of the film is superb. It scintillates with clarity. It also includes an audio commentary by the progeny of many of the people involved- the late actor, John Ritter, Carl Foreman's son, Jonathan, Fred Zinneman's son, Tim, and Gary Cooper's daughter, Maria Cooper-Janis. As in most commentaries featuring non-experts, this one quickly descends into meaningless banter and anecdotes, and many, `Gee, whiz, wasn't dad great' moments. The only comment of any worth comes when it's mentioned that, before he kills the first of the desperadoes, Kane calls out Miller's name, and shorts the man, therefore not plugging him in the back. The comment states this displays Kane's personal code of ethics, and while this is true, it is also one of the weaker moments in the film, because it goes against many of the other realistic moments (as does the plethora of 1950s-speak: Gollys and Gee whizzes abound)- a fact unmentioned in the commentary. But, good observations as this are rare on the track. Given the film's stature as a Western classic, one would have hoped for at least one expert commentary, by a noted historian of cinema. The second disk features a 50 minute making of film, Inside High Noon, and a shorter making of featurette. There is a featurette on singer Tex Ritter; a clip of Ritter singing the Oscar winning song Do Not Forsake Me, Oh My Darlin' on the Jimmy Dean tv show, a featurette called Behind High Noon, and a radio broadcast featuring Ritter. All of these features are useful, but none is really standout, nor top of the line, compared to the best DVD features. The real killer, as mentioned, is no expert commentary track.

High Noon is certainly a classic, and with a few better decisions scriptwise and characterwise, and with a few better decisions technically, it would truly have been a great film. Greatness and classicality, however, are unrelated beasts. This film is classic melodrama stripped to its naked rot, and plays out almost like an episode of Rod Serling's The Twilight Zone. Its narrative bears down upon the viewer like the train that carries Frank Miller. It has moments of poignancy (see the looks between Kane and Helen), black humor (see when the hotel clerk asks Kane if he can find Helen's room when the marshal ascends the stairs), and mythos (scan the characters' names and personal traits for counterparts in assorted mythologies); as well as an ability to amplify these characteristics (note how every shot of the clocks, which visually builds tension, is accompanied by a slightly strumming sound). Technically, the film is top notch, but its fundamentals sag a bit. If only the bulk of films today could display such vices and virtues, what a wonderfully mortal art the masses could wallow in.

Agreat movie
I have loved this movie for a long time.I am very glad to have it in my collection.

Good moview great service
Have seen this before but wanted a copy to watch again and it was not available anywhere I looked. I ordered from Amazon and it was at my door step in three days. The collectors series has some really nice insights into the movie etc. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (1)

A different type of life style
An interesting tale about an American guy who is too tired of American type of life style and chose to live in the wilderness of Alpine Mountainsand mainly deal with nature. This story shows how different some people'slife styles and beliefs could be and the fact that they still seem to bethe happiest people in the world. This is also the sad story of a littleboy who once wanted to be a cowboy like Gary Cooper and never had thechance to make it in a world that is too cruel and sophisticated tounderestand the kids' type of love and passion. ... Read more

Product Description
Used Hardcover Edition published by Groseet & Dunlop, 1922 (stated, however the Dust Jacket shows actor Gary Cooper in the 1941 "Seegeant York" movie that Cooper won the Academy Award for Best Actor. So The book was a 1941.) Text is clean, there is an inscription neatly written on the front endpapers (the blank page before the title page/ the page closest to the cover) which reads "To Mother, From Wm. Jr. Xmas 1941". Fine Green boards with dark blue lettering of book's title & author), Spine is firm. Dust Jacket shows wear with two pieces of tape on the inside of the DJ spine though it doesn't show on the outside cover. Some minor rips and tears and an old glue mark (from a piece of tape) on the top corner of the back of the DJ. All in all an excellent copy of the novel with a very cool Dust Jacket (at least for some of us that list this movie & Coop right up there as Hollywood's greats - if you haven't seen this movie you are missing one of the great Hollywood's performances, check it out.) Some trivia about the film is that the real Sergeant York was originally against the idea of making a movie of his experiences, but relented when World War II broke out, on the condition that only Gary Cooper play him. A very nice (Collectible) copy. We ship within 24 hours of your purchase with a Delivery Confirmation. ... Read more

Product Description
This volume is produced from digital images created through the University of Michigan University Library's large-scale digitization efforts. The Library seeks to preserve the intellectual content of items in a manner that facilitates and promotes a variety of uses. The digital reformatting process results in an electronic version of the original text that can be both accessed online and used to create new print copies. The Library also understands and values the usefulness of print and makes reprints available to the public whenever possible. This book and hundreds of thousands of others can be found in the HathiTrust, an archive of the digitized collections of many great research libraries. For access to the University of Michigan Library's digital collections, please see http://www.lib.umich.edu and for information about the HathiTrust, please visit http://www.hathitrust.org ... Read more