Issue link: https://digital.copcomm.com/i/1382552
51 S U M M E R Q 2 I S S U E B O O K R E V I E W bia. While homosexuality, and social responses to it, are not the main subjects of the story, their force is felt throughout. With this and other topics, Frankel in- vites readers to connect not only the way films reflect culture, but also the ways in which they change it. Frankel is a highly respected P u - l i t z e r P r i z e - w i n n i n g a u t h o r o f t w o previous books that dissect single films, "The Searchers: The Making of an Amer- ican Legend" (2014) and "High Noon: The Hollywood Blacklist and the Making of an American Classic" (2017). Like those, "Shooting Midnight Cowboy" is meticulously researched, quotations are footnoted and sources fully described. Without any strain of overly academized writing, Frankel offers a nuanced and entertaining work of scholarship. The use of explanatory "making of " phrases in his titles is obviously a successful strategy, attracting readers who might not otherwise pick up the books. Both film professionals and general readers will find an abundance of little-known details and personal stories in "Shooting Midnight Cowboy" that complement Frankel's insights into the art and craft of filmmaking. One of the great merits of Frankel's work is the weaving of describing the arduous process of creating a film into the artistic, social, and political milieu of its day. In "Shooting Midnight Cowboy," that culture is the decaying yet defiant New York City of the late 1960s, shot through with swinging London and a rap- idly changing Hollywood studio system. The book quotes film critic Rex Reed, who found "Midnight Cowboy" to be "[p]rob- ably the most savage indictment against the City of New York ever captured on film." The cast of minor characters ap- pearing in the book includes New York Mayor John Lindsay, Bob Dylan, Julie Christie, Mike Nichols, Robert Duval, Tr uman Capote, Schlesinger 's lover Michael Childers, and Andy Warhol who, with his entourage, epitomize popular culture. Their profiles, along with de- scriptions of a crumbling metropolis, offer readers a memorable introduction to the city in an era roiling with both fear and possibility. 'The most savage indictment of New York City ever captured on film.'