Harrington, Curtis

***What other film director has a) created avant-garde films and was part of Kenneth Anger’s inner circle, b) directed critically acclaimed and cult-adored horror films like Night Tide and Games, and c) directed episodes of Charlie’s Angels and Dynasty? The answer can only be CURTIS HARRINGTON. Nice Guys Don’t Work In Hollywood is a fast-paced view of Harrington’s journey through the kaleidoscope of the movie business, acting alternately as personal memoir and cultural history from a veteran of the entertainment business. In addition, Harrington was living as a gay man in Hollywood and the book gives a rare peek into the hidden world of what was then an elite subculture. What sets this memoir apart is Harrington’s unusual career trajectory. Starting in 1940s avant-garde heyday, Harrington made several deeply intuitive and evocative films which were heralded by the likes of Maya Deren and Anaïs Nin. Against all odds, he then became a Hollywood insider, working as assistant for the infamous Jerry Wald. As a director, he made the cult classic Night Tide, worked in the Roger Corman stable, and helmed several of his own distinctive horror films including Games and What’s the Matter With Helen? In the 1970s and 1980s he began what he called his descent down the “slippery slope” of television work and soon found himself directing episodes of Charlie’s Angels and Dynasty. Nice Guys Don’t Work in Hollywood chronicles this strange arc with wit and campy style. It is both a serious study of film aesthetics, and a gossipy tell-all. Along the way, an unlikely cast of characters including Dennis Hopper, Christopher Isherwood, Shelley Winters, Marilyn Monroe, Stanley Kubrick, and Aaron Spelling share space with the machinations of the film and TV business making this a truly unique look at the Hollywood dream. Photos from throughout Curtis Harrington’s career are included as well as two supplements: Harrington’s 1949 “Index of the Films of Josef von Sternberg” originally printed in Sight & Sound magazine, and the short story “The Secrets of the Sea” which became the basis for Harrington’s classic film Night Tide. (STREET DATE - 6/18/2013)