The Big Goodbye

From the New York Times bestselling author of Fifth Avenue, Five A.M. and Fosse comes the revelatory account of the making of a modern American masterpiece.

Chinatown is the Holy Grail of 1970s cinema. Its twist ending is the most notorious in American film and its closing line of dialogue the most haunting. Here for the first time is the incredible true story of its making.

In Sam Wasson's telling, it becomes the defining story of the most colorful characters in the most colorful period of Hollywood history. Here is Jack Nicholson at the height of his powers, as compelling a movie star as there has ever been, embarking on his great, doomed love affair with Anjelica Huston. Here is director Roman Polanski, both predator and prey, haunted by the savage death of his wife, returning to Los Angeles, the scene of the crime, where the seeds of his own self-destruction are quickly planted. Here is the fevered dealmaking of "The Kid" Robert Evans, the most consummate of producers. Here too is Robert Towne's fabled script, widely considered the greatest original screenplay ever written. Wasson for the first time peels off layers of myth to provide the true account of its creation.

Looming over the story of this classic movie is the imminent eclipse of the '70s filmmaker-friendly studios as they gave way to the corporate Hollywood we know today. In telling that larger story, The Big Goodbye will take its place alongside classics like Easy Riders, Raging Bulls and The Devil's Candy as one of the great movie-world books ever written.

Praise for Sam Wasson:
"Wasson is a canny chronicler of old Hollywood and its outsize personalities...More than that, he understands that style matters, and, like his subjects, he has a flair for it." - The New Yorker
"Sam Wasson is a fabulous social historian because he finds meaning in situations and stories that would otherwise be forgotten if he didn't sleuth them out, lovingly." - Hilton Als

“"The wondrous thing about Sam Wasson''s new book is that it feels both necessary and inevitable - as if Chinatown couldn''t (or shouldn''t) exist without it. Reading The Big Goodbye , something strange happens: it acquires the historical, dizzying, incestuous gravitas of the film itself. Wasson has a habit of making vividly thematic, compassionately revelatory art." - Bruce Wagner , author of Force Majeure and I Met Someone "Sam Wasson has written a smart, human and utterly engaging book about an iconic American movie. With its rich depiction of 1970s Hollywood, The Big Goodbye is grounded in marvelous reportorial detail and moves with novelistic urgency." - Julie Salamon , author of The Devil''s Candy and An Innocent Bystander "A fascinating dive into Hollywood" Maureen Dowd, New York Times " Chinatown (1974) was a watershed moment in a colorful era of American filmmaking. Wasson looks past the myth to tell the true story of its making." USA Today , "Winter Reading Guide: This Season''s Must-Read Books" "If you love Chinatown, then you''ll love The Big Goodbye and it''s good reading for any American cinema buff." Kirkus Reviews "Inimitable Wasson...argues convincingly that Chinatown was one of the last great Hollywood films... this portrait of a neonoir classic will cast a spell over cinephiles." Library Journal, starred review "Wasson...is one of the great chroniclers of Hollywood lore. And he has truly outdone himself this time." - The New York Times "Wasson''s fascinating and page-turning description of the talent and ideas behind "Chinatown" is more than a mere biography of a landmark movie." - Los Angeles Times "It''s impossible not to fall for this love letter to a love letter that pastes together the often sticky collage of how talent plus perseverance can equal a classic film." - The Associated Press "It''s the definitive book on Chinatown." - Vanity Fair "[ THE BIG GOODBYE ] is as fine an unwrapping of the moviemaking process as I''ve read." - Airmail The Big Goodbye is a graceful and worthwhile elegy to a time dear to those who are lucky enough to remember it...It will be hard to find a better film book published this year. - PopMatters.com The Big Goodbye is a fun and insightful read about the business of Hollywood and the complex, creative process. - Coachella Valley Weekly "An absorbing account of the making of ''Chinatown''...Wasson is a stylish chronicler of Hollywood politics... The Big Goodbye evokes the care that went into every frame." - The Economist "densely textured, well-researched... ...Film fans will love the behind-the-scenes access to movie town legends, and buffs will relish the details. If you need to know the typewriter brand used by Towne, the reason Nicholson was called "The Weaver" when young, or the designer frock worn by Anjelica Huston at the Oscars, this is the book for you." - The Sunday Times "Cultural historian Sam Wasson swims in the muddy making of the 1974 film, the messy lives of its four main players, and the murky chronicles of L.A.''s studio system and the municipal water wars to produce a page-turner as suspenseful and spellbinding as the Raymond Chandler novel from which the book takes its name." - The AV Club "Hollywood stories are hardly in short supply, but Sam Wasson can be trusted for some juicy, compelling discoveries. His latest investigates the making of Chinatown...his innovative approach: and assembly of mini-biographies of Roman Polanski, Jack Nicholson, and more, each packed with intriguing revelations." - Entertainment Weekly "Sam Wasson does a wonderful job with this book... beautiful [and] meticulously researched." - CBS This Weekend *** USA Today "5 Books Not to Miss" and "Must-Read Books of Winter 2020" Entertainment Weekly "20 Books to Read in February" and "50 Most Anticipated Books of 2020" DailyBreak.com "These 10 Books of February are Like a Box of Premium Chocolates" Amazon "Best Books of the Month: History" Houston Chronicle "Eagerly Anticipated Reads of 2020" Financial Times "2020 Vision: The Year Ahead in Books" Kirkus Reviews "New Year''s Reading Resolution List" The Criterion Collection''s The Current "November Books Roundup"”

"If you love Chinatown, then you'll love The Big Goodbye―and it's good reading for any American cinema buff."
―Kirkus Reviews

"Inimitable Wasson...argues convincingly that Chinatown was one of the last great Hollywood films... this portrait of a neonoir classic will cast a spell over cinephiles."
―Library Journal, starred review

"Wasson...is one of the great chroniclers of Hollywood lore. And he has truly outdone himself this time."
--The New York Times

"One of the best things about this audiobook is author Sam Wasson's narration. His modulation and timing are as good as any professional narrator's, and his use of accents provides subtle shading to everyone from John Huston to Henry Kissinger."
--AudioFile Magazine, Earphones Award Winner

Sam Wasson is the author of six books including the bestselling Fosse and Fifth Avenue, 5 AM: Audrey Hepburn, Breakfast at Tiffany's, and the Dawn of the Modern Woman. He lives in Los Angeles. Sam Wasson is the author of six books including the bestselling Fosse and Fifth Avenue, 5 AM: Audrey Hepburn, Breakfast at Tiffany's, and the Dawn of the Modern Woman. He lives in Los Angeles.

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