(5 votes, average: 4.00 out of 5)
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Product Description
The totally restored, revamped and researched blow-by-blow recounting of the most spectacular title bout in the blood-soaked history of Hollywood. “This book documents in rare detail the back-room haggling and the attempted ego-bashing that is part of the movie business.” – Gene Siskel; “Told with the passion of an advocate yet with the objectivity of a crack reporter, The Battle of Brazil is a chilling, inevitably hilarious account of a great film that almost got away.” – USA Today.
Lowest price @ Amazon.com $8.00
Amazon Average Rating 4.5/5.0
The Battle of Brazil: Terry Gilliam v. Universal Pictures in the Fight to the Final Cut
This is an updated, revised, expanded version of the 1986 book by the same author. (Same title, too.)
It’s really good, covering the fight to release the director’s cut of the film. The villain is Sid Sheinberg, one of the executives at Universal. Sid says he doesn’t want to change Gilliam’s movie, but he wants to change the end. Changing the end changes the whole POINT of the film. So Sid pretended that the battle is over the length of the movie. He tried to get between the producer (Arnon Milchan) and Gilliam. He sort of succeeded, too.
Then the LA critics chose Brazil as the movie of the year, even though it hadn’t been released. (The author was one of those critics.) That move raised the stakes much higher, and ultimately led to Gilliam’s victory.
Rating: 4 / 5
When I was a little kid my favorite story was David and Golaith. I especially liked the part where David cuts the giants head off at the end. THE BATTLE FOR BRAZIL isn’t exactly a story of biblical proportions. But it is a war worth reading about.
Jack Mathew’s book chronicles the creative and business side of one of the strangest films ever made. The book is an act of life imitating art and exposes the deep flaws in the Hollywood system, and the subborness of the little man who won’t give up.
Read the book and see the movie. You’ll be really glad you did.
Rating: 4 / 5
I love Terry Gilliam, and Brazil is one of the great movies ever made, but be warned: This book is so biased in its re-telling of events that it holds little value to today’s reader.
Having heard this book mentioned in so many film articles, I was excited to get my hands on a copy. I was expecting an emotional and timeless tale of artist versus businessman, of David versus Goliath… but what is actually contained within Battle of Brazil is a lot more boring. For starters, the author makes it clear that he’s not interested in telling a balanced story – he *literally* admits that. If you’re like me, someone interested in truth, you might begin to think that this already makes the book somewhat pointless, but when, in the book’s lowest moments, it sinks to attacks on Sid Sheinberg’s personality (who is the “villain” in this piece), you being to realise that this book has pretty much no historical value whatsoever.
Still, if the events revealed had actually shown a tale of corporate malevolence, then at least it might be a gripping read, unfortunately, if you’re paying attention, this book tells a very different story. What’s revealed instead is (and I’m sorry to say it) the story of a director who is annoyed at having to do what he already pre-agreed to do. The author, Jack Matthews, may try and skip over these less exciting events as quickly as possible, but there’s no escaping the fact that Gilliam’s producer (and ally) agreed to everything that Gilliam got upset about later… and for which Sheinberg is laid to blame. This isn’t so much an expose of the dreadful might of the studio, as much as a series of bad decisions by the movie-makers themselves.
Don’t get me wrong, Sheinberg’s edit of Brazil reveals a man so without talent that he shouldn’t be allowed within 20 feet of a disposable camera, but every restriction he placed on Gilliam and Brazil was pre-agreed to at various points during production. There were no underhanded attempts at forcing Gilliam to do what the studio wanted “otherwise you’ll never work in the town again”, everything was done calmly in writing. If you read the book in an unbiased way, Sheinberg actually comes across as very reasonably exercising the powers he’s been willingly granted. The fact that ultimately he didn’t have a clue in terms of what makes a good movie is besides the point: Jack Matthews hadn’t even seen Sheinberg’s cut at the time he wrote this book (something revealed in passing in his new afterword).
The book appears to have been written from emotion and bluster, and does everyone a disservice as a result, including the reader. By trying to paint the portrait of the evil overlord in Sid Sheinberg, Matthews only makes Terry Gilliam look like a child having a tantrum, when he’s been told he can’t do what he wants. Of course *Gilliam* was absolutely right to fight for what he believed in, and thankfully he won (although I think he would have won anyway — no test audience would have preferred Sheinberg’s cut), but the truth is that this tale isn’t David and Goliath; it’s the talentless businessman versus the talented frustrated artist.
You might learn something about how a film could slip out of your control during production, but don’t expect anything more than that. By being deliberately biased and by steadfastly sticking to his Gilliam-enamoured point of view, Jack Matthews has created a book with zero historical value, and since anyone can go and buy Gilliam’s version of Brazil at any good DVD stockist, there’s very little reason to read it.
Skip the book, rent the movie.
Rating: 2 / 5
This book is about the struggle between Terry Gilliam, a man trying to protect his vision, vs. Universal Pictures, a group trying to turn his vision into baby food so they can sell it to the American masses. It is not only a true behind the scenes story about what happened, but it also gives you a glimpse on the process of movie making in Hollywood in general. Add the complete director’s cut of the screenplay, with some notes and photos, this makes for a very complete history on the birth of the film. You SHOULD watch the film before READING the book, as that would help you understand much of the debate going on between the two sides.
Rating: 5 / 5
Terry Gilliam’s film Brazil is now regarded as a classic, and rightfully so. It’s a perfect blend of words (McKeown, Stoppard & Gilliam’s screenplay) and image, and succeeds in realizing a completely different and yet perfectly believable world. I’m an avid filmgoer, and I consider Brazil the *best* American film of the past 25 years (better even than Raging Bull). A brilliant sci-fi/fantasy/black comedy/romance/Orwellian vision of the future–or the present–the film details the efforts of Sam Lowry (Jonathan Pryce) to find his dream girl, trucker/terrorist? Jill Leighton (Kim Greist) with the help of renegade plumber Robert de Niro. Ian Holm, Ian Richardson, and Bob Hoskins contribute wonderful cameos, and Michael Palin is as evil as he’s ever been.
Although Jack Mathews is clearly on Gilliam’s side (how could anyone with an ounce of sense NOT be?!), he lets Sid Sheinberg, who might possibly be Satan, speak, and Sheinberg simply hangs himself with his own words. Mathews’ wonderful tome includes an original shooting script with some magnificent deleted sequences.
One important point to remember while reading Mathew’s detailed account: The studio knew *exactly* what they were getting–the players involved had already *read the screenplay*! Gilliam’s film was both on time and largely on budget, and yet the powers-that-be couldn’t accept the film.
This story has a true-life happy ending–Gilliam’s gone on to make The Fisher King, 12 Monkeys, and Fear & Loathing in Las Vegas, and, according to the imdb, is finally starting on Good Omens. Sheinberg? Retired and, in all likelihood, forgotten except for his role in this near-fiasco. Like in the film, imaganation triumphs. One wishes critics’ groups would make a point of awarding a “Best Unreleased Film” of the year.
Read, and smile.
“Brazil… where hearts were entertaining June…”
Rating: 5 / 5