Top Ten Favorite Movies About Hollywood
With the Academy Awards just around the corner, I decided to list my favorite movies about the Hollywood industry - past and present:
TOP TEN FAVORITE MOVIES ABOUT HOLLYWOOD
1. "Sunset Boulevard" (1950) - Billy Wilder directed and co-wrote (with Charles Brackett) this Oscar winning movie about a struggling Hollywood writer who becomes involved with former star from the silent era. Gloria Swanson and William Holden starred.
2. "Bombshell" (1933) - Jean Harlow and Lee Tracy starred in this comedy about the travails of a young Hollywood sex symbol and her efforts to bring order to the chaos in her life caused by a studio publicity executive. Victor Fleming directed.
3. "Singin' in the Rain" (1952) - Gene Kelly, Donald O'Connor and Debbie Reynolds starred in this musical about the transition of silent films to talkies in the late 1920s Hollywood. Kelly co-directed with Stanley Donen.
4. "The Scarlett O'Hara War" (1980) - Tony Curtis starred as David O. Selznick in this television movie about the producer's search for the right actress to portray Scarlett O'Hara in his film, "GONE WITH THE WIND". Bill Macy and Harold Gould co-starred.
5. "Tropic Thunder" (2008) - Ben Stiller directed and starred in this satire about a group of prima donna actors who become stranded in a Southeast Asia jungle, while filming a large-budgeted Vietnam War movie. Jack Black and Oscar nominee Robert Downey Jr. co-starred.
6. "Who Framed Roger Rabbit?" (1988) - Robert Zemeckis directed this adaptation of Gary K. Wolf's 1981 novel, "Who Censored Roger Rabbit?", set in 1940s Hollywood. Bob Hoskins, Christopher Lloyd and the voice of Charles Fleischer starred.
7. "Hollywood Shuffle" (1987) - Robert Townsend starred, directed and co-wrote this satire on Hollywood's racial stereotyping of African-Americans and its affects on an aspiring actor.
8. "Get Shorty" (1995) - John Travolta stars in this adaptation of Elmore Leonard's novel about Miami loan shark Chili Palmer, who decides to become a Hollywood producer, after traveling to the West Coast to collect on a debt. Directed by Barry Sonnenfeld, the movie co-stars Gene Hackman, Rene Russo, Dennis Farina and Danny DeVito.
9. "A Star Is Born" (1937) - William Wellman co-wrote and directed the first of three versions of this tale about a romance between an aspiring actress and a fading film star in Hollywood. Produced by David O. Selznick, the movie stars Janet Gaynor and Fredric March.
10. "Notting Hill" (1999) - Hugh Grant and Julia Roberts star in this romantic comedy about a London bookseller who falls in love and romances a Hollywood actress. Directed by Roger Michell.