Douglas J Brode

Life is like a movie production and anyone can use Hollywood’s secrets to achieve greater success. Star Power shares 12 of Hollywood’s most powerful rules to guide us in writing, directing and performing the scenes of our lives with Oscar-winning flair. Star Power uses examples from over 125 of Holl...

Almost as long as cinema has existed, vampires have appeared on screen. Symbolizing an unholy union between sex and death, the vampire—male or female—has represented the libido, a “repressed force” that consumed its victims. Early iconic representations of male vampires were seen in Nosferatu (1922)...

In 1977, Star Wars blazed across the screen to become one of the highest grossing and most beloved movies of all time. It was followed by two sequels and three prequels, all of which became blockbusters. Comic books, novels, graphic novels, and magazines devoted to the films have added to the mythol...

Just having celebrated its fiftieth anniversary, "The Twilight Zone" remains one of the most popular television shows ever. Filled with photographs and personal remembrances, Rod Serling's widow, Carol, comments on some of the series' most memorable episodes. Veteran film historian Douglas Brode pro...

NOVEMBER 22, 1963: A DAY THAT CHANGED AMERICASince the assassination of Pres. John F. Kennedy, three theories have been forwarded as the involvement of Lee Harvey Oswald: that he was a lone assassin, as the Warren Commission claimed; that Oswald was a part of a vast, complex conspiracy to kill the s...

Since the beginning of television, Westerns have been playing on the small screen. From the mid-1950s until the early 1960s, they were one of TV's most popular genres, with millions of viewers tuning in to such popular shows as Rawhide, Gunsmoke, and Disney's Davy Crockett. Though the cultural revol...

While political liberals celebrated the end of “cowboy politics” with the election of Barack Obama to the presidency, political conservatives in the Tea Party and other like-minded groups still vociferously support “cowboy” values such as small government, low taxes, free-market capitalism, and the ...

The fifties were a time of contrast. Like the times, the films were just as varied, and ranged from "African Queen" and "High Noon" to "Rebel Without a Cause" and "On the Waterfront". This book examines those films.