What people are saying about
Stephen Hunter's "VIOLENT SCREEN"

"Violent Screen offers pithy reviews and articles solely from the engaging pen of Hunter. He categorizes by genre, thus creatively organizing a virtual laundry list of sex and violence. Recommended for circulating libraries with cinema collections."
-- LIBRARY JOURNAL

· "Hunter has a very clear vision of cinematic crime. And his opinionated reviews propvide refreshing appraisals of a wide assortment of movies from Scorsese's 'The King of Comedy' to Tarantino's 'Pulp Fiction.'"
-- LOS ANGELES TIMES

· "Hunter doesn't use this collection for a platform. Violence, like horror films, may provide cathartic release, but there is no pattern, he writes, no conclusions to draw on the influence of movie violence on real violence. It repulses us, yet we revel in it For all its timeliness and intent, Violent Screen is also a fun read. Hunter is a fan first, and film (and video) fans will appreciate the energy in his writingEnlightening and entertaining, Violent Screen could hardly offer a better combination."
-- VIRGINIA PILOT

· "Stephen Hunter is a first-rate movie reviewer, as is richly evident in this collection of critiques."
-- PHILADELPHIA INQUIRER

· "In this provocative collection of essays and criticism, Hunter follows the history of guns in the movies from their prominence in the first feature film, 'The Great Train Robbery' (1903) through their lean years as accessories in gangster and 'noir' films, to their use as status symbols in the James Bond series and their big break in 'Dirty Harry.' Clint Eastwood's 1971 movie clearly updated a notion that goes back to the Middle Ages -- a man is his weapon -- and pushed a .44 magnum to the center of the screen as icon and co-star. Dozens of 'Rambos' and 'Terminators' and 'Die Hards' later, Hunter deplores the way the fetishistic appeal of more and bigger guns has been used to teach the worst possible lessons to the most impressionable, credulous viewers."
-- THE OREGONIAN

· "Stephen Hunter is not one of the best known film critics - since 1982 he has been a reviewer for the Baltimore Sun-and has perhaps gained wider fame as a novelist. A selection of his reviews is gathered together in "Violent Screen: A Critic's -13 Years on the Front Lines of Movie Mayhem" (Bancroft Press, P.O. Box 65360, Baltimore, MD 21209, $19.95). Arranged under a variety of subject headings, the films under discussion range from Reservoir Dogs and Pulp Fiction to Schindler's List and Shoah. There is nothing here that makes hard reading, and it is always good to have in book form a review source outside of the mainstream (i.e.,Variety and the New York Times)."
-- SLIDE AREA: FILM BOOK NOTES BY ANTHONY SLIDE