Keepers The Greatest Films--and Personal Favorites--of a Moviegoing Lifetime

After six decades of writing about film, acclaimed critic Richard Schickel generously shares Keepers, a history of film as he’s seen and lived it. Here is a tour of his favorites from Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs to Pulp Fiction, and a master class in what makes a film soar or flop. Schickel reminds us of the subjective art of film criticism, highlighting above all the true gems, the immortal moments of transcendent “movie magic”—the scenes, characters, lines, shots, scores, and even lighting cues—that have stuck with him over a lifetime of movie-watching. Buster Keaton, His Girl Friday, Ingrid Bergman, Taxi Driver, Star Wars, Stanley Kubrick—Schickel reveals all the films and the forces behind them that have kept him coming back for more.

Richard Schickel is a film critic, documentary filmmaker, and movie historian. His books include Conversations with Scorsese; Clint Eastwood: A Biography; Intimate Strangers: The Culture of Celebrity in America; and D. W. Griffith: An American Life. His documentaries include Charlie: The Life and Art of Charles Chaplin; Woody Allen: A Life in Film; and Shooting War, about combat cameramen in World War II. He has held a Guggenheim Fellowship and was awarded the British Film Institute Book Prize, the Maurice Bessy Prize for film criticism, and the William K. Everson Award for his work in film history.