THE BIG GOODBYE Chinatown and the Last Years of Hollywood

One of the best things about this audiobook is author Sam Wasson's narration. His modulation and timing are as good as any professional narrator's, and his use of accents provides subtle shading to everyone from John Huston to Henry Kissinger. Wasson builds his narrative around the four friends who created the movie CHINATOWN: director Roman Polanski, screenwriter Robert Towne, producer Robert Evans, and actor Jack Nicholson. Wasson combines the backstories (and backbiting) of these four men with the history of L.A. to create a tapestry of Hollywood's unhappy endings. His remarkable research (for example, the tragic inspiration for the movie's "My sister, my daughter" dialogue) provides a maze of details that, by the audiobook's end, fit perfectly into place. This audiobook succeeds as a Hollywood history lesson and a primer on how creative collaboration can lead to a masterpiece. R.W.S. Winner of AudioFile Earphones Award © AudioFile 2020, Portland, Maine [Published: MAY 2020]