Harvey Keitel: The Art of Darkness

A widely praised biography of one of Hollywood's most admired actors-now in paperback.

Harvey Keitel has made his menacing presence felt in some of the greatest cult movies ever, from Martin Scorsese's Mean Streets and Taxi Driver to Quentin Tarantino's Reservoir Dogs and Pulp Fiction. With more than fifty films to his credit, Keitel is one of the most sought-after actors in Hollywood. Yet unlike so many of his contemporaries, he constantly surprises us with daring performances in independent or groundbreaking films, such as The Bad Lieutenant, The Last Temptation of Christ, The Piano, and Smoke. His willingness to take risks and experiment-to continually expand his craft and self-knowledge-has inspired a generation of young actors and directors. Harvey Keitel: The Art of Darkness gives a complete portrait of one of the most admired and influential figures working in film: his years on the street in Brooklyn as a kid, his time in the Marines, his early promise and association with Scorsese and Robert De Niro, his firing from the set of Apocalypse Now, his self-imposed Hollywood exile in the eighties, his volatile marriage, and, of course, his extraordinary and well-deserved success.

8 Pages of Black-and-White Photographs Filmography/Index

If you've seen Bad Lieutenant or The Piano, you've seen all there is to see of Harvey Keitel--but what do you really know about him? Although Marshall Fine's biography lacks the intimate insights that direct involvement with his subject would entail, he does an excellent job of collating what Keitel has said about his work--and what others have said about Keitel's performances--over the years, from his electrifying "debut" in Martin Scorsese's Mean Streets through the fallow '80s to the gradual comeback that culminated with his performance as Mr. White in Reservoir Dogs.

Most significantly to Fine's credit, he takes seriously Keitel's desire to have his career viewed as a development of craft and a journey of self-discovery, and thus analyzes Keitel's performances (and the circumstances behind them) with sensitivity. Although this emphasis is based in part on editorial necessity--there's simply more documentation of Keitel's professional life than his personal one--Fine does rather well with the available resources. You won't necessarily know Keitel after reading The Art of Darkness, but you will perhaps come closer to understanding him. --Ron Hogan