First published 2018
Glenn Frankel reveals how political persecution shaped one of Hollywood's most celebrated Westerns. The author traces Carl Foreman's journey from initial concept to finished screenplay, showing how the writer's battle with the House Committee on Un-American Activities transformed his story. While Gary Cooper and Grace Kelly filmed the movie over thirty-two days, Foreman faced testimony about his Communist Party membership. He refused to betray former associates and paid the price with blacklisting and exile. Frankel demonstrates how these circumstances gave the film its themes of moral courage and standing alone against hostile forces. The book follows Foreman's creative process as his personal ordeal infused the script with allegorical power. Frankel connects the screenwriter's real-world crisis to Marshal Will Kane's fictional dilemma, revealing how art emerged from political trauma. This account illuminates both the creation of an American classic and the destructive paranoia of the blacklist era.
Genres: biography, drama, historical-fiction, 20th-century, american, american-history
Vibes: intimate, suspenseful, thought-provoking
Tropes: moral-courage, standing-alone
Setting: Hollywood
Period: Blacklist Era
400 pages · Paperback · Bloomsbury USA