The best books about film celebrate cinema as a thriving art form, capable of holding dozens of genres and sub-genres with something for everyone. The books on this list explore all the different categories of film, from niche genre guides to screenplay writing instruction and more than a few film criticism books. Film is my greatest passion outside books, writing, and cats, so I’m eager to share this list of the best books about film with you and nerd out.
This post contains affiliate links
And now for the 30 best books about film!
The Age of Movies by Pauline Kael
There is no list of the best books about film without a contribution from legendary New Yorker film critic Pauline Kael. If you’re new to Kael’s criticism or are already a fan, The Age of Movies is a great place to start. This volume collects various writing of Kael, the best of the best, including her reviews of famous films like Raging Bull, Taxi Driver, Network, and Blue Velvet. Like mini time capsules, Kael’s reviews take you inside how these now-classic films landed when they first came out. Read it and see why it’s one of the best books on film cricisim.
How to read it: Purchase The Age of Movies on Amazon
America on Film by Harry M. Benshoff
As one of the most diverse countries in the world, America should be just as diverse on film. And indeed we are. In America on Film, professor Harry M. Benshoff takes a critical look at the way America looks on film. One of the best books about film, America on Film offers a fascinating analysis of the way minority and majority identities appear on film, with chapters on how film represents African American, Native American, Asian Americans, Latinos, and White ethnicities. Benshoff also includes information about the uniquely American system of Hollywood and the history of American cinema.
How to read it: Purchase America on Film on Amazon
The American Cinema by Andrew Sarris
The late American film critic Andrew Sarris was enormously influential in cinema studies, in particular his theory of auteur theory in film criticism. Sample his best writing in his classic film theory book, The American Cinema: Directors and Directions 1929 – 1968, which focuses on a discussion of two hundred American directors who Sarris believes have auteur status. All the big ones are here: Stanley Kubrick, Charlie Chaplin, Fritz Lang, and François Truffaut, and many more. This book was first published in 1968, and it remains just as fresh, just as fascinating, and just as fantastic as it was when it debuted, making it easily on to any roundup of the best books on film criticism.
How to read it: Purchase The American Cinema on Amazon
The Beginning or the End: How Hollywood—and America—Learned to Stop Worrying and Love the Bomb by Greg Mitchell
This amazingly insightful book details the way that Hollywood navigated the realities of the atomic bomb. In the Atomic Age, Hollywood processed the frightening new normal of life in the shadow of nuclear war. Mitchell’s vivid writing makes you feel like you’re there, in a time of paranoia and promise in this engaging story, definitely one of the best books about film history.
How to read it: Purchase The Beginning or the End on Amazon
Best. Movie. Year. Ever. How 1999 Blew Up the Big Screen by Brian Raferty
Was 1999 the best movie year ever? With classic films like Election, The Blair Witch Project, Office Space, and The Matrix as just a few of the hot movies released then, it’s hard to disagree. In Best. Movie. Year. Ever., Brian Raferty argues that 1999 was, indeed, the best movie year in the history of film. Raferty organizes his book around the four seasons, highlighting various films that were a commercial or critical hit (or both!), situating them within the context of greater trends in American history and American cinema. The result is a highly readable account of a most formative year in film history that will have you eagerly going back for a rewatch of these beloved movies. This is definitely one of the best books about filmmaking.
How to read it: Purchase Best. Movie. Year. Ever. on Amazon
The Big Goodbye: Chinatown and the Last Years of Hollywood by Sam Wasson
In The Big Goodbye, film critic Sam Wasson uses the classic film Chinatown (1974) as an entryway to discuss pivotal years in America’s Hollywood. Wasson brings you inside this remarkably formative film, from its rising star actor Jack Nicholson to its controversial director Roman Polanski, complicated producer “The Kid” Robert Evans, and brilliant screenwriter Robert Towne. The Big Goodbye definitely ranks up there among the best books about film history.
How to read it: Purchase The Big Goodbye on Amazon
The Devil’s Candy: The Anatomy of A Hollywood Fiasco by Julie Salamon
In an unprecedented move, director Brian de Palma granted writer Julie Salamon unlimited access to the filming of the movie adaptation of Tom Wolfe’s The Bonfire of the Vanities. And what a film it was… a complete critical and commercial disaster, dragged down by weighty egos, shoddy production, cast tantrums, and epic meltdowns. Get the inside play-by-play in Salamon’s The Devil’s Candy: The Anatomy of a Hollywood Fiasco, now considered one of the best books about film. Read the Wikipedia page on the movie to get a taste of what made this film flop.
How to read it: Purchase The Devil’s Candy on Amazon
Easy Riders, Raging Bulls by Peter Biskind
Peter Biskind’s Easy Riders, Raging Bulls is one of the most well-known best books about film, and it stays relevant even today almost 25 years after its first publication. This book analyzes how the 1969 biker film Easy Rider helped pave the way to a new Hollywood, one that took more risks, gambled on more impossible movies, and helped young directors like Spielberg, Scorsese, and Coppola rise in prestige and actors like De Niro, Nicholson, and Pacino find the right iconic roles.. Biskind takes you inside the “sex-drigs-and-rock-‘n’-roll generation of Hollywood in the 1970s when everything changed.
How to read it: Purchase Easy Riders, Raging Bulls on Amazon
The Essentials: 52 Must-See Movies and Why They Matter by Jeremy Arnold
Turner Classic Movies regularly screens classic films through its “Essentials” series, and in The Essentials, the book companion, you get introduced to what the “essential” films are in cinema history. If you’re looking to get started with watching the best of the best movies, pick up this book for your hand-curated list of what to watch next. Fill in the gaps in your film knowledge with The Essentials and the 52 movies it recommends that all cinephiles see. Among the top best books for film lovers, The Essentials will get you started on filling in your knowledge of film history.
How to read it: Purchase The Essentials on Amazon
Film Art: An Introduction by Kristin Thompson, David Bordwell, and Jeff Smith
This is your go-to Introduction to Film course textbook, but it’s a great read even if you don’t need it for a college class. Film Art helps movie viewers grasp the skills they need to analyze film. This is a book that will help you learn how to watch—and talk about, and analyze—movies. You’ll learn key concepts like filmmaking, film style like cinematography, and entry level film criticism. An all-in-one introduction to cinema, Film Art is one of the best books about film.
How to read it: Purchase Film Art on Amazon
The Filmmaker’s Eye: Learning (and Breaking) the Rules of Cinematic Composition by Gustavo Mercado
In The Filmmaker’s Eye, Gustavo Mercado provides a comprehensive introduction to cinematic composition, a.k.a. making movies. One of the best books about filmmaking, The Filmmaker’s Eye includes an incredible bevy of examples to help educate young filmmakers (or curious movie lovers) on different shots and cinematic techniques. You don’t have to be in a filmmaking course to appreciate this book’s all-inclusive guide to the technical side of making movies.
How to read it: Purchase The Filmmaker’s Eye on Amazon
Film Theory and Criticism by Leo Braudy and Marshall Cohen
I’m willing to bet that each film major has a copy of Leo Braudy and Marshall Cohen’s Film Theory and Criticism on their bookshelf. I certainly have my heavily highlighted, underlined, and glossed copy on my bookshelves (full disclosure: I majored in English but took several film studies courses). One of the best books on film criticism, this is an excellent introduction to film theory and contains landmark works of film criticism, including all the most influential writing that has made a big impact on the field all in one place.
How to read it: Purchase Film Theory and Criticism on Amazon
Final Cut: Art, Money, and Ego in the Making of Heaven’s Gate, the Film that Sank United Artists by Steven Bach
Final Cut is Steven Bach’s I-was-there-for-it account of the making of Heaven’s Gate, one of the most famous hot messes in all of film history. A critical and commercial flop, Heaven’s Gate marked failure on a whole new level, taking United Artists down with it. Do yourself a favor and take a tour down the rabbit hole on the film’s Wikipedia page. Steven Bach had a front seat to the debacle as the senior vice president and head of worldwide production for United Artists while Heaven’s Gate was in production, giving him unprecedented access to the entire steaming shit pile that was Heaven’s Gate. We’re left with one of the best books about filmmaking every aspiring director should read.
How to read it: Purchase Heaven’s Gate on Amazon
The Geek’s Guide to SF Cinema: 30 Key Films That Revolutionized the Genre by Ryan Lambie
This book is exactly as it title says: a geek’s guide to science fiction cinema. In this book, Ryan Lambie gives you the intro you need to 30 of the most influential sci-fi films that revolutionized this beloved subgenre. From 2001: A Space Oddity to Independence Day to Inception, this guide has all the greatest hits in the history of science fiction movies, making it on this list of the best books about film.
How to read it: Purchase The Geek’s Guide to SF Cinema on Amazon
The Great Movies by Roger Ebert
Roger Ebert was a singular film critic, both reviewer of big blockbusters and analyst of the best films in the history of cinema, from art house, to European, independent, and obscure movies alike. Above all, Ebert just loved cinema, and you get that right away when you start reading his guide to the “great movies” in this book, the first in a four-book series. In The Great Movies, which ranks among the best books about film history, Ebert gives you a curated, eclectic list of the best movies ever, ones all serious cinephiles will want to see. Watching the diverse films listed in Ebert’s book will definitely give you a base education in the finest films of all time.
How to read it: Purchase The Great Movies on Amazon
Hitchcock/Truffaut by François Truffaut
A must-have for any film lover, François Truffaut’s Hitchcock/Truffaut is the iconic French New Wave director’s guide to the iconic director Alfred Hitchcock and among the great books by film directors. In transcripts of more than 50 interviews between the two directors, this book is one auteur talking to another auteur. It’s a fascinating discussion and meeting of two great minds that film nerds will not want to miss. This is surely one of the best books about filmmaking.
How to read it: Purchase Hitchcock/Truffaut on Amazon
Hollywood: The Oral History by Jeanine Bassinger and Sam Wasson
In Hollywood: The Oral History, Jeanine Bassinger and Sam Wasson have compiled the ultimate history of Hollywood through interviews with major players like Steven Spielberg, Meryl Streep, and close to four hundred other filmmakers who helped shape the industry and “Tinsel Town.” If you’re looking for a solid introduction to the history of Hollywood, this is it. Neither dry nor stuffy nor choking with dust, Hollywood: The Oral History is a vivid, engaging, and readable tour through the annals of cinematic history and one of the best books about film history.
How to read it: Purchase Hollywood: The Oral History on Amazon
Horror!: The Definitive Companion to the Most Terrifying Movies Ever Made by Kim Newman and James Marriott
Horror cinema definitely has its fans, but if you’re new to the genre, you might not know where to start. Fortunately, with Kim Newman and James Marriott’s Horror! The Definitive Companion to the Most Terrifying Movies Ever Made, you can dive in and get up to speed with horror in no time. This work of film criticism is also readable and covers over 300 horror films with some horror TV series highlighted, too. Plus, the book includes iconic image after iconic image of some of the most frightening scenes to ever find their way to film. Horror fans, this book is for you. This is for sure one of the best books about horror movies.
How to read it: Purchase Horror! on Amazon
How Films Tell Stories: The Narratology of Cinema by Larry A. Brown
Have you ever wondered about how films tell stories? If so, Larry A. Brown’s How Films Tell Stories is required reading. This engrossing book nerds out on cinema’s storytelling theory. How Films Tell Stories is divided into two sections: First, “Aspects of Story,” which details the secrets of screenwriting like plot and characterization, and second, “Aspects of Discourse,” which analyzes the filmmaking techniques for telling a story, like perspective, cinematography, editing, and sound. Taken together, these components help movie lovers begin to think about the overall storytelling experience that only cinema can offer, making this on any list of the best books about making movies.
How to read it: Purchase How Films Tell Stories on Amazon
Making Movies by Sidney Lumet
Critically acclaimed and commercially successful director Sidney Lumet (Dog Day Afternoon, Network, 12 Angry Men, and Serpico, to name a few) takes you inside the decisions that director make that result in the best film. Lumet’s Making Movies is one of the best books about filmmaking, giving readers an inside seat to the choices you have to make when you’re a top director, covering topics like screenplays, film style, managing actors, and soundtracks, to name a few subjects in this intimate, revealing, and educational book. Making Movies is certainly among the top books for aspiring filmmakers.
How to read it: Purchase Making Movies on Amazon
Monster Cinema by Barry Keith Grant
Another one of the best books about horror movies, in Monster Cinema, Barry Keith Grant offers an appreciation of monsters throughout the annals of cinema. Discover the best creature features in the history of film, including famous monsters like King Kong, serial killers like Norman Bates, and the pod people from Invasion of the Body Snatchers. Grant explores three kinds of creatures: Human Monsters, Natural Monsters, and Supernatural Monsters. Funny an insightful, Monster Cinema tops any list of the best books about film.
How to read it: Purchase Monster Cinema on Amazon
The New Biographical Dictionary of Film by David Thomson
This essential encyclopedia of film that sprawls over 1,100 pages has a multitude of entries about everything possibly related to cinema, from key actors to directors to screenwriters and everything and everyone in between. With this guide, definitely one of the best books about film, you’ll never be lost on key players in Hollywood, then and now. See why The New Republic named this “The best book on movies ever written in English.”
How to read it: Purchase The New Biographical Dictionary of Film on Amazon
The Other Hollywood by Legs McNeil and Jennifer Osborne
In this book, Legs McNeil and Jennifer Osborne shine a light on the “other Hollywood,” meaning the pornography film industry. This oral history includes conversations with key producers, directors, and stars of the porn industry. The Other Hollywood also incorporates primary documents, like court testimony, police reports, and newspaper articles. The result is an exhaustive account of pornography’s rise, the Golden Age, and the twilight of the industry as it meets a changing horizon.
How to read it: Purchase The Other Hollywood on Amazon
Pictures at a Revolution: Five Movies and the Birth of the New Hollywood by Mark Harris
In Pictures at a Revolution, one of the best books about film history, Mark Harris argues that five movies released in the mid-1960s ushered in a new era of Hollywood history: Bonnie and Clyde, The Graduate, Guess Who’s Coming to Dinner, In the Heat of the Night, and Doctor Doolittle. Harris makes a convincing case that these films broke Hollywood and, our of that destruction, a New Hollywood was able to be born. Looking for another reason to pick it up? According to Quentin Tarantino: “Pictures at a Revolution is probably one of the best books I’ve ever read in my life.” You can’t argue with that.
How to read it: Purchase Pictures at a Revolution on Amazon
Screenplay: The Foundations of Screenwriting by Syd Field
Syd Field’s Screenplay: The Foundations of Screenwriting still delivers as a top-tier intro to screenwriting book there is and one of the best books about making movies. It seems that some things don’t change, such as Field’s enthusiastic how-to for writing screenplays. Field wants to teach aspiring screenwriters the way to writing movies that people will not just want to see, but engage with emotionally. Field is especially adept at teaching story structure and blending it with characterization to craft a knock-out screenplay. If you own one screenwriting book, it should be this one. (PS: You might want to check out another article on this site about the best books on creative writing.)
How to read it: Purchase Screenplay on Amazon
Spike, Mike, Slackers & Dykes: A Guided Tour Across a Decade of American Independent Cinema by John Pierson
In Spike, Mike, Slackers & Dykes, John Pierson traces notable American indies from the mid-80s to mid-90s, bookending it with Stranger from Paradise on the one hand and Pulp Fiction on the other. Readers are treated to inside knowledge from Pierson, an independent film director who also helped produce and therefore launch the careers of Spike Lee, Michael Moore, Kevin Smith, and Richard Linklater. Published in 1996, this book has already attained legendary status among film nerds and ranks high in any list of the best books about filmmaking.
How to read it: Purchase Spike, Mike, Slackers & Dykes on Amazon
Rebels on the Backlot by Sharon Waxman
Sharon Waxman’s Rebels on the Backlot focuses on six daring directors who conquered Hollywood’s studio system, a not insignificant accomplishment. One of the best books about film history, this book focuses on one iconic film each by directors Paul Thomas Anderson (Boogie Nights), David O. Russell (Three Kings), David Fincher (Fight Club), Quentin Tarantino (Pulp Fiction), Spike Jonze (Being John Malkovich), and Steven Soderbergh (Traffic). Highly readable and engrossingly told, Rebels on the Backlot belongs on any list of the best books about film.
How to read it: Purchase Rebels on the Backlot on Amazon
Rebel without a Crew by Robert Rodriguez
Subtitled “Or How a 23-Year-Old Filmmaker with $7,000 Became a Hollywood Player,” Robert Rodriguez’s Rebel Without a Crew tells the wild story of how he rose from improbable circumstances to create his first movie, the wildly successful debut El Mariachi. This book is an astonishingly candid look at just how little you have to have in order to make your film, operating as both a how-to guide and production diary all in one, making it one of the best books abut filmmaking.
How to read it: Purchase Rebel Without a Crew on Amazon
Seduction: Sex, Lies, and Stardom in Howard Hughes’s Hollywood by Karina Longworth
As the creator and host of the popular podcast You Must Remember This, which is a deep dive into the history of Hollywood, Karina Longworth is the perfect person to pen Seduction: Sex, Lies, and Stardom in Howard Hughes’s Hollywood. This revealing book told with breathless pacing that will keep you turning pages as it details the many women whom Howard Hughes sought to circle into his life as both a filmmaker and a toxic man. Hughes was prone to sexual exploitation and forceful coercion into numerous sexually transactional relationships. Sound familiar? Longworth’s book makes the compelling case that Howard Hughes was the original Harvey Weinstein in a book that couldn’t be more timely. This is for sure one of the best books about film.
How to read it: Purchase Seduction on Amazon
These Fists Break Bricks: How Kung Fu Movies Swept America and Changed the World by Grady Hendrix and Chris Poggiali
We close this list of the best books about film with a nod to kung fu. In this lively book, authors Grady Hendrix and Chris Poggiali capture the rise of kung fu cinema and how it swept through the world. An affectionate and absorbing book all at once, These Fists Break Bricks is a highly readable history of the origins, popularity, and legacy of kung fu film.
