Acting Male: Masculinities in the Films of James Stewart, Jack Nicholson, and Clint Eastwood

``The categories assumed by film studies, reviewers, and the movie industry . . . obscure the common cultural tradition of maintaining male dominance as well as the fragmentation that makes unitary masculinity a difficult--even impossible--construction to maintain'' writes Indiana University English professor Bingham, spelling out not only a main contention but also a main problem of the book. This part-Freudian, part-feminist, part-sociological study of Stewart, Nicholson and Eastwood as mainstream figures who both support and subvert our concepts of conventional masculinity occupies a very small niche: while the ideas may be new to mainstream readers, these readers will find the prose inaccessible; and while it will be accessible to academic readers, they will find the ideas rather familiar. Bingham's strength lies in his exploration of how these actors (and Eastwood as director as well) have periodically reinvented themselves. Nicholson, Bingham notes, becomes increasingly self-conscious as an actor, to the point of self-parody; Stewart, the representative good citizen, found he almost had to challenge his wholesome image to avoid stagnation in his career; and Eastwood ``evolves'' into a ``less `masculinist' male identity.'' A valid piece of scholarship that will be most useful to those doing research in American popular culture. (June)