In the 1970's Harlan Ellison published "The Glass Teat" a compilation of his articles he published in the L.A. Free Press. The articles were a critical assessment of television of the period and they became instant classics. "The Glass Teat" became part of the curriculum at numerous colleges and their media departments. In "Watching" Ellison takes his critical and rhetorical skills to the movies.
"Watching" covers a much broader span of time than "The Glass Teat" from the early 60's until the late 80's. In his articles, Ellison goes from straight movie reviewing to more behind the scenes and critical assessments of movies tackling subjects such as the "auteur" method of filmmaking, colorization, the so called homage and to the more subliminal messages behind the movies. Unless you're a rabid Ellison fan, his opinions on movies are never predictable and they may surprise or shock you but the reasoning behind his informed opinion is sound.
In writing his articles, Ellison's passion for the subject would get the better of him and he'd take off on digressions that would make even the best critical essayist jealous. Ellison is always the first to admit to the digressions and tries to control them, but even against his own will Ellison's reviews can stretch across two or even three articles because of his digressions. However, in the hands of Ellison those digressions are always interesting and thought provoking. I can't think of any other writer who can do this.
It's been a while since I've had the pleasure of reading anything of Harlan Ellison's and in reading "Watching" rediscovered that Harlan Ellison is a sheer pleasure to read! "Watching" captures Ellison's sense of humor and occasionally you'll find yourself laughing out loud at some points, agreeing with others, wondering at some, and disagreeing with him, but Ellison is always interesting and thought provoking. One note when reading "Watching", or anything by Ellison for that matter, you better sharpen up your vocabulary, you're going to need it.
After reading "Watching" you'll realize that when the lights go down and the movie comes on Harlan Ellison is thinking about the movie, and by reading "Watching" it'll make you a better watcher of movies.
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