The Good, the Bad, and the Very Ugly: A Hollywood Journey

by Sondra Locke

Book Overview

Sondra Locke's fairy-tale story took her from a small town in Tennessee to the impossible heights of Hollywood. And as in a fairy tale, she found herself on the arm of Prince Charming - Clint... This description may be from another edition of this product.

• Format: Hardcover
• Language: English
• ISBN: 068815462X
• ISBN13: 9780688154622
• Release Date: January 1997
• Publisher: William Morrow & Company
• Length: 320 Pages
• Weight: 1.58 lbs.
• Dimensions: 1.3" x 6.5" x 9.6"

Customer Reviews

Two sides to every story

I would like to hear Eastwoods side in all of this. There has to be more to this

Engrossing......

This was a real page turner, and I empathized with Sondra so much. I'll never view Clint Eastwood or the Hollywood movie industry the same again.

Sensitive, well-written, and horrifying

One of the strangest Hollywood stories I've ever read - strange largely because it is so sensitively written in spite of the nastiness of the "plot." Locke paints a truly terrifying, creepy portrait of Mr. Eastwood, the American hero who is apparently a self-centered, manipulative, sociopathic control freak. What gives Locke so much credibility is the love she still clearly feels for her ex-lover, the fact that she is not writing out of anger but out of love and sadness. Eastwood's two-faced twists and turns are too peculiar not to be the real deal. This is an amazing book. My heart goes out to Locke, who seems to have been black-balled in Hollywood, and who was bumped from many TV talk shows (unable to adequately promote this fine memoir) and whose rave review in Entertainment Weekly was even pulled from publication by execs at the last minute - and replaced with a negative review! Entertainment Weekly was part of AOL-Time Warner - Warner being Clint's studio. (SO much for freedom of the press!) The man instills fear in peoples' hearts - and he'll instill it in yours after you read this bizarre love story.

A Very Pleasant Surprise

I bought this book because I had met Sondra Locke a couple of times in business and social settings and liked her immensely. She was unpretentious, kind, funny, focused and very intelligent. I was saddened that she had to carry the burden of people's negative expectations until they could see the real Sondra. What created this misperception? I simply had to find out what had transpired between her and Clint Eastwood to merit all the vitriol. It's a cliche, but I couldn't put this book down and I never wanted it to end! As a previous reviewer has already stated, the parts of this book about Mr. Eastwood are the least interesting. Sondra has had a "wonder-full," almost magical life, like a character in a fairy tale. I was so pleased that, by the end of the book, she seemed to have found her Prince Charming. With luck and synchronicity, we shall meet again and I can tell her myself (maybe she'll sign my book!).

Faulknarian in it's scope and mysteries..

A true southern gothic novel, Faulkner and Harper Lee have nothing on Locke! Yes, it's the strangest book I ever read, but the most revealing of the human condition. Locke and her gay friend survive and love, while Eastwood just sucks the life out of lovers, friends, and people he's worked with for decades. No one ever knows when he'll strike. It is so creepy. Also Locke's conversation with Maria Shriver about Arnold's coldness and willingness to dump her is a stunner! Actress Francis Fisher likens Eastwood to OJ Simpson over lunch with Locke, and we begin to see his veneer. But the undercurrent of the tell-all is a belief in magic, a belief that saved Sondra and her friends and informs her very existence. She had the faith and courage to tell the ugly truth and be ostrasized. Look in the mirror - DO YOU?

Excellent - A Real Page Turner!

I have to admit that I never really liked Sondra Locke or Clint Eastwood and only read the book because it was handed to me as something that I just had to read... Sondra Locke's ability to tell her story is absolutly breathtaking. She is someone I have now come to admire. I do not beleive the book is as much about Clint Eastwood as most people would have you believe, but instead it is about a woman's journey through life and Hollywood - Clint is mentioned because he was part of it - I found the sections of the book that had nothing to do with him a lot more interesting anyway. One of the things that touched me the most about this book is the author's ability to honestly state that she never thought to tell Clint to have surgery himself - it never even crossed her mind. She admits her mistakes in life and speaks about the lessons she learned along the way - something we all go through daily. Her relationship with Gordon Anderson is something very special - How many of us in the world can honestly say that we have had, ourselves, someone that has loved us and we have loved equally in return since childhood - through the good times, tears and triumphs? Both Sondra and Gordon are very special people in my opinion and this is a book everyone should read. Forget Eastwood!

Awesome!

I admit I wasn't expecting to like this book at all but Sandra seemed to tell her story in such a way that I was unable to put the book down. She didn't just put Clint down she tells about the good times and the bad and describes it in such detail that you can really imagine how her life with and without Clint was. I think it took a lot of guts to tell her story. She is a remarkable women and a very talented writer. I can't describe in words how much I enjoyed her book I would like to be able to tell her personally that I think she is a great writer and I wish her the best in the future.