Tom Santopietro

The Way We Were is the definitive inside story of a landmark movie and its troubled making. Starring Barbra Streisand and Robert Redford, this iconic movie won multiple Academy Awards, but its success followed a variety of financial challenges, creative disputes, and the demands of the passionate individuals who fought to bring it into the world.With mingled reverence and wry humor, best-selling author Tom Santopietro embarks on an investigation to decode the enduring power of the movie. He analyzes the mysterious chemistry between Streisand and Redford, showing how their talents combined for an enthralling, once-in-a-lifetime blend that is cited in television shows and feature films to this day. Filled with first-hand accounts by actors, film historians, and members of the creative team, The Way We Were is the ultimate fiftieth anniversary account of a beloved movie that has remained an emotional touchstone for generations.

Fifty years and one billion dollars in gross box-office receipts after the initial release of The Godfather, Francis Ford Coppola's masterful trilogy continues to fascinate viewers old and new. The Godfather Effect skillfully analyzes the reasons behind this ongoing global phenomenon. Packed with behind-the-scenes anecdotes from all three Godfather films, Tom Santopietro explores the historical origins of the Mob and why they thrived in America, how Italian-Americans are portrayed in the media, and how a saga of murderous gangsters captivated audiences around the globe. Laced with stories about Brando, Pacino, and Sinatra, and interwoven with a funny and poignant memoir about the author's own experiences growing up with an Italian name in an Anglo world of private schools and country clubs, The Godfather Effect is a book for film lovers, observers of American life, and Italians of all nationalities.

On March 2, 1965, The Sound of Music was released in the United States and the love affair between moviegoers and the classic Rodgers and Hammerstein musical was on. Rarely has a film captured the love and imagination of the moviegoing public in the way that The Sound of Music did as it blended history, music, Austrian location filming, heartfelt emotion, and the yodeling of Julie Andrews into a monster hit. Tom Santopietro has written the ultimate Sound of Music fan book with all the details from behind-the-scenes stories of the filming in Austria and Hollywood to new interviews with Johannes von Trapp and others. Santopietro looks back at the real-life story of Maria von Trapp, goes on to chronicle the sensational success of the Broadway musical, and recounts the story of the near cancellation of the film when Cleopatra bankrupted 20th Century Fox. We all know that Julie Andrews and Christopher Plummer played Maria and Captain Von Trapp, but who else had been considered? Tom Santopietro knows and tells all while providing a historian's critical analysis of the careers of director Robert Wise and screenwriter Ernest Lehman, a look at the critical controversy which greeted the movie, the film's relationship to the turbulent 1960s, and the super stardom that engulfed Julie Andrews. Tom Santopietro's The Sound of Music Story is a book for everyone who cherishes this American classic.

A revealing look at a star who was much more than just our favorite girl next door. The biggest female box office attraction in Hollywood history, Doris Day remains unequaled as the only entertainer who has ever triumphed in movies, radio, recordings, and television. But while on screen Day may have projected a wholesome image, her acting and singing range made her the role model for independent American career women for four decades. In Considering Doris Day, Tom Santopietro reveals why Day's work continues to resonate today, both in ever-increasing record sales and Hollywood lifetime achievement awards. Placing Day's work within the social context of America in the second half of the twentieth century, Considering Doris Day is smart, funny, and grants Doris Day her rightful place as a singular American artist.