A Splurch in the Kisser

"With this title, Wasson fulfills the goal of the 'Wesleyan Film' series, which aims to produce books that are 'rigorous, critical, and accessible both to academics and to lay readers with a serious interest in film.' The study is a pleasure to read, primarily because the author is a fan and intimate with the details of the thematic content and style of Edwards's films. ... Recommended (for) lower-division undergraduates through faculty; general readers."—S. Vander Closter, Choice

"Sam Wasson has undertaken nothing less than the critical resurrection of Blake Edwards, whose 40-film career, by turns good, great, bad, but never indifferent, has been ridiculously underrated by the critical establishment. Wasson very readably displays the scholarly background, writing skills, historical sophistication and balanced judgment to succeed in his objective. One hopes this impressive work will inspire a splurge of revivals and retrospectives of this more than intermittently hilarious filmmaker."—Andrew Sarris, film critic, The New York Observer

"Sam Wasson has undertaken nothing less than the critical resurrection of Blake Edwards, whose 40-film career, by turns good, great, bad, but never indifferent, has been ridiculously underrated by the critical establishment. Wasson very readably displays the scholarly background, writing skills, historical sophistication and balanced judgment to succeed in his objective. One hopes this impressive work will inspire a splurge of revivals and retrospectives of this more than intermittently hilarious filmmaker."—Andrew Sarris, film critic, The New York Observer

"Reading Wasson's book is like having a couple of beers with your friend, the Blake freak. I was continually amazed at the exacting nature of the descriptions of shots and sequences and the intelligence of the analysis that grows out of them."—Ed Sikov, author of Mr. Strangelove: A Biography of Peter Sellers