Rhodes, Gary 1972- (Gary Don Rhodes)

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Rhodes, Gary 1972- (Gary Don Rhodes)

PERSONAL:

Born September 11, 1972, in Ardmore, OK; son of Don (in business) and Phyllis (in business) Rhodes. Education: University of Oklahoma, B.A., 1994, M.A., 1997.

ADDRESSES:

Home—Belfast, Northern Ireland. E-mail—[email protected].

CAREER:

Film director, documentary maker, and academic. University of Oklahoma, Norman, OK, assistant professor of film and video studies, 1996-2005; Queen's University, Belfast, Northern Ireland, member of faculty, 2005—.

AWARDS, HONORS:

Grand Jury award, Dead Center Film Festival, 2004, for Banned in Oklahoma.

WRITINGS:

Lugosi: His Life in Films, on Stage, and in the Hearts of Horror Lovers, foreword by F. Richard Sheffield, McFarland (Jefferson, NC), 1997.

White Zombie: Anatomy of a Horror Film, foreword by George E. Turner, McFarland (Jefferson, NC), 2001.

(Editor) Horror at the Drive-In: Essays in Popular Americana, McFarland (Jefferson, NC), 2003.

(Editor, with John Parris Springer) Docufictions: Essays on the Intersection of Documentary and Fictional Filmmaking, McFarland (Jefferson, NC), 2006.

(Editor, with Alexander Webb) Alma Rubens, Alma Rubens, Silent Snowbird: Her Complete 1930 Memoir, with a New Biography and Filmography, McFarland (Jefferson, NC), 2006.

(With Richard Sheffield) Bela Lugosi: Dreams and Nightmares, Collectables (Narberth, PA), 2007.

(Editor) Stanley Kubrick: Essays on His Films and Legacy, McFarland (Jefferson, NC), 2008.

DOCUMENTARY FILMS

(And director) Solo Flight: The Genius of Charlie Christian, 1992.

(And director) Fiddlin' Man: The Life and Times of Bob Wills, 1993.

(And director) Detour Ahead: An Afternoon with Herb Ellis, 1996.

(And director) Lugosi: Hollywood's Dracula, 1997.

(And director, producer, and editor) Banned in Oklahoma, Hand Truck Productions, 2004.

(And director, producer, actor, editor, and cinematographer) Wit's End, Hand Truck Productions, 2005.

SIDELIGHTS:

Gary Rhodes is an American film producer, documentary maker, and academic. Rhodes received his higher education at the University of Oklahoma and went on to lecture there in film and video studies while producing, writing, and directing films and documentaries of his own. Rhodes later moved to Northern Ireland to lecture in film at Queen's University.

The first book Rhodes published was Lugosi: His Life in Films, on Stage, and in the Hearts of Horror Lovers. Including a foreword by F. Richard Sheffield, the book covers the film career of the Romanian actor, Bela Lugosi. Lugosi, best known for his portrayal of Dracula, is covered in the book by a complete listing of every film he has acted in, as well as any roles in vaudeville, radio, theater, and television. Rhodes also includes an essay discussing the image Lugosi had in the public sphere and rumors about his private life. A guide to collecting merchandise on Lugosi is also included in the contents. Library Journal contributor Rosellen Brewer wondered "if Lugosi's career merits this much attention." Brewer added that she was "skeptical of the need for 300 pages" for a list of unfinished productions, a filmography, bibliography, reviews of his works, and quotations by the actor and about him.

Rhodes edited Horror at the Drive-in: Essays in Popular Americana in 2004. Here Rhodes covers the often-viewed lighthearted drive-in horror movies of the 1950s, arguing that they should be considered to have substance as they were transgressive in theme and did not fit the norm for films of that period. Rhodes also deals with the issue of gender in this genre, covering both varying degrees of masculinity in male roles and the rebellious position of many female characters in breaking the stereotype of following repressive roles. Reynold Humphries, writing in the Journal of Popular Film and Television, described the book as a "handsome, superbly illustrated, and quite fascinating volume." In selecting the essays that make up this book, Humphries noted that, "to Rhodes's credit, he sought out contributions that make the sort of demands on readers that many movies of the period (essentially the 1950s) do indeed make on us as spectators, provided we are ready to go below the surface." As for the issue of gender and politics, Humphries thought that the essays covering this topic "are remarkable in their determination to articulate the aesthetic representation of social relations and the political and ideologi- cal climate of the period." Humphries concluded that the book "is a major contribution to ongoing discussions of gender and politics, rather than gender politics."

Rhodes wrote Bela Lugosi: Dreams and Nightmares with Richard Sheffield. Published in 2007, Rhodes's second book on the actor tells more of the personal side of Lugosi's life and aims to dispel numerous rumors about him and also covers his earlier career in Europe. A contributor to Reference & Research Book News wrote that Rhodes created a "comprehensive" listing of Lugosi's filmography as well as books about the actor. The same contributor noted that the author "corrects the many Hollywood legends around the man born to become" Dracula.

BIOGRAPHICAL AND CRITICAL SOURCES:

PERIODICALS

Film Quarterly, fall, 2002, Anthony A. Williams, review of White Zombie: Anatomy of a Horror Film.

Journal of American Culture, June, 2004, Robert G. Weiner, review of Horror at the Drive-In: Essays in Popular Americana, p. 239.

Journal of Popular Culture, February, 2004, Reynold Humphries, review of Horror at the Drive-In, p. 550.

Journal of Popular Film and Television, fall, 2004, Reynold Humphries, review of Horror at the Drive-In.

Library Journal, March 15, 1997, Rosellen Brewer, review of Lugosi: His Life in Films, on Stage, and in the Hearts of Horror Lovers, p. 65.

Reference & Research Book News, August, 1997, review of Lugosi, p. 150; February, 2002, review of White Zombie, p. 207; May, 2003, review of Horror at the Drive-In, p. 224; February, 2006, review of Docufictions: Essays on the Intersection of Documentary and Fictional Filmmaking; August, 2006, review of Lugosi; May, 2007, review of Bela Lugosi: Dreams and Nightmares.