Kaminsky argues that at the heart of Huston's films is a macho world of ill fated groups on a quest (1941s The Maltese Falcon, 1949s We Are Strangers 1951s The Red Badge of Courage, 1956s Moby Dick, 1958s Roots of Heaven, and 1960s The Misfits, to choose a few of may examples). Huston's characters, Kaminsky suggests are potential losers who inhabit a hostile world be they ignorant, pathetic, arrogant, intelligent, lacking self-understanding, or having self-understanding. His heroes are generally men who sacrifice everything for self-understanding, independence, and, especially for those who retain their dignity in the face of defeat or disaster. In terms of mise-en-scène Kaminsky notes Huston's penchant for putting characters in the foreground of his fame. Finally, Kaminsky notes Huston's experiments with colour in films like Moulon Rouge (1953), with its Toulouse-Laurtrec like colours, Moby Dick (1956) with its 19th century whaling print effect, A Walk With Love and Death (1969), with its mediaeval tapestry like textures, and Fat City (1972), with its faded colours a reflection of its world of faded fighters.
Some might be concerned with the fact that Kaminsky's book was published before Huston directed eight further films including Wise Blood (1979) and Under the Volcano (1984). The themes Kaminsky finds in Huston's films up to 1975, however, seem to be present in Huston's later films as well. Others might be taken a bit aback by the sometime chattiness of Kaminsky's use of interview and memoir material to flesh out his analysis of Huston's films and his suggestion that at least some of Huston's films are grounded in Huston's biography. Recommended.
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