is insanity (if people read his stuff other than Film Art and not mentioned him) and a crime (if people haven't heard of him or his work).

He is in the highest stratosphere (where folks like Bazin are) of thinkers on cinema.

All of his books and writings are essential and always illuminating.

For my money, the blog that he and his wife, Kristin Thompson, write is the best one on film.

I'll rec 2 of his books here; I'll gladly capsulize his other books for anyone interested:

-Film History: An Introduction (Thompson and Bordwell) - textbook
-The Way Hollywood Tells It (Bordwell) - 2 essays

His wife is no joke, either - a fine historian/scholar in her own right. Her upcoming Frodo Franchise book hopefully will get her and Bordwell more readership. Like Bordwell, all her stuff is prime material. Essential.


A DVD, but just as essential as a great film book:
-Visions Of Light: The Art of Cinematography


Other stuff:

(Thompson and Bordwell) - Film Art: An Introduction - Seems to be hated on. I mean, it's a introductory-level textbook and it's an excellent one at that.
(Bazin) - anything
(Ebert)
(Sarris) - Interviews With Film Directors; American Cinema is classic, but more a personalized reference list-guide rather than a study of American movies.
(Rosenbaum) - anything, but Essential Cinema would float lots of people's boats here...good starting points for what to watch
(Bogdanovich) - This Is Orson Welles; Who The Devil Made It; Who The Hell's In It
(Woods) - Rio Bravo


Classics/staples; older stuff:

(Ondaatje) - Conversations: Walter Murch and the Art of Editing Film
(Murch) - In The Blink Of An Eye
(Mankiewicz) - Cinematography
(Bazin) - already mentioned
(Agee) - Agee On Film
(Burch) - Theory Of Film Practice
(Durgnat) - Films And Feelings
(Perkins) - Film As Film
(Farber) - Negative Space - kind of irritating, but a classic
(Woods) - Howard Hawks - already mentioned; Hitchcock's Films; not a fan of his later film theory-tinged works.
(Truffaut) - Hitchcock - already mentioned

"Newer" stuff:

(Tirard) - Moviemakers' Master Class: Private Lessons From The World's Foremost Directors
(Jarecki) - Breaking In: How 20 Film Directors Got Their Start
(Lowenstein) - My First Movie: Twenty Celebrated Directors Talk About Their First film

Faber and Faber's _ On _ (i.e., Herzog On Herzog) series is great stuff.