The Manson Family on Film and Television

For half a century the Manson Family has captured the public imagination—the lurid, inexplicable violence in a glamorous Hollywood setting, the bizarre and lengthy trials, and Charles Manson’s strange charisma and willingness to embrace the role of evil icon.
For years, the story has been documented, dramatized and lampooned in dozens of films and television programs. This comprehensive study examines the various on-screen portrayals, from factual accounts based on prosecutor Vincent Bugliosi’s true crime classic Helter Skelter to prime-time TV dramas to a claymation spoof and even hardcore porn.

Ian Cooper is an author and screenwriter living in Neuss, Germany.

Ian Cooper
Format: softcover (6 x 9)
Pages: 213
Bibliographic Info: 74 photos, notes, bibliography, index
Copyright Date: 2018
pISBN: 978-1-4766-7043-0
eISBN: 978-1-4766-3380-0
Imprint: McFarland

Introduction: People Say I’m No Good 1

1. Home Is Where You’re Happy: Exploitation, Revolution and Troy Donahue 15

2. Coming Down Fast: Manson and Helter Skelter 41

3. Something Witchy: Manson and the Horror Film 55

4. Don’t Do Anything Illegal: Law and Order, Pigs and Freaks 111

5. Get On Home: 21st-Century Family 159

Conclusion: Always Is Always Forever 189

Notes 193

Bibliography 195

Index 203

• “Exhaustive coverage…. From Kenneth Anger to Diane Sawyer, from animation to pornography, no cinematic piggy appears to have escaped Cooper’s probing pen.”—Flick Attack
• “A comprehensive study that is both interest stirring and thought provoking”—Journal of Popular Film and Television