Author Spotlight

K. Austin Collins

K. Austin Collins is a film critic whose writing has appeared in Rolling Stone and Vanity Fair. He is the author of forthcoming books on American documentary cinema and Black police officers. He lives in Brooklyn, New York.

4 Results
Darkness Visible: Anthony Mann and James Stewart’s Westerns

One of Hollywood’s most beloved actors showed a turbulent, sometimes downright sinister side in his collaborations with director Anthony Mann, which include the classic westerns Winchester ’73 and The Man from Laramie.

By K. Austin Collins

The Signifyin’ Works of Marlon Riggs: Positive Images

The multi-hyphenate artist’s staggering and frequently autobiographical body of work reimagines the depiction of Black people in American culture, encouraging us to question everything we see.

By K. Austin Collins

The Gunfighter: You Can’t Go Home Again

Subverting the archetypes and redemptive tropes of the western, Henry King’s melancholy tale of violence peers into the soul of a legendary gunslinger.

By K. Austin Collins

In the Heat of the Night: The Double Bind

Both a landmark film of the civil rights era and a complicated artifact of white liberalism, Norman Jewison’s Oscar-winning crime drama remains a powerful vision of racial tension and intimacy.

By K. Austin Collins