Easy Riders, Raging Bulls: How the Sex-Drugs-and-Rock 'N' Roll Generation Saved Hollywood
by Peter Biskind
|
|
Sign in to Goodreads to see your friends' reviews of Easy Riders, Raging Bulls: How the Sex-Drugs-and-Rock 'N' Roll Generation Saved Hollywood.
discuss this book
friend reviews (0)
To see what your friends thought of this book, please sign up.
lists with this book
This book is not in any lists. Go add it to a list.
other reviews (showing 1-20 of 525)
Read in March, 2008
recommends it for:
gossip hounds
Here's where I gave up, where the tasty gossip turned from alluring to absurd:
"Timothy Bottoms, a rising young star who would years after distinguish himself by peeing on Dino DeLaurentiis's shoes during the production of 'Hurricane,' had a crush on Cybill, and couldn't understand why Peter, who already had a wife and children, was hitting on her. They fought throughout the production, and eventually, Bottoms got his revenge: he gave Cybill a novel by Henry James called 'Daisy Miller.'...more
"Timothy Bottoms, a rising young star who would years after distinguish himself by peeing on Dino DeLaurentiis's shoes during the production of 'Hurricane,' had a crush on Cybill, and couldn't understand why Peter, who already had a wife and children, was hitting on her. They fought throughout the production, and eventually, Bottoms got his revenge: he gave Cybill a novel by Henry James called 'Daisy Miller.'...more
Like this review?
yes
(3 people liked it)
11 comments
recommends it for:
anyone wondering what it was like when Hollywood made good movies
This book is alternately fabulous and frustrating. In the fabulous column, Biskind is to be commended for his incredibly thorough research. How he got an interview with producer Bert Schneider is beyond my comprehension -- the guy is a total recluse, and one of the most fascinating figures in Hollywood history. I love the way he puts across the story-telling abilities of his interviewees...instead of distilling the information in cold, analytical prose, he lets everybody from Bruce Dern to Warre...more
Like this review?
yes
(1 person liked it)
5 comments
Read in August, 2007
The book covers the emergence of the New Hollywood of Rafelson et al. rising from the ashes of Old Hollywood – we follow the arc to and through the peak of excess to the inevitable descent and replacement of the "auteur" in favor of the tried and false, the big budget bubble gum buffoonery of the studio. A fun, gossipy, indulgent read – would entertain anyone who enjoys the moviemakers who established themselves in the seventies: Scorsese, Coppola, Altman, Ashby, Friedkin, De Palma...more
Like this review?
yes
add a comment
recommended to Jake by:
Adam, sort of.
I stole this from a buddies bookshelf for a read on a plane ride back home. I think it might be a college textbook, but I'm not all that sure. Ir-regardless, it is an excellent account of the film industry revolution during the 60's and 70's. It focuses more on the directors and not the actors, which is good because most of the decent directors of that time were completely out of their minds. I find that I use this book ( yeah, I kept it) as a source of reference up to several times a week and h...more
Like this review?
yes
add a comment
Read in June, 2007
recommends it for:
cineaphiles
Fantastic portrait of the best dozen years of American film and the insane circumstances which created them. Essential reading for any aspiring film dork. One part cultural anthropology, one part film criticism, one part gossip rag. Sample Dennis Hopper shenanigans (in the early 80s):
"Still convinced the mob was on his tail, he pulled a 'geographic,' ending up in L.A. shooting coke and heroin, and then on to Mexico, where he had an acting gig. Suffering from DTs and hallucinations, he s...more
"Still convinced the mob was on his tail, he pulled a 'geographic,' ending up in L.A. shooting coke and heroin, and then on to Mexico, where he had an acting gig. Suffering from DTs and hallucinations, he s...more
Like this review?
yes
add a comment
Read in October, 2007
Fascinating look at the movie culture in the '70's. And the many players' downfalls would be more of a tragedy if they hadn't all been such monumental dicks. The behavior of the likes of Bogdanovich, Friedkin, and particularly Coppola to their loved ones negates any goodwill they could have mustered from their movies. In fact, after reading this, I'm surprised any movies got made at all. The story of "Easy Rider"'s production was like reading a horror story. Also gave a great glim...more
Like this review?
yes
add a comment
Read in November, 2006
recommends it for:
Whitney
This is a really good book that chronicles what was going on in Hollywood in the 1970s. There are a lot of funny stories and really interesting interviews with a lot of important Hollywood filmmakers and movie stars. Learn about Peter Bogdanovich's sexual practices and how Dennis Hopper's heavy drug use led to the creation of a staple of American film. Ever wonder how the bridge scene in "Sorcerer" was created? This book can fill you in. Have you wished that George Lucas' head wou...more
Like this review?
yes
add a comment
I enjoyed this book immensely, most likely because it covers my favorite period of movies -- from the late '60s up to the very early '80s -- and many of the best film directors out there. It was great to read details I'd never known about huge movies, e.g. how Spielberg was totally distraught over Jaws, because the shark looked ridiculous, and how his editor basically saved the movie (by cutting it so that the terror was implied by just seeing parts of the shark) and his reputation as a filmmake...more
Like this review?
yes
add a comment
Read in August, 2007
recommends it for:
people interested in 70's cinema/gossip
This book was poorly written, to say the least. It pretty much read like a teen scream gossip rag. Biskind doesn't even feel obligated to use complete sentences. I felt guilty reading it, like I was investing too much time in something not worthy of it. That being said, I was pretty into the book otherwise. I learned a lot of really fascinating gossip about some of my favorite American directors and the Dennis Hopper stories were off the hook. Overall, I'm glad I read all 430 pages of this.
Like this review?
yes
add a comment
Read in December, 2006
This book reads like an extended tabloid of the Hollywood scene. It gives you first and second-hand accounts of the lives of major film stars like Steven Speilberg, George Lucas, Francis Ford Coppola, Warren Beatty, and others. From failed movies to failed marriages, smash hit movies to smashing orgies, slanderous accusations to sly innuendos, this book is filled with juicy cheap thrills. Easy to read, hard to put down.
Like this review?
yes
add a comment
An overview of film in the 70's, this book takes you through the turbulence of the decade as seen through the eyes of New Hollywood, and discusses the rise of the auteur in modern American film. OK, that sounds really boring, but in fact it's fascinating and the text is mostly first-hand stories and recollections of that time by those who were there, in all their genius and stupidity.
Like this review?
yes
add a comment
Read in March, 2008
This is more what I was hoping for out of "Down & Dirty Pictures," Biskind's book about indie film in the '80s/'90s -- all the dirt, but also enough substantive discussions about technique & theory to really explain the range of tropes and artistic habits of New Hollywood filmmakers. Plus, he's great at conveying the humanity of the directors/writers/insiders/cokeheads.
Like this review?
yes
add a comment
Read in January, 2005
Una obra magna que saca todos los intríngulis y trapos sucios de Hollywood en los años setenta y relata la ascensión al éxito de la cuadrilla de iluminados barbudos que formaban George Lucas, Steven Spielberg, Francis Ford Coppola y otros ilustres de la llamada nueva generación. En España se titula Moteros tranquilos, toros salvajes. Enorme
Like this review?
yes
add a comment
Read in July, 2008
recommended to Jaimie by:
film teacher
My first book about film - and because of it, it will certainly not be my last! If you have interest in movies of the 60's and 70's - Read! If you have interest in the culture of the 60's and 70's - Read! Love the author and the quotes and stories he shares with the reader - this guy can dig up dirt on a priest...well maybe that wasnt such a good analogy...
Like this review?
yes
add a comment
Read in January, 2000
recommends it for:
people who like films but LOVE tales of smut! drugs! excess! rampant egomania!
The stories behind the making of Easy Rider and Apocalypse Now are much more exciting than the actual films. My favourite bit is that when Easy Rider went into post-production, they gave Dennis Hopper some footage to play around with, but it was just silly footage to keep him busy while they finished the actual film. He was working on it for weeks.
Like this review?
yes
add a comment
recommends it for:
Folks with an interest in film
What a great read. Although I am not an afficianado of the 70's "auteur" genre of films, I enjoyed this book from the perspective of seeing how films used to get made during that time, the back story on many of these very famous flicks, as well as much People Magazine- style gossipy dirt on the famous directors, producers and actors of the day.
Like this review?
yes
add a comment
Read in December, 2007
Great read for film buffs, especially those who are fans of the 70s era. There's loads in here on Scorsese, Spielberg, Friedkin, Bogdonovich, Warren Beatty, Hal Ashby, etc. A fabulous, compulsive mix of gossip, industry talk, behind-the-scenes looks at movies. Mostly, it made me want to go watch everything I read about.
Like this review?
yes
add a comment
Read in May, 2007
I read this while I spent a week in the hospital. I feel like I have advanced into an older generation as this books spells out what was happening in the 70's a decade I missed completely. I need to go back and reread passages so I can recite them at social functions.
Like this review?
yes
add a comment
Delightful and well written book for the movie history and movie/history fan. Unlike other books in this genre it leaves the heavy handed approach behind and peppers its thoughtful critical analysis with gossip about the lascivious goings on in 1960s Hollywood.
Like this review?
yes
add a comment
Read in April, 2004
a little pulpy (check out the passage where coppola rages about his mistress while mic'ed to the entire set - with his wife there!), but still an interesting take on how revolutions and counter-culture get re-appropriated and sanitized by the mainstream.
Like this review?
yes
add a comment
