false http://photo.goodreads.com/books/1165604673m/6793.jpg 6793 14 Not only is Peter Biskind's <I>Easy Riders, Raging Bulls</I> the best book in recent memory on turn-of-the-'70s film, it is beyond question the best book we'll ever get on the subject. Why? Because once the big names who spilled the beans to Biskind find out that other people spilled an equally piquant quantity of beans, nobody will dare speak to another writer with such candor, humor, and venom again. <br><br> Biskind did hundreds of interviews with people who make the president look accessible: Scorsese, Spielberg, Lucas, Coppola, Geffen, Beatty, Kael, Towne, Altman. He also spoke with countless spurned spouses and burned partners, alleged victims of assault by knife, pistol, and bodily fluids. Rather more responsible than some of his sources, Biskind always carefully notes the denials as well as the astounding stories he has compiled. He tells you about Scorsese running naked down Mulholland Drive after his girlfriend, crying, "Don't leave me!"; grave robbing on the set of <I>Apocalypse Now</I>; Faye Dunaway apparently flinging urine in Roman Polanski's face while filming <I>Chinatown</I>; Michael O'Donoghue's LSD-fueled swan dive onto a patio; Coppola's mad plan for a 10-hour film of Goethe's <I>Elective Affinities</I> in 3-D; the ocean suicide attempt Hal "Captain Wacky" Ashby gave up when he couldn't find a swimsuit that pleased him; countless dalliances with porn stars; Russian roulette games and psychotherapy sessions in hot tubs. But he also soberly gives both sides ample chance to testify. <br><br> <I>Easy Riders, Raging Bulls</I> is also more than a fistful of dazzling anecdotes. Methodically, as thrillingly as a movie attorney, Biskind builds the case that Hollywood was revived by wild ones who then betrayed their own dreams, slit their own throats, and destroyed an art form by producing that mindless, inhuman modern behemoth, the blockbuster. <br><br> When Spielberg was making the first true blockbuster, <I>Jaws</I>, he sneaked Lucas in one day when nobody was around, got him to put his head in the shark's mechanical mouth, and closed the shark's mouth on him. The gizmo broke and got stuck, but the two young men somehow extricated Lucas's head and hightailed it like Tom and Huck. As Peter Biskind's scathing, funny, wise book demonstrates, they only thought they had escaped. <I>--Tim Appelo</I> 1056951 1998 Easy Riders, Raging Bulls: How the Sex-Drugs-and-Rock 'N' Roll Generation Saved Hollywood total:751|5:11|4:9|3:1|2:3|1:1| 751 3020 992 83 1 4 false false Sat Mar 01 00:00:00 -0800 2008 Tue Mar 25 05:54:23 -0700 2008 Tue Mar 25 06:08:17 -0700 2008
"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 w...more...]]> 3 2 false false Tue Oct 23 14:23:04 -0700 2007 Tue Oct 23 14:42:10 -0700 2007 more...]]> 4 1 false false Fri Jun 01 00:00:00 -0700 2007 Sat May 12 17:22:35 -0700 2007 Thu Jun 28 12:55:38 -0700 2007
"...more...]]> 3 1 false false Thu Sep 24 00:00:00 -0700 2009 Sun Sep 27 10:50:50 -0700 2009 Sun Sep 27 11:10:08 -0700 2009 more...]]> 4 0 false false Fri Feb 20 17:49:18 -0800 2009 Fri Feb 20 17:49:18 -0800 2009 Rollicking tableau of all the 70's filmmakers who defined a legacy and created some of the greatest movies of all time: The Godfather, Mean Streets, Apocalypse Now, Being There, Taxi Driver, Star Wars, Easy Rider, Chinatown, Jaws, Bonnie and Clyde, you name it...absolutely fascinating.
...more...]]> 5 0 false false Mon Jul 20 00:00:00 -0700 2009 Mon Jul 20 16:17:01 -0700 2009 Mon Jul 20 16:21:46 -0700 2009 The Godfather, Easy Rider, Apocalypse Now and Raging...more...]]> 4 0 false false Wed Oct 01 00:00:00 -0700 2008 Fri Oct 31 15:22:20 -0700 2008 Fri Oct 31 15:27:33 -0700 2008 That being said, it was also wildly fascinating. In a nutshell, it's about how directors like Scorsese, Coppola, Bogdonavich, Ashby, etc ...more...]]> 4 0 false false Sun Mar 22 00:00:00 -0700 2009 Mon Mar 09 16:27:14 -0700 2009 Sun Mar 22 16:07:17 -0700 2009 more...]]> 3 0 false false Wed Aug 01 00:00:00 -0700 2007 Fri Aug 10 08:49:37 -0700 2007 Fri Aug 10 08:53:02 -0700 2007 more...]]> 5 1 false false Mon Mar 24 19:28:54 -0700 2008 Tue Mar 25 14:39:03 -0700 2008 more...]]> 2 0 false false Wed Jul 09 22:01:15 -0700 2008 Wed Jul 09 22:07:06 -0700 2008 more...]]> 5 0 false false Sun Feb 15 00:00:00 -0800 2009 Fri Jun 19 07:46:48 -0700 2009 Fri Jun 19 07:48:22 -0700 2009 2 0 false false Sun Oct 11 18:54:56 -0700 2009 Sun Oct 11 18:58:06 -0700 2009 5 0 false false Mon Apr 13 20:08:32 -0700 2009 Mon Apr 13 20:12:24 -0700 2009 4 0 false false Thu Feb 05 21:54:47 -0800 2009 Thu Feb 05 21:55:59 -0800 2009 4 1 false false Wed Aug 12 00:00:00 -0700 2009 Fri Jul 31 21:19:22 -0700 2009 Thu Aug 13 20:37:13 -0700 2009 more...]]> 4 0 false false Wed Sep 09 16:01:01 -0700 2009 Wed Sep 09 16:02:56 -0700 2009 5 0 false false Mon Oct 01 00:00:00 -0700 2007 Sat Oct 27 21:27:52 -0700 2007 Mon Oct 29 18:33:17 -0700 2007 more...]]> 5 0 false false Sun Mar 08 15:52:25 -0700 2009 Sun Mar 08 15:53:23 -0700 2009 3 0 false false Sun Nov 01 00:00:00 -0700 2009 Sun Nov 01 12:19:47 -0800 2009 Sun Nov 01 12:22:01 -0800 2009 http://www.goodreads.com/book_link/follow/8?book_id=6793