Easy Riders Raging Bulls : How the Sex-Drugs-And Rock 'N Roll Generation Saved Hollywood

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Summary: Like a supermarket tabloid newspaper come to life....
Review: Whether it be scathing or scandalous, Peter Biskind's book is a definitive chronocling of the wild 70's decade, when the importance of the blockbuster finally hit an all time high, and cinema was undergoing a new kind of creativity. Beginning with the culture breaking "Easy Riders" and the power destroying "Heaven's Gate", "Easy Riders, Raging Bulls" is a book that documents the sex, drugs, and rock n roll generation under the guise of such famous directors as Spielberg, Coppola, Lucas, and Altman amongst the likes of screenwriters and movie stars equally among them. From William Friedken's notoriously bad temper to Peter Bogdanovich's ego defining quote, "Easy Riders, Raging Bulls" is a look at the Watergate era in the midst of Hollywood handing over the power to it's star directors. Interviewing executives, crew members, writers, actors, call girls, scorned spouses, and the subjects themselves, Biskind's book is something of pure kitsch non-fiction, that will leave you reading from beginning to end. Very much an interesting read that portrays those behind the Hollywood dream machine, like the characters in their own films for the world to see, but with fair treatment by Biskind who gets testimonies from all sides.

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Summary: Gossipy look at 70's Hollywood
Review: While Easy Riders/Raging Bulls is a very interesting book, and does tend to keep you turning the next page, it may not appeal to everyone. Someone looking for an in-depth analysis of the film industry in the 70`s may be a little disappointed. Biskind`s main point is that a new group of directors temporarily destroyed, or at least disrupted, the Hollywood studio system of the previous decades, and were able to make a handful of classic movies in the process. They then basically handed the power back to the studios in the 80`s due to overblown egos and budgets to match. There does tend to be a lot of gossip-like material in it and the detail sometimes verges on lurid.. So, if you want to know the various girlfriends of some director, look no further. A little more technical information here and there might have been nice to sate the film student readership. However, that`s not what this book is about. It really is a good indication of the atmosphere of Hollywood in the 70`s and does show up some of these big names to be quite un-likeable characters. And that is quite an understatement. You may find yourself never wanting to watch some of these directors' movies again, based only on their personalities.