Very interesting in-depth look into the lives of New Hollywood's biggest directors, producers and actors at the time of the movies they were making.

It was very detailed and did a good job of clearly defining what the various personalities were really like and gave an insight into their creative geniuses. He also pulled no punches when it came to revealing the extent of the excesses, depravity, back-stabbing and general skulduggery that went on.

This could have been an amazing book if the author was more focused in his rendering of the actual prose. Instead he meanders in an often tangential manner that can sometimes be a little confusing. His research came mainly from many interviews with various key players, and this comes through in his writing style; rather like if all his recordings had been ripped into 10 minute mp3s and put on "shuffle" on an iPod.

Still, his anecdotal style is an entertaining read and is a must for any movie fans and lovers of this era.

You can say Peter Biskind is being a jerk to the generation of filmmakers who revolutionized Hollywood in the 1970s with this gossipy, mean yet thorough retelling of the rise and crash of "The New Hollywood" or you could argue that this group of boy geniuses pretty much got what they deserved as a group of young artists given too much too fast who lost it and ruined others in the process through their own greed and arrogance. Doesn't mean it couldn't have been a better book (there are times when you sense Biskind lost access to someone and simply stopped telling their story without explanation) but it tells a sad soulful story nonetheless.

Read this in 3-4 sittings.
If you’re into cinema, it’s hard not to be utterly fascinated with the text.
The writing is tight, the characters truly unique.
Names range from Hal Ashby to Polanski, Spielberg to Lucas, Coppola and Nicholson.
Coke, booze and nitro.
Nudity, drugs and in-fighting.
It’s got it all.
Well worth a read.

One of the great books about cinema. Easy Riders Raging Bulls is salacious and gossipy, yet simultaneosuly a brilliant dissection of filmmakers, producers and, crucially, the best American films from the best period of American filmmaking that we have yet seen. Biskind paints devilish pictures of William Friedkin, Francis Coppola, Martin Scorsese and Dennis Hopper, and nerdish portraits of Steven Spielberg and George Lucas; the arrogance of Robert Altman, Bob Rafelson and Peter Bogdanovich is astounding, and Biskind unstrained relish for Warren Beatty is clear for all to see. With the amount drugs, sex and scandal, according to Biskind, swirling around this group of incredible filmmakers it is a wonder we saw any good films at all before they burned out!

But what a set of films we got, the first half of the novel feels like a list of masterpiece after masterpiece, of the likes we are unlikely to see again - The Last Picture Show, Five Easy Pieces, The Last Detail, The Godfather, The Conversation, French Connection, Mean Streets etc etc. And the second half of the novel shows how all these great and talented people blew it. And how we ended up with the 1980s, probably the single worst decade for cinema. Biskind is an engaging writer, with a great eye for rumour and anecdote; and his opinion on individual films is authoriative and informed, making his status as a Hollywood biographer more or less unparalleled.

five stars for how much i enjoyed myself while reading this book about the directors, producers, and actors who made up the New Hollywood movement of the 1970s. i didn’t always agree with Biskind’s critical analysis—especially his pessimism and disdain for all but a few American films made before and after the New Hollywood era. but it was an absolute treat to bounce around in the fascinating lives of these 70s filmmakers (most of whom were hubristic, bitter, broken, abusive, or generally unlikable for some reason or another) and to witness the successes and failures of their careers through countless colorful anecdotes and quotes. if you’re interested in film stuff and don’t mind (or if you even enjoy) reading about a bunch of assholes, i would recommend!

Maybe some day I'll come back to this and write the sumptuous review it deserves. However, right now, I feel a bit like Chinatown screenwriter Robert Towne after he'd written the script for Hal Ashby's and Warren Beatty's Shampoo: I've hit the old writer's-block wall. I took a ton of notes on this, because it had so many good insights and quotes, but it's just not gelling. So rather than go into the ample details of this sweeping and awesome chronicle of 1970s Hollywood, let me simply recommend it, even though it might not mean much to you unless you agree at the outset that the best films of the '70s represent a high-water mark of sophistication, thematic weight, artistic originality, etc., that has generally not been matched in any era since. I agree with that premise, and Biskind does in this book exactly what I wanted of it: to take me behind the scenes to the boardrooms, dens, bungalows, and creative spaces where a ferocious set of passionate people fought each other tooth and nail to get their visions on film -- and how all of those creatives, money men, and production companies tied together. It's a mighty tangled web. Even if everyone's stories contradict one another, I have little problem with this. In the Dream Factory, it's all fantasy. The contractions are indicative of the competitiveness.

You might appreciate this book a lot more if you've seen the following "mainly" '70s "New Hollywood" films, as I have (this does not include all the amazing non-US films which make up the '70s cinema zeitgeist, which are essential, but does include a few Hollywood-adjacent Brit films I couldn't ignore. Yes there are a few flicks from the late '60s and a couple from 1980, as they fall within the movement and the theme of the book):

* I've thrown an asterisk next to some of my personal faves:

Across 110th Street
Agatha
Alambrista!
Alice Doesn't Live Here Anymore
Alice, Sweet Alice
Alien *
All That Jazz
All the President's Men
American Graffiti
American Hot Wax
…And Justice for All
The Anderson Tapes
The Andromeda Strain
Annie Hall *
Apocalypse Now *
Assault on Precinct 13
The Autobiography of Miss Jane Pittman
Avanti
Bad Company
The Bad News Bears
Badlands
The Ballad of Cable Hogue
Bananas
Barry Lyndon -UK/US *
The Beguiled
Being There *
Best Boy
Beyond the Valley of the Dolls
The Big Fix
Billy Jack
Black Caesar
The Black Stallion
Black Sunday
Blazing Saddles
Blue Collar *
Blume in Love
Bob and Carol and Ted and Alice
Bonnie and Clyde
Bound for Glory *
Boxcar Bertha
A Boy and His Dog
The Boys in the Band
Breaking Away
Brewster McCloud
Bring Me the Head of Alfredo Garcia *
Brothers
Buck and the Preacher
Butley - UK
Cabaret
California Split *
The Candidate
Cannonball
Carnal Knowledge *
Carrie
Catch-22
Charley Varrick *
The Cheap Detective
Chilly Scenes of Winter
China 9, Liberty 37
The China Syndrome
Chinatown *
Cinderella Liberty
Cisco Pike
Citizens Band, aka., Hande With Care
Claudine
A Clockwork Orange *
Close Encounters of the Third Kind
Cockfighter
Coffy
Colossus: The Forbin Project
Coma
Comes a Horseman
Coming Home
Convoy
Cooley High
Cops and Robbers
Conrack
The Conversation
Cotton Comes to Harlem
The Cowboys
Cross of Iron *
Dark Star
Dawn of the Dead *
A Day in the Death of Joe Egg -UK
Day of the Jackal -UK
The Day of the Locust *
Days of Heaven
Death Wish
The Deep
The Deer Hunter
A Delicate Balance
Deliverance *
Desperate Characters
Desperate Living
Diary of a Mad Housewife *
Dillinger *
Dirty Harry
Dog Day Afternoon *
Dollars
Duel *
The Duellists
The Driver *
Easy Rider
Eadweard Muybridge, Zoopraxographer *
Edie in Ciao Manhattan, aka Ciao Manhattan
Electra Glide in Blue
The Electric Horseman
Emperor of the North
End of the Road
Enter the Dragon
Eraserhead
Escape from Alcatraz
Essene
Everything You Always Wanted to Know About Sex
Executive Action
The Exorcist
Exorcist II, The Heretic
Faces
Farewell, My Lovely
Fat City *
Fear On Trial
Fiddler on the Roof
Fingers *
FIST
Five Easy Pieces *
Foul Play
Frank Film *
French Connection
The Friends of Eddie Coyle *
The Front
The Fury
Gal Young ‘Un
The Gambler
Gates of Heaven *
The Gauntlet
Get Carter - UK
The Getaway
Getting Straight
Gimme Shelter
The Girl Most Likely To...
Girlfriends
Go Tell the Spartans
Godfather
Godfather II
Going in Style
Gone in 60 Seconds
The Goodbye Girl
The Graduate
Grease
Greaser's Palace *
The Great Northfield Minnesota Raid
The Great Santini
The Great Train Robbery
Grey Gardens
The Grissom Gang
Hair
Halloween
Happy Birthday Wanda June
Hard Times
Hardcore *
Harlan County USA *
Harold and Maude *
Harry and Tonto
Harry in Your Pocket
The Heartbreak Kid
Heartland *
Hearts and Minds *
Hearts of the West
Heaven Can Wait
Heaven's Gate
Heavy Traffic *
Helter Skelter
Hester Street
Hi, Mom
High Anxiety
The Hired Hand
The Hospital
The Hot Rock
House Calls
Husbands
Hustle
I Never Sang For My Father
The Iceman Cometh
Images *
The In-Laws
Interiors
Invasion of the Body Snatchers
Jaws
Jeremiah Johnson
Jesus Christ Superstar
Joe
Johnny Got His Gun
Julia
Junior Bonner *
J. W. Coop
Killer of Sheep
The Killing of a Chinese Bookie *
King of Marvin Gardens
Klute *
Kramer vs. Kramer
Lady Sings the Blues
The Landlord *
Last Chants for a Slow Dance
The Last Detail *
Last House on the Left
The Last Movie
The Last Picture Show
Last Tango in Paris
The Last Tycoon
The Last Waltz
The Late Show
The Laughing Policeman
Law and Disorder
Lenny
The Lickerish Quartet
Life and Times of Judge Roy Bean
Little Big Man
Little Murders *
A Little Romance
Local Color
The Long Goodbye *
The Longest Yard
Looking for Mr. Goodbar
Love and Death *
Lovers and Other Strangers
Loving
Magic
The Magic Garden of Stanley Sweetheart
A Man Called Horse
The Man Who Would Be King
Manhattan
Marathon Man
MASH
McCabe and Mrs. Miller *
Mean Streets *
Meat
Midnight Cowboy
Midnight Express
Mikey and Nicky *
Milestones
Millhouse: A White Comedy
Minnie and Moskowitz
The Missiles of October
The Molly Maguires
Multiple Maniacs *
The Muppet Movie
Nashville
National Lampoon's Animal House
Network
A New Leaf
Nickelodeon
Night Moves
Norma Rae
North Dallas Forty
Northern Lights
Obsession
Old Boyfriends
The Omega Man *
The Omen
One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest
The Onion Field
Opening Night
The Other Side of the Wind
The Out-of-Towners
The Outlaw Josey Wales
Over the Edge
Paper Moon
Papillon
The Parallax View
Pat Garrett and Billy the Kid *
Patton
Payday *
Phantom of the Paradise
Pink Flamingos
The Plot Against Harry
The Poseidon Adventure
Pretty Baby
Prime Cut
The Prisoner of Second Avenue
The Projectionist
Pumping Iron
Quintet
Rancho Deluxe *
Real Life
Rock 'n' Roll High School
Rocky
Rollerball
Rolling Thunder
Roseland
Rosemary's Baby
A Safe Place
Saint Jack *
Same Time Next Year
Saturday Night Fever
Save the Tiger
Scarecrow
The Scenic Route
See No Evil
Semi-Tough
The Sentinel
Serpico
The Seven-Per-Cent Solution
The Seven-Ups
Shaft
Shampoo *
The Shootist
Short Eyes *
Silent Movie
The Silent Partner *
Silent Running
Sisters
Silver Streak
Slap Shot
Slaughterhouse-Five
Sleeper
Sleuth
Smile
Smoky and the Bandit
Soldier Blue
Sometimes a Great Notion
Sorcerer *
Sounder
Soylent Green
Star Wars
Stay Hungry *
The Stepford Wives
Stevie - UK
The Sting
Straight Time
Straw Dogs
The Strawberry Statement
Such Good Friends
The Sugarland Express *
Summer of ’42
Summer Wishes, Winter Dreams
Superfly *
Superman
Sweet Sweetback's Baadasssss Song
The Switchblade Sisters *
The Taking of Pelham One Two Three *
Taking Off
Taxi Driver
Tell Me That You Love Me, Junie Moon
The Tenant - not US, but can't leave it out *
Texas Chainsaw Massacre
That's Entertainment I and II
Theatre of Blood
They Might Be Giants
They Shoot Horses Don't They? *
Thieves Like Us *
Three Days of the Condor
The Three Musketeers, and, The Four Musketeers -US/UK co-prod.
Three Women *
Thunderbolt and Lightfoot *
THX 1138
Tomorrow
A Touch of Class
Trash *
Tropic of Cancer
The Turning Point
The Twelve Chairs
200 Motels
Two-Lane Blacktop
Ulzana's Raid
Underground
An Unmarried Woman
Vanishing Point *
Walking Tall
Wanda
The Wanderers
The Warriors *
Watership Down
A Wedding *
Welfare
Westworld
What's Up Doc?
Where the Lilies Bloom
Who’ll Stop the Rain
The Whole Shootin' Match
The Wild Bunch *
Wild Rovers
Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory
The Wind and the Lion
Winter Kills
Wintersoldier *
Wise Blood *
A Woman Under the Influence
Woodstock
The Yakuza
Young Frankenstein
Zardoz - UK

FYI, I'm not a fan of some of these, but can get behind about 99 percent of them.
You are free to pilfer this list in your efforts at cinematic completion.

KR@KY 2021

This is the wild and dishy story of what happened when the '60s and '70s counterculture briefly seized Hollywood and made some of the most continuously enduring and influential films. I'm a fan of this era of cinema, and "Easy Rider" is easily in my top 5 of all time.

However intriguing as the stories may be, they are not, for the most part, pleasant. The darkness bubbling behind the veneer of the era, as well as the regressive, sexist attitudes that were still prevalent, made the creation of these films very unpleasant for anyone who was not a wealthy and powerful man--and sometimes, even if they were. It won't affect my love of the movie, but it was a bummer to learn about how ugly the production of "Easy Rider" was, specifically Hopper tormenting Fonda and basically everyone else on-set. A lot of beloved movies (and other media) have unfortunate backstories, which brings us back to the arguments made in a more recent book, Burn It Down: Power, Complicity, and a Call for Change in Hollywood .

There's a lotta cocaine in this book (I didn't put in there).

A fascinating story providing an abundance of detail and behind the scenes insights around a historical time in the American film industry. Having graduated from high school in 1969 there were a lot of movie memories stirred.
The problem I have is the re-telling - to use a term from the period - was so helter-skelter it was challenging to keep the myriad of characters straight. Seems if this book was to move up to a 4th or 5th star some help from an editor would have gone a long way.
Bottom line it’s worth reading as it provides so much more detail about what was behind this period of genius and disruption. A little re-organization to make the story less work to follow would have gone a long way.

Never meet your heroes, that's what they say. The cinematic legends of the 70's are here unmasked as mere men, as privileged boys with deep emotional problems. This book serves as a great road map of 'what not to do'

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.

Sort of an overrated genre, but it was interesting reading about Rafelson and Schneider. Also, plenty of good anecdotes about the interactions of all the others in the New Hollywood. Could have gone into more detail about Beatty and Fonda. It didn't even mention Lilith, for example.