Easy Riders, Raging Bulls
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| Author | Peter Biskind |
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| Publisher | Simon & Schuster |
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Publication date
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1998 |
| ISBN | 978-0684857084 |
Easy Riders, Raging Bulls: How the Sex-Drugs-and-Rock 'N Roll Generation Saved Hollywood is a book written by Peter Biskind and published by Simon & Schuster in 1998. Easy Riders, Raging Bulls is about the 1970s Hollywood, a stand-alone period of American film which brought about films such as The Godfather, The Godfather Part II, Chinatown, Taxi Driver, Jaws, Star Wars, The Exorcist and The Last Picture Show. The title is taken from films which bookend the era: Easy Rider (1969) and Raging Bull (1980). The book follows Hollywood on the brink of the Vietnam War with a group of Hollywood film directors known as the "movie brats", beginning in the 1960s and ending in the 1980s.
The book was the basis of a 2003 documentary film of the same name directed by Kenneth Bowser and narrated by actor William H. Macy. It was screened out of competition at the 2003 Cannes Film Festival.[1] Rotten Tomatoes gives it a score of 100% based on reviews from 8 critics.[2]
Contents
Profiles and interviews
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Profiled in the book
- Robert Altman
- Hal Ashby
- Luke Askew
- Gerald Ayres
- Warren Beatty
- Peter Bogdanovich
- Francis Ford Coppola
- Brian De Palma
- Robert Evans
- Peter Fonda
- William Friedkin
- Buck Henry
- Dennis Hopper
- Amy Irving
- George Lucas
- Marcia Lucas
- John Milius
- Jack Nicholson
- Polly Platt
- Bob Rafelson
- Bert Schneider
- Leonard Schrader
- Paul Schrader
- Martin Scorsese
- Don Simpson
- Steven Spielberg
- Robert Towne
- Cybill Shepherd
Interviewed in the film
- Dede Allen
- Peter Bart
- Tony Bill
- Karen Black
- Peter Bogdanovich
- Ellen Burstyn
- Roger Corman
- Micky Dolenz
- Richard Dreyfuss
- Peter Fonda
- Carl Gottlieb
- Jerome Hellman
- Monte Hellman
- Dennis Hopper
- Willard Huyck
- Stanley Jaffe
- Henry Jaglom
- Gloria Katz
- Margot Kidder
- Laszlo Kovacs
- Kris Kristofferson
- Mike Medavoy
- Sylvia Miles
- Mardik Martin
- John Milius
- Charles Mulvehill
- David Newman
- Arthur Penn
- Michael Phillips
- David Picker
- Polly Platt
- Albert S. Ruddy
- Jennifer Salt
- Andrew Sarris
- Paul Schrader
- Cybill Shepherd
- Jonathan Taplin
- Joan Tewkesbury
- Fred Weintraub
- Gordon Willis
- Rudy Wurlitzer
- Vilmos Zsigmond
Controversy
Several of the film-makers profiled in the book have criticized Biskind. Robert Altman denounced both the book and Biskind's methods, stating that, "It was hate mail. We were all lured into talking to this guy because people thought he was a straight guy but he was filling a commission from the publisher for a hatchet job. He's the worst kind of human being I know."[3]
Francis Ford Coppola was similarly critical, noting that Biskind only interviewed people who had a negative view on him and caricatured his work and life. Roger Ebert noted that Steven Spielberg told him about Easy Riders, Raging Bulls that, ""Every single word in that book about me is either erroneous, or a lie."[4] Ebert himself notes that, "Biskind has a way of massaging his stories to suit his agenda." Peter Bogdanovich himself was furious, noting that Biskind did not interview him extensively for the book, and regards the entire work as spurious as scholarship.[5]
References
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- ↑ http://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/easy_riders_raging_bulls/
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- ↑ http://www.rogerebert.com/answer-man/tinseltown-author-gets-down-and-dirty-indeed
- ↑ http://moviecitynews.com/2006/02/bogdanovich-epilogue-a-word-about-biskind-and-cher/
