Easy Riders, Raging Bulls

Peter Biskind

Editions

Review

This is the story of how the 'new' generation of directors - Spielberg, Scorsese, Altman et al - stormed the Hollywood Bastille in the 1960's, changing irrevocably the way the movie business worked - for better and for worse.  Frankly, it's the worse which really makes the reading of this punchy book so fascinating.  One reviewer said that the book made his jaw drop - it's not hard to see why: the stories of drug-taking, drinking, carousing, script-writing and plain over-acting are really spectacular.  Biskind has also coaxed his many interviewees into indiscretions which make the average Jackie Collins plot (totally unfamiliar to me, of course) seem insipid.  For those who have always envied the lifestyle of the Hollywood crowd, read this and be cured. - review by Dan Fenton