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Easy Riders, Raging Bulls: How the Sex-Drugs-and-Rock 'N' Roll Generation Saved Hollywood Paperback – April 4, 1999

by Peter Biskind (Author)
4.4 4.4 out of 5 stars 443 ratings
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When the low-budget biker movie Easy Rider shocked Hollywood with its success in 1969, a new Hollywood era was born. This was an age when talented young filmmakers such as Scorsese, Coppola, and Spielberg, along with a new breed of actors, including De Niro, Pacino, and Nicholson, became the powerful figures who would make such modern classics as The Godfather, Chinatown, Taxi Driver, and Jaws. Easy Riders, Raging Bulls follows the wild ride that was Hollywood in the '70s -- an unabashed celebration of sex, drugs, and rock 'n' roll (both onscreen and off) and a climate where innovation and experimentation reigned supreme. Based on hundreds of interviews with the directors themselves, producers, stars, agents, writers, studio executives, spouses, and ex-spouses, this is the full, candid story of Hollywood's last golden age.
MARTIN SCORSESE ON DRUGS: "I did a lot of drugs because I wanted to do a lot, I wanted to push all the way to the very very end, and see if I could die."
DENNIS HOPPER ON EASY RIDER: "The cocaine problem in the United States is really because of me. There was no cocaine before Easy Rider on the street. After Easy Rider, it was everywhere."
GEORGE LUCAS ON STAR WARS: "Popcorn pictures have always ruled. Why do people go see them? Why is the public so stupid? That's not my fault."
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Previous page
  1. Print length
    512 pages
  2. Language
    English
  3. Publication date
    April 4, 1999
  4. Dimensions
    5.5 x 1.2 x 8.44 inches
  5. ISBN-10
    0684857081
  6. ISBN-13
    978-0684857084
  7. See all details
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Editorial Reviews

Review

Mark Harris Entertainment Weekly Peter Biskind's great, scathing, news-packed history...is one hell of an elixir -- salty with flavorsome gossip, sour with the aftertaste of misspent careers, intoxicating with one revelation after another,...an "A."

Dennis Drabelle The Washington Post Book World Biskind's devourable book is that rarity, a Hollywood exposé that you can read mouth agape, slurping up scandal and titillation so fast you're in danger of choking -- without feeling ashamed of yourself.

Brian Gunn San Francisco Chronicle Biskind is a magician at prying revealing yarns and juicy quotes out of his subjects. And the resulting scenarios are deliciously tawdry...moments of real intelligence and grace.

About the Author

Peter Biskind is the author of five previous books, including Easy Riders, Raging Bulls: How the Sex-Drugs-and-Rock ‘n’ Roll Generation Saved Hollywood. He is a contributor to Vanity Fair and was formerly the executive editor of Premiere magazine. He lives with his family in Columbia County, New York.

Product details

  • Publisher ‏ : ‎ Simon & Schuster; Later Printing edition (April 4, 1999)
  • Language ‏ : ‎ English
  • Paperback ‏ : ‎ 512 pages
  • ISBN-10 ‏ : ‎ 0684857081
  • ISBN-13 ‏ : ‎ 978-0684857084
  • Item Weight ‏ : ‎ 1.07 pounds
  • Dimensions ‏ : ‎ 5.5 x 1.2 x 8.44 inches
  • Customer Reviews:
    4.4 4.4 out of 5 stars 443 ratings

About the author

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Peter Biskind

Peter Biskind

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Peter Biskind is the author of five previous books, including Easy Riders, Raging Bulls: How the Sex-Drugs-and-Rock 'n' Roll Generation Saved Hollywood. He is a contributor to Vanity Fair and was formerly the executive editor of Premiere magazine. He lives with his family in Columbia County, New York.

Customer reviews

4.4 out of 5 stars
4.4 out of 5
443 global ratings

Top reviews from the United States

Todd Gold
5.0 out of 5 stars THE BOOK IS GOOD. PERIOD.
Reviewed in the United States on April 30, 2022
Verified Purchase
I was on Audible earlier and saw several bad reviews for this book. I read it upon its publication in 1999 as a 20 year old student in Baton Rouge, Louisiana. I’d been a film buff already since I was a kid, and the stories I read in this book, by turns made my jaw drop, as well as made me laugh till I had tears in my eyes. One reviewer on Audible stated that since a number of filmmakers and actors dismissed the book as having printed outright lies, that the stories should be taken with a grain of salt—Hogwash! It’s far more likely that the people involved are simply embarrassed by their own behavior…To date, since 1999, Peter Biskind hasn’t been sued by ANYONE featured in the book for slander, or defamation of character for his egregious “outright lies.” That’s a very good indication that Biskind wasn’t making stuff up. Not to mention, so many of the stories were told by the actors & filmmakers, themselves. If you have any interest in Film, the ‘60’s, or the ‘70’s, you’ll devour this book. I assure you that the book IS GOOD! Thanks. —todd gold
9 people found this helpful
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J. Remington
4.0 out of 5 stars We blew it Billy
Reviewed in the United States on March 19, 2003
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This appropriately titled expose`places both the praise and blame for the glorious Hollywood renaissance on the brilliant, creative and fearless but ultimately selfish, self absorbed, debauched and decadent 60's generation that burned themselves out before they really could build a lasting empire. To quote Peter Fonda's drug addled psuedo-anti-hero in the beautifully misshapen but stunningly and ironically prophetic "Easy Rider": "We blew it Billy".
Biskind does much to certainly promote the cult of the most overrated generation in history. But he does so by articulating and defending his point in a fast paced entertaining manner. Filling his pages with gleefully geeky tidbits of juicy bad behavior, Biskind edifys his position by balancing praise with vicious criticism. He calls the players all on the carpet and takes them to task for burning out in their own pathetic yet arrogant fires of ego-centric excess while managing to celebrate their true works of ground breaking film art.
Biskind appropriately bookends his journey with the equally self centered and no less destructive Jake LaMotta in Scorsese's brilliant film "Raging Bull". Biskind makes a fascinating point that Wyatt and Jake form a symbollic summation of a decade that could have been.
"Easy Riders and Ragin Bulls" pulls few punches and makes for an excellent summer read for anyone interested in Hollywood History.
11 people found this helpful
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Shelby G. Spires
5.0 out of 5 stars Outstanding history of US film in the late 60s to early 80s
Reviewed in the United States on April 28, 2024
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This book was something of an event circa 1998. It got a buzz roaring about a time - late 1960s into the 1970s - that had long been forgotten and was slipping into TV Land parody.
Some of the Hollywood tales are not tinsel town pretty, but all are interesting.
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David Fulmer
5.0 out of 5 stars Hollywood in the Seventies
Reviewed in the United States on February 15, 2021
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This is a fascinating history of the film industry of the 1970s, often referred to as “New Hollywood.” It focuses on directors like Francis Ford Coppola, Steven Spielberg, Martin Scorsese, and others who introduced the kind of films that appealed to audiences at the time, films about criminals and drugs with anti-authority content. It unfolds chronologically and Peter Biskind quotes extensively from interviews he has conducted with many of the people who were there, telling stories ranging from the technical to the gossipy and everywhere in between about the financing, casting, editing, filming, and distribution of films such as ‘Bonnie and Clyde’, ‘Jaws’, ‘Apocalypse Now’ and ‘The Godfather.’ If you haven’t seen the films described in this book you will want to, if you have it will deepen your understanding of their cultural significance.

The narrative of the book charts the rise of the idea of the director as the author of films, supplanting the influence of studio executives, only to see the position of the director usurped at the end of the decade by the producer when smash hits like ‘Star Wars’ showed just how much money could be made by movies and high production and marketing costs along with product research displaced the influence of the artistry of the filmmakers. This book is an incredible story about film culture, business, and entertainment and every page of it is full of delicious information from a variety of perspectives.
6 people found this helpful
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Brian Gagnon
3.0 out of 5 stars Read If You Dare
Reviewed in the United States on March 3, 2015
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Now, this book does talk about the films of the late 60's-early-80's quite well. It does list examples. It even has good citings done the way all written work should be cited. However, this book left me feeling like the author either didn't like this period of cinematic history or wanted to create a narrative that stated that these well-known filmmakers all tried to make history and change the way Hollywood works but failed miserably, which wasn't exactly the truth. These well-known filmmakers documented in this book didn't go into the business to just try to make history. They did so because it was their dream to do so and their films did change Hollywood. Many of the filmmakers documented went on to have big careers, win Academy Awards, get their films added to the National Film Registry (i.e. American Graffiti, Close Encounters of the Third Kind, Easy Rider, Mean Streets and Raging Bull), and they even inspired multiple "rip-offs" and films that followed in their footsteps. Just keep this in mind even if there's no intention to read this book. Francis Ford Coppola, Roger Ebert and Steven Spielberg sure as hell want you to keep this in mind too.
12 people found this helpful
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Top reviews from other countries

ralph alberts
5.0 out of 5 stars The author writes for Vanity Fair and nobody writes about the movie industry better than Briskind
Reviewed in the United Kingdom on October 27, 2017
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I have read this many times. The author writes for Vanity Fair and nobody writes about the movie industry better than Briskind. The sequel to this forsaw the current Harvey Weinstein scandal by years. Honestly, just buy this as you'll love every page.
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inimitable.heidi
3.0 out of 5 stars The book is fine, but the original information is misleading
Reviewed in the United Kingdom on December 1, 2016
Verified Purchase
The edition posted was not the one I received. The book is fine, but the original information is misleading. As a film studies student it might have been important to receive the right one, but in the end it didn't matter this time. Still, disappointing.
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Mr J E Illingworth
5.0 out of 5 stars Different cover to the one pictured but it's the same ...
Reviewed in the United Kingdom on March 12, 2016
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Different cover to the one pictured but it's the same book. A bit tatty but that's what it said in the description and you can't complain for £0.01. Cheers!
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Henry Huntingford
1.0 out of 5 stars poor description on
Reviewed in the United Kingdom on May 31, 2015
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Only the first chapter, poor description on Amazon
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