With dollar signs in their eyes, Hollywood producers closed ranks on the movie makers, restricted their talents, and ultimately made them unwitting victims of their own successes. The sting in the tail came with the production of “blockbuster” movies such as JAWS, and demands from studios for more of the same. Drug use, relationship problems, soaring egos and a growing sense of competition between the formerly tight-knit community saw the decade come to an unfortunate end. Naturally there was a downside to the inexorable rise of such talented artists, and EASY RIDERS RAGING BULLS doesn’t shirk from highlighting the scandals and tragedies that often beset the industry. A golden era for American film had begun. With a Hollywood system offering unprecedented freedom to writers and directors, some highly individual and influential works from future main players such as Martin Scorsese, Francis Ford Coppola, George Lucas, and Steven Spielberg were produced. After the critical and commercial success of the exhaustive tome, it seemed only natural to transfer his fascinating tales to the screen, and the Trio channel duly obliged in 2003. Inspired by comments from moviemaking luminaries such as Martin Scorsese and Paul Schrader, former Premiere Magazine editor Peter Biskind set about chronicling the work of 1970s filmmakers in his 1999 book EASY RIDERS, RAGING BULLS. This entry was posted in Don Schwartz Spotlight on Documentaries by Don Schwartz.
I then went to eBay and found plenty of ‘em. I went to the website of the film’s distributor, SHOUT! Factory, but couldn’t find the film for purchase. At the end of it’s almost two-hour running time I thought to myself, ‘I wish this were a four hour movie.’ I then grabbed the DVD case to review credits and notes, and discovered a second disc of another hour and forty minutes of interviews. So, it’s no surprise that I had a great time watching Bowser’s film. I can’t get enough films about films, about movie making, and movie history. I was mystified by a lack of references in the film to Stanley Kubrick. Macy, the story is told with film clips, archival clips and photographs, and interviews with Cybil Shepherd, Dennis Hopper, Paul Shrader, Ellen Burstyn, John Milius, Polly Platt, Margot Kidder, William Friedkin, Peter Bogdanovitch, Kris Kristofferson, and several others. Written and directed by Kenneth Bowser, Easy Riders / Raging Bulls: How the Sex, Drugs and Rock ‘n’ Roll Generation Saved Hollywood outlines Hollywood’s final transition from a studio-driven industry to a director-driven industry, and then to the mega-corporate industry it is now, dominated by what are called ‘Big Budget B-Movies.’īased on Peter Biskind’s book of the same name, the film roughly covers the time period from the late 50s to the mid-80s.
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