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Easy Riders, Raging Bulls by Kenneth Bowser
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DVD Cover InformationActor: Dede Allen, Karen Black, Peter Bart, Peter Bogdanovich, Tony Bill Director: Kenneth Bowser Producer: Kenneth Bowser Writer: Kenneth Bowser Producer: Andrew Cohen Producer: Joe Cilibrasi Producer: Josh Braun Producer: Rachel Talbot Writer: Peter Biskind DVD: Region Code 1 Audio: English (Original Language), Dolby Digital 2.0 Stereo Format: Color, DVD-Video, Full Screen, NTSC Picture Format: 1.78:1 Running Time: 119 minutes DVD Release Date: 2004-05-11 Audience Rating: NR (Not Rated) Studio: Shout Factory Theatr
Movie Reviews of Easy Riders, Raging BullsMovie Review: How the Sex, Drugs & Rock n' Roll Generation nearly killed Hollywood... Summary: 4 StarsAs a glorification, and explanation, of the wonderful 70's Hollywood industry, it's a great little documentary. Plenty of clips from films, interviews with major players, and a decent time line of the indies that left some indelible cultural marks on the country. Sadly the people glorifying this era don't quite understand that almost ALL these efforts were merely the decaying underflesh of an industry abandoned to delinquents bent on an experimental rampage.
Anyone remember the early seventies films? The companies? Movies were crashing hard and fast, few between made a splash, and what we now know as a blockbuster didn't exist. MGM was rolling up the awning and selling off the red carpet due to the absolutely paltry turn out of money making films. And why was that? Films were lame most of the time. The memorable films of that era generally apply to those who lived through the time with fond memories or juvenile hipsters today.
Q: But what DID save the movie industry? A: STAR WARS.
Though films like Godfather, Annie Hall, and Chinatown were well visited, they didn't make the industry over and revive a business from near collapse. Jaws was the first sign of a true block buster, but was really just a well made horror film. Star Wars, though, was a family entertainment using every bit of design and technology available to put a fresh spin of archetypal classic story. And what a success it was. Despite the film industry not recognizing the reasons of success of that film for years to come, it began a flood of revitalizing public interest in Hollywood due to the upbeat entertainment being the remedy for the awful hell hole the 70's was.
Nerds saved Hollywood. And you can hear the anger and resentment in one celebrity on this documentary as she describes how disturbing it was for her that these two geeks succeeded where the 'cool people' who deserved success weren't recognized.
A great window into the excesses of a generation brought to life in low budget, generally wide release film of the time. And if you are smart enough this is a primer on the arrogance and stupidity of cliques within the Hollywood film community bent on self gratification rather then international escapist product.
Summary of Easy Riders, Raging BullsThis 2-DVD set is Kenneth Bowser's BBC-produced documentary of Peter Biskind's controversial, best-selling book. It chronicles the evolution of a new breed of filmmaker who, in the late '60s and '70s, exploded old Hollywood, in the process redefining the very nature of movies. The results were edgy, impressionistic pictures-The Godfather, Easy Rider, Mean Streets, Midnight Cowboy, Rosemary's Baby, Taxi Driver-by maverick, now-legendary directors: Scorsese, Coppola, Lucas, Altman, Polanski, Peckinpah. In bringing the celebrated book to the screen, director Bowser employed some adventurous filmmaking of his own. Narrated by William H. Macy, Easy Riders, Raging Bulls features vintage clips of the directors who defined the movement; original interviews with such directors as Arthur Penn and John Milius, actors such as Peter Fonda and Richard Dreyfus and more. . Over 1.5 additional hours of deleted and extended footage. . Narrated by critically acclaimed actor William H. Macy. . Features vintage clips of Francis Ford Coppola, Martin Scorsese, Warren Beatty, George Lucas, Sam Peckinpah, Roman Polanski, and others. . Bonus disc offers "mini-docs" featuring Dennis Hopper, Richard Dreyfuss, Ellen Burstyn, Cybil Shepherd, Peter Bogdanovich, Paul Schrader, John Milius, Peter Bart and others. . Official Selection of Festival de Cannes 2003 and Deauville 2003 Festival du Cinema American. This BBC production is a companion to Peter Biskind's 1998 book by the same name, an excellent dish on the 1970s American movie scene. It roughly follows the same path, tracing how maverick filmmakers revitalized Hollywood, from Dennis Hopper's Easy Rider to the triumphant quartet of Coppola/Lucas/Spielberg/Scorsese. Any fan will want to listen in as nearly 50 actors and artists remember the day. However, the star meter is on low wattage, with today's most successful directors only talked about, and seen in often bemusingly vintage clips. The better-produced, higher-star-wattage A Decade Under the Influence covers much of the same ground. An on-screen Biskind would have helped matters, but he is nowhere to be seen. Yet there are moments from the book that come to life, be it grainy home movies from Jennifer Salt and Margot Kidder's notorious beach house or Roman Polanski's emotional press conference after the murder of his wife Sharon Tate. The DVD boasts a second disc of extended interviews on numerous subjects, many of which were not covered in the 119-minute film. --Doug Thomas
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