Easy Riders, Raging Bulls: How the Sex 'n' Drugs 'n' Rock 'n' Roll Generation Saved Hollywood

At the end of the 1960s the Hollywood studio system was collapsing: the audience had aged and the formulas were failing. Young directors filled the gap. Coppola, Scorsese, Altman, Friedkin, Bogdanovich, Hopper and many others were given unusual freedom by the studios and rebuilt American cinema over a decade. Then Jaws and Star Wars arrived, the logic of the box office changed, and the period closed. Kenneth Bowser's documentary adapts Peter Biskind's book of the same name. The narrative covers not only the films but the way of life that made them possible: drugs, divorces, budget overruns and projects sliding out of control. What ended the era was not only the market but its own disorder. Producers, editors and actors of the period speak, including Dede Allen, Peter Bart, Tony Bill and Karen Black. William H. Macy narrates. Who it's for: Anyone interested in 1970s American cinema, studio history, and documentaries adapted from film books. Who it's not for: The telling proceeds like a summary of the book and gives almost no room to women filmmakers. There is little new for viewers who know the period.