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 filmmakers such as Scorcese, Coppola, and Spielberg, along with a new breed of actors, including DeNiro, Pacino, and Nicholson, became the powerful figures who would make such modern classics as THE GODFATHER, CHINATOWN, TAXI DRIVER, and JAWS, Easy Rider, Raging Bulls follows the wild ride that was Hollywood in the 70’s – an unabashed celebration of sex, drugs and rock ‘n’ roll (both on screen and off) and a climate where innovation and experimentation reigned supreme.

"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.'" --Mark Harris, Entertainment Weekly...

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 filmmakers such as Scorcese, Coppola, and Spielberg, along with a new breed of actors, including DeNiro, Pacino, and Nicholson, became the powerful figures who would make such modern classics as THE GODFATHER, CHINATOWN, TAXI DRIVER, and JAWS, Easy Rider, Raging Bulls follows the wild ride that was Hollywood in the 70’s – an unabashed celebration of sex, drugs and rock ‘n’ roll (both on screen and off) and a climate where innovation and experimentation reigned supreme.

"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.'" --Mark Harris, Entertainment Weekly...

In this compulsively readable and constantly surprising book, Peter Biskind, the author of the film classics Easy Riders, Raging Bulls and Down and Dirty Pictures, writes the most intimate, revealing, and balanced biography ever of Hollywood legend Warren Beatty.

Famously a playboy, Beatty has also been one of the most ambitious and successful stars in Hollywood. Several Beatty films have passed the test of time, from Bonnie and Clyde (which confirmed for him the importance of controlling the projects he was involved in) to Shampoo, Heaven Can Wait, Reds (for which he won the best director Oscar), Bugsy, and Bulworth. Few filmgoers realize that along with Orson Welles, Beatty is the only person ever nominated for four Academy Awards for a single film -- and unlike Welles, Beatty did it twice, with Heaven Can Wait and Reds. Biskind shows how Beatty used star power, commercial success, savvy, and charm to bend Hollywood moguls to his will, establishing an unprecedented level of independence while still working within the studio system.

Beatty's private life has been the subject of gossip for decades, and Star confirms his status as Hollywood's leading man in the bedroom, describing his affairs with Joan Collins, Natalie Wood, Leslie Caron, Julie Christie, Michelle Phillips, Diane Keaton, and Madonna, among many others.

Throughout his career, Beatty has demonstrated a fascination for politics. He was influential in the 1984 and 1988 presidential campaigns of Gary Hart. It was said of Hart and Beatty that each wanted to be the other, and Biskind shows that there was considerable truth in that wry observation. As recently as a few years ago, Beatty was speaking out about California politics and contemplating a run for governor.

Biskind explains how Beatty exercised unique control, often hiring screenwriters out of his own pocket (and frequently collaborating with them), producing, directing, and acting in his own films, becoming an auteur before anyone in Hollywood knew what the word meant. He was arguably one of the most successful and creative figures in Hollywood during the second half of the twentieth century, and in this fascinating biography, Warren Beatty comes to life -- complete with excesses and achievements -- as never before....

DOWN AND DIRTY PICTURES chronicles the rise of independent filmmakers and of the twin engines – the Sundance Film Festival and Miramax Films – that have powered them. Peter Biskind profiles the people who took the independent movement from obscurity to the Oscars, most notably Sundance founder Robert Redford and Harvey Weinstein, who with his brother, Bob, made Miramax an indie powerhouse. Candid, penetrating and controversial, DOWN AND DIRTY PICTURES is a must – read for anyone interested in the film world.

"In DOWN AND DIRTY PICTURES, Biskind takes on the movie industry of the 1990s and again gets the story....Peter Biskind captures his era as John Dunne did that of the Zanucks." Frank Rich, The New York Times

"Dishy, teeming, superbly reported...packed with lively inside anecdotes...[a] juicy and fascinating expose." - Entertainment Weekly...

This is a trivia book for unabashed Godfather fans, people who can't get enough of Francis Ford Coppola's two brilliant, and one not-so-brilliant movies. It tells you everything you ever wanted to know and more about all three. Ever wonder what would happen if you dialed Don Corleone's phone number, Long Beach 4-5620? (No, you don't get to sleep with the fishes, you just get a recording saying it is not a working number.) The cost of the flowers and wreaths at Don Corleone's funeral? ($12,000) How many times Coppola was nearly fired? (5) How many violent deaths occur in The Godfather? (23) Why flashback scenes in Part 2 had to be reshot? (Because De Niro et al wore pants with zippers that hadn't been invented yet.) The Don's birthday? (December 7th, Pearl Harbor day.) And there's more: gossip, anecdotes, behind the scenes tidbits from the sets, and many, many factoids, like Marlon Brando's favorite practical joke, the source of the notorious horse's head, Coppola's fake seizure in the Paramount offices, and so on. And in case you've forgotten any of the famous lines, they're all here: "Keep your friends close and your enemies closer," "Leave the gun, take the cannoli," "This is the business we have chosen," "If anything in this life is certain, if history has taught us anything, it is that you can kill anyone."...