Easy Riders, Raging Bulls

For a reverent take on the “New Hollywood” era that revitalized American cinema in the 1970s, check out Richard LaGravenese and the late Ted Demme's documentary A Decade Under the Influence (VL-11/03). Those who want some salacious dirt dished with their film clips and interviews, however, will get more of a kick out of this BBC production from filmmaker Kenneth Bowser, based on Peter Biskind's titular who's-sleeping-with-whom/who's-snorting-what chronicle. The holy trinity of Steven Spielberg, George Lucas, and Francis Ford Coppola are not among those who sat for on-camera interviews, which is not surprising considering Biskind's gleeful gossip about their backbiting, betrayals, and sexual peccadilloes, but the film does feature a representative sampling of some of the era's key figures and observers, including Arthur Penn, Peter Bogdanovich, Peter Fonda, Dennis Hopper, Roger Corman, Ellen Burstyn, Monte Hellman, an unrepentant Margot Kidder, Richard Dreyfuss, Henry Jaglom, and a truly off-the-wall Karen Black. All were present for the revolution, when a new generation of film school graduates, movie brats, and entrepreneurial visionaries “stormed the gates” in the wake of the collapse of the studio system. Inspired by foreign films, these artists worked from inside and outside the system to engage a disenfranchised, young, hip audience. Though somewhat haphazard in its chronology, Easy Riders, Raging Bulls is the cinematic equivalent of a page-turner. A second bonus disc includes over a dozen candid and revealing interviews and mini-documentaries about the era's seminal figures. Fallen wonder-boy Bogdanovich, who went from The Last Picture Show to Daisy Miller, is an especially compelling case study. A guilty pleasure, especially for film buffs, this is recommended. Aud: C, P. (D. Liebenson)