by NikoRad

Created on: November 03, 2009

Peter Biskind's in-depth look into an evolving Hollywood, during the period of the late 60's through the early 80's, shows an industry struggling to fight the thoughts of the New Wave and unwilling to relinquish control for fear of losing money. Many of the directors in the book found themselves having to stave off the old Hollywood ways to make certain that their personal vision made it to the screen, and rarely was this without some sort of compromise.

The story presented in the book shows how this fight ended with tragedy, as the industry simply found a new brand of movie that would almost always guarantee high revenue with the American audiences-the blockbuster. From that discovery, Hollywood executives began to only give major funding to the directors that would pursue this route, thereby destroying the freedom and independence for which so many had fought so hard.

The book tries to let you into the minds of these directors and actors from the time preiod, but making the claim that I sympathize with anybody in the book is difficult. Most of the directors describe going through very difficult situations that threatened their careers and artistic integrity, something I have not experienced on any comparable scale thus far. But one director that came off as utterly fascinating was Francis Ford Coppola.

Reading his story and what he says about the filming of many of his films, I feel he encounters a problem that is similar to one that I struggle with-how do make a big production, a full and vibrant story, in exotic locations and moody settings, but still keep it personal and not lose your message to the style of your film? Large stories and grand visions require much money, and large productions have many people involved, to the point where the movie becomes less of your own vision and more a collective representation of all involved. There's a quote from the shooting of Apocalypse Now that I always remember from him, "We were in the jungle, there were too many of us, we had access to too much money, too much equipment, and little by little, we went insane."

Money is king in Hollywood, just as it is in many businesses that reside in our capitalist system. It's a double-edged sword that seems to be meandering beneath the surface of every problem and success in Biskind's book. Movies are an expensive form of art, and when the filmmakers finds access to a proper amount of capital, the director's vision can come alive.

But someone has to market and distribute

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