Review of Easy Riders, Raging Bulls: How the Sex 'n' Drugs 'n' Rock 'n' Roll Generation Saved Hollywood (2003) by Phil S. N — 28 Feb 2004

[b]ANGEL FACE (Otto Preminger, 1952) ? 4.0/con.

[/b]The against-type casting is a likeable idea at first. Robert Mitchum plays the innocent guy who gets caught in Jean Simmons?s evil web. Unfortunately the characters remain exactly this two-dimensional. The plot is not really predictable, but completely free from any surprises. You can?t guess, who it is going to end, but you always know, what?s going to happen next. The ending is unpredictable, because it doesn?t make a lot of sense.

[b]OUT OF THE PAST (Jaques Torneur, 1947) ? 5.0/mixed.

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Maybe this belongs into the heresy thread, but this so-called masterpiece didn?t click with me at all. The plot was very uniteresting and I always remained completely indifferent about the characters. This film just passed by. The cinematography (often shot in the dark) is amazing though.

[b]PLATINUM BLONDE (Frank Capra, 1931) ? 5.0/mixed.

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This early Capra is not really recommendable. In contrast to some of his later films it?s just not that funny. The topic of the story, delaing with a man held in a golden cage like a bird, would have been more interesting, if the movie hadn?t spelled it out all the time. On the other hand there are some nice compositions, but as an early screwball comedy forerunner it only works in parts, but not as a whole.

[b]EASY RIDERS, RAGING BULLS (Kenneth Bowser, 2003) ? 6.0/mixed[/b].

This docu based on Peter Biskind?s book is not much more than a compilation of interviews and film scenes like a "making of" of an era. This is, of course, not without interest to a film geek, but the film lacked information that sounded new to me (and I?m not a New Hollywood expert). It?s only mildly recommended.