
Down and Dirty Pictures
Miramax, Sundance and the Rise of Independent Film
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Narrated by:
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Phil Gigante
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By:
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Peter Biskind
About this listen
Candid, penetrating and controversial, Down and Dirty Pictures is a must-read for anyone interested in the film world.
©2004 Peter Biskind (P)2008 Brilliance Audio, Inc.Listeners also enjoyed...
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"Dishy, teeming, superbly reported...packed with lively inside anecdotes...[a] juicy and fascinating expose." ( Entertainment Weekly)
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The enigmatic and elusive filmmaker Stanley Kubrick has not been treated to a full-length biography in over twenty years. Stanley Kubrick: An Odyssey fills that gap. This definitive book is based on access to the latest research, especially Kubrick's archive at the University of the Arts, London, as well as other private papers plus new interviews with family members and those who worked with him. It offers comprehensive and in-depth coverage of Kubrick's personal, private, public, and working life.
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A stellar biography for Kubrick lovers
- By Daniel on 09-10-24
By: Robert P. Kolker, and others
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Oscar Wars
- A History of Hollywood in Gold, Sweat, and Tears
- By: Michael Schulman
- Narrated by: Charlie Thurston
- Length: 21 hrs
- Unabridged
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In Oscar Wars, Michael Schulman chronicles the remarkable, sprawling history of the Academy Awards and the personal dramas—some iconic, others never-before-revealed—that have played out on the stage and off camera. Unlike other books on the subject, each chapter takes a deep dive into a particular year, conflict, or even category that tells a larger story of cultural change, from Louis B. Mayer to Moonlight. Schulman examines how the red carpet runs through contested turf, and the victors aren't always as clear as the names drawn from envelopes.
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Fascinating and FUN
- By Peter Riley on 06-11-23
By: Michael Schulman
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Star: How Warren Beatty Seduced America
- By: Peter Biskind
- Narrated by: David Drummond
- Length: 23 hrs and 55 mins
- Unabridged
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Famously a playboy, Warren 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.
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This is very dull
- By Jan on 02-27-10
By: Peter Biskind
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The Future Was Now
- Madmen, Mavericks, and the Epic Sci-Fi Summer of 1982
- By: Chris Nashawaty
- Narrated by: Jonathan Todd Ross
- Length: 9 hrs and 4 mins
- Unabridged
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In the summer of 1982, eight science fiction films were released within six weeks of one another. E.T., Tron, Star Trek: Wrath of Khan, Conan the Barbarian, Blade Runner, Poltergeist, The Thing, and Mad Max: The Road Warrior changed the careers of some of Hollywood's now biggest names―altering the art of movie-making to this day.
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Great story about an incredible year in sci fi film making.
- By Jesse Poole Van Swol on 10-04-24
By: Chris Nashawaty
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Box Office Poison
- Hollywood's Story in a Century of Flops
- By: Tim Robey
- Narrated by: Tim Robey
- Length: 8 hrs and 57 mins
- Unabridged
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From grand follies to misunderstood masterpieces, disastrous sequels to catastrophic literary adaptations, Box Office Poison tells a hugely entertaining alternative history of Hollywood, through a century of its most notable flops. What can these films tell us about the Hollywood system, the public’s appetite–or lack of it–and the circumstances that saw such flops actually made? Away from the canon, this is the definitive take on these ill-fated, but essential celluloid failures.
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The ending
- By Anonymous User on 03-13-25
By: Tim Robey
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Cinema Speculation
- By: Quentin Tarantino
- Narrated by: Edoardo Ballerini, Quentin Tarantino
- Length: 10 hrs and 9 mins
- Unabridged
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In addition to being among the most celebrated of contemporary filmmakers, Quentin Tarantino is possibly the most joyously infectious movie lover alive. For years he has touted in interviews his eventual turn to writing books about films. Now, with Cinema Speculation, the time has come, and the results are everything his passionate fans—and all movie lovers—could have hoped for. Organized around key American films from the 1970s, all of which he first saw as a young moviegoer at the time, this book is as intellectually rigorous and insightful as it is rollicking and entertaining.
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A letdown I didn't see coming.
- By polycow on 11-03-22
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The Kid Stays in the Picture
- By: Robert Evans
- Narrated by: Robert Evans
- Length: 6 hrs and 22 mins
- Unabridged
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Robert Evans' The Kid Stays in the Picture is universally recognized as the greatest, most outrageous, and most unforgettable show business memoir ever written. The basis of an award-winning documentary film, it remains the gold standard of Hollywood storytelling. An extraordinary raconteur, Evans spares no one, least of all himself. The Kid Stays in the Picture is sharp, witty, self-aggrandizing, and self-lacerating in equal measure.
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Not even close to unabridged
- By Shaun Bossio on 09-08-16
By: Robert Evans
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Opposable Thumbs
- How Siskel & Ebert Changed Movies Forever
- By: Matt Singer
- Narrated by: Matt Singer
- Length: 9 hrs and 35 mins
- Unabridged
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On a cold Saturday afternoon in 1975, two men (who had known each other for eight years before they’d ever exchanged a word) met for lunch in a Chicago pub. Gene Siskel was the film critic for the Chicago Tribune. Roger Ebert had recently won the Pulitzer Prize—the first ever awarded to a film critic—for his work at the Chicago Sun-Times. To say they despised each other was an understatement.
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Good book. But unless you are a standup comedian, or an actor, you shouldn’t read a book you wrote
- By Jerry Thompson on 03-14-24
By: Matt Singer
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The Friedkin Connection
- A Memoir
- By: William Friedkin
- Narrated by: William Friedkin
- Length: 19 hrs and 20 mins
- Unabridged
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Friedkin Connection takes listeners from the streets of Chicago to the suites of Hollywood and from the sixties to today. William Friedkin offers a candid look at a thrilling era of Hollywood cinema, when traditional storytelling gave way to the rebellious and alternative; when filmmakers like him captured the paranoia and fear of a nation undergoing a cultural nervous breakdown.
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Exorcist, French Connection Director Insightful, Truthful in Memoir
- By AlexBenBlock on 03-30-25
By: William Friedkin
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The Path to Paradise
- A Francis Ford Coppola Story
- By: Sam Wasson
- Narrated by: Timothy Andrés Pabon
- Length: 14 hrs and 11 mins
- Unabridged
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Francis Ford Coppola is one of the great American dreamers, and his most magnificent dream is American Zoetrope, the production company he founded in San Francisco years before his gargantuan success, when he was only thirty. Through Zoetrope’s experimental, communal utopia, Coppola attempted to reimagine the entire pursuit of moviemaking. Now, more than fifty years later, despite myriad setbacks, the visionary filmmaker’s dream persists, most notably in the production of his decades-in-the-making film and the culmination of his utopian ideals, Megalopolis.
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Narrator was awful
- By Cyrus Nowrasteh on 12-17-23
By: Sam Wasson
What listeners say about Down and Dirty Pictures
Highly rated for:
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- Peter Gracia
- 03-26-25
Nothing but Weinstein...
...not really about indie cinema, just Harvey and Redford, but still really good. Thankfully writter before Me Too.
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Overall
- Peter Debruge
- 03-01-10
Sloppy book seems sleazier than its subjects
Peter Biskind delivers another juicy read, and that goes a long way, even if the book seems relentlessly one-track-minded about painting Harvey Weinstein and Robert Redford in the most unflattering possible light. Biskind must have decided what he wanted to hear before going into any interview, so his extensive reporting merely corroborates his opening thesis -- that Harvey's a boor and Redford's a control freak.
Still, it's fun to hear all that dirt, even if (in Harvey's case) it amounts to little more than chain smoking, binge eating and verbal abuse, invariably followed up with some form of apology a day later. There's none of the "Easy Riders, Raging Bulls" sleaze here, even though Harvey's reputation is surrounded by revolting abuse-of-power anecdotes in real life (guess the lawyers couldn't clear that stuff).
Phil Gigante gives a lively performance to the material, taking greater care to capture the voices of his characters (back-woods Billy Bob Thornton, the Redford drawl, the belligerent Harvey, etc.) than the pronunciation of their names (David Linde, for instance, features prominently and is always called "Lind" rather than "Lind-ee"). He botches many of the names, but then, Biskind's loose with his facts, and that's a far graver transgression.
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3 people found this helpful
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- Andrew Hawkins
- 07-29-13
The Rise and Fall of Indie Film
Would you recommend this audiobook to a friend? If so, why?
This book is a must read for any fan of Miramax and/or Sundance.
What was one of the most memorable moments of Down and Dirty Pictures?
The Weinstein stories are incredible.
What does Phil Gigante bring to the story that you wouldn’t experience if you just read the book?
Phil Gigante's range as a storyteller is perfect and his representations of the parties involved in the narrative are spot on!
If you were to make a film of this book, what would the tag line be?
Miramax Sucks, Sundance Blows
Any additional comments?
This is a revelation.
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1 person found this helpful
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Overall
- Morgan
- 06-08-11
Fascinating...but a terrible narrator.
It's an impressive collection of "inside" stories from all sources regarding the rise of Sundance and Miramax. The only knock is that, since it's a kind of oral history, there are many different voices of remarkable people throughout. My apologies to the narrator, but I found his takes on the likes of Spike Lee, Matt Damon and many others to be silly, distracting, and occasionally insulting.
Once you get past that it's a fascinating look into the independent film culture and the origins of some of Hollywood's biggest names and companies.
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5 people found this helpful
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- Kindle Customer
- 11-21-17
If you liked independent movies from the nineties, Check this out.
There’s a little too much detail, but lots of insight to the independent movie business and what jerks/assholes the Weinstein’s were before any sex assaults.
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3 people found this helpful
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- charlotte
- 05-19-15
Enthralling history of 90s cinemas
Would you consider the audio edition of Down and Dirty Pictures to be better than the print version?
Yes, I love the narrator and he does great accents
Who was your favorite character and why?
Billy Bob Thornton and Harvey Weinstein threatening to stab each other forks
What does Phil Gigante bring to the story that you wouldn’t experience if you just read the book?
Voices,
Any additional comments?
Please more Peter Biskind books especially Gods and Monsters or My lunches with Orson Welles
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1 person found this helpful
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- Josephblu
- 08-23-23
The Dirt on Weinstein ; and pretentious Redford
The author must be sitting somewhere saying "Told you so!".
It's easy to listen to. It gave me a much greater respect for how brave Rose McGowan had to be standing up to Weinstein. kudos to Farrow telling the story too. This author did a great job making you feel like you were following them down a dark rabbit hole of the independent films industry. Danger on all sides....
Enjoy, I know I did.
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- natalie
- 08-26-14
For the independent film lover!
Any additional comments?
This is an incredibly insightful book about the inner workings of Miramax and Sundance. It is a little like seeing how sausage is made, as it takes some of the glamour out of the movies you love.
The accents that Phil Gigante does for each player range from unobtrusive to hilariously awful. It's something you can listen past, but each time Matt Damon or Spike Lee "spoke", I burst out laughing. This is a small distraction, however. The book is over 23 hours long and when it ended, I immediately started it again. If you have interest in independent or smaller movies, you will find this book completely entertaining.
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6 people found this helpful
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- todd
- 04-06-12
Excellent
Would you consider the audio edition of Down and Dirty Pictures to be better than the print version?
I don't know.
What other book might you compare Down and Dirty Pictures to and why?
I don't know.
What does Phil Gigante bring to the story that you wouldn’t experience if you just read the book?
See my review below.
Did you have an extreme reaction to this book? Did it make you laugh or cry?
It was excellent.
Any additional comments?
I thoroughly enjoyed this audiobook. It’s ironic that the men behind some of the most thoughtful, critically acclaimed independent films of the 90s (The Crying Game, Shakespeare in Love, The English Patient, etc) - the Weinstein brothers, are at base a couple of bullies. It’s also ironic that independent film icon, Robert Redford, used his influence at Sundance to take promising projects (A River Runs Through It and Quiz Show) away from other Sundance filmmakers . Although some might complain that author Biskind portrays the Weinsteins and Redford negatively, there is no lack of evidence for his point of view. He names names; it’s good, solid journalism. Phil Gigante’s narration is excellent. He gives dozens of people distinctive voices, and his characterizations of Harvey and Bob Weinstein are particularly memorable
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1 person found this helpful
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- Amazon Customer
- 04-25-17
not as good as EASY RIDERS...
A very listenable book with a good vocal performance. The book, unlike its predecessor EASY RIDERS, RAGING BULLS, focuses not on indie cinema so much as on Miramax and Harvey Weinstein in particular. The stories about Harvey, while interesting, are repetitive and rather draining.
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