Dirty Real: Exile on Hollywood and Vine with the Gin Mill Cowboys

By Peter Stanfield

The story of how the movies assumed a gritty facade in the name of authenticity, with working actors transforming into artists, poets, painters, troubadours, and filmmakers--both on- and off-screen.

This is the tale of how Hollywood, inspired by the success of Easy Rider, sold a cycle of films as the new dirty real. Dennis Hopper, Peter Fonda, Monte Hellman, Jack Nicholson, Kris Kristofferson, and Sam Peckinpah, among others, parlayed a nostalgia for the gutter and donned bohemian personae, pulling on soiled shirts and scuffed boots to better counter the glamour and phoniness of Tinseltown. The result was a generation of movies, including The Hired Hand, Five Easy Pieces, Two-Lane Blacktop, The Last Picture Show, and Pat Garrett and Billy the Kid. With great care for the historical record and displaying a refined critical acuity, Peter Stanfield captures that pivotal moment when Hollywood tried to sell a begrimed vision of itself to the world.

• Format: Hardcover
• Language: English
• ISBN: 1789148626
• ISBN13: 9781789148626
• Release Date: July 2024
• Publisher: Reaktion Books
• Length: 344 Pages
• Weight: 1.15 lbs.
• Dimensions: 1.2" x 5.7" x 8.6"