Hit and Run: How Jon Peters and Peter Guber took Sony for a ride in Hollywood

by Nancy Griffin and Kim Masters

Book Overview

Hit and Run tells the improbable and often hilarious story of how two Hollywood film packagers went on a campaign to reinvent themselves as studio executives -- at Sony's expense. Veteran reporters... This description may be from another edition of this product.

• Format: Hardcover
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0684809311
• Release Date: June 1996
• Publisher: Simon & Schuster
• Length: 480 Pages
• Weight: 1.80 lbs.
• Dimensions: 10.0" x 1.5" x 6.5"

Customer Reviews

Fun, Fast, Educational

"Hit and Run" is a fun, breezy, eye-opening book. There's never a boring page. It is packed with information and concisely written. You never get the sense that the author is dragging things out just to fill a few hundred pages. Even though Guber and Peters were crooks, I think there's still plenty of things you can learn from them and they are still inspiring in a way. I thought robber barons went out with the 19th century, but now I see there are still people with the same swindler's mentality. "Hit and Run" is an eye-opening book, just like Upton Sinclair's "The Jungle." One thing I wonder very much is why all these big corporations did business with Guber and Peters without thoroughly investigating their backgrounds? Seems like there are some very stupid people running large corporations. Hollywood sure is full of sharks, whores, and criminals and always was. Innocent newcomers don't have a chance.

The funniest non-fiction book you will ever read

I read this book three years ago and I'm still laughing. Griffin & Masters have created THE required reading book on everything that is wrong with Hollywood. They were able to tell the inside stories of multi-million dollar deals and make them understandable. Jon Peters, a barely literate hairdresser who happened to be friends with Barbara Streisand, and his business partner Peter Guber schmoozed their way through the 80s and were picked by Sony to run their newly acquired Columbia/Tri-Star pictures. Billions of dollars in losses later (Last Action Hero, I'll Do Anything) they got kicked out.It is really an incredible story. If it was fiction, you'd think it completly impossible to believe, but it is all true.

True tales from the Dark Side of Hollywood

Nancy Griffin and Kim Masters has written a interesting book about the two Hollywood Hustlers: Jon Peters and Peter Guber. The way they tell their side of the story makes it a wonderfull book. Just the part of the book, that tells to story og Sony and the purchase of Columbia and Tri-Star is worth every penny. You just sit back and wonder, how did they hustle their way all the way to the top.To read something else about Peters and Guber, I've strongly recommend "Burton on Burton", where Tim Burton gives his personal view on them.

A different look at the Hollywood Machine

Nancy Griffin and Kim Masters has written a interesting book about the two Hollywood Hustlers: Jon Peters and Peter Guber. The way they tell their side of the story makes it a wonderfull book. Just the part of the book, that tells to story og Sony and the purchase of Columbia and Tri-Star is worth every penny. You just sit back and wonder, how did they hustle their way all the way to the top.To read something else about Peters and Guber, I've strongly recommend "Burton on Burton", where Tim Burton gives his personal view on them.

A compelling tale of a great Hollywood tragedy

The authors have done an amazing job of compiling an incredible amount of information and assimilating it in a well-thought out and informative manner. The story of how Jon Peters and Peter Guber were able to so completely screw Sony is unbelievable. Yet, Kim Masters and Nancy Griffin boil all the subplots down into a manageable and compelling story that is completely accessible. It isn't often that a non-fiction book reads like a novel. An absolute must-read for anyone interested in the film industry.