Customer Reviews

Hit and Run

5 star:		(15)
4 star:		(6)
3 star:		(2)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

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.

"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 myth of film production will be shattered once you read this book. Guber and Peters, people who would not survive in any other business other than the entertainment business, are given a free pass to create medicre films and become some of the most powerful players. This is coming from one of the guys who was once a hairdresser (showing that connections really is king in Hollywood). Candidly reveals those involved in Hollywood as unstable, unsure of themselves while being major egoists! One begins to wonder how movies can be made at all given the pull that comes from all sides. However, the role of the producer is still underplayed. I still don't know why one is required, but if they make all this money to yell and scream, maybe I should go to Hollywood, I can do that with the best of em! So if you ever wonder why most movies in Hollywood suck, don't blame the director or the actors, it's rarely their fault. it's more likely the "I think I know it all" producer took out all of the story to add in another 10 million dollars worth of special effects! Guys, at least go to film school.......

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.

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.

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.

I think the subtitle of the book says it best. Jon Peters and Peter Guber took Sony for a long and expensive ride in Hollywood.
The book also serves as a biography of these two famous gentlemen and how they managed to take credit for a lot of other peoples creativity. They took credit for other peoples ideas and then promoted the hell out of these movies and managed to make themselves rich. As the authors put it, most people in Hollywood knew their reputation. It took a foreign business (Sony) buying Columbia to figure out their less than stellar management capabilities. For this, Sony lost a ton of money.
The authors do a nice job of detailing Guber and Peters backgrounds and their unique chance at changing the landscape of Hollywood. This is a fairly long book, but well written, so the time flies when you read it. A great read about the sordid business of Hollywood.

Halfway through this title, I thought it was a good read and I was happy I picked it up. At the end of the book I realized there is only one word for it: essential. Masters & Griffin seize on extraordinary story--Guber's and Peters's rise to executive status--and make it better. Filled with fabulous anecdotes, such as the celebration of an obese company vice president falling into a swimming pool while Peters cheered, this book is recommended for anyone who wants a primer on how business in Hollywood is, occasionally, done.

This is one of those must-read Hollywood exposes, along the lines of "The Battle for Brazil" and "Indecent Exposure". It recounts the truly amazing story of how two small-timers in the business, Peter Gruber and Jon Peters, somehow rose to the top of the industry and headed Columbia Pictures for Sony...taking them on an incredible ride of excess and mismanagement. The real villan here though is Sony's seemingly endless series of bonehead moves during their purchase of Columbia, overpaying billions and putting their trust in two of the greatest flim-flam artists in Hollywood. Not only do they grossly overpay during the purchase, but they continue to pay and pay and pay...it really does boggle the mind. It's a ringing examination of the dangers of multi-culture dealings, and an entertaining, and truly frightening, trip through the Hollywood movie machine.

Maybe if you're a movieland insider this book would resonate better. Interesting, but not highly recommended.