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

Nancy Griffin (Author), Kim Masters (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: June 19, 1996

Hit and Run tells the improbable and often hilarious story of how two film packagers well known for spending other people's money and ripping off credit for other people's work went on a deliberate campaign to reinvent themselves as studio executives. With the exception of Batman, Jon Peters and Peter Guber were barely involved with the most successful films they "produced." Steven Spielberg wouldn't allow them on the set of The Color Purple, and they werre on the set of Rain Man only once, briefly. With the help of one of Michael Milken's top lieutenants, they succeeded. It was the most audacious sales job of their careers: This unlikely team got Sony to give them the richest deal in Hollywood history.

Editorial Reviews

Amazon.com Review

If there is a more archetypical tale of Hollywood in the '80s than the buccaneers' adventures of Jon Peters, Barbra Streisand's former hairdresser, and his business partner Peter Guber, it hasn't been written yet. This thorough, stylish book recounts the rise of Peters and Guber, who together earned fortunes by schmoozing their way to the top, seducing gullible investors, and shoving aside the filmmakers who actually turned out successful films like "Rain Man" and "Batman." The Japanese executives at Sony, in this delightful insider account, were just the most recent and most hoodwinked in a long line of Peters' and Gubers' dupes.

From Publishers Weekly

This is basically the story of two boys who never grew up, but ended up running Sony-owned Columbia Pictures into the ground. Peters, whom the Los Angeles Times described as a "seventh-grade dropout and reform school graduate who began his show-business career as Barbra Steisand's hairdresser-boyfriend-manager," was a master at self-promotion; only semi-literate but able to count well enough to make it big in Hollywood. Bostonian Guber earned several academic degrees before "going Hollywood," somehow managing to indifferently run several studios and make high profits and only a few good films. This book will leave film fans drooling at charges that Peters hired Heidi Fleiss's prostitutes as gifts and that he either bedded or assaulted his numerous conquests (Jacqueline Bisset and Lesley Ann Warren, among others). Guber, the quintessential New Age yuppie, is seen heading off his divorce because it would cost him too much, and participating in hand-holding group-therapy sessions with business-partner Peters. The business side of this book is also intriguing, recounting internecine financial twists and turns that finally have a top Sony executive exclaiming: "Huh! You bankrupt Sony!" Griffin, the West Coast editor of Premiere magazine, and Masters, a reporter for the Washington Post, present a shocking read that will have readers gasping at the obscene overindulgence of Hollywood. Photos not seen by PW. Author tour.
Copyright 1996 Reed Business Information, Inc.

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Product Details

• Hardcover: 480 pages
• Publisher: Simon & Schuster; First Edition edition (June 19, 1996)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0684809311
• ISBN-13: 978-0684809311
• Product Dimensions: 9.3 x 6.5 x 1.3 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.8 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 4.6 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (23 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #405,187 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

19 of 21 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars The funniest non-fiction book you will ever read, November 4, 2002

By 

718 Session (Brooklyn, NY United States) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Hit and Run (Paperback)

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.

7 of 7 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Fun, Fast, Educational, June 14, 2005

By 

R. Johnson "Billionaire" (USA) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Hit and Run (Paperback)

"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.

6 of 6 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Book is not really business like, but a GREAT read, March 5, 1998

By A Customer

This review is from: Hit and Run: How Jon Peters and Peter Guber took Sony for a ride in Hollywood (Hardcover)

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.......