Gods and monsters : thirty years of writing on film and culture / Peter Biskind.

Originally published: 2004.

BETWEEN THE FRAMES: The politics of power in "On the waterfront" -- War of the Worlds -- Tightass and cocksucker: sexual politics in "Thunderbolt and Lightfoot" -- Pat Garrett and Billy the Kid -- Machismo and Hollywood's working class (with Barbara Ehrenreich) -- Blue collar blues: proletarian cinema from Hollywood -- Holocaust fever -- "Come back to the mill, Nick, Honey": "The Deer Hunter" misses the target -- A balance of error?: PBS's "Vietnam": waist-deep in the big muddy -- American film criticism (postwar) -- The last crusade -- REPORTS: The weather underground, take one (with Marc N. Weiss) -- In Latin America they shoot filmmakers -- Promised land: on Sundance -- AUTEURS: Any which way he can -- Chameleon man -- Slouching towards Hollywood -- The making of "Baltherlands": an imaginary conversation between Sissy Spacek and Terrence Malick (with Michael Silverman) -- The runaway genius -- DEEP FOCUS: Punchin' Judy -- The man who minted style -- When Sue was Queen -- Good night, Dark Prince.

Here is Hollywood over the last three decades: the superfreaks, lowlifes, charlatans and the occasional geniuses who have left their marks on American culture, as refracted through the trajectory of Peter Biskind's career.