""Backstory 4 "lives up to the high standards of the previous volumes, providing us with intimate, funny, insightful conversations with the highly articulate and film-literate screenwriters and writer-directors of many of the most memorable American films from the 1970s and 1980s, the era of the movie brats, the cult film, and the blockbuster. Each interview is a revelation. Both the interviewers and the subjects are great company. Editor Patrick McGilligan has done it again." --Matthew Bernstein, editor of "Controlling Hollywood "

Acknowledgments Introduction Robert Benton: The New Traditionalist Interview by Christian Keathley Larry Cohen: Manic Energy Interview by Patrick McGilligan Blake Edwards: Jumping Around Interview by Bill Krohn Walter Hill: Last Man Standing Interview by Patrick McGilligan Ruth Prawer Jhabvala: Out of India Interview by Vincent LoBrutto Lawrence Kasdan: A Humanist in Hollywood Interview by Graham Fuller Elmore Leonard: The Hot Kid Interview by Patrick McGilligan Paul Mazursky: A Map of the Heart Interview by Nat Segaloff Nancy Meyers: Late Bloomer Interview by Fred Topel John Milius: The Good Fights Interview by Nat Segaloff Frederic Raphael: Renaissance Man Interview by John Baxter Alvin Sargent: Pursuit and Destination Interview by Patrick McGilligan Donald E. Westlake: The Worst That Could Happen Interview by Patrick McGilligan Bibliographic Notes About the Contributors General Index Index of Films, Plays, and Books