A transformative decade that witnessed the U.S. film industry's restructuring under the pressures of neoliberal globalization, the 1980s swept away the last remnants of Old and New Hollywood alike while preparing the ground for today's High Concept wasteland - thus goes an all too familiar tale of decline. The texts assembled in this volume tell a different, altogether more fitful and complex story about Reagan-era Hollywood, attuned to the struggles that went on behind and in front of the camera: interrupted careers, defiant last stands, paths not taken.

The book places particular...