The 1970's!

The 1970's were an interesting time in American Film. As we have said in earlier posts, we want to focus on the larger studio films created by the "New Hollywood" generation of filmmakers. The 1970's saw the flourishing of young, film school educated directors who were given substantial artistic control over the films they created for large studios. However, in no way were George Lucas, Scorcese, Speilberg, Woody Allen, Coppola, and other new hollywood directors independent filmmakers. Their films often resembled independent films in terms of language, violence, sexuality, and theme. Taxi Driver, which we will watch later, is a good example of a film that, because of its extreme violence and misanthropic anti-hero, can seem like an independent film, yet was not by any means. The new hollywood directors blurred the line between independent and big-studio films.

We also want to examine the transition from innovative new hollywood films to the hollywood blockbusters that seem to come a dime a dozen nowadays.