THE AMERICAN NEW WAVE OF CINEMA

In the late 1960’s, the film industry was in decline. Television was a huge staple in the home and people would rather stay home then go to the cinema. Box office stars of the 40’s and 50’s could barely sell tickets. Take Marlon Brando for instance, he was one of the biggest performers of the 50’s. He had box office gold written all over his face.Winning an Academy Award in 1954 for his powerful performance as ex-boxer turned “bum” Terry Malloy in Elia Kazan’s “On The Waterfront”.  His method acting was intoxicating to watch and people flocked to see his film. Unfortunately that power didn’t last;by the late 1960’s Brando was labeled as box office poison. That is until a new filmmaker by the name of Francis Ford Coppola thought he would be perfect inthe lead role for the 1972 film “The Godfather”.

The same can be said for other aspects of the film industry. We all know of the great epic films of the 50’s to the early 60’s. Films like “Ben-Hur”, “Lawrence of Arabia”, and “The Fall of the Roman Empire” have dazzled audiences since they premiered. But after only a brief peak period, epic films could not fill seats. It wasn’t until the late 70’s when epic films would reach the same fame as they did in the earlier days with such films as “The Deer Hunter” and “Apocalypse Now”.

I would say the film “revolution” as I like to call it began in 1969 with the release of the films “Midnight Cowboy” and “Easy Rider”. Both films were original, gritty, and very low budget but impacted audiences more than the high budget films of the past. Both films in my opinion ushered in adult themes previously unseen in Hollywood; themes such as the dark side of the American dream and disturbing subject matter.  This was the beginning of the young innovative filmmakers that will continue to dominate American cinema for the next 40 years.

I know of many people that consider 70’s cinema as the trashy age of cinema. That couldn’t be further from the truth. Cinema before then was very glossy Hollywood style entertainment. Even most serious films  had a high budget glossy Hollywood quality to them. The 70’s ushered in a more realistic feel to the films, which was something fresh and new.

This new generation of filmmakers were film school-educated, counterculture-bred, and young. This group, dubbed the “New Hollywood” by the press, changed the business from the producer-driven Hollywood system of the past, injected movies with a jolt of freshness, energy,sexuality, and a passion for the art of film itself.

I found out through wikipedia that Todd Berliner has written about how 70’s films deviate from classical narrative norms more than Hollywood films from other eras. Their narrative and stylistic devices threaten to derail an otherwise straightforward narration. Berliner argues that five principles govern the narrative strategies characteristic of Hollywood films of the 1970s:

1. Seventies films show a perverse tendency to integrate, in narratively incidental ways, story information and stylistic devices counterproductive to the films’ overt and essential narrative purposes.

2. Hollywood filmmakers of the 1970s often situate their filmmaking practices in between those of classical Hollywood and those of European and Asian art cinema.

3. Seventies films prompt spectator responses more uncertain and discomforting than those of more typical Hollywood cinema.

4. Seventies narratives place an uncommon emphasis on irresolution, particularly at the moment of climax or in epilogues, when more conventional Hollywood movies busy themselves tying up loose ends.

5. Seventies cinema hinders narrative linearity and momentum and scuttles its potential to generate suspense and excitement.

I find his observations very interesting to read because it simply lays out the answers for why the films of that time were so ground breaking and good.

I made a list of filmmakers that I think best represent the group that brought this new style to us. It was really hard to narrow it down but I got my list down to at least five. They are Francis Ford Coppola (The Godfather, The Conversation, Apocalypse Now), Martin Scorsese(Mean Streets, Taxi Driver), William Friedkin (The Exorcist, The French Connection), George Lucas (THX-1138, American Graffiti, Star Wars), and Dennis Hopper (Easy Rider).  I actually felt bad when I made this list because I left many filmmakers out that I feel had an equal influence on film at the time. With many of these films came a huge group of new actors that we consider legends today, including Robert Deniro,Al Pacino, Robert Duvall, Jack Nicholson, Gene Hackman, Harrison Ford, and many more.

This new Hollywood of the 70’s was anything but trashy. To me this was the best decade in the history of film. This era is what saved the film industry and brought money back into the cinemas.

I’m going to leave you with one last thought and a question. Today we are witnessing another decline in Hollywood because of the retiring or dying off of the innovators of the 70’s. Other than the still active filmmakers that I have previously talked about and a few newer filmmakers, everything else is pretty much junk. So let me ask you this: do you think we are on the verge of another film “revolution”? I think so.