THE HOLLYWOOD RENAISSANCE DEFINED • Late-1960s to mid- to late-1970s • Also called “The New Hollywood” • Characterized by studio production/distribution of significant number of films seen as innovative in content and style • Social context of frequent social upheavals (Vietnam protests, civil rights movements, student protests on college campuses, assassination of political and civil rights figures) that led to wide-spread questioning of “American” values and identity. • Made by directors with film school training and thus familiarity with film technique, history styles and theory (Coppola, Malick, Milius, Scorsese, Schrader, Lucas, Spielberg)

STYLE AND CONTENT OF HR FILMS

• Alienation/rebellion of young that frequently ends in death or disillusionment • Frank depictions of sex, violence and drug use • Political and social critique • “It is possible, at the risk of some simplification, to divide the social context of the Hollywood Renaissance into two main currents. One . . . celebrates aspects of 1960s rebellion. The other explores or manifest elements of a darker mood in which alienation leads toward fear and disillusion” (Geoff King. New Hollywood Cinema: An Introduction. 18). • Narratives that incorporated some characteristics of art cinema • Handheld, moving camera • Jump cuts SELECTED FILMS • Alice Doesn’t Live Here Anymore (Scorsese • The Getaway (Peckinpah 1972) 1974) • The Godfather/The Godfather: Part II • Alice’s Restaurant (Penn 1969) (Coppola 1972/1974) • American Graffiti (Lucas 1974) • The Last Picture Show (Bogdanovich 1971) • Badlands (Malick 1974) • Little Big Man (Penn 1970) • Bonnie and Clyde (Penn 1967) • M*A*S*H (Altman 1970) • Boxcar Bertha (Scorsese 1972) • McCabe & Mrs. Miller (Altman 1971) • Carnal Knowledge (Nichols 1971) • Mean Streets (Scorsese 1973) • A Clockwork Orange (Kubrick 1971) • Nashville (Altman 1976) • The Conversation (Coppola 1974) • Play It Again, Sam (Allen 1972) • The Deer Hunter (Cimino 1978) • Straw Dogs (Peckinpah 1971) • Deliverance (Boorman 1972) • The Sugarland Express (Spielberg 1974) • Dog Day Afternoon (Lumet 1975) • Taxi Driver (Scorsese 1976) • Five Easy Pieces (Rafelson 1970) • Three Days of the Condor (Pollack 1975) • The French Connection (Friedkin 1971) • Zabriskie Point (Antonioni 1970) END OF AN ERA

• Films like Jaws (1975) and Star Wars (1977) ushering in blockbuster era, with studio desire for large profits generated by “tentpole” films with cross-marketing potential