American Cinema in the 1970s
Culturally, this decade was said to consist of two distinct eras— the dividing line falling shortly after the mid-decade.
The earlier 1970s–dominated by the unending war in Vietnam and the Watergate scandals–represent a continuation of the sensibility of the late 1960s.
Most film historians point to Star Wars (1977) as the beginning of a new epoch in American filmmaking, characterized by a nostalgic longing for the simplicities of bygone days.
The Vietnam/Watergate Era
It was a pessimistic period, steeped in cynicism and paranoia. Watergate conspiracy resulted in public confidence in politicians at an all -time low–inspired films of paranoia and disillusionment: The Conversation, All the President’s Men. Virtually every American institution was subjected to skeptical scrutiny and rejected as corrupt and corrupting: marriage and the family, authority, the success ethic, politics, government, the military, patriotism, the police, capitalism. For the first time in American film history, movies w. downbeat themes became the rule rather than the exception. Important films emphasized violence, racial and sexual conflicts, and the moral bankruptcy of public institutions.
Key films: Five Easy Pieces, The French Connection, The Godfather, The Conversation, Nashville
Vietnam:
Despite promises of ending the conflict, Nixon escalated the war by invading Cambodia. America’s college campuses were convulsed with violent protests. At Kent State University, National Guardsmen opened fire on jeering demonstrators, killing some students and maiming others. It was not until 1975 that the U.S. managed to withdraw from the most unpopular war of its history. 58, 000 Americans were killed.
Examples: Apocalypse Now, the Deer Hunter
Clip: The Deer Hunter
Civil Rights:
By 1970, early idealism had died due to assassination of leader King in 1968 (along with Robert Kennedy), so from nonviolence to militancy. The social gains of the previous decade were slowly eroded by the economic recession that hit the U.S. in early 1970s, and stayed on–along with raging inflation–for the remainder of the decade. Blacks had been the last to be hired; they were also the first to be fired. Rage of impoverished blacks vs. ‟the Man” the rich, powerful Whites
Blaxploitation Picture:
Melvin Van Peebles’ Sweet Sweetback’s Baadass Song (1971). He dedicated the movie to ‟All the Brothers and Sisters who have had enough of The Man” rated ‟X” by an all-white jury. Shaft, Superfly followed–urban melodramas and detective thrillers reflecting the new black militancy. Made by all Black crews. Blacks portrayed as cool and stylish, but also violent, employed in illegal professions, and as blatantly racist as their white counterparts. (movement died by 1975).
Clip: Sweet Sweetback’s Baadass Song (1971)
Disaster Films
Irony of advent of DISASTER FILMS: Airport in 1970, with sequels, then Poseidon Adventure (1973), Towering Inferno, Earthquake with stars of 1950s (Ernest Borgnine, Stella Stevens, Burt Lancaster, Shelley Winters, etc.), suggesting the idea that if studios could spend the millions necessary to make a film about the destruction of everything, than the American economy must be ‛okay.’
WATCH: Airport trailer
WATCH: Poseidon Adventure trailer
The Poseidon Adventure trailer – CC
WATCH: Towering Inferno trailer
New Filmmakers
New filmmakers preferred loose, episodic structures. More personal. Endings often unpredictable and inconclusive, not neatly resolved to give a sense of closure to the dramatic materials. Life goes on, even after the final fade-out. And always possibility of a sequel. Filmmakers tended to be more interested in exploring the complexities of character vs. the intricacies of plot. Good many films employed variation of the ‛Grand Hotel’ formula (from 1932 film) involving a central location in which a collection of otherwise disparate characters is thrown together for a limited pd. of time. Major emphasis on the interrelationships among the characters: American Grafitti, Altman’s films like Nashville’ WE CAN ONLY DEPEND ON EACH OTHER.
Because Families in Crisis
Clip: Texas Chainsaw Massacre
With rise of feminist movement, escalation in violence against women in films and increase in ‛buddy films’ about male friendship without women (Butch Cassidy/Sundance Kid, Midnight Cowboy, The Sting).
Women:
If they were not relegated to the periphery of the story, they were often ignored entirely. Only powerful box office was Streisand.
Feminist critics complained that females in American films portrayed as primarily sexual playthings for the boys. Women were accorded no serious treatment outside the erotic realm. It was not a good period for love stories, and sexual scenes were rarely romantic.
Due to loosening of censorship and first amendment protection, by 1972, more than 700 theaters in the U.S. exhibiting hard-core porn.
The Growing stridency of feminism seems to correlate with increasing brutalization of women in films. Violence versus women common.
Even when treatment sympathetic, Cassavetes Woman, Scorsese’s Alice–the heroines are usually portrayed as helpless victims, incapable of taking control over their own lives without the help of a man.
–sit re: women began to change mid-decade, by 1977 five of Best Pic nominees dealt w. women–Annie Hall, Goodbye Girl, Julia, Turning Point, Star Wars with strong Princess Leia
Men
Masculinization of American movies coincided with the rise of the feminist movement—
Dozens of BUDDY FILMS –in which men find without women, or as occasional distractions: One of the most pop genres of this time–and offshoot of the action picture, emphasizing the camaraderie between two adventurous males. Genre is anti-domestic and usually excludes important female characters. One critic called them love stories between men, though usually they contain no homoerotic scenes. The love is fraternal versus sexual: Butch Cassidy, Midnight Cowboy, Sting, Scarecrow, Thunderbolt and Lightfoot, Deliverance, Husbands.
Clip – Midnight Cowboy.
Continuation of 60s anti-heroes often alienated drifters without purpose: ‟I move around a lot,” says the Jack Nicholson character in Five Easy Pieces. ‟Not because I’m looking for anything really. But because I’m getting away from things that get bad if I stay.”
Even those protagonists who do have a set of values and a sense of purpose are often at odds with their environment, which is portrayed as contemptuous or indifferent to their code of honor.
Modern icon Clint Eastwood—Drawing on the popularity of his violent ‟Man with No Name” characters in Italian Westerns, Dirty Harry (1971) became the epitome of the anti-hero, emphasizing the vigilante proclivity for violence, and a profound sense of alienation. There is a touch of majesty in his solitude, his implacable single-mindedness, and his private code of honor–so often at odds with the corrupt values surrounding him. A silent, solitary man with a gun is his image.
WATCH: Dirty Harry clip
WATCH: Death Wish clip
WATCH: Taxi Driver trailer