The Story of Film : Episode 9

The Story of Film – American Cinema of the 70s

1967-1979: New American Cinema.

• Duck Soup (1933) dir. Leo McCarey
• Artists and Models (1955) dir. Frank Tashlin
  • • Looked like a cartoon
    • The colors were meant to make the film seem fake
    • “In order to be funny, you need to think sad first”
• Catch-22 (1970) dir. Mike Nichols
• Mash (1970) dir. Robert Altman
  • • mics all actors then overlaps audio
• The Graduate (1967) dir. Mike Nichols
  • • glamorous style, fitting with the theme of the movie
• The Fireman’s Ball (1967) (introduced in Episode 8) dir. Miloš Forman
• One Flew over the Cuckoo’s Nest (1975) dir. Miloš Forman
  • • naturalistic light
• The Last Movie (1971) dir. Dennis Hopper
  • • challenged “normal” film style
• McCabe & Mrs. Miller (1971) dir. Robert Altman
  • • just as radical as Hopper
    • long lens
    • no heroes in the films
    • visual uncertainty
• The Conversation (1974) dir. Francis Ford Coppola
  • • about new type of sound equipment
    • the character can’t see other people, but director shows the characters
• Mean Streets (1973) dir. Martin Scorsese
  • • tracking camera
• Taxi Driver (1976) (introduced in Episode 1) dir. Martin Scorsese
  • • showed raw emotion
• Chikamatsu Monogatari (1954) (introduced in Episode 3) dir. Kenji Mizoguchi
  • • did not show raw emotion
• Raging Bull (1980) (introduced in Episode 5) dir. Martin Scorsese
  • • flat light, long lens
    • wide angle lens
    • fast zoom ins
    • black and white film
• Italianamerican (1974) dir. Martin Scorsese
• American Gigolo (1980) (introduced in Episode 7) dir. Paul Schrader
  • • red light setting
• Light Sleeper (1992) dir. Paul Schrader
  • • blue light setting
    • finds grace through women
• Pickpocket (1959) (introduced in Episode 7) dir. Robert Bresson
• The Walker (2007) dir. Paul Schrader
• The Birth of a Nation (1915) (introduced in Episode 1) dir. D. W. Griffith
• Killer of Sheep (1978) dir. Charles Burnett
  • • Kid’s POV
    • filmed in black and white
    • used black music to add effect
• The Shop Around the Corner (1940) dir. Ernst Lubitsch
• Annie Hall (1977) dir. Woody Allen
  • • single shot scene, no cuts
• City Lights (1931) (introduced in Episode 2) dir. Charlie Chaplin
• Manhattan (1979) dir. Woody Allen
  • • wide screen images
• The Last Picture Show (1971) dir. Peter Bogdanovich
  • • filmed in black and white
• The Wild Bunch (1969) dir. Sam Peckinpah
  • • had character shoot mirror, demonstrating how he couldn’t face himself
• Pat Garrett and Billy the Kid (1973) dir. Sam Peckinpah
• Badlands (1973) dir. Terrence Malick
  • • scene was reversed
• Days of Heaven (1978) dir. Terrence Malick
  • • films wind, the way it moves other objects
• Mirror (1975) (introduced in Episode 8) dir. Andrei Tarkovsky
• Cabaret (1972) dir. Bob Fosse
  • • mix new style with old style
    • shot in closeups
• The Godfather (1972) (introduced in Episode 6) dir. Francis Ford Coppola
  • • dark style film
    • no long lens, no helicopter shots
    • minimal movements for actors
• Chinatown (1974) dir. Roman Polanski
  • • old Hollywood style
    • wide angle
• The Maltese Falcon (1941) (introduced in Episode 2) dir. John Huston
• Jules et Jim (1962) dir. François Truffaut