Links to the Hollywood movie collections for the periods covered in this section:
1960s 1970s 1960s & 1970s (All) 1960s & 1970s GEMs
Commentary:
This period, which is called the “New Hollywood” era (also referred to as the “American New Wave” or “Post-Classical Cinema”), marked the dramatically changing methods of storytelling in the movie industry. Around the middle of the twentieth century, “Old Hollywood” was losing favor with movie audiences, and the studios were unsure how to react to the much changed audience demographics. The dominant audience during this period had transitioned from a middle-aged, high school-educated, demographic to a younger, more affluent, college-educated demographic. This new audience found European and Japanese films more appealing, and Hollywood needed to adapt in a hurry to meet the changing tastes.
The desperation felt by the studios during this period of economic downturn led to more innovation and risk-taking. In an attempt to capture the younger audience which had found a connection to the “art films” of Europe, the studios hired a host of young directors and actors and allowed them to make their films with relatively little studio control. With this new model, the film director, rather than the studio, took on a key authorial role.
These new directors were often trained in film schools which taught novel filmmaking techniques developed in Europe, while the new entrants in the field of acting frequently subscribed to the “Method system”. The above changes led to a new style of realism in movies, along with non-traditional techniques such as scrambled chronology, “twist endings” and the traditional lines between protagonist and antagonist being blurred.
Among the “New Wave” directors who emerged during this period were Francis Ford Coppola, George Lucas, Martin Scorsese, Roman Polanski, Steven Spielberg, Sidney Lumet, Stanley Kramer and Stanley Kubrick, all of whom are now considered legends in the film industry. The movies they made (in the order of the directors listed) included The Godfather, Star Wars, Taxi Driver, Chinatown, Jaws, Network, Judgment at Nuremberg and 2001: A Space Odyssey.
While all the New Wave changes were happening, Alfred Hitchcock continued his traditional style of movie-making and made many successful thrillers such as Psycho, The Birds and Frenzy. His final film was Family Plot, a thoroughly respectable showing for a 77-year old veteran filmmaker at the end of his career.
The actors and actresses who established themselves in the 1960s and 1970s included:
- Anthony Hopkins, Christopher Plummer, Clint Eastwood, Donald Sutherland, Dustin Hoffman, Gene Hackman, George C. Scott, Jack Nicholson, Michael Caine, Paul Newman, Peter O’Toole, Peter Sellers, Richard Burton, Robert De Niro, Robert Redford, Sean Connery
- Barbra Streisand, Diane Keaton, Faye Dunaway, Goldie Hawn, Jane Fonda, Janet Leigh, Jennifer O’Neill, Julie Andrews, Sally Field, Shirley MacLaine, Susan Sarandon
Most of these performers continued their careers well beyond the 1970s, and some of them are active even today.
Reference: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/New_Hollywood