New Wave Cinema in the US Towards Art Cinema

Table of Contents 1) American New Wave Cinema 2) New Hollywood and Independent Filmmaking 3) Realist or Formalist?

American New Wave Cinema 1. Recession in the film industry in the late 60s Costly flops of blockbuster films: Doctor Do Little (1967) and Star! (1968) Competition from TV networks ABC and CBS (stopped bidding for pictures and began the production of their own TV films) Movie attendance reduced from 2 to 1 billion a year: Annual loss of $200 million by 1969

American New Wave Cinema 2. Abandonment of the ‘Hayes’ Code ( ) Three pillars 1) Moral standard - no sympathy to crime and sin 2) Only ‘correct’ standard of life must be shown. 3) Law should not be ridiculed.

American New Wave Cinema What was not allowed to be shown - Nudity, ridiculing religion, illegal drug use, detailed description of criminal methods, utterance of foul language, realistic murdering, matrimonial unsanctity (adultery and illicit sex), homosexuality, miscegenation, lustful kissing Introduction of a new MPAA rating system; M (Mature), R (Restricted), and X (No one under 16 admitted) Abandonment of the Hayes Code - an attempt to differentiate movies from TV films and moral cultural changes in the 1960s

American New Wave Cinema 3. Influence of European and other non- American cinema - French Nouvelle vague - Italian, Swedish and Japanese film

The Other Cinema Federico Fellini’s La Dolce Vita (1960), 8 1/2 (1963) New and liberated attitudes to sexuality in cinema Totally unconventional narrative and imaginative visual styles

The Other Cinema Akira Kurosawa Yojinbo (1961), Sanjuro (1962) New possibility of action and entertainment films Fresh approaches to film making

The Other Cinema Ingmar Bergman, The Silence (1963), Persona (1966) Ultimate art cinema Visualization of inner psyche: explicit rendition of desire and guilt

The Other Cinema François Truffaut, Jules et Jim (1962) Ultimate youth film; youthful, playful and amoral Love’s triangle in fresh and pop visual style

The Other Cinema Michelangelo Antonioni’s Blow-up (1966) Baffled and shocked the American viewer with ambiguous and oblique narrative, full frontal nudity and erotic camera work

American New Wave Cinema NEW LATITUDE led to: Expressive freedom (in low budget films) Pursuit of alternative realistic and formalistic possibilities * Film realism - location shooting, narrative with more reality and truth effects, more faithful reflection of the society * Film formalism - more experimental filmmaking without restrain of conventional film realism

American New Wave Cinema Arthur Penn’s Bonnie and Clyde (1967) ‘They are young … they are in love.’ Pushing the standards of acceptability as far as possible

American New Wave Cinema Challenge movie taboos - sexuality and violence Direct and indirect influence of Nouvelle Vague films: Truffaut’s contribution to the script; rapid, sudden shifts of tone; choppy editing

American New Wave Cinema The Graduate (1967) - Mike Nichols’ low budget film on a university graduate, who has no definite aim, is seduced by an older woman and falls in love with her daughter.

American New Wave Cinema Realist elements Location shooting (USC, UC Berkeley, Ambassador Hotel, United Methodist Church LaVerne and Beverly Hills)

American New Wave Cinema Self-conscious use of film techniques - foregrounding aesthetic elements Deep focus composition; subliminal effects; ‘running-in-place’; the new use of music - folk-rock music by Simon and Garfunkel Mrs. Robinson and the ending scenethe ending scene

American New Wave Youth Film Phenomenal successes of Bonnie and Clyde (Arthur Penn, 1967) and The Graduate (Mike Nichols, 1967) Studios launched a serious of ‘youthpic’, youth rebellion and counter-culture: campus rebellion and unorthodox lifestyles

American New Wave Cinema Dennis Hopper’s Easy Rider (1969) – Ultimate ‘youth film’ reflecting the cultural and social situation and the mood of the 60s Jack Nicholson Born to Be WildJack NicholsonBorn to Be Wild

American New Wave Cinema The disillusionment with everything; hippie and the Beat movement – search for alternative culture, religion and values; motorbike, and drug subculture; youth culture - rock music

American New Wave Cinema Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid (1969) - a revisionist Western film by George Roy Hill about two outlaws and their friendship and camaraderie. Moral ambiguity – utterly lovable criminals and thieves. Sexual liberation – unconventional love relationship

American New Wave Cinema Film style heavily influenced by Nouvelle vague Pop, spontaneous, casual Music of Burt Bachrack’s nostalgic music score Bicycle

Compare this to François Truffaut’s nouvelle vague film, Jules et Jim (1962)

American New Wave Cinema Wild Bunch (1969) - Sam Pekinpah’s Western film about an aging outlaw trying to survive the modern world in the Texas-Mexican borders

American New Wave Cinema Controversial in the representation of violence and the portrayal of cruel and violent men. Technical expertise in multi-angle editing, rapid cutting and slow-motion photography Final shootout

American New Wave Cinema M*A*S*H (1970) - a satirical comedy on war (the Korean and Vietnamese Wars) Anti-establishment humour, episodic narrative and editing, overlapping conversations and sudden zooms

New Hollywood and Independent Directors Arthur Penn ( ) Mike Nichols ( ) Heavily influenced by German Jew, who moved to Nouvelle vague, the movies from the stage, the maker of The maker of The Graduate of Bonnie and Clyde

New Hollywood and Independent Directors John Schlesinger ( ) Peter Bogdanovich British filmmaker from ( ), Serbian television, Midnight Cow- Jew, nouvelle vague boy (1969) Paper Moon (1973)

New Hollywood and Independent Directors Francis Ford Coppola Martin Scorsese ( ) ( ) Italian American, Italian American, graduate graduate of UCLA film of UNY film school, Taxi school, The Conversation Driver (1975) (1975)

New Hollywood and Independent Directors George Lucas ( ) USC Steven Spielberg ( ) film school graduate, film Attended CSU, Long Beach buff, American Graffiti after failing to enter UCLA (1973) three times, The Sugarland Express (1974)

The End of New Wave Era The success of Star Wars (1977) and Close Encounters of the Third Kind (1977) revived Hollywood blockbuster films The success of Superman (1978) revived the Hollywood tradition of sequels and remakes

The End of New Wave Era High concept cinema With concentration on tie-in merchandise (toys) With spin-offs into other media (books, magazines, television and later video) With the use of sequels Cinema is commercialized again Reflecting economy rather than personal visions of filmmakers

Styles in American New Wave Cinema More freedom in filmmaking Renovation of genres DIVERSE STYLES: more formalist and more experimental Self-conscious stylists Personal films