New Hollywood
American New Wave
In the late 1960s the old studio system was collapsing, and in 1968 the censorship code gave way to a rating system. Studios therefore handed money to young directors who had grown up on European art cinema, and they made darker, freer American films.
Bonnie and Clyde (1967) and Easy Rider (1969) opened the door. However, the success of blockbusters such as Jaws and Star Wars, and the flop of Heaven's Gate (1980), gave power back to the studios.
- End of the Production Code
- Auteurs in Hollywood
- Film-school generation
- Counterculture
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01
Arthur Penn 1967
Bonnie and Clyde
Bonnie and Clyde
Two Depression-era robbers as romantic outlaws, with a famously violent ending.
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02
Dennis Hopper 1969
Easy Rider
Easy Rider
Two bikers cross the country, and the counterculture meets the America it rejected.
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03
Francis Ford Coppola 1974
The Conversation
The Conversation
A surveillance expert fears that a recording he made will lead to a murder.
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04
Roman Polanski 1974
Chinatown
Chinatown
A private detective in 1930s Los Angeles uncovers a plot over the city's water.
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05
John Cassavetes 1974
A Woman Under the Influence
A Woman Under the Influence
A housewife's breakdown and her family, made independently with Cassavetes's own money.
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06
Martin Scorsese 1976
Taxi Driver
Taxi Driver
Start hereA lonely veteran drives a cab through New York at night. Palme d'Or at Cannes.