New Hollywood: How The 1970s Revolutionized Film Forever

 New Hollywood: How New Hollywood Revolutionized Film Forever

Ever heard of a little-known film, The Godfather. You might not know this one, but Jaws? How about a little old cult classic, Taxi Driver? Star Wars? Annie Hall? I could list 50 more right off the bat, but let me ask, what do these films have in common?

Drum roll, please...

Every single one of these films was released in the New Hollywood.

I know there's a select someone who's going to say: "I don't even know what New Hollywood is. This means nothing to me." Well, I'm glad I have the pleasure of telling you.

According to Wikipedia (the most reliable internet source ever), New Hollywood refers to a movement in American film history from the mid-1960s to the early 1980s, when a new generation of young filmmakers came to prominence in the United States. Basically, this was a time period defined by new, hip voices, voices that could relate to the young, rebellious crowd that was starting to brew up in the mid-1960s.

How did this New Hollywood start, though?

So, first things first, we have to understand the Paramount Case. So, basically, in 1948, the Supreme Court of the United States decided that the schemes that film studios were practicing happened to violate already-existing antitrust laws. Those schemes in question were major film studios owning their own theaters and making their own theaters show their own theaters. This essentially put an end to Old Hollywood and now studios were scrambling to make money.

At the time, Cinemascope, Technicolor, and 3-D were all starting to gain huge momentum. Studio executives saw this momentum and doubled down on all these new, fancy gizmos in their movies to try and retain audiences. It didn't work. Then, in 1965, The Sound of Music came out and was a smash-hit with audiences and critics, raking in $286.2 million and receiving 5 Academy Awards. Studio executives saw this momentum, again, and doubled down on the musical genre. It didn't work, again.

But then...

Studio executives saw a third momentum: foreign film and art film. You see, the young, rebellious crowd of the era happened to really enjoy foreign film like Spaghetti Westerns along with classic art film like the French New Wave. They really related to the artistic value and gritty nature of these films. Now, hundreds of expensive movie flops later, studio executives decided to invest less money and more creative control, starting with what many people consider the start of the era, Bonnie and Clyde (1967). It worked. It was made for only $2.5 million, grossed $70 million, and whilst it received scathing reviews at first due to its graphic violence and humor, but was later re-appraised and is now a classic of cinema. This is quite important.

So, what usually defines a New Hollywood film?

Well, films from New Hollywood stretch across all different kinds of genres, but believe it or not, there is a commonality between these films despite their genre stretch. These are:

• Many New Hollywood films take place in grimy settings. This was probably due to the stagflation that was rampant in the 1970s, coupled with the increase of crime and large population decrease of cities.
• New Hollywood "blockbusters" (e.g. Easy Rider, The Godfather, The Graduate) were much more character and story-driven than the "blockbusters" of today.
• Filmmaking of New Hollywood is often a blend of Old Hollywood along with foreign art cinema, rather than being a continuation of Old Hollywood techniques.

There are many, many other characteristics of the era, but the point is that times have really changed when talking about New Hollywood. It was simply like no other era of film to exist ever.

So what happened?

Well, in short form, it died down and resuscitated itself some time later. As cinema does. You see, the thing is that cinema works in waves. Like surfing. Sometimes, you get a big, large wave that you can surf and sometimes you get nothing. But you might ask, why? How did it end? There had to be some sort of trigger, some sort of low tide, something. Well, there was. That low tide being...

Jaws.

And Star Wars. And Heaven's Gate. And One From The Heart. And so on... Now, when I say Jaws, I don't mean Jaws was the end of good movies, as you might think. No, no. See, Jaws, whilst being a timeless classic, was also a blockbuster. A movie that could really appeal to anybody. The business plan was really genius here. See, Jaws' budget was $9 million. Not too high and not too low for the time or for Spielberg. However, Jaws grossed $475 million at the box office (adjusted to inflation for 2021, that's $2.38 billion)! That was way more than any of the arthouse films of the year. Studios tried this again with Star Wars. Star Wars grossed $775.8 million that year (adjusted to inflation for 2021, that's $3.47 billion).

But, what's this about Heaven's Gate and One From The Heart?

Heaven's Gate and One From The Heart really put the nail in the coffin for the era. These were two art films, released in 1980 and 1982, respectively. One From The Heart cost $26 million and grossed $636, 796. Now, that's a far cry from $775.8 million. However, Heaven's Gate is really the more interesting of the two. Heaven's Gate was made for a substantial $44 million, but only grossed $3.5 million. Again, that's a fry cry from $775.8 million. But it doesn't even stop there. Michael Cimino, the director of Heaven's Gate, created quite the scene during the production of the film, such as:

• Cimino changed the lock of the post-production room so that studio executives couldn't see the film until he submitted the final cut (Cimino disputes this claim).
• Cimino shot more 1.3 million feet worth of footage for the film (about 220 hours worth of film). This costed the studio about $200k in expenses.
• Cimino once delayed filming until a certain cloud that he liked rolled into the frame. This was only the first of such obsessive behavior, which earned him the nickname "the Ayatollah".

Long story short, New Hollywood died, blockbusters reigned supreme, and the 80s became thing.

So, what happens next?

Well, that's not to say that arthouse and character-driven film is dead or anything. Sure, we haven't necessarily gotten a New Hollywood-esque era, as of right now, but we did have the independent film movement. This started in the late 1980s and early 1990s and basically studios discovered that you can invest small amounts of money in a film and, not only with famous actors star in it, you make lots of money. That's what Pulp Fiction taught them, when it grossed $213.9 million on a $8-8.5 million budget. It might not be $775.8 million, but it was still a lot of money. Cinephiles were happy that they were getting an epic movie and studios were happy that they were making money. That continued until about the late 2000s, when the Great Recession hit and everything was dialed back to 0 again.

Nowadays, we're in an era where superhero movies dominate the block wherever you go. Of course, you have guys like Martin Scorsese speaking out against Marvel and the Marvel tentpole directors speaking out against guys like Martin Scorsese. You've got all this sweat and toil about race and gender with the whole Ghostbusters 2016 and Black Panther. And in the midst of that, you've got the cinephiles wondering again: what happens next? What happened to the once great cinema of the old days? Well...

To tell the truth, it hasn't exactly died. Despite what you may think. A24, a recent startup, invests small amounts of money in relatively unknown directors, focusing on art. On top of that, you also have the streaming services coming up with their own content that bigger-name directors have started to jump and produce films for (e.g. Roma, The Irishman, etc.) And on top of that, you have to look towards television. You can complain about movies all you want, but you have to admit that television is the best it's been in years. You've got shows like American Crime Story, Breaking Bad, The Sopranos, Twin Peaks (season 3) all coming up in more recent years. Not 1971. Not 1994. But NOW. And, honestly, I think it might just get a little better.

So, for all you cynical cinephiles out there groaning that cinema is dead (I've been guilty of this a few times) and soulless studio products are dominating the market, I get where you're coming from, but it could be worse. I can tell you that.

Source 1: New Hollywood- Wikipedia

Source 2: Heaven's Gate- Wikipedia