The History and Lasting Impact of the New Hollywood Era

The New Hollywood Era is truly one of the greatest movements in cinema history. It was absolutely able to break new ground in terms of truly and honestly reflecting American life in film without being artificial when it comes to tackling serious subjects. Additionally, it gave birth to filmmakers like directors, cinematographers, editors, among others who took art seriously as a way to combat studio interference. The political correctness that was ubiquitous in the studio controlled Golden Age of Hollywood was eschewed by studios to let the new crop of filmmakers do what they want to do for the sake of maintaining creative control. The New Hollywood Era will always be a watershed movement in cinema as a result of its rebellious and subversive nature on filmmaking.

After years of success, the studio system era that ran from the silent era to the 1960's was collapsing because of factors like weak box office returns, the popularity of television, along with censorship. Speaking of censorship, the Motion Picture Production Code, which was enforced in 1934 by Joseph Breen, Daniel Day-Lord and Martin Quigley, ruled Hollywood in order to restore Moral Integrity in film after years of the Pre-Code's domination on the industry. The Code made sure that there were rules enforced like never spewing out curse words, no overt sexuality or glorification of adventurous subject matter whatsoever. In addition, the Code wanted to cater to families which explains why there was so much censorship in the films that were being made, no matter what the genre was, whether it was Westerns or even Action. There were two films that were made in the late 1950s and early 1960s that were released without any Code approval only to foreshadow the end of the Code in the process. The films were Billy Wilder's Some Like It Hot (1959) and Alfred Hitchcock's Psycho (1960). These films were released without the Code's permission as a result of going pass the censors. Some Like it Hot had depictions of men dressing up as women along with cleavage. Psycho showed some skin, had showers, violence, men and women sleeping together among other objections that the Code did not approve of. The success of these two films showed that audiences wanted artistic integrity in their entertainment only to show the beginning of the end of the Code.

Jack Valenti got tired of the Motion Picture Production Code's outdated rules and censorship, so he wanted to make sure that the Code was on its way out forever. Valenti enforced the Motion Picture Association of America Ratings Board to do away with the now out of touch Code by issuing rating systems that still continue to this day like R ratings, PG, PG-13, X, etc. Now that he issued the ratings board, Valenti began to touch upon subject matter that the Code either ignored or added a little bit of in the Golden Age of Hollywood. He was able to touch upon issues like sex, nudity, violence, drug use along with profanity thus forcing studios to finally relinquish and obliterate the Code for good. Studios had to abide by the lack of censorship due to Valenti's mission to bring reality to film thus setting the stage for the New Hollywood Era.

Another person who set the stage for the era is the legendary Roger Corman. Corman was the founder of American International Pictures and New World Pictures. He specialized in small-budget, exploitation type films that had all sorts of immoral content that will influence the New Hollywood Era. Similarly, Corman and some of the movies of the era have exploitative elements in the material depending on the amount of lewd content that was shown.  However, there are some tough and artistic movies in the Era that were made in contrast to the turn your brain off mentality of Corman's exploitation movies. Corman's film the Wild Angels (1966), which starred two young actors who will later be famous named Peter Fonda and Jack Nicholson (Dennis Hopper's Easy Rider 1969), went against the previous era due to its heavy amount of sex, language and violence. By the way, many of the directors of the New Hollywood Era got their start in the industry making movies with Corman. Corman showed them the ropes due to his valuable friendship and mentorship.

Due to Valenti and Corman, many filmmakers of the New Hollywood Era began to make their mark on the industry as far as impact was concerned. It included editors like Dede Allen (The Breakfast Club, Bonnie and Clyde), Marcia Lucas (ex-wife of George Lucas) and Verna Fields Jaws (1975). Cinematographers like Michael Chapman (Martin Scorsese's Taxi Driver 1976 and Raging Bull 1980) and Vilmos Zsigmond (Steven Spielberg's Close Encounters of the Third Kind (1977), Robert Altman's McCabe and Mrs. Miller (1971), and Michael Cimino's The Deer Hunter 1978) made their mark.  Directors Peter Bogdanovich (Paper Moon (1973), The Last Picture Show 1971), Martin Scorsese (Goodfellas (1990), The Age of Innocence 1993), and Francis Ford Coppola (The Godfather Films, Apocalypse Now 1979) also defined the era. These filmmakers broke away from the studio system mentality of the Golden Age of Hollywood thus making the type of films that they wanted to make as auteurs. The characteristics of these filmmakers include eschewing traditional narrative structures in favor of more unconventional structures. In addition, endings lacked resolution thus focusing more on allowing viewers to interpret endings for themselves. There were classical Hollywood influences and European/Asian influences in filmmaking. Real locations as opposed to studio sets were used for filming due to making viewers feel like they are living in the real world. The primary audience for the New Hollywood Era was the youth market. The filmmakers wanted the youth to relate to the same troubles that the characters in the films were going through. 

The films that were being made in the era definitely went against the conventional Hollywood mentality of making hits. The New Hollywood films still made money at the box office. However, the films themselves were first and foremost considered to be made as art films that were not for the faint of heart. The three films that started the New Hollywood Era were made in the mid-late 1960s. They were Arthur Penn's Bonnie and Clyde (1967), Mike Nichols's The Graduate (1967) (Nichols won the Best Director Oscar for the Graduate) and Dennis Hopper's Easy Rider (1969). The success of these films was so impactful in Hollywood that they ended up ushering in the Era due to the fact that they had elements like anti-heroes, sexual discovery, rock music etc. The aforementioned elements struck a real chord with the youth to where these films and others were highly successful in the box office. More and more films of the New Hollywood were being made. They had the continued elements, and they include classics like The Godfather films, Taxi Driver, Raging Bull, The Deer Hunter, Terrence Malick's Badlands (1973), Mean Streets (1973), Hal Ashby's The Last Detail (1973), Alice Doesn't Live Here Anywhere (1974) (also by Martin Scorsese and Ellen Burstyn won the Oscar for Best Actress for this film) etc. As usual, these films were critically and commercially successful and won Oscars as well. The era was impactful on the industry proving that audiences appreciate films that tell the truth with great storytelling galore.  

There was another change that was going on in the midst of the New Hollywood and it was the birth of the summer Blockbuster. Legendary directors like Steven Spielberg and George Lucas were still contributors of the New Hollywood. However, they were also instigating the Blockbuster era that still continues to this day thus foreshadowing the end of the era. Speaking of ending the era, after the huge and monumental success of the Oscar Winner for Best Picture the Deer Hunter, Michael Cimino unfortunately ruined the New Hollywood by making the flop known as Heaven's Gate. The financial failure of Heaven's Gate made studios realize that it is up to them to dictate how movies are made. They ended up getting rid of the auteur-minded New Hollywood era in order to focus on making more blockbusters. As a result, they got back to the mentality of telling directors what to do with making movies in the process. Despite the fact that the New Hollywood Era ended as a result of the failure of Heaven's Gate and the beginning of the Blockbuster with movies like Steven Spielberg's Jaws and George Lucas's Star Wars (1977), the era still remains a boundary breaking movement to this day. The era has influenced the Italian movement called Poliziotteschi. Poliziotteschi deals with vigilantism and violence in Italy and tough working-class loners who operate outside corrupt and bureaucratic systems. It has also influenced the era called the American Eccentric Cinema which was about dealing with characters that embrace their individual selves and have concerns that are distinctive to their own personalities in the process. It has also influenced the French film movement called Cinema du Look. Cinema du Look focused on attributes like focusing on young, alienated characters, having a gorgeous and beautiful visual style, doomed love, a pessimistic view of the police, among other attributes. The fact that the New Hollywood Era still remains influential to this day exemplifies its staying power among cinephiles, filmmakers etc. 

Studying the new Hollywood Era has made me realize the importance of increasing my knowledge of film because it paved the way for filmmakers today to go against the grain. It inspired others to make films that speak the truth about human nature without any type of hyperbole whatsoever. I challenge cinephiles to study this era as a way to know where modern cinema comes from. If it was not for the new Hollywood era then there will be no Quentin Tarantino, Greta Gerwig, Wes Anderson, Paul Thomas Anderson, David Fincher among others. Some of the aforementioned filmmakers like Wes Anderson along with David Fincher come from the American Eccentric Cinema which was inspired by the New Hollywood. As much as I like the New Hollywood Era, I must say that some of the movies have disturbing content that come against my Christian faith. My faith means a lot to me, so I remain selective about this era in the process. Nevertheless, the New Hollywood Era will always be appreciated and adored by me. I will continue to study it for the rest of my life, and other cinephiles need to study it for themselves in order to grow in knowledge for the better at all times. God bless.