Hollywood was in tough shape in the 70's, it was not a golden age of film. Maybe it was your personal favorite time period for film, but students of film will all agree the 70's were a low point for the art of film.
Hollywood's last golden age was the 90's-all the action films and the great period pieces like Dances with Wolves, Last of the Mohicans, Braveheart, Legends of the Fall, Schindler's List. The economy was great in the 90's, people were happy, and America had a kind of optimism and innocence that would be gone on 9-11. Film makers were taking chances, there were no recessions-all movies were profitable, directors could do what they wanted to do, not forced to make movies based on demographics and market research of what would be profitable-it was the last decade before rated R, adult films became a rarity-now they are a thing of the past.
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chrisdaco2
14 years ago
It all depends on what part of the country you grew up in. I was born in '69 and grew up as a kid in the 70's early eighties in Southwest New Mexico. There was a lot of drug and alcohol abuse a lot of teenage girls getting pregnant. There were gangs but they weren't as well armed as they are now. I can remember two occasions when I was approached by some sketchy individuals who wanted me to know if I was lost or needed a ride home. I t wasn't traumatizing it was just something that happened, my parents told me there were 'bad people' in the world and to watch out for them. Out of all my friends only one or two came from a two parent household where the dad wasn't an alcoholic or just a mean old bastard. Cops treated us like crap so did old people, actually most adults were pretty mean if I remember correctly.
The thing is you don't think about it until years later when you finally have some perspective. Still, I wouldn't trade my childhood for anything, I loved most of it and my friends and I had some great times that we'll never have again.
The 70's had it's fair share of crappy movies of course so did the 80's and the 90's. Anyway now that I'm 40 I crave new original ideas that will hold my interest but it seems like there are no new ideas just the same stuff we've seen over and over wrapped up in a new flashier package. I swore I would never be like my parents and sit around bitching about how things were so much better way back when but I guess it's inevitable. Hopefully my kids will be able to say the same when they get to be my age.
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shoelace
14 years ago
to Mnfan
Absolutely wrong. Many film critics, writers and scholars consider the period, lets say 1967 (when Bonnie and Clyde came out)- 1976 (when Taxi Driver came out) to be Hollywood's second Golden Age. The first Golden Age is usually stated to start some time in the late 30's the the late 40's.
"Maybe it was your personal favorite time period for film, but students of film will all agree the 70's were a low point for the art of film."
see below:
http://www.filmsite.org/70sintro.html
To think 70's cinema as a low point in the art of film shows, to me that you have very little perspective or knowledge of that period of film. What students of film are you talking about? Movies then tend to have a more personal touch than the movies by committee feel of the 90's films you mentioned. Good Independent films of the 90's tend to be more like the 70's in that they also have a more personal touch to them. Don't mean to sound insulting but 90's films are certainly not a nadir, but they fall some where above most 80's and the decade in which we just finished.
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cormac_zoso
12 years ago
agreed on this being an accurate picture of the era ... especially in the craziness of competitive children's sports
having been on a terrible baseball team i'm thankful i was fortunate for the coaches i had who made us better ballplayers but weren't like the other maniacs we watched coaching the other teams ... for me the parents were the problem for my team during one particularly bad year when they really started bitching about us not winning, etc, but the coach was a rock and took good care of us ... had cookouts for us and always encouraged but never threatened or yelled or bullied ... we just weren't that good ... sometimes you get a group of kids that just aren't good ballplayers but still come out and give it their best ... fortunately we had a coach with sense ... it was bad enough watching the other kids get treated like that, i don't know what i'd done if i'd been on one of those toher teams ...
how far off is the hitting of the kid on the mound from his manager father? i saw more than one kid get smacked in the opposing teams dugout for an error and such ... no *beep* ... it was scary ... i saw parents smack their kids for the same things on the way to the car or heard the frightening 'wait til i get you home' ... jesus ... for kids of the last 20 years i'm sure these seem like lies but it was very very real ... now they don't even keep score on some levels of little league ... i'm not sure tho if that's the right way either but i suppose if you don't do that then coaches and parents will be getting nuts again ... the movie for me is a bit more of a frightening reminder of how lucky i got over the course of several levels of little league rather than being the outrageous comedy it is more known for
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