This excellent documentary gives at least a nod to all of my favorite maverick American film directors of the 70s. Still, the end credits all but challenges us to name the filmmakers that were not included. I am curious to see if anybody can tell us who was overlooked. John Milius and Walter Hill are two writer/directors that just popped into my head. Anybody else?
shareDavid Lynch Did Eraserhead and they did spill over into the 80's with a few movies so you could argue Elephant man.
shareI didn't see Woody Allen, Steven Spielberg, or George Lucas credited.
shareIn this documentary, Spielberg and Lucas were actually credited as having ended "the decade under the influence" with the advent of their blockbusters _Jaws_ and _Star Wars_, respectively. Hollywood realized that they could make more money by appealing to the broadest possible tastes instead of leaving things up to the quirky instincts of maverick directors. But both directors had previously made their own more personal works -- _Sugarland Express_ (Spielberg); _American Graffiti_ and _THX-1138_ (Lucas) which are only mentioned in passing, if at all.
Woody, on the other hand, certainly deserved more mention. We might have seen a brief glimpse of a poster from one of his movies, but I don't remember it. Perhaps he was seen as a bit antithetical to the gritty realist definition given in the section on the New York style of filmmaking?
[deleted]
Good catch.
shareThe co writer of Annie Hall was interviewed and they showed some footage of Sleeper.
shareThe only forgotten filmmaker that I can come up with is George A. Romero. They said that the "film revolution" began in '67-68 and Night of the living dead came in 1968, so it's kinda weird that they forgot him. And about Woody, there was also a clip from Annie Hall. But anyway, great film, one of the best documentarys I've seen!
"Gimme some sugar, baby." -Ash
Carnal Knowledge was missing from important movies and I think The Last Detour was too.
share[deleted]
The big director missing was Norman Jewison. The films during that period were "In the Heat of the Night", "The Thomas Crown Affair", "Fiddler on the Roof" & ending with "...And Justice for All". And that's not even counting "Send Me No Flowers", "The Cincinnati Kid" & "The Russians Are Coming"!!!!!!! Not only that, one of the major directors listed was Hal Ashby. And Hal Ashby was his editor on "Cincinnati Kid", "In The Heat of the Night" & "The Thomas Crown Affair".
shareI dont think that you have seen all of this documentary if you are making claims that Woody Allen wasn't mentioned enough. They show about 60 seconds of Sleeper, where Woody is passing around the ball thing to all the other people and then not only that, they do about 3-4 minutes about Annie Hall, specifically the part where he and Annie are in the movie line talking, and then they go to what the man is talking about behind them, after which Woody starts to make fun of what the man behind him was talking about until the man stands up for himself, stating that he teaches a course in what he is talking about, at which point Woody brings out the author of what the guy is talking about how goes on to belittle what the man behind Woody has said, stating that he finds it impossible to believe that the man has a teaching position.
Yeah, Woody Allen isn't covered in complete depth, but neither is anyone else.
Good God people, where is Sam Peckinpah? He is the BIGGEST name that was completely left out of this documentary. How can anyone make a film about that era and not mention a guy of his size and influence? Tobe Hoopers Texas Chainsaw could of been mentioned, Franklin J Schaffler etc. but Sam Peckinpah is the real gem that is myseriously abscent from this film.
shareYup. The only nod was a split-second shot of a Straw Dogs poster in a montage.
--Foo "Ah, yes, there will be Snakes on a Plane!" Cornelius
Norman Jewison does not fit into the mould at all of the 70s filmmakers. Jewison just went from film to film without a particular style or voice. This documentary is mainly about the auteurs, the renegades that shook things up - Jewison was totally mainstream and the films you mentioned are all maintream. I'm not saying that necessarily those included are better directors than Jewison, but that's I'm sure why he wasn't there.
shareWas Stanley Kubrick mentioned at all?
shareWas Russ Meyer talked about? Beyond the Valley of the Dolls was made in 1970 and was a nice beginning for 70's cinema.
shareYea, I was surprised about Peckinpah and Carpenter missing. There is a deleted scene on the dvd about Peckinpah, but it really should have made the cut. And no Carpenter/Halloween. That film was one of the most successful independant films ever and totally changed the horror genre.
Maybe they wanted to end on the 70s movies that hurt the indie director, and Halloween was one of those rare exceptions from the end of the decade that did wonders for the indie.
"My drugs are red, white, and blue"
brian de palma? paul morrissey?
shareTwo films that were more important than half the ones mentioned was Romero's Night Of The Living Dead and Peeble's, Sweet Sweetback's Badasss Song. Which brings into the missing genres they didn't touch on horror and blaxploitation. Yes they talked about The Exorsist (Only one film) and they touched only slightly on Foxy Brown with Pam Grier. But common, these were very important films and genres. They went on about vietnam and race...hello night of the living dead and filmmakers doing it on there own and bucking the studios, can we say sweetback? Others missing that i think was needed was John Carpenter: Assault on Prescient 13, Helloween, etc. John Waters: Pink Flamingos. David Lynch: Eraserhead, Elephant Man. David Cronenberg: Shivers, Rabid, The Brood. Jack Hill, Alejandro Jodorowsky, Walter Hill, Death Wish, Vanishing Point, The Warriors, Dirty Marry Crazy Larry. etc. etc. But as i said already Night of The Living dead + Sweetback were the two biggies.
sharenot surpringly, with the exception of the exorcist, horror movies were not mentioned at all. the last house on left, texas chainsaw massacre, and many others. i would find that anything in the other movies would be considered farther outside of the realm of shaking up the mores of the time than these movies. that seemed to be kind of the theme of the whole thing but no mention of them. considering the time the amplification of violence in response to the images coming from vietnam has a massive influence on further cinema certainly more than the breaking of the fourth wall.
sharedid you see, that right before the end-credits start rolling, the filmmakers (of this documentary) apologize to the directors they didn't mention? i thought that was nice, actually.
honestly, I can't see what value lies in horror films, perhaps you could give me some reasons?
share