Blog #4 New Hollywood Style films and filmmakers

Choose a particular artist, director or producer associated with the “New Hollywood.”  Write an analysis of his or her contributions to cinema, including a consideration of later films or artists who have been influenced by your subject.

New Hollywood film making is also known as post classical film making and even sometimes called American New Wave filmmaking. This refers to the time period starting during the mid 1960’s and going until the early 1980’s. A new generation of filmmakers came to America, and influenced the new era of films. Their whole new way of producing a video, and the marketing that would come after has made a large impact in the way studios have made movies. The movies that were made did not come from independent filmmakers. They introduced styles that set them apart from studio traditions. The new style often relates to a broader type of film influenced by the time period, known as the “Hollywood Renaissance.” These New Hollywood films often featured anti-establishment political themes, use of sexually related freedoms, it often times contained rock music, and sometimes shows the use of drugs. http://www.google.com/search?hl=en&defl=en&q=define:New+Hollywood&sa=X&ei=YJ7gTNm4Loi0sAP5nPWGCw&ved=0CBMQkAE

One particular artist that I chose was Arthur Penn. He along with the star Warren Beatty, were in charge of directing the movie, Bonny and Clyde, though Arthur Penn did most of the decision making. In this movie, there were many controversial new techniques. It contains a large amount of clear and easy to see violence, sex, humor, and sexual humor. At the time that this movie was released, it was very popular among one group, the teenagers. Though the biggest audience was the youth, there were still many awards that were received such as an Academy Award for best supporting actress and best cinematography. The critics did not know how to take this movie, as it portrayed so much violence and the ending was a major shock. This caused some of the critics to hate it, and some of the critics to love it.

Another example of the Hollywood style that was used in this movie is the idea of no sadness for the random characters. Even though people are constantly dying, you do not feel bad for the people that are not considered the main characters. At the time, it was a major shock to the audience and the brutality made the audience feel like if they supported certain things, that they had no morals.

According to http://dvd.ign.com/articles/859/859823p1.html, there are many movies that have been inspired by Bonny and Clyde. Some of those consist of O Brother, Where art Though, Natural Born Killers, Midnight Run, and last but not least, Thelma and Louise. This movie was made many years later, in 1991 and had two female leads. It was directed by Ridley Scott and written by Callie Khouri. The film is about the women, Thelma and Louise, running from the law trying to get to Mexico. This is another example of the Hollywood filmmaking style. Even though it wasn’t really in the same era, you really only care about the main characters, as they committed crimes.

American Gangster http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0765429/ is another movie that was made by the producer Ridley Scott. Ridley Scott really tends to follow the ideas of Arthur Penn, as in the movie American Gangster, the main character is Denzel Washington playing Frank Lucas, and Russell Crowe, playing the detective that is trying to catch Denzel for heroin dealing. As much as you still like Russell Crowe, you still think that Denzel Washington is not worthy of getting in much trouble, as most of the police are the main antagonists.