There have always been and always will be auteurs in American film, if one considers the Hitchcocks and the Paul Thomas Andersons, but never in such abundance as there were in the 1970s. In both Hollywood and the world of independent horror films, directors in the seventies were experimenting with form and producing immensely creative work. And it was not just the talent of individual artists that made this possible, but also the context of the time. The relative failure of Hollywood movies a decade before had caused the young generation to look to foreign films as a source of artistic inspiration, giving the directors a new filmmaking style to emulate. At the same time, America was in the midst of a great deal of political and social change which provided the directors with compelling, pertinent subject matter to which they could apply their new techniques. This combination of individual gifts with historic events and ... Read >

There have always been and always will be auteurs in American film, if one considers the Hitchcocks and the Paul Thomas Andersons, but never in such abundance as there were in the 1970s. In both Hollywood and the world of independent horror films, directors in the seventies were experimenting with form and producing immensely creative work. And it was not just the talent of individual artists that made this possible, but also the context of the time. The relative failure of Hollywood movies a decade before had caused the young generation to look to foreign films as a source of artistic inspiration, giving the directors a new filmmaking style to emulate. At the same time, America was in the midst of a great deal of political and social change which provided the directors with compelling, pertinent subject matter to which they could apply their new techniques. This combination of individual gifts with historic events and influences led to the auteur movement. But the films came out of such a specific social and cinematic climate that it is improbable that anything similar will happen again. The period represented a filmmaking renaissance in America, one that will be studied and appreciated by future generations, but most likely never equaled. Show Less <