I will be studying the American New Wave from 1967 through to 1970. I will be focusing my research around on Arthur Penn's 1967 film Bonnie and Clyde, John Schlesingers's 1969 film Midnight Cowboy and finally Dennis Hoppers 1969 film Easy Rider. I have chosen these films in particular as they were so important in the change of American cinema, each offering a very new, fresh and interesting style of narrative. I will be looking at the social conditions of the production of the film and study its cultural impact.
New Wave cinema was first introduced when a group of French film makers (La Nouvelle Vague) decided that they were to make films in a way that was different to what anyone had seen before. They did this by cutting in ways nobody had seen before and by filming on location rather than using a set. The term new wave has been defined as “a movement in which a group of people introduce new styles or ideas in art, music, politics, etc.”(1). In reference to film this allowed filmmakers to do things that had never been seen before and allowed them to include a more creative and exploratory narrative.
The American New Wave, just like The French New Wave, was promoting change in world cinema. The first new wave in America was introduced throughout the 50’s where films concentrated on including realism and a truthful depiction of American Society (2). Later on in the 60’s American new wave cinema continued to thrive and was dubbed “The New Hollywood Generation”, the films made during this period were representative of a counter culture and an aesthetic influenced by the French new wave (3).
1960’s in America was a time where a sub culture was to be born, the hippy movement involved a variety of social concerns and beliefs, they believed that life was all about being happy and if something felt good, then you should go ahead and do it (4). Hippies also rejected large and established institutions, “calling them ‘the establishment’, ‘big brother’, and ‘The Man’ hippies believed the dominant mainstream culture was corrupt and inherently flawed and sought to replace it in utopian society.”(5).
Easy Rider, directed by Dennis Hopper is a film crucial to the American new wave of the 1960’s. Friends Wyatt and Billy travel across America in search of the spiritual truth, throughout the film they experience issues and hatred from many people in small towns across America, they also meet other traveler’s in search of an Alternative lifestyles. However Billy and Wyatt never find what they are looking for and are tragically killed off at the end of the film.
Dennis Hoppers ‘Easy Rider’ fits perfectly in with the sub-culture created with the hippy movement both with the narrative and the overall production of the text, the film goes against the rules of film that were in place at the time as instead of filming in a Hollywood studio, they were filming on location, taking drugs and constantly changing environments. By doing this it therefore rejected the large institution of Hollywood, just like the hippies moved away from the established institutions.
Protagonists Billy and Wyatt are seen throughout the text smoking dope. One key point of the text where the characters are seen smoking dope is the sequence that takes place between 54:27-01.00. Here Wyatt is seen encouraging character George to smoke marijuana rather than drink alcohol, without much persuasion George eventually gives in and begins to smoke joining in with the ‘hippy lifestyle’. Georges lack of will power to say no to smoking dope is very symbolic of the time.
Billy then spots a UFO in the sky which leads George onto talking about other societies in our solar system, he say’s “They’re people just like us within our own solar system, except their society is much more highly evolved, I mean they don't have no wars, they have no monetary systems, they don't have any leaders” Here, what George is talking about is exactly what the hippy movement of the 1960’s represented, “Hippies rejected middle class values, opposed nuclear weapons and the Vietnam war.” (6). George talks about a society with no wars or violence and a society where leaders are not needed as people are able to lead themselves. Dennis Hopper uses this sequence as a way of representing key social and institutional factors of the time, including the idea that the hippy movement involved peace and harmony to the people of America at the time.
The LSD scene at the end of the film Easy Rider involves a dreamlike, mad and surreal state which is created through clever editing. A mid-shot is used and it doesn't cut until after the characters have all taken LSD, once the drug has been taken the scene descends into madness, quick cuts between characters and and camera shots such as close ups long shots and some hand held camera work helps to reflect the madness and ensures that the audience are hypnotised by the visuals. (21) - Easy Rider
The counter culture of the time was represented significantly within the film Easy Rider through the mise en scene of the film. Characters drug taking and the way they looked was a reflection of the youth of the time. Prior to this film being made counter culture figures, if depicted cinematically at all, were side characters and or villains, never protagonists, and young people in general were portrayed like the squares in the beach part movies. Easy Rider spoke to a segment of society that felt marginalised by the Establishment, a segment that had been rarely reflected in movies. (20)
Dennis Hopper was one of the directors of the American new wave that wanted to change the way films were made traditionally and this is exactly what he did with Easy Rider. In the documentary ‘Easy Rider Raging Bulls’ Hopper say’s “I didn't really like American films, I didn't like what was being done with most American films at the time”(7). This was the attitude of most directors at the time as they wanted to do something different, something that would be of interest to the people. Peter Bogdanovich says in ‘Easy Rider Raging Bulls’ “The studio system essentially collapsed, by 63 it was over and nobody knew what the hell to do”(8). This could be considered the start of American new wave cinema, due to the studio system of Hollywood failing and as Paul Shcrader asay’s in the documentary ‘Easy Rider Raging Bulls’ “There big old films weren't making any money” so therefore something had to change.
The film itself impacted a large American audience at the time, Easy Rider due to its extensive drug use involved within the film, which involved characters smoking marijuana and taking LSD. Despite the hippy movement of the 1960’s drug’s were still considered a ‘taboo topic’, in the book ‘Easy Rider - York Film notes’ it writes "An alarmed reaction was merited. Not because acid meant madness and breakdown, but because the underground pleasures of it and other drugs broke a major taboo” (9).
The ‘Easy Rider - York Film notes’ also writes "Many more like Billy and Wyatt made cannabis a more comfortable part of their way of life; dope as an enhancement of everyday living, not a pathway to nirvana. The smoking scenes in Easy rider provide some of its happiest moments.” (10). Even though the hippy movement of the 1960’s was in full swing, people after watching the film began smoking dope just like Billy and Wyatt and incorporating it into everyday life, in a way Easy Rider helped to accelerate the whole hippy movement .
Another film that was crucial to the new wave of American cinema was Arthur Penn’s 1967 film ‘Bonnie and Clyde’ the tale of bank robber Clyde who befriends waitress Bonnie Parker as he is stealing her mothers car. The pair go on to rob banks and embark on criminal activity together before they both meet a tragic end and are shot to death in a violent and faced pace ending sequence.
Bonnie and Clyde was released in 1967 and was therefore released whilst the Vietnam war was in full flow, it was the first war to be televised and so violence was becoming more and more of an everyday occurrence for American people. The war in Vietnam clearly had something to do with this, but other things such as The Civil Rights movement and the disillusionment of the Baby Boomer generation did too (11). Bonnie and Clyde when it was released was just another reminder of the violence that was current of the time in the 1960’s.
Other reasons that contributed to the controversy of Bonnie and Clyde being released were the assassinations of Martin Luther King and Bobby Kennedy, so at that point in time it was a serious point of violence and disruption in the states (16). Critic of the New York Times Bosely Crowther attacked the acting, direction and the script on 14th of August saying “This blending of farce with brutal killings is a s pointless as it is lacking in taste, since it makes no valid commentary on the already travestied truth. And it leaves an astonished critic wondering just what purpose Mr Penn and Mr Beatty think they serve with this strangely antique sentimental claptrap.” (17).
Bonnie and Clyde introduced extreme and graphic violence into the world of cinema, and is something that has stayed around to still be a huge part of cinema today. Initially the movie received negative reviews as people were outraged over the gratuitous violence but now is commonly shown unedited on American television. Bonnie and Clyde was a groundbreaking film, and one of the most important films in American history (12).
One specific sequence in the film Bonnie and Clyde that represents the new found violence director Arthur Penn was promoting is the ending sequence where Bonnie Parker and Clyde Barrow are gunned down. The 2 characters are on the way to their safe house where they are tragically ambushed, the pair are shot repeatedly as blood soaks the clothing of Bonnie whilst bullets are ripping through her. Fast cuts between the gunmen and the 2 protagonists making for an fast paced, exciting and very violent ending. The camera then shows the pair both lying motionless. This sequence was revolutionary to American cinema at the time, the scene was the first time in which movie technicians learnt that blood, puffs of smoke and clothes ripping were the way bullets worked. Before 1967 getting shot in film was a more or less a tidy event, now because of Bonnie and Clyde’s ending sequence sachets of blood and small powder charges sewn into clothes of the actors would become part of films resources (13).
Although Bonnie and Clyde is now a hugely popular name for US cinema it didn't start of that way. On its release in September it grossed $2600 at one theatre in Cleveland, when it was played at the same theatre in theatre it grossed $26000 (14). That wasn't the end of the shocking increase in sales, by the end of 1967 the film had bagged $2.5million in rentals, however when the film was re-release in 1968 it netted $16.5million in rentals, becoming one of the top 20 grossing films of all time! (15)
Midnight Cowboy is a film based on a novel by James Leo Herlihy, the film itself is all about a young Texas boy named Joe Buck who works as a dish washer. He travels to New York in search of fortune but instead ends up in the company of street hustler Ratso Rizzo. The film ends with talking about getting a regular job to Razzo before noticing that his friend is dead, the driver tells Joe that there is nothing else to do but continue to Miami.
Midnight Cowboy just like Easy Rider was a film that included lots of drug taking and was something that the hippies of the 1960’s could relate to. Director John Schlesinger and his Polish Cinematographer ensured that the film brought a fresh and credible eye to their vision of the city, the film is also full of memorable images. The pair managed to introduce techniques such as rapid fire editing and trip dream sequences, this being a key representation of the movement of the time. This was the first time that these trips sequences had been brought from the underground film scene and put into the mainstream American Cinema. One issue regarding the production of this film however was concern that a british director would not be able to successfully capture the real New York. (18).
