the american new wave, also called the new hollywood or the hollywood renaissance, names a generation of american filmmakers who took authorial control from the studios between the mid-1960s and the early 1980s. after the paramount case ended block booking and studio ownership of theaters, and after television pulled audiences away, the old studio system weakened and the production code gave way to the mpaa ratings system in 1968.
two 1967 releases are usually treated as the opening. bonnie and clyde, produced by and starring warren beatty and directed by arthur penn for warner bros., mixed graphic violence with comedy and won academy awards for estelle parsons and for cinematography. the graduate, directed by mike nichols and starring dustin hoffman, used a simon & garfunkel soundtrack and won nichols the best director oscar.
easy rider (1969), directed by dennis hopper and starring hopper and peter fonda, confirmed the youth market, and its jump-cut editing became a marker of the era. studios then gave young directors unusual freedom: roger corman's low-budget operation had trained jack nicholson, dennis hopper and peter bogdanovich, while a film-school group that included francis ford coppola, george lucas, martin scorsese and steven spielberg moved into features.
mid-decade titles such as the godfather (1972), chinatown (1974), dog day afternoon (1975) and taxi driver (1976) were both personal and profitable. the era is often dated to its end by costly failures including heaven's gate (1980) and one from the heart (1982), and by the blockbuster turn that followed jaws (1975) and star wars (1977).
related profiles; French New Wave, Francis Ford Coppola, John Cassavetes
sources; wikipedia: new hollywood, wikipedia: bonnie and clyde (1967), wikipedia: easy rider, wikipedia: the graduate
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