Why was the 70s the golden age of American cinema?

How did an industry that wanted to produce family and commercial media, controlled by old men in suits, yield Hollywood to a bunch of hippies that are now our idols?


It wouldn’t be crazy to say that film is the last art form to arrive and respond to cultural changes. Principally because making movies requires more time and money than many other art forms. This can create a disconnection between what is going on in the world and what we see on theater screens. And that was the problem Hollywood faced throughout the late 50s and mid 60s.


The world was burning down. The Cold War, and of course Vietnam, had a huge impact on American society. Hopelessness and paranoia were ordinary. Young people felt betrayed, and their response was to turn their backs on the American dream and produce counterculture. Everything new was a YES and everything from the past was a big NO. There was no tolerance for classics anymore. Revolution was the assignment.


The change in music was already reflecting the state of rebellion the youth was in. But film was stuck, producing musicals and movies that replicated the formula from prior decades that people were no longer interested in. The industry hit an all-time low. The state of the real world surpassed fiction, and whoever wanted to see the type of content presented in theaters could just watch it at home on TV.


Hollywood was losing money by the second. People thought the film industry was going to evaporate, gone for good. But to be real, it was a problem that only the U.S had. At that time, if you looked around the rest of the world, you would see they were doing just fine. All around Europe, Latin America, and Asia, filmmakers were producing unique and experimental films. The equipment was evolving, and so were the filmmakers. Kurosawa, Varda, Fellini, Bergman. All of them were shaping the new standards.


This movement’s philosophy was to think of the director as the author of a film, the same way a poet is the author of a poem. The director had the vision and the control. But it wasn’t like that in Hollywood. Cinematographers and producers had control. Directors were there just to give directions to the actors. When studio heads watched the final cut of a movie, directors weren’t even in the room. But it was a new world. The suits had no idea what worked anymore. They were desperate and understood that their only salvation was to give the youth a shot — and creative control with it.


So they opened the doors, and everybody got in. The urgency made the situation a mess — whoever had done an experimental project out of film school would get a chance. Francis Ford Coppola, Martin Scorsese, Steven Spielberg, George Lucas and Sidney Lumet were a few of the hippies with long hair and prominent beards they let through. And they, alongside many others, were the lifesavers Hollywood held on to.


The new blood responded to what the culture needed. They delivered innovative and fresh ideas. Films started to reflect what the youth represented. Stories became more character-driven, and writing about heroes and happy endings was no longer a priority. The stories were bold, irreverent, unapologetic, angry, and provocative — so much so that they still feel rebellious today. That’s what is special about the 70s. A lot of things had to happen for this new wave to arrive. That’s why everybody loves its directors, actors, and films. That’s why the 70s is the golden age of American cinema.


Most of the information for this article comes from the book Easy Riders, Raging Bulls.


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