IFC - A Decade under the Influence The 70s Films that Changed Everything (2003) Part 1

A Decade Under the Influence is a feature-length version of a three-part series shown on the Independent Film Channel. Directed by Richard LaGravenese and the late Ted Demme (his final film), this documentary about the triumph of the New Hollywood employs a treasure trove of interviews and clips to create a rich understanding of the many forces that flowed together to fill the void left by the dying studio system. As political activism, hedonism, protests, the sexual revolution, the women's movement, the civil rights movement, and the music revolution contributed to social unrest across the country, American cinema witnessed the emergence of a new generation of filmmakers. Through their choice of material, filmmakers such as Francis Ford Coppola, Martin Scorsese, Robert Altman, Peter Bogdanovich, William Friedkin, Roger Corman and Paul Schrader revolutionized mainstream movies and for the first time personal visions were coming out of the studio system. The 1970s was an extraordinary time of rebellion, of questioning every accepted idea. Every standard by which we set our cultural clocks was either turned inside out or thrown away completely and reinvented. For American cinema, the 1970s was an era during which a new generation of filmmakers created work for a new kind of audience - moviegoers who were hungry for stories that reflected their own experiences and who were turning their backs on the age-old formulas of the Hollywood studios. As a result, emerging filmmakers influenced by foreign directors such as Godard, Kurosawa and Fellini and by the changing social climate and struggling studio system, converged to create a new kind of moviemaking. The burst of influences looked, at the time, almost random Cassavetes, the new wave, Roger Corman. Yet as director Sydney Pollack points out, what had ultimately changed was the audience. The revolution of “Easy Rider,” “MASH,” “Midnight Cowboy,” and dozens of other works of popular art was that people now embraced the notion that movies could transcend the fanciful and exotic to mirror life as it was. Martin Scorsese, Francis Ford Coppola, Robert Altman, Julie Christie, Peter Bogdanovich, William Friedkin, Roger Corman, Paul Schrader, Hal Ashby; all revolutionised moviemaking with their personal visions and all are brought together in “A Decade Under The Influence. ” A love letter to an amazing period in film, A DECADE UNDER THE INFLUENCE enlists a cast of pioneering writers, directors, and actors to talk about the times, their films and their colleagues. Luminaries such as Francis Ford Coppola, William Friedkin, Sydney Pollack, Julie Christie, and Ellen Burstyn reveal intimate, personal, and often untold stories about their experiences. And interspersing these interviews with a virtual scrapbook of the decade, documentary includes a cornucopia of clips from such classics as “Easy Rider,” “Midnight Cowboy,” “Taxi Driver,” “The Godfather,” and “Coming Home.” In this excellent documentary by the late Ted Demme (director of “Beautiful Girls,” “Blow” and others before his tragic death in 2002) and Richard LaGravenese (acclaimed for his screenplays of “The Fisher King,” “Beloved” and “The Bridges Of Madison County”), all the key players in what became known as the Second Hollywood Golden Age talk about their colleagues, films and memories of that extraordinary era. The result is a fantastic celebration of the artists and the films that left a vital and lasting stamp on America's national cinema and identity. Featuring interviews with a cast of film greats, including Robert Altman, Martin Scorsese, Peter Bogdanovich, Dennis Hopper, Ellen Burstyn, William Friedkin, Jon Voight, and Julie Christie.

Produced and Directed by Richard LaGravenese and Ted Demme for The Independent Film Channel

— Part #1 is the main feature, part #2 is a bonus feature, additional interview footage with Robert Altman, Peter Bogdanovich, Sidney Lumet, Roy Scheider, and others (33 min.) –

Full Version Available Upon Request