This is Not a Race: The Self-Reflexive Nature of 1970s Hollywood Films
Many directors that made films during the era of the Hollywood Renaissance – a period roughly between 1967-1975 where the old Hollywood guard died-off leaving a void for a younger generation to fill – were inspired by directors of the French New Wave and other European auteurs. These Hollywood directors (such as Robert Altman, Peter Bogdanovich, Francis Ford Coppola, Monte Hellman, Sam Peckinpah, et al.) had the opportunity to deviate from the classic Hollywood norm under a new generation of producers and studio heads. The most popular and canonized films of the era - The Godfather, The Graduate, Bonnie and Clyde, Easy Rider (to name a few) - represent the ability of these directors to work inside a Hollywood system, yet be able to create unusual films that often explored extreme violence, sex, drug use, and other countercultural behavior – an ultimate rock n’ roll era of film.
