Friedman, a Northwestern university film professor, IS conducting a screening and Lecture series on ’70s-era cinema each Tuesday through may 11 at the Gene Siskel Film Center.
Promotional material for the lecture series calls the 1970s “the most innovative decade in American film history.” Why? It was a period in which the studio system controlled by older generations broke down, and with an influx of new and young talent, Hollywood was willing to take chances as it never had in the past. People were able to do movies that didn’t have formula plots, to include sex and drugs, to take on hard political issues such as the Vietnam War. They were able to talk about a darker side of American life that was never confronted before. It was a time when we felt passionately about film, and what films you liked defined your political position and who you were.
Your book on Arthur Penn’s movie “Bonnie and Clyde” suggests that the film redefined the gangster genre. It was broader than that. It redefined American film. It managed to break all the rules in terms of sex, filmmaking, subject matter, and certainly the violence of the ending.
Yet it is tame by today’s standards, is it not? It was an R-rated movie that shocked everyone, but now it’s shown at 8 o’clock on regular channels. Everything has escalated–violence, sexuality. I don’t think current films are as dark and complex or as narratively sophisticated. [In the ’70s] they were edgy, they weren’t so neatly summed up.
What do you want filmgoers to take away from this series? An appreciation for what film art can be, even within a commercial context. The idea that film can speak to us deeply, powerfully and meaningfully. That’s evident in the movies we’re seeing in the series. It’s a period in which creativity was welcomed, not feared.
Is the Sundance Festival still the spiritual home of independent film? It’s become a steppingstone to Hollywood. The more interesting festival is Telluride.
