"Easy Riders, Raging Bulls" (MOVIES Pt. 1)

Hey there. It's been a week or so since I last posted. I've begun reading a book by Peter Biskind called "Easy Riders, Raging Bulls: How the Sex-Drugs-And-Rock'N'Roll Generation Saved Hollywood." So far I really like the book. It came out in '98 and is basically a film-connesiouer's must-read. So I'm about 6 years behind...sue me. Not literally.
Anyway, it is mostly about the rise of the FILM-AS-ART generation that came to prominence in the 60's and 70's. You know, the generation that destroyed the studio-system oppression and the "Leave it to Beaver" safe films. I'm talking about directors like Scorcese, Coppola, Spielberg, Lucas, Allen, Altman, Friedken, etc... I'm talking about movies like Mash, Jaws, Taxi Driver, Godfather and Apocolypse Now, The Excorcist, Easy Rider, Annie Hall, THX 1138, Bonnie and Clyde, etc... The list goes on and on. Every year from 1964-1980 produced a masterpiece or two or three. That's what this book is about. Those directors...their creativity, rebellion, and artistry...along with their not so upstanding lives during the 70's and how it affected them. Interesting. Very interesting.
I wasn't alive in the 70's. Or for that matter, the 60's. ; Sometimes I wish I was. I am usually classified by those who know me, and often by those who don't as a hippie. I guess the way I walk and talk and sit on things that aren't usually used as chairs, and wear my clothes and such... I don't know what classifies a hippie person...I don't live in a commune and I don't smoke grass, so I dunno. Anyway, I take it as a compliment. The point is, I have admired 70's cinema from afar for years now. But with this book, I am getting an insight into the culture of the 70's subversive filmmaker. It is electrifying to say the least.
I know it is difficult to separate these artists and their work from the drugs and promiscuous sex that characterized their lives back then (not in all cases...well at least not the drugs), but I am trying to see what was really there. Beneath it all. And what was beneath it was the same heart that inspired all the depravity in general in the 60's and 70's. Rebellion. Break the Mold. Stickin' it to the "Man" as it were. Trying new things. Touching what said Do Not Touch. Saying what hadn't been said before. This was true in every art form. Of course, some of this was negative. In fact, we are still feeling the effects of the random anonymous sex in our society today.
However, many of the taboos that were broken were good. Sure people might have said and done things that had never been before, but with that came more openness and honesty. The art and film in America at that time began reflecting that. It might have been messy and ugly and offensive to some, but it was truth, and finally we were seeing art that looked like us. Real and raw and beautiful. I guess that statement was kind of relative, because some might see it differently. If so, comment on it.
Anyway, what these guys were doing was revolutionary. There are pictures of some of them together, hanging out. There's a picture of Spielberg, Scorcese, and Brian De Palma (dir. of Carrie) together. They're all in mid-laugh, in tuxedos, having a good time. I keep looking at that picture, trying to place myself in that setting. Spielberg was in his late 20's, Scorsese probably the same, and DePalma in his 30's or so. They were rebels in Hollywood. They were taking the bricks out of the wall. They were idealistic. They were, and several others along with them, the New Hollywood as it was called. They were changing that town, the art, and culture along with them. It is amazing.
Sorry about the rambling. I was going to write about the Oscars and how much I loved the ceremony on Sunday Night. One of the best in years I think. Anyway...I'm going to start a brand new post, because I wanna break it up for you if you're reading and this gets too long. SO I'm going to start a new one, with some more personal thoughts on it.