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Audience Rating: R (Restricted)
Binding: DVD
Format: NTSC
Editorial Review:
Amazon.com:
How did Hollywood make so many great, challenging, offbeat films in the 1970s? A Decade Under the Influence lists the reasons--or rather, lets the people who did the filmmaking list the reasons. The decade-shaping interviewees include Martin Scorsese, Robert Altman, Francis Coppola, et al. The film's argument has actually been conventional wisdom for at least 10 years, but it's well-supported by an abundance of clips, which should inspire even hardcore film buffs to seek out rarities such as Thunderbolt and Lightfoot or The King of Marvin Gardens. One might observe that the scarcity of women directors or black filmmakers suggests that the decade was not entirely golden, and the memories may be burnished a bit by nostalgia. But there's no question that the big studios were far more adventurous back then, and this briskly moving survey gives a lively Film 101 lecture in exactly why. --Robert Horton
Customer Reviews
Average Rating: 
Rating:  - So-so look at 70s cinema
In 2003 the Independent Film Channel produced a nearly three hour long three part documentary called A Decade Under The Influence (a nod to the 1974 John Cassavetes film A Woman Under The Influence), about American cinema during the 1970s. The general posit of the film, co-directed by Ted Demme and Richard LaGravenese, is that the 1970s were a `tweener period between the collapse of the old Hollywood film studio system and the rise of the Lowest Common Denominator summer blockbuster mentality, ... Read More
Rating:  - Intended for those with vast amounts of time on their hands
This was well done but quite long as it was originally a mini-series of sorts for television. It was fascinating but at the same time, not quite engaging enough for something so long.
Rating:  - Great for the younger crowd!
As someone who didn't live through the 70's and doesn't know all too much about 70's filmmaking, this was a great little insight.
I can understand how some people may be greatly disappointed by this film...
If you experienced the 70's during a time in your life when movies really made an impact or you just simply know a lot about films from this era, there might be quite a bit left to be desired.
But for me, someone who's greatest and most thorough knowledge ... Read More
Rating: - If You're Born in the Eighties, and love the 70's!
This is the film for you to learn about all the independent spirit that seems both in it's height, and in it's originality, which has paved the road for our famous, our entertaining directors of today. This is not to say that there is not a better picture to be made of the seventies, but it's the best one that's out at this time. Get it if you have interest in Filmmaking History, and here how the independent movement really started. A time when art was more important than ignorant obedience for ... Read More
Rating: - Too polite and puppyish
This is about the shallowest possible overview of American filmmaking in the 1970s, a decade of remarkable films ill-served by overly reverential interviews with key figures from the period, too-brief and often poorly chosen clips from their films, and lazy media clips (Nixon, Vietnam, and so forth). No subject is ever asked hard questions about his work, no unpleasant truths are aired, and all are treated as if they were fragile Icaruses who flew too close to the sun. Please. William Friedkin, for ... Read More
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