American New Wave

The American New Wave, sometimes referred to as New Hollywood refers to the time from the late 1960s to the early 1980's when a new generation of film makers in the United States influenced the type of films produced, their production and marketing the way studios approached film making. Following the Paramount Case the traditional studio system was weakened due to the ending of block booking and ownership of theatre chains by film studios and of course the introduction of television. Technical improvements such as CinemaScope and 3-D were invented to compete with television but these were generally unsuccessful in increasing profits.

European art films and Japanese cinema was making an impact in the U.S., the huge market of disaffected youth seemed to find relevance and meaning in films like Michelangelo Antonioni's Blowup, which had an oblique narrative structure and also contained full-frontal female nudity. The desperation felt by studios led to innovation and risk-taking, this allowed greater control by young directors and producers. In an attempt to capture that audience who found a connection to the 'arty' films of Europe, the studios hired young filmmakers and allowed them to make their film with very little studio control, this along with the breakdown of the Production Code in 1966 and the new ratings system in 1968 set the scene for the American New Wave.


Bonnie and Clyde (1967)
The Graduate (1967)
Easy Rider (1969)
Midnight Cowboy (1969)

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• James, David E. 1989. Allegories of Cinema, American Film in the Sixties. New York. Princeton University Press
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