New American Cinema.

• Author: Gehring, Wes D.
• Position: REEL WORLD

FROM ROUGHLY 1965-75, there was something called "New American Cinema." The catalyst was the TV-driven decline of the studio system and the French New Wave" movement, beginning with Francois Truffaut's "Four Hundred Blows" (1959) and Jean-Luc Godard's "Breathless" (1960). In a nutshell, both developments embraced three key differences from the proceeding history of cinema.

Instead of the traditional admirable hero, these films showcased anti-heroes--fascinating characters, but not individuals with which a viewer necessarily would identify. Also, instead of a normal narrative, these movies were more about slice-of-life existences. To quote the Beatles' John Lennon, "Life is what happens when we're busy making other plans." Third, instead of classic cinema's upbeat conclusion, New American Cinema pictures ended with realistic honesty, such as Dennis Hopper's "Easy Rider" (1969) or Roman Polanski's "Chinatown" (1974).

The quintessential example of America's response to this dual movement would be the Warren Beatty produced and starting vehicle "Bonnie and Clyde" (1967). Truffaut worked on the script, and Godard and Truffaut almost directed. However, for an assortment of reasons, including Truffaut's evolving English, Arthur Penn assumed the position. Regardless, just as "Pulp Fiction" (1994) is considered "the" game-changing picture of the 1990s, "Bonnie and Clyde" often is granted that status for the 1960s. As so often happens with great movies, it was not an initial hit with critics or the the public, particularly because its home studio (Warner Bros.) did not know how to market the movie. Yet, in an extraordinary display of moxie, Beatty's push for acceptance resulted in a rare almost immediate re-issuing of the film--and a classic was recognized.

Like all watershed cinema, the movie works on so many levels it offers something for everyone. It is a new age gangster film with a movie-changing aestheticized use of graphic violence, including its memorable dance of death conclusion, which essentially ended any lingering vestiges of Hollywood censorship. Moreover, by frequent and random juxtapositions of broad comedy and overt bloodshed, "Bonnie and Clyde" is a pioneering example of dark comedy. Also, departing from the city-at-night essence of earlier gangster films, the movie's focus upon daylight robberies in small-town, rural areas and the entertaining instrumental banjo piece "Foggy Mountain Breakdown" by Flatt and Scruggs on the...