The genesis of the Hollywood Renaissance in the late 1960s was the by-product of a synthesis of factors related to social, cultural, institutional, and technological shifts that had been taking place in the United States since the late 1940s. Within this context, the role of European cinema was crucial.
It has become a critical commonplace that the films of the Hollywood Renaissance embody a significant aesthetic kinship with the cinematic new waves that had emerged in Europe during the post-war period. This study aims this position further by demonstrating that post-war European new waves at once constituted aesthetic models for Hollywood Renaissance films and shaped key areas of the context that allowed this movement to emerge in the first place.
As far as European cinema is concerned, the emphasis here is placed on films of the French New Wave, Italian Neorealism, and New Italian Cinema.
Through an extensive use of textual and contextual evidence, this thesis investigates the origins, nature, and extent of the formal impact that post-war European cinema movements had on American filmmaking. It is argued that, inspired by their European counterparts, Hollywood Renaissance filmmakers experimented with all the components of a film: mise-en-scene, cinematography, editing, sound, and narrative style – often aiming to create in their pictures the acute sense of realism that European post-war films conveyed. A more frank approach towards traditionally ‘taboo’ subjects was also employed.
Arthur Penn’s Bonnie and Clyde (1967) – the film that, according to critics at large, articulated an aesthetic ‘break’ with the classical tradition and signaled the beginning of the Hollywood Renaissance – is employed as a case study, as it epitomises the European influence in social, cultural, and institutional terms.
This study also considers the continuing influence of European cinema on American cinema post Bonnie and Clyde, arguing that in recent years, several American directors have re-discovered the pioneers of post-war European cinema movements and have attempted to recreate the spirit of new wave films in their own pictures.
Table of Contents
INTRODUCTION
CHAPTER ONE
The Social and Cultural Conditions for the Reception of European Films in Post-War America
1920-1946: Brief Overview
Hollywood in the Shadow of the Paramount Decision and the ‘Red Scare’
The ‘Juvenilisation’ of Hollywood Films and the Challenge of Television
The Emergence of the Art House Movement
CHAPTER TWO
The Italian and French New Waves and Their Impact on American Cinema
Documenting the Social Reality of Post-War Europe: Italian Neorealism
The ‘Personal’ Cinemas of Federico Fellini, Michelangelo Antonioni, and Luchino Visconti
A Cinema of Artistic Rebellion: The French New Wave
The Aesthetic Impact of European Cinema on American Directors of the Hollywood Renaissance: Overview
CHAPTER THREE
Delving into the Zeitgeist of Sixties America: Bonnie and Clyde as a Product of a European-Oriented Cultural Context
Introduction to Bonnie and Clyde
An Infatuation with European Cinema: American Film Schools of the 1960s and the Pioneers of the Hollywood Renaissance
The Creators of Bonnie and Clyde: Robert Benton, David Newman, Arthur Penn
Updating the Gangster Genre: Aesthetic and Thematic European Influences on Bonnie and Clyde
CHAPTER FOUR
On the Threshold of a ‘New Hollywood’: Institutional Transformations and the Role of Bonnie and Clyde
Hollywood at a Crossroads: Industrial Shifts until the Mid-1960s and the Production History of Bonnie and Clyde
Redefining the ‘Permissable’: Bonnie and Clyde and American Censorship
‘A Cheap Piece of Bold-Faced Slapstick’ or ‘The Definitive Film of the Sixties’?: Critical Campaigns Related to Bonnie and Clyde in the 1960s
In the Aftermath of Bonnie and Clyde: The Hollywood Renaissance and the American Auteur
EPILOGUE
The Legacy of European New Waves in Contemporary Cinema
Objectives and Core Topics
This thesis examines the profound aesthetic and institutional impact of post-war European cinema on the emergence of the "Hollywood Renaissance" in the late 1960s. By analyzing the reception of European movements such as Italian Neorealism and the French New Wave, the study investigates how American filmmakers assimilated these foreign influences to revolutionize traditional Hollywood genres and production practices.
- The reception and influence of Italian Neorealism and the French New Wave in the United States.
- The role of "art house" cinemas and film schools in fostering a new, sophisticated American film culture.
- A detailed case study of Arthur Penn’s Bonnie and Clyde as a paradigm of European aesthetic integration.
- Institutional shifts in the American studio system and the decline of the Production Code.
- The legacy of the auteur theory and its adoption by a new generation of American directors.
Excerpt from the Book
INTRODUCTION
13 August 1967. The latest Warner Bros. fare, a gangster film, is released in the United States. American audiences and critics speculate that the new Warners picture might be a tribute to the popular gangster films of the 1930s, for which the same production studio had been responsible. Their expectations are belied; what they are confronted with has little in common with the 1930s James Cagney and Humphrey Bogart vehicles, produced by Warner Bros.
Centred on the activities of an outlaw couple and set against a Depression-era backdrop, this film appears to be aesthetically closer to European features that have flooded the country since the late 1950s than to earlier Hollywood pictures. Stylistically, it is characterised by close-up shots, oblique angles, expressionistic painterly contrasts, and abrupt shifts in tone and mood. Gruesome images of violence are succeeded by slapstick images; funny one-liners are followed by conversations about death.
The film’s male protagonist is a gangster unlike any of his predecessors in Hollywood cinema. Full of emotional weaknesses and insecurities – most of them stemming from the fact that he is sexually impotent – he constantly needs to remind himself and people around him that he only uses violence when he has no other option. A stark contrast to the ‘urban wolf’ of earlier gangster films, he does not hesitate to fall on his knees and beg his partner, in life and crime, to return to him, when she decides to leave.
The female protagonist is also a far cry from the beautiful ‘appendage’ of the stout male character, typical of the 1930s gangster film. Assertive and dynamic, this woman becomes an agent of action, participating fully in the activities of the gang; when she meets the man she falls for, she overtly expresses her emotional and sexual desires, unrestrained by any inhibition.
Summary of Chapters
CHAPTER ONE: This chapter analyzes the social and cultural background of post-war America, focusing on how the "little cinema" and "art house" movements paved the way for the later reception of European films by breaking the monopoly of mainstream Hollywood studios.
CHAPTER TWO: The study explores the specific aesthetic and ideological contributions of Italian Neorealism and the French New Wave, highlighting how these movements redefined the role of the director as an "auteur" and introduced narrative and stylistic innovations that American filmmakers would later emulate.
CHAPTER THREE: Focusing on the case study of Bonnie and Clyde, this chapter examines how the film's creators integrated European aesthetic models to subvert the traditional gangster genre, set against the backdrop of 1960s American counterculture.
CHAPTER FOUR: This final analytical chapter investigates the institutional changes in Hollywood, including the collapse of the Production Code and the rise of a new generation of filmmakers, arguing that the success of Bonnie and Clyde was a catalyst for the "Hollywood Renaissance."
Keywords
Hollywood Renaissance, European Cinema, French New Wave, Italian Neorealism, Bonnie and Clyde, Art House Movement, Auteur Theory, American Cinema, Censorship, Gangster Genre, Counterculture, Film Schools, Arthur Penn, Post-war Film, Stylistic Innovation.
Frequently Asked Questions
What is the core argument of this work?
The work argues that the "Hollywood Renaissance" of the late 1960s was not an isolated American phenomenon, but rather the result of a systematic adoption of European aesthetic and thematic models that had gained traction in the United States since the late 1940s.
What are the central themes of the research?
The central themes include the transatlantic flow of cinematic ideas, the shift from studio-driven production to director-driven authorship ("auteurism"), the role of censorship in shaping film form, and the evolution of the gangster genre from classical to modern sensibilities.
What is the primary research goal?
The goal is to demonstrate that European cinematic movements provided the practical and theoretical impetus that allowed Hollywood to re-invent itself at a time of deep industrial and cultural crisis.
Which methodologies are employed?
The study utilizes extensive textual analysis of film sequences alongside historical and contextual research to link specific European directorial techniques to the creative output of the Hollywood Renaissance.
What does the main part of the book address?
The main part of the book addresses the evolution of American film culture through historical trends, the defining characteristics of New Wave cinemas, and a detailed two-chapter case study of Bonnie and Clyde.
What are the primary keywords associated with this study?
Key terms include Hollywood Renaissance, Auteur Theory, Italian Neorealism, French New Wave, and the specific transformation of the gangster genre in the late 1960s.
How did the Paramount Decision affect independent and foreign films?
The Paramount Decision ended the studio oligopoly by forcing the separation of production and exhibition, which allowed independent theaters and art houses to fill the gap with foreign films, thereby increasing their accessibility in the United States.
How does the author define the 'anti-hero' in the context of 1960s cinema?
The author defines the anti-hero as an alternative to the classical "good" or "bad" guy, representing an outlaw or outsider who reverses traditional heroic traits without negating the concept of heroism, often reflecting the alienation of post-war youth.
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- Anastasia Spyrou (Autor:in), 2004, American Cinema at a Crossroads: The European Dimension of the Hollywood Renaissance through a Reading of "Bonnie and Clyde", München, GRIN Verlag, https://www.grin.com/document/1143531
