CHAPTER 14 – AMERICAM CINEMA IN THE 1970s
Multiple Choice
1. Which of the following was emphasized in American movies in the early 1970s?
a. religious conviction
b. just war
c. moral problems in public institutions
d. all of the above
2. Which of the following is a true Blaxploitation film?
a. Sounder
b. Shaft
c. Guess Who’s Coming to Dinner?
d. all of the above
3. Films like The Parallax View and Three Days of the Condor reflect what kind of atmosphere?
a. love and tolerance
b. anger and rage
c. paranoia and disillusionment
d. all of the above
4. Films that were profitable in this time often were made with
a. relatively small budgets.
b. no big name stars.
c. innovative and fresh ideas.
d. all of the above
5. What is true about the movie-making techniques of the new directors of the 1970s?
a. loose, episodic structures
b. unpredictable and inconclusive endings
c. explored the complexity of character
d. all of the above
6. Genre films of the 1970s were, given the genre cycle, often which of the following?
a. primitive
b. revisionist
c. parodic
d. all of the above
7. Which of the following has always been a very popular subject of American movies?
a. sex
b. gambling
c. mystical experience
d. foreign cultures
8. What male-oriented genre stories gained a great deal of popularity in the 1970s?
a. buddy films
b. westerns
c. slapstick comedy
d. sports films
9. Traditionally women’s status in the American film industry was tied to
a. writing scripts.
b. directing.
c. the star system.
d. costume designs.
10. What was the source of new American film directors in the 1970s?
a. universities with film programs
b. actors themselves
c. Europe, especially England
d. all of the above
11. All of the following are true of a Robert Altman film except
a. overlapping dialogue
b. optimistic view of the human condition
c. de-emphasis of plot
d. subversion of genre expectations
12. Of Francis Ford Coppola, it is true that he
a. said “caution doesn’t make for good show business”
b. failed with Finnian’s Rainbow
c. made Godfather II—“an epic vision of the corruption of America”
d. all of the above
13. The produce of B-films that gave many notable American directors of the 70s, including
Martin Scorsese, their starts was
a. Roger Corman
b. Jack Warner
c. Robert Altman
d. none of the above
14. Martin Scorsese films are often imprinted with
a. tight plots.
b. logical endings.
c. inconspicuous camera use.
d. violence.
15. Robert DeNiro starred in all of the following Martin Scorsese films except
a. Raging Bull
b. Mean Streets
c. Gangs of New York
d. The King of Comedy
16. Woody Allen’s sensibility is defined by his being
a. Jewish.
b. New Yorker.
c. both a and b
d. neither a nor b
17. A major influence on the work of Steven Spielberg is
a. Walt Disney
b. D. W. Griffith
c. Stanley Kubrick
d. John Ford
True/False
(Place a T or an F in the line following the sentence.)
1. Blaxploitation films of the 1970s invariably featured anti-heroes as their main characters.
2. Movie audiences expanded as retirees, looking for something to do, began to flock to theatres.
3. Studios began to produce off-beat movies, entirely avoiding big-budget movies.
4. George Lucas stuck to classical narrative conventions in American Graffiti, which ensured the
movies impressive success for a young director.
5. By definition the revisionist stage of the genre development cycle is ironic.
6. Most of Mel Brooks’ movies, like Young Frankenstein, parody popular American genres like
the horror film.
7. The new directors of the 1970s, like William Friedkin, were called “whiz kids” because they
knew the studio system inside and out.
8. Robert Altman eschews planning his movies tightly in favor of capturing the movie.
9. Francis Ford Coppola believed in the 1970s that exercising caution is the key to making good
art and good show business.
10. Steven Spielberg is like European filmmakers in that his films are filled with homages and
allusions to other movies, genres, and filmmakers.
Matching
1) Spielberg’s first theatrical feature ___
2) Alvidsen’s optimistic blockbuster ___
3) Francis Ford Coppola’s war movie ___
4) May’s wry, witty movie ___
5) Friedkin’s buddy cop movie ___
6) Altman’s view of country music ___
7) Scorsese boxing movie ___
8) Mazursky’s movie of loving relationship ___
9) Forman’s adaptation of a novel ___
10) Allen’s contemporary comedy of manners ___
a. Nashville
b. The Heartbreak Kid
c. Blume in Love
d. Raging Bull
e. Apocalypse Now
f. Manhattan
g. Sugarland Express
h. Rocky
i. The French Connection
j. One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest
ANS:
Short Answer
1. What happened to the conventions of classical cinema in the early 70s?
2. How was sex portrayed in movies of the 70s?
3. Were foreign directors working in America successful at portraying American life? Explain
briefly.
4. Why were young audiences taken with George Lucas’ Star Wars trilogy?
Essay Questions
1. How does the revisionist label apply to genre films of the 70s, especially the early 70s?
2. What was the status — fictional and real — of women in Hollywood in the 70s?
3. Where did the new directors come from and what advantages or strengths did they bring with
them?
4. What was the character of the newly invented “blockbuster” movie as championed by Steven
Spielberg?