This episode is all about the rise of New American Cinema and the changing face of Hollywood, with many new directors emerging with a knowledge of Film History from film schools. This episode covers all the big names of the 1970s, including Robert Altman, Mike Nichols, Francis Ford Coppola, Martin Scorsese, and Woody Allen. The episode also talks about the first two films by Terrance Malick – Badlands and Days of Heaven. Even though it was not explicitly mentioned in the episode, it is interesting to note that those two films were Malick’s only films for 20 years, until he returned in 1998 with The Thin Red Line. This was definitely the most mainstream Story of Film episode so far. Episode 10: Movies to Change the World
While Episode 9 focused on North America in the 1970s, Episode 10 took a look at what was happening in the rest of the world. This episode looks at films coming out of Germany, the UK, Italy, Australia, and Japan. Some of the directors featured include Wim Wenders, Werner Herzog, Bernardo Bertolucci, and Peter Weir. This was another episode where many of the films discussed were mostly unknown to me. However, I suppose The Story of Film would be very boring if I already knew every single aspect of film history it discussed. Well, there are only 5 more episodes left of The Story of Film: An Odyssey. Until next week.