A Decade Under the Influence

A documentary dealing with American films made in the nineteen-seventies, with major emphasis on experimentation with new styles of cinematic expression and departure from the traditional style of film production.It's tough to generalise, but I think the seventies is my... Full review

This is a great compendium of interviews and excerpts form the films of the late sixties and early 70s that were a counter movement to the big Studio Films of the late sixties. Directed by Ted Demme, it is obviously... Full review

In retrospect, the 1970s was a golden era for the American cinema, as demonstrated and explored by this documentary directed by Ted Demme and Richard LaGravenese. This IFC effort serves to illustrate and clarify the main idea of what that... Full review

The Late 1960's and early to mid 70's was a turning point in the history of modern motion picture.The films of that era are some of the best and most relevent films ever made and they were made by young, up... Full review

When an artist, particularly a popular artist creates a work, it is not a matter of them creating something which we can then encounter or not. There is a constant collaboration back and forth, a synthesis of preconceptual stuff that... Full review

The 1970s opened the door to the largest, most diverse era of film in the history. Some films were great ("The Godfather", "The Conversation", "Mean Streets", Chinatown", "The French Connection", "Five Easy Pieces", "Jaws", "McCabe And Mrs. Miller") Others were... Full review

...and my reasons for which are simple- there are so many great films presented and discussed here (most of them by their own directors and stars), so many clips of infamous moments in 70's movie history, and in fact a... Full review

As it stands for right now, Ted Demme and Richard Lagravenese's valentine to 70's film and their makers is an almost average, almost dull look at an incredible moment in the history of cinema; I think even hardcore film buffs... Full review

A DECADE UNDER THE INFLUENCE (2003) **** (Featuring interviews with: Robert Altman, Peter Bogdanovich, Marshall Brickman, Ellen Burstyn, John Calley, Julie Christie, Francis Ford Coppola, Roger Corman, Bruce Dern, Milos Forman, William Friedkin, Pam Grier, Dennis Hopper, Sidney Lumet, Paul... Full review

Demme and LaGravenese are just as happy to let the directors bask in their past glories and reminisce about those crazy days.....The documentary, unlike Biskind's book, gives less attention to hubris and lessons learned than to the contagious experimentation of the era.....Some actors appear here as well;.... ... Full Review

The films of the 1970s were great.....The documentary fails to consider the downside to the auteur theory.....if delving too much into the wealth of splendid recent independent films would somehow dilute its thesis....This environment spurred the rise of independent American cinema in the 1990s, which created films that were similar in sensibility....Demme and LaGravenese hold too much affection for their subjects to make them squirm..... ... Full Review

A Decade Under the Influence" leaves us to wonder whether ever again will so many creative free spirits move into the mainstream in such numbers and with such success. LaGravenese and Demme and their subjects agree that "Jaws" (1975) marked the beginning of the end of an era with its immense returns for its saturation release -- and a signal that with the Vietnam War over audiences were again eager for escapist fare. ... Full Review

and Julie Christie, one of this film's most penetrating commentators, Faye Dunaway and Jill Clayburgh all shone brightly, with Jane Fonda, fearless on screen....audiences were craving to experience a sense of recognition in movies in response to increasing social and political turmoil and outright distrust of government.....By the same token, filmmakers like Sydney Pollack, Paul Schrader, Martin Scorsese, William Friedkin, Paul Mazursky, Peter Bogdanovich and others attest.... ... Full Review

A Decade Under the Influence does not blame Lucas and Spielberg, though. By now certain film buffs revere the 70s as perhaps the greatest period in American filmmaking, and the new documentary A Decade Under the Influence confirms that notion. ... Full Review

Jason Lipshutz, June 27, 2009 12:00 ET "New Again," the title of Taking Back Sunday's fourth album and its second for Warner, may refer to the departure of guitarist Fred Mascherino and the addition of Matthew Fazzi. ... Full Article

A lot of movies pass before my ever loving eyes and I've got to budget my time accordingly. In this the first issue and if luck would have it the last I'll touch base on some of the most recent... ... Full Article

Paul Newman announced last week that, at the age of 82, he is retiring from film work after a career spanning over 50 years with 40+ films. ... Full Article

My feeling was there was nothing we couldnt do.There was nothing we couldnt try. Paul Mazursky A Decade Under the Influence , a documentary produced by the Independent Film Channel, seeks to convince us that the groundbreaking days of... ... Full Article

LOS ANGELES, Aug. 14 (UPI) -- Looking over the list of landmark films in "A Decade Under the Influence: '70s Films That Changed Everything," a new three-part documentary that premieres on IFC Aug. 20, snatches of dialogue kept popping into... ... Full Article

"A Decade Under the Influence" is a feature-length documentary that tells the story of '70s American cinema. Unlike many documentaries about movies, it's neither underfunded nor perfunctory, but thoughtful and bracing. It was made by filmmakers with major careers, the ... Full Article