A lack of direction by Tallis Media Online

A Lack of Direction n'rfllnlUwce

, lVanH'f I\ros./Goodtin\l's (Collrt('sy Ko!>"I)

FILMS

WORLD EVENTS

Winners of the Best Pidure Oscar

1970

Pal/Oil

The French Connection ?'he Godfarher The Sting The Godfather Part 11, One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest Rocky Annie Hall The Deer Hunter Kramer versus Kramer

Box-Office Hits Star VVtlrs Jaws '/'he Exorcist ?'he Sting National Lampoon's Animal House ?'he Godfather Superman The Rocky Horror Picture Show Close Encounters of the Third Kind Smokey and the Bandit Blazing Saddles Rocky The Towering Inferno American Graffiti One Flew Over The Cuckoo's Nest Love Story Kramer versus Kramer Every Which Way But Loose Jaws 2

1---

Germaine Greer's The Female Eunuch is puhlished, becoming an iconic text for Western Feminism, 1972 Bloody Sunday. Thirteen un;lrmed protesters are killed in Londonderry after British troops open fire on a Catholic demonstration. 1973 The Yom Kippur war. Israel is attackt~d by Egypt, Syria and Iraq on the Jewish holy day of Atonement. 1973 A three-day working week is ordered by the government following continuing disputes with miners and the Arab oil embargo. 1974 Richard Nixon resigns under the threat of impeachment after th" Watergate scandal. 1975 The Vietnam war ends as Nort h Vietn;lIlwse forces capture Saigon, reuniting North and South Vietnam under communist control. 1978 Louise Brown, the first 'test-tu bp baby', is horn in Britain. 1978-9 Revolution breaks out 111 Iran rpsulting in the deposition ;lI1d exile of the lilwral Shah and the estahlishment of a fundamentalist regime under Ayatolbh Khomeini. 1979 Marg:lrct Thatcher beconws the first British woman Prime Minister as the Conservativl's are voted into pOWN. 1979 A Soviet sponsored roup in Afghanistan marks the heginning of a deladl' of increasing soviet military presenCI' and unrest in the country.

Introduction and Background

,10,1,

mm '''00"'''0010 'he 1970, 'ook pi".,. ,,"10"" h"Jd",p of d"'o,'og ",1o"

and heightened anxiety. The conflicts which had heen brewing under the surface in

the 19()Os became more acute and more visible during this time, a period of

economic insecurity, unemployment and deteriorating industrial relations. A significant conflict was tilt' miners' strike which took place in 1974. This bitter conflict, 'the winter of discontent', contrihuted to the defeat of the Conservative government. While the south of Britain remained relatively prosperous the north hecame increasingly economically depressed. There was a growing divide between these two areas and a clear division between the 'haves' and 'haw nots' in general. Although there was some evidencc of social mobility, class conflict still existed with the most powerful positions being held by the upper classes whilst the lot of the sick and unemployed did not improvc. Race was developing into a serious and divisive issue; the National rront attacked ethnic minorities and their supporters exploiting people's insecurities which were increased by unemployment and immigration. The 'troubles' in Northern Ireland also increased with the Irish Republican Army (IRA) heginning militant activities in Britain. The increasing popularity and militancy of women's rights movements and popu!:Jr feminist literature increased male anxiety about the changing role of women in the work force and in society. This, in turn, increased concern about the erosion of traditional family values. In 1979 the Conservative gowrnment was elected with Margaret Thatcher

;IS

the first

British woman Prime Minister.

BRITISH CINEMA

Although the 1970s was a period of decline for the British film industry, developments bq::an which contributed to the success of the cinema in the I 980s. There was an increasing awareness in America and in Brit<lin of the value of sophistil"ated marketing and distribution. A group of young film makers in Britain had begun their careers in the advertising industry (David Puttnam, Hugh Hudson, Ridley Scott and Adrian Lyne) and wcre aware that filrns, like

;lIlY

other product, h'1\'e to be sold to their target audicnce. Up until the mid I 07lls

British producers spcnt ,m avnage of 10 per cent of a film's hudget on marketing. Midnight EX/,rpss (AIan P;lrker, 1978) W;IS the first British film to spt'nd more on screen prints and

;Hlv('I'tising th;ln on the I'roduction of thc Film. The film's success at the box office justified the invcstment hut this ;lpproach was not picked up by the film industry in Britain.

The Industry and Audiences he film industry in the 1970s was dominated by financial insecurity, uncertain artistic

direction and a lack of confidence in the marketability of films produced. This situation highlighted the problems which have existed in the British film industry and which

persist into the 1990s - how films are to he exhihited in Britain, the structure of the industry

itself, how to mise money in order to produce films - and n·lationships with Hollywood.

BRITISH STUDIOS

In the 19fiOs the popularity of British films, the quality and availability of British studios and relatively cheap labour had meant that significant American finance had been invested in British film production. In

J 967

most of the production finance in Britain was American,

however, by \974 the sum invested by American companies had fallen to E2.9 million. The major studios were suffering From losses on big budget films and Foreign investment was discourag('d hy Britain's domestic problems. As the period of economic and artistic growth in the 19fiOs ended, Film producers in the 1970s had no reliahle sourCt' of financc. The National Film finance Company's (NFFC) resources diminished (see ]940s). Between 1973 and 198 I it contributed only £4 million towards 31 feature Films and fi shorts

(SCt·

It)()()s). In an

attempt to penetrate the American market the major British film companies (EMI, Lord Grade's Associated Communications Corporation and the Rank Organisation) produced a series of unsuccessful blockbusters, the most famous of which was Raise the Fi,allic' (Jerry Jameson, 1980) - a hox-office flop which cost $35 million. As Lord Lew Grade f"amously said

"It would have been cheaper to lower the Atlantic." The total number of feature films produced in Britain fell from 98 in 1971 to 36 hy 19R 1 Television was hecoming increasingly popular and cinema admissions dropped; cinema-going was no longer the mass entertainment of the British public. Film makers looked for new formulae to counteract the competition From television which would enahle them to attrart new, young cinema audiences. Admission prices wc re no longer (heap and cim'rna-got'rs became more selective. Douhle bills, shorts and supporting features were removcd and the single feature, with advertising, was shown with separate perhJrlllances replacing the continuous show. R<:,gular children's Saturday shows l1('came inueasingly less [lopular of television's alternative appeal, disappearing hy the end of the

h('(';IIIS('

J ()7()s.

The British studios that rernailwd in the 1970s - I'in<'w()(,d, E1stn'(', Slwppnton, 'I\vickenham - were mostly lIsed for hig Anll'ricln productions such as S,ar

VVtIrS

;1)111

((;eOlge

Lucas, 1977) and SUpenflQIl (Richard Donner, IY7H). The studios had ch;1I1ged in ('sseJl( (' from being producers of recognisahle film genres to

111<'IT

'f:)('tOlies' which :lttra<l(·d

fillll

makers to their facilities. The growing use of special e1lects i<-d to the ('stahlishllll'nt of a facilities industry, with model-makers, o[Jtical dln·ts speci:i1ists and computn-h;lsed snvi( "s located in London, Elstrc(' and I'inewood studio,s.

(39)

In 1%8 Stanky Kuhrick had decided to make 2001 A Space Odyssey in Britain. As a rl'stdt of the special effects team's work in 2001 and their work on the James Bond movies, British technicians dl'vcloped an international reputation for their skills with physical and ml'ch,lnical effects. Gcorge Lucas and Gary Kurtz decided to us(' many of I h(' 2001 special effects team to work on Star Milrs at Britain's Elstrt'e studios. G('org(' Lucas r('turned to Britain to make more high hudget, special effects films. The British governnl('nt did nothing to encourage or invest in this pool of highly-skilled talent; some of the hest of Britain 's special eFfects induslry left with other valued technicians to go and work in a more receptive and lucrative Hollywood.

i ! i I

I [I

AUDIENCES AND EXHIBITION

By the end of the IlJ60s 1110St cincma huildings were too large for tll(' audiences now attending. It was no longer economic to maintain them and it was dispiriting for audiences to hI:' dotted in small groups around a large 'luditorium. One solution was to split cinema huildings into two halves. Sometimes the downstairs half became a (bn((~ hall or a bingo cluh.

The most profitahle cinema chains, the Odeon and ABC, were converted into three-screen

film centres using nl:'W equipment. Screening a film required only one projector that could more or less run itselF. ABC favoured closing sites for s<>veralmonths to crc'ate two cinemas in the former stalls :lI1d one in thl:' circle, each with new screens and curtains. They attempted to re-launch these film centres as a new creation. Odeon preferred to spend less money with 'drop-wall' conversions. This meant the space beneath a halcony was closed off and divided down the middle to create two 'mini-cinemas' while the circle functioned as the largest cinema. These cinemas used the l'xisting screen and stayed open for all or most of till' conversion p<>riod to maintain some income and to kt'l'r tilt' cinema-going hahit alive. Audiences in the 1970s had a greater d10ice of films as in many suburbs and towns therl' werc competing Odc-cm and ARC cinemas, each with Ihree screells Films which wer,' sunTssful such ;\s \'\IOII/ell ill 1.01'1' (Ken Russell, Jl)(j!)) wcre given standard two

week runs, but in three screen centres they "'efl' gi\"(.'n a longer run on a smaller scrcen enclluraging a wider audience. Jallls (SleVl'n Spiell1l:'rg, 1975)

0I1l'

of till:'

first Ameril'an hlol'khuslc'rs played ;11 some local l'illemas

[\\1'

11'cJlIlI'Il

as long as six months. ill LOl'e featurt's a nude wrl'stling scene

with Alan Bates :lnd OliveI' Rn'cl. The censors hlurred this sl'qcnce. In 1970 Ihe X ccrt ifil路<tle was changed, restricting such films to audiences aged At the s,lme time, a new AA category barring children under

J El

W;IS

and

0\"<'1'.

introduced

14. (Arpendix 11, Film

Cl>nsorship in Rrit:lin, page' 78.)

In spite of these conversions and the success of Star Vlilrs, which caused a sharp rise in attendances, audience figures continued to decline. More cinemas closed, even some of those which had converted to three screens, whilst press and display advertising were cut back. Annual admissions continued to drop from 501 million in 1960 to 193 million in 1970. The number of cinemas fell from 3,034 tot,529. By 1984, annual attendances were down to 58 million, Odeon had only 75 cinemas with 194 screens, while ABC (now part of the ThornEM! conglomerate) had 107 sites and 287 screens.

HAMMER STUDIOS The horror film was still a significant film genre and Hammer Studios continued to be successful well into the mid 1970s. Hammer horror forged their own distinct identity on the horror genre which we still recognise today. In 1947, Hammer, a small independent production company, was formed; its identity was strengthened in J 951 hy the decision to buy a large Gothic country house at Bray to use as a studio - Hammer's production base for the next seventeen years. Hammer Studios' buildings and the decor of the house provided the sets for the films and the countryside provided the appropriate locations, thereby reducing production costs. The major box-office success of The Curse of Frallkenstein (Terence Fisher, 1958) on both sides of the Atlantic put Hammer into the international marketplace. On the strength of this success Hammer signed a deal with Universal to make Dracula (Terence fisher, 1958) and a deal with Columbia to make another three pictures a year. At Bray Studios there was a small group of highly-skilled artists, technicians and directors who gave Hammer films a style and a quality that marked them out from their competitors and attracted the attention of the critics as well as large cinema audiences. Although Ealing (see 1940s/ 1950s) and Hammer Studios produced different films they were similar in terms of the context of film production. Both studios had a strong f,l/nity atmosphere and the technicians felt a personal loyalty to the studio heads. The studio heads (Michael Balcon - Ealing, and James Carreras - Hammer) had a very cl<'ar idea of the type of films their studio should make. Balcon exerted his control through careful selection of his creative team and of the projects proposed to him. Carreras exerted his control hy establishing in advance the 'look' of the pictllrc. forusing on the title 01 the film and the poster desi~ns. Both Balcon and Carreras turned away from rellecting the economic ,Ind social conditions of the time. Balcon made films where men and women of all classes liVl'd and worked harmoniously together untrouhled by the finanrial and class dil'l'erl'IHTs whirh existed in the real world; Hammer also ignored the prohlems of the ronternporary world and set its horror films in Victorian times where economic and class ronllids Wl'fC not part of the narrative. During the 1970s both studios declined in the fan' of inneasing dClll'lIlds for profjtahll' returns from a shrinking world market whl'fc they proved unahll' to romp,路t(' with AnH'ric路an. higger hudgct films.

•

enll VOIl idenlify Ihe 'look'

of a I1mwller horror 7 •

!Jall/II/er horror is a Kenre

Ihal f/lls defillile COIl/IOIl/tiolls for many IJI'o/lle. Make a list of Ihe I'sseHlinl iconography of a flulI/mer horror.

hm!A'clI."I·j"

M"."

Il" /)".<11'11.1"''/ (I'l()(l) (0 I Llr1lllll.'r/WanH'f Brn!'. (Comt,·sy Koh:ll)

I3ritish horror films had, before H~ll1mer productions, relied on shadows, mysteries,

suspense, passion, ghostly figures and the audiences' imagination. Hammer's films w{'re gener~lIy made in colour and were usu~lly cxcessive in their imagery which was sensual and

violent. Good examples of the !-·Iammer style were Drawla (1958), The Mllmmy (1959), The

ClIrse of the We 1'1'1/10 If (1960) and The 1ioo Faces of Or Jekyll (1960) - all of which were directC'd hy TerC'nce fisher. Most of H~mmer's Gothic horrors demonstrated strong moral fr~l11eworkswhich presented the conflict hetween the forces of good ~nd evil, the spirit and

the flesh, science ,1Ilc! superstition ~nd the f~mili~r and the unknown. Lu~t ~nd carn~1 desire were seen ~s highly dangerous p~rtic\llarly to women; sexll~lity was punished and norll1~liry could only be restored when abnormal and devi~nt sex\l~lity w~s destroyed. Hammer moved from the 19()Os into the 1970s with versions of the horror film, psychologic~1 thrillers, for example

Crescelldo (Alan Gibson, 1970) and FeciI' in Ihe Nighr

(.Jimmy Sangstcr, 1972). In these films n person ~Ionc, gener;tlly female, is tr~pped in a large, isolated house, tormented and sC:lred by scheming rel:ltives or associates who require her to he punished, destroyed or m~de to appear insane. These them cs arC' fall1ili~r to 1C)C)Os :ludiC'nccs; forerunners of films like J-/allollleell (John ClI-penter, 1978), The Silellce of Ill('

Lall/vs (.Jonathan Demme, 1990), Screall/ (Wes Cf;lvcn, 19%) and J l.asl •

COli/I'll 1"1'

What You Did

(.Jim Cillespie, 1997).

llall/II/er

horror of Ihl' 1970.1' /lIith

The film narrative in a I-Jammer horror is usually told in a direct and linear Ill,lnner with 11

filII/ Ihl/I -"(I////Iollld defilll' liS

a horror II/(/de ill Ihl'

J 990s.

Cml yOIl Ilick

sill/il(/r

0111

thl'lI/es? /1rt' Ihl'y Irl'llIl'd ()/' filll/ed ill di.f{nl'lIl

51111/1111'1'

[(1I0W

1I 1(IVS 7

\Try few fhshlJ;lcks or dream sequences. Evil is shown in Ill,my forms such as monsters. wCfl'woll'cS and vampires and also ,'orrupt aristonats, sensu~1 women :llld f()reigners. The films presentcd the values of the Vi,·toriall middle classes including sdf denial and sexual repression which young people at this time rejccted in their cwryday lives. They also seellwd to rdkct contcmporary insecuritiC's with powerful women and outsiders heing portrayed :lS el'il and threatening. The SUCl"CsS or three American demon films Hosel1lary's Baby (Roman Polanski, 19(8), The

l:'xorcisl (William Fricdkin, 1973) and The Oil/ell (Richard Donner, 1976) led to a run of films

featuring Satanisrn, demonic children and the occult. Hammer's 70 the Deuil

DmlRhter

(Peter Sykes, 1976), which had a similar plot to Rosemary's Baby, W:lS a European coproduction employing a large budget and American stars. This film W:lS poorly received :lnd Hammer, sharing in the general decline of the British film industry, went hankrupt in 19f\O. Although British horror film production did not finish completely during the 1970s critics have perceiwd them as ending at this time.

This was the end of the low-budget British genre film, one of those cinematic forms that proved to be And,,-w

Hi~son

110

longer commercially viable, R~nt'win~ IIritish Cinema ill th,' 1970s in lI:1ft M<lor('-Cilb~rt (,-,I.) (R<llltlcd~l', J <)94) '/'Ire /lritish Ciuelll(/ /look ",lil",1 hy Rol"'rt MlIrphy

A Diwr<ity of Film !'radin'"

·tlle Arts il/ the 1970s: CI/ltural Closure

(British Film 11l'litllt~, 1997)

The Scars

0/ DraCIIla

(Roy Ward Bak!:'r, 1970)

This was Hamnwr Studios' last 'period' Dracula in which Christopher L!:'e stars as the aristocratic Count Dracula. The plot follows the f:uniliar them!:' of a young couple tr:lpped inside Dracula's castle.

CLIP The Scars of Dracula Look at clip 10. •

Make a List of the iconography of horror fiLms within this clip Does this coincide with

your originaL List (page 42)? •

What do you think of any of the speciaL effects? Are they successfuL?

•

How wouLd a 1990s audience receive this film? WouLd you need to update it in some

way? If so, what would you do to this clip to make it more exciting or more acceptable to a modern-day audience? Re-write the scene for a 1990s audience.

INDEPENDENT FILM MAKERS In 1966 the London Film-makers' Co-operative was founded and with it the hl'ginnings of the modern independent film production movement. lcn years later, the Inclq)('ndent Filmmakers' Association (I FA) defined independence in these terms: an avoich1l1<.'c of the constraints which big private capital was helieved to impose, a rejection of the

;lill1

of making

unchallenging films to attract large audienccs immediately, and a rOl1lmitnwnt to the preservation and development of critical thought. An in(Teasing interest in f'ilm in Collegcs of Art produced a group of film makers who ohjected to the format of films produc\'(1 hy thc Hollywood-dominated industry and its British Vt'rsions. TIH'Y were innll\'lHTd hy other alternative traditions which criticised hoth the practices and the proc!ucts of I hl' l1lainstn';111l industry and set up production facililies which made sure lh;)t they could control the production processes. A number of other radical film production collectives werc set up in tll<' I l)fiOs and I ll70s; these included Cinema Action (London, Ilj(iH; f'ilms for the [.ahour 1110VI'nwnt on tlll' subjects of housing, industrial rC'lations, strikes and occupations against f'aclory dosun's ami redundancies, the Republican movempnt in Ireland, the Illiners' strikes or I ~)?2 and 1'17<1) Amher Films (Newcastle upon 'Iyne, 1969; films Illllking at the livcs of working p('ople ill till' north-east of England) the London Women's film Group (London, I ~)72; fihlls ahoul

IIIl'

involvement of women in the 192(i ;1Ilc! 1972 miners' strikl' and ;J!)(llll tll(' l'l?Os (;)IllI';Jigrl\

for equal pay and abortion rights). Some of the films received st,lte subsidy; others were made very d1caply by film milkers who were either unemployed or working part-time in the film industry subsidising their other film work. Independent film production, government intervention and the major studios still c:ontribute to the picture of the British film industry in the 19905.

•

What might be the constrail/ts imposed

•

How IlJOuld you defil/e 'independellt' ill the context of film making?

•

Do independfllt filll/ makers choose sill/iliar subject matter? Which films !taIJe

01/ Cl

film maker by 'big private capital'? YOl~

seen dealing with sill/iliar issues? •

Issues

I I

Wlwt wo,lid you cOTlSider 10 be a lI/ai,lStl'eam British film?

Identity

and

Film Styles, Themes and Genres

GETTING THE AUDIENCE BACK

lthough the 19705 appeared quite bleak in terms of film production, the decade did produce some successful and interesting films. Different genres and formulae were

tried in an attempt to win back the audience to the cinemas. David Puttnam, Ridley

Scott, Alan Parker and Hugh Hudson began making films in the 1970s which were to contribute to the revival of the British cinelnJ in the 19805. Ridley Scott made The Duellists (1977) and Aliell (1979), Abn Parker won two Oscars with Midnight Express (1978) and the unexpected success of Chariots of Fire (Hugh Hudson, 1981) earned over $30 million in America. British directors were increasingly attracted to Hollywood where the financial

situation offered more opportunitie's for work. NicoL:!s Roeg directed his first feature film Performance (written by Donald Carnmell) which was made in 1969 hut released in 1971 This film combined the world of the 'swinging sixties', pop st,lrs (Mick Jagger) and psyclil'delia \-vith the hrutality of the London gangland. The film had enormous impaC"t and induced violent re,lCtions, oeing desrribed as 'disgusting', 'worthless' and 'indescrib:Jhly sleazy' At a test SCf\"t'nin!\ in America the audienc-e protested so loudly that the film was stopped. Rumours about the making of the film still persist to(hy, particubrly about the relationships between the actors involved; the impact the film Iwd on those m,lking and starring in it (lames Fo)(, onc of the' :Jctors, ahandoned an acting caret'r to follow a Christian \'ocation n'r(llrmt/HfY" (i:)

\Vanwr Bros.l(;(\\ldtinH''';

( '""nl'S\'

and did not scc' the film for another eight years); the impro\"isation techniques and the

K"h,dj

blurring of the distinctions between reality and representation. Se:\ and violence were presented in w,lys unknown hefore in mainstream cinema.

THRILLER/HORROR Roeg went on to make other successful films, for example Don'l Look NoUJ (1973, a UKItalian rroduction starring lulie Christie and Donald Sutherland) a film about the surernatural exreriences of a couple in Venice. The film is regarded as a 'quality' horror/thriller exploring time and destiny. The ominous imagery of red, water, darkness and glass recurs throughout the film linking dreams with reality. Don'l Look Now office film of 1973. Another of Roeg's films, The Man Who Fell

W;1S

the top hox-

Earlh (1976), starring

David Bowie, was made entirely in America.

SCIENCE FICTION Stanley Kuhrick directed A Clockwork OrclIlge (1971) a cross-genre science fiction/fantasy/ futuristic film. The him was accused of glamorising gang rape and thuggery and Kuhrick withdrew the film from UK distrihution after a succession of alleged copycat violC'nt incidents. In 1979 Ridley Scott directed Alien which was set in the future with horror elements. A hoxoffice success, Alien contrihuted to the horror/science fiction revival in the 1980s.

COMEDY The Carry On series, which had begun in the 1950s, continued during the 1970s to make one film a year until the failure of Carry On Emmaruwe/le (Gerald Thomas, 1978). The film's 'naughtiness' looked extremely dated in this age of permissiveness. These films, however, are currently enjoying a television revival in the 1990s with a cult Following. Rig budget, star-oriented comedy produnions were also a Feature of the 1970s. Aft<'r the success of The Pink Panlher (Rlake Edwards, 1963) British comedian Peter Selkrs (who played the disaster-prone Inspector Clouseau) was persuaded to appe.ar in threc more Pink Panlher films. These Films were targeted at the international market and did well at the box office.

REPEATING THE FORMULA In an attempt to win hack television audiences films wcre made which repeated the characters and formulae of successful television comedies. ThC'se films were produced to attract audiences for whom television was the primary screen entertailllllC'nt ill the hope that popular television characters would entice television audienct's h:lCk into cirwl1I:ls. Putting television characters into ont' and

half hour Features when the au<lienu.' had hel'n used to

seeing halF hour segments did not work; the small scale comit- situation failed on the brgl' cinema screen. However, initially audiences did return to the cinema. On 7'lre Buses (Harry Booth, 197 J) was the highest grossing film of that year. Sle/lloe and Son (CliFf Owell, I l)7Z) did well at the hox office but its successor did not. Other successFul films

W('rI'

the Monty

Python Films Mrl/Jly flYllwn and Ihe Iloly Gmil (Terry Gillialll/Tcrry 101](,S, 1~)75) and MOl/IV

flylholl's Life of Brian (Terry 10nes, I ~7l)) :Ippealing to the important youth l1I:Irkl'1.

REGIONAL HUMOUR Bill Forsyth directed That Sinking feeling (1979) a low budget film with young, untried actors. The film was interesting because of its new look at regionill humour. Scots had typically been portrayed in British films as eccentrics or thugs from Glasgow. Thut Sinking

Feeling centres upon a group of unemployed teenagers (played by actors from the Glasgow Youth Theatre). This more in-depth perception of regionalism was in a similar vein to that portrayed in the films of Ken Lo<!ch and Terence Davies (see I 990s). Regionalism was illso explored in the crime thriller genre with Get Carter (Mike Hodges, 1971). Michael Caine plays a London gangster, Carter, who moves to Newcastle. Against the background of Newcastle locations the film explores the provinciill crime syndicate. (This film has been re-released in the 1990s.) In GUllls/1Oe (Stephen Frears, 1971) Albert f'inney plays a bingo caller in a working-men's club who is plunged into a real murder mystery. This private eye formula is set against the petty crime world of Liverpool.

POP CULTURE I

Musicals continued to he influenced by rock/pop/punk culture in the 1970s. The most

successful of these involved rock st'lrs sUl:h as David Essex in That '11 He rhe Day (Claude

Whatham, 1973) and Stardust (Michael Apted, 1974); Roger Da/try, Elton John, Keitl-路

Moon and Eric Clapton in Tommy (Ken Russell, 1975). Punk rock was represented in

Jubilee (Derek Jarman, 1978), Rude Hay (Jack Hazan/David Mingay, 1980) and The

Great Rock'l1'RolI Swindle (Julian Temple, 1979). Ken Russell also directed Mahler (1974) and Lisztomania (1975). Russell m'lde these two extravagant productions to challenge con.~ervative attitudes to classical music. In 197G Abn Parker made Rugsy

Malone, a satirical gangster film which helped him to scTure backing for his next project made for MG M - Fame (1980).

THE BRI1'ISH MALE路 JAMES BOND Diamonds Are Foreuer (Guy Hamilton, I Cl71) continued the run of successful J;lITIt'S Bond Films produced in the 19(iOs. Sean Connery stnrred as the first Bond in Dr No (Terence Young, 19(2) .1I1d although Ilt'

\V.1S

not wry close to fan Flcming's original

conception, Connery's screen prt'Sl'nce came alive for cinema audiences. James Bond films continued to he popular with Li"e (/lid LN Die (Guy Hamilton, 1973) and the Spy

11'110 L01'ed Me (Lewis Gilbert, 1977). Bond combined rugged charm, dry hUl1wur and a sen.\e of danger in tight situations. lie was a hero of great ndtural signiFil'aOlT, saving the free world from v'lrious madmen .lnd seen as rdkding tilt' v;llues 01' the frel' wmld and, in particular, Engbnd. Bond worked for ;In elite organisation dediClted to maintaining the status quo of world power relatillns (including domination by the British and their allies) in a world \\路here good and cvil are clearly defined. Hond's lifestyle is represented '1S the ;lvcrage person's perception I )idmm/(Is ArC' FIITl'I'f'r Iq71 I)allj:lq S.I\. ;lIId llnill'\( Artists

pr upper-class taste leading a high Iifl' with fast cars, gambling, fine wines and women. The

('orl'0ratilln/Et)N 1\11 Ri~ht,

l\ndlH"til)I1~.

I{,."""."

IC''''''l<"'y KO!>:lI)

roles of Wllmen in Hond have been perceived 'lS a backlash to feminism as they depend on the Bond ch;u'ader tll liberatt' and empower them. Bond's relatil)l1ships with women are

often about freeing the woman from a villain and re-positioning her on the side of right. The cinema-going audiences found his anti-hero status appealing as Bond represented a new generation of a talent-based, classless, untraditional, anti-establishment elite. The Bond role has been re-worked over the years by Roger Moore, George Lazenby and Timothy Dalton and in the 1990s the character of Bond has retained its popularity with Pierce Brosnan starring as Bond in GoldenEye (Martin Campbell, 1995), Tomorrow Never Dies (Roger Spottiswoode, 1997) and The World Is Not Enough (Michael Apted, 1999).

Diamonds Are Forever (Guy Hamilton, 1971) Diamonds Are Forever starred Sean Connery as Bond with supporting cast of Charles Gray and Jill St John. There is a witty sense of self parody in this film which includes a kind of 'reality', for example, the nuclear power blackmail game and the Howard Hughes recluse figure hiding in his Las Vegas empire.

CLIP Diamonds Are Forever Look at clip 11 which is a short sequence from 'Diamonds Are Forever'. •

Think about Bond's 'image' What is the context? Would this image be as appealing

to a 1990s audience? Would Bond's character be as credible? Would you change his 'image' in any way for a young audience in the 1990s? If so, what changes would you make' •

Choose two Bond films from different decades and look at how the film maker has

adapted the hero and the style of the film for different audiences. •

What makes Pierce Bi-osnan's portrayal of lames Bond appealing to a I990s

audience'

HISTORICAL COSTUME DRAMA The historical costume drama has been a popular genre throughout the history of British cinema. In the 1970s Ken Russell's The Music Louers (1970), Harry Lyndoll (Stanlcy Kuhrick, 1975) and loseph Andrews (Tony Richardson, 1976) provided directors with amhitious themes and extravagant St:'ts, This film I?,t:'nre can he traced through the decades with the l'ilms produced hy Gainsborough Studios in the 1940s right through to Chariots of Fire (I-Iugh Hudson, I llH I) (see 1980s) and The Wings of the Dove (lain Softley, 1997), '/he GOl'erness (Sandra Goldhaclll'r, 1998) and An Ideal Husband (Oliver Parker, 1999).

•

In the 1940s section we discussed 'escapist' llnd costume drama pOjJul(./rity in a

time of war (Gai'lsborough Studios). Who do you think is the CludiellCf for costume drama? Why do you think this genre is popular with llritish arid IImerium Cludiences? Take an example of a costume drama from any decade and discuss its tlwml's alld audience appeal.