A Decade Under the Influence
Cast
Robert Altman .... Himself
John G. Avildsen .... Himself
Peter Bogdanovich .... Himself
Ellen Burstyn .... Herself
John Calley .... Himself
Directed by
Ted Demme and Richard LaGravenese
Rater #2 has description and review.
Rater #1
Has Not Seen Movie
Rater #2
7/10. As I am a teenager, I have about one hundred years of movies to catch
up on. I try to see a mixture of classics, mainstream, art-house, and
other movies. The 70's is one of the most important decades for
films: it's when the average, common, classical films changed into
full of messages and anti-social behavior. It became like nothing
anyone had ever seen before. What A Decade Under the Influence
basically shows is how important all of the movies from around The
Graduate to about Star Wars.
Richard LaGravenese and the late Ted Demme are the primary
interviewers in this documentary, which interviews such people as
Dennis Hopper, Francis Ford Coppola, Martin Scorsese, Robert Altman,
and Jon Voight, among others about how those few years changed cinema
forever. It's a very professional, polished documentary, and it's
even financed by IFC films. However, as this is a very professional
one, I would think that they would at least edit out the noise of
someone behind the camera laughing. To me, that took out a lot of how
neat and clean the whole thing was.
On the other hand, it's a very interesting documentary, about film by
the people who make it. Of course, they aren't bashing their own
films or anything of the like, but they're portraying honesty on what
they thought of the films and what they meant. I don't know much
about film (but I want to be involved around it when I become an
adult), so I feel like to someone like me this movie is a huge asset.
I have seen a good number of movies that they mentioned, like
Chinatown and One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest, but a little more
insight into those movies were very informative.
The main reason, however, I didn't love Influence is, as slickly as
it was edited, it seemed to take its time in the beginning and be
quite relaxed, therefore not having enough time to get to everything
that they wanted to show. They crammed in Star Wars and Jaws in the
last few minutes, when they were two of the most important. It seemed
like they tried too hard to show lots of clips, and that's fine, but
some of them were unimportant, such as an extended one from Network.
Overall, though, Influence is a very enthralling, informative
documentary that helped me, at least, learn more about a
second "golden age" in American cinema
Rated R for language, and images of sexuality, violence and drug use.
Running time: 138 or 108 minutes
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