American Independents
Films made outside the studio system. Cassavetes, the New Hollywood generation, Sundance and the nineties independents, Lynch, Jarmusch and Tarantino, plus the low budgets that turned into careers.
Part of Films
40 moments in this segment.
- - Midnight Cowboy. John Schlesinger. Only X-rated film ever to win Best Picture. Jon Voight and Dustin Hoffman as down-and-out hustlers in New York. "I'm walking here!"
- - Midnight Cowboy (1969) | Official Trailer | MGM Studios. 00:01:59
- - Easy Rider. Dennis Hopper. Made for $360k; grossed $60M. Convinced studios to bet on the film-school generation. Killed off the studio system that had survived Bonnie and Clyde.
- - Easy Rider | Original Trailer [HD] | Coolidge Corner Theatre. 00:03:05
- - The Conversation. Francis Ford Coppola, made between the two Godfathers. Gene Hackman as a surveillance expert. Released months before Nixon resigned over Watergate. A film about wiretapping in a year about wiretapping.
- - The Conversation (1974) ORIGINAL TRAILER [HD 1080p]. 00:02:50
- - One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest. Miloš Forman. Jack Nicholson as McMurphy. Second film to sweep the Big Five Oscars (Picture, Director, Actor, Actress, Screenplay), and the only one in 40 years.
- - One Flew Over The Cuckoo's Nest (1975) Official Trailer #1 - Jack Nicholson Movie HD. 00:02:35
- - Rocky. John G. Avildsen. Stallone wrote it in three days, refused to sell unless he could star. Beat Taxi Driver and Network for Best Picture. Spawned an empire.
- - ROCKY (1976) | Official Trailer | MGM. 00:03:39
- - Raging Bull. Scorsese in black-and-white about boxer Jake LaMotta. De Niro gained 60 pounds for the later scenes. Frequently called the greatest film of the 1980s.
- - RAGING BULL (1980) | Official Trailer | MGM. 00:02:17
- - Do the Right Thing. Spike Lee's Brooklyn block-party-becomes-riot. Released the week Yusef Hawkins was murdered in Bensonhurst. Roger Ebert called it the most important film of the year; the Academy nominated Driving Miss Daisy instead.
- - Do the Right Thing Official Trailer #1 - Danny Aiello Movie (1989) HD. 00:02:11
- - The Shawshank Redemption. Frank Darabont. Bombed at the box office; saved by VHS, cable, and word-of-mouth into the all-time #1 on IMDb. Proof that audiences eventually find the right films.
- - The Shawshank Redemption | Official Trailer | Warner Bros. Entertainment. 00:01:40
- - Lost Highway. David Lynch. Bill Pullman, Patricia Arquette, Robert Blake. The Möbius-strip narrative that became Lynch's late-career template (Mulholland Drive, Inland Empire follow).
- - Lost Highway. Fred Madison, saxophoniste, soupçonne sa femme, Renee, de le tromper. Il la tue et est condamné à la peine capitale. Le film raconte l'histoire de cet assassinat du point de vue des différentes personnalités de l'assassin lui-même.
- - Fight Club. David Fincher, from Palahniuk. Brad Pitt and Edward Norton. "The first rule of Fight Club..." Misread as a celebration of toxic masculinity by exactly the people it was satirising.
- - Fight Club (1999) Trailer #1 | Movieclips Classic Trailers. 00:02:28
- - Magnolia. Paul Thomas Anderson. Three-hour ensemble of Los Angeles damaged people. Ends with a rain of frogs. Established Anderson as the heir to Altman and Scorsese.
- - Magnolia (1999) Official Trailer #1 - Paul Thomas Anderson Movie. 00:02:45
- - Mulholland Drive. David Lynch. Originally shot as an ABC pilot the network rejected; Lynch shot extra material and turned it into a feature. Sight & Sound's greatest film of the 21st century in the 2016 poll.
- - Mulholland Drive | Official Trailer | Starring Naomi Watts. 00:01:24
- - Before Sunset. Richard Linklater. Sequel to Before Sunrise (1995). 80 minutes of Jesse and Céline walking through Paris. Realised in 2013 with Before Midnight as the definitive trilogy of romantic conversation in modern cinema.
- - Before Sunset (2004) Official Trailer #1 - Ethan Hawke Movie. 00:02:46
- - Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind. Michel Gondry, script by Charlie Kaufman. Jim Carrey and Kate Winslet erasing each other from their memories. The best original screenplay of the 2000s.
- - Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind Official Trailer #1 - Jim Carrey, Kate Winslet Movie (2004) HD. 00:01:24
- - There Will Be Blood. Paul Thomas Anderson. Daniel Day-Lewis as oilman Daniel Plainview. "I drink your milkshake." Often called the best American film of the 2000s.
- - There Will Be Blood (2007) Official Trailer - Daniel Day-Lewis, Paul Dano Movie HD. 00:02:12
- - The Social Network. Fincher, Sorkin script. Jesse Eisenberg as Zuckerberg. Made before anyone knew how much Facebook would matter. The opening Erica Albright dialogue is a masterclass.
- - THE SOCIAL NETWORK - Official Trailer [2010] (HD). ) · 00:02:30
- - Spotlight. Tom McCarthy. Boston Globe journalists investigate Catholic Church sexual-abuse cover-up. Won Best Picture. A throwback procedural in the spirit of All the President's Men.
- - Spotlight TRAILER 1 (2015) - Mark Ruffalo, Michael Keaton Movie HD. 00:02:29
- - Moonlight. Barry Jenkins. Three-act portrait of a Black gay man growing up in Liberty City, Miami. Won Best Picture in the most chaotic Oscar moment ever (after La La Land was wrongly announced).
- - Moonlight | Official Trailer HD | A24. 00:01:56
- - Lady Bird. Greta Gerwig's solo directorial debut. Saoirse Ronan in Sacramento. Helped open mainstream Hollywood to women-directed coming-of-age films.
- - Lady Bird | Official Trailer HD | A24. 00:02:33
- - Nomadland. Chloé Zhao. Frances McDormand among the real-life van-dwelling itinerant workers of the American West. Won Best Picture in the COVID-virtual-ceremony year; Zhao the first woman of colour to win Best Director.
- - NOMADLAND | Official Trailer | Searchlight Pictures. 00:02:06
