{"product_id":"hollywoods-last-golden-age-9780801451348","title":"Hollywoods Last Golden Age","description":"\u003cb\u003eBook Synopsis\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cp\u003eFrom Chinatown to Night Moves, how key \"seventies\" films important works of art in continuous dialogue with the political, social, personal, and philosophical issues of their times.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eTrade Review\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cp\u003e\u003ci\u003eHollywood's Last Golden Age\u003c\/i\u003e is an absorbing, well-structured look at the decade of American films that many consider the last great era of thoughtful, politically motivated filmmaking before the rise of the blockbuster.... For those who are already well versed in the period it functions as a great refresher which will likely fill in gaps in one's knowledge, and make one reach towards the DVD shelf for a viewing of one of the many remarkable and still-resonant films of the '70s.\u003c\/p\u003e -- Ian Gilchrist * Reel Ink *\u003cbr\u003e\u003cp\u003eKirshner... offers insightful, well-written interpretations of some two dozen films—with briefer references to others—that date from 1967 to 1976.... For Kirshner, the primary characteristics of this golden age include a 'moral ambiguity' that portrays the world in shades of gray rather than in black and white; plots driven by imperfect protagonists rather than by frenetic action; a concern for social and political implications; visual styles that were 'often shaky, darker, filtered, or grainy'; and a desire among filmmakers to create serious, meaningful works of art. A useful appendix lists 100 top films from this period, including 20 deemed canonical.\u003c\/p\u003e * Choice *\u003cbr\u003e\u003cp\u003eKirshner's commentary on these and other films is stimulating. He also provides a useful appendix of one hundred Seventies films. Kirshner's book provides intriguing insights for anyone interested in the relation between film and wider culture.\u003c\/p\u003e * The Journal of American Culture *\u003cbr\u003e\u003cp\u003eKirshner's writing is lively and informative, and the book excels when he discusses long forgotten seventies films (such as, \u003ci\u003eThe Friends of Eddie Coyle\u003c\/i\u003e, \u003ci\u003eMickey and Nicky\u003c\/i\u003e, and \u003ci\u003eThe Yakuza\u003c\/i\u003e), suggest new ways to view popular films (although Michael Carelone as a Nixonian character in \u003ci\u003eThe Godfather, Part II\u003c\/i\u003e could have been taken further), or focuses on topics often ignored in surveys of New Hollywood (the rising skepticism many felt towards capitalism, as discussed in relation to \u003ci\u003eNashville\u003c\/i\u003e, \u003ci\u003eNetwork\u003c\/i\u003e, and \u003ci\u003eShampoo\u003c\/i\u003e).... Kirshner's book expands on many themes discussed elsewhere, but his skillful analysis and solid research, especially pertaining to the cultural politics of the era, serves as a great introduction to this rich era of filmmaking.\u003c\/p\u003e -- Julie Lobalzo Wright * The Journal of Popular Culture *\u003cbr\u003e\u003cp\u003eRenewed interest in Hollywood film of the 1970s, evident in documentaries, popular books, and a burgeoning reissue market, has generated myth and hagiography, and \u003ci\u003eHollywood's Last Golden Age \u003c\/i\u003esupplies an important corrective to this tendency by substantiating the contexts for key films of the period. Readers of \u003ci\u003eHollywood's Last Golden Age\u003c\/i\u003e will likewise be awakened to the ways that the political rhythms and feeling of this time reverberated through American screens, the way that cinema both announced and brought audiences into the 1970s.\u003c\/p\u003e -- Nathan Holmes * Journal of American Studies *\u003cbr\u003e\u003cp\u003eThe author, a professor of government at Cornell, draws a clear correlation between the rather startling shift in American filmmaking (increased violence and sexual themes, more overt establishment motifs, the rise of the antihero) and political and social events of the 1950s and early '60s (such as the sexual revolution, the war in Vietnam, the assassinations of key political figures, the Communist witch hunts). Libraries with active film-history collections will want to add this one.\u003c\/p\u003e -- David Pitt * Booklist *\u003cbr\u003e\u003cp\u003eThoughtful, interesting and engaging.... Kirshner succeeds at a difficult task.... [A}n excellent book, well argued, clearly written, and free of the theoretical jargon that plagues so much film scholarship.\u003c\/p\u003e -- Robert T. Schultz * History: Reviews of New Books *\u003cbr\u003e\u003cp\u003eJonathan Kirshner, a Cornell University political scientist with a compelling interest in film, argues that this decade (1967–1976) was Hollywood's last golden age.... [S]uch classics as \u003ci\u003eThe Graduate\u003c\/i\u003e (1967), \u003ci\u003eBonnie and Clyde\u003c\/i\u003e (1967), \u003ci\u003eKlute\u003c\/i\u003e (1971), \u003ci\u003eMidnight Cowboy \u003c\/i\u003e(1969), \u003ci\u003eChinatown\u003c\/i\u003e (1974), and \u003ci\u003eShampoo\u003c\/i\u003e (1975) are subjected to intensive examination. These close readings are both the core and the strength of Kirshner's book (p. 2). They afford readers new ways of looking at these films, new insights into the conscious and unconscious motives of the filmmakers, and new frameworks for grasping the meanings and actions of the characters.... I found his book a joy to read and a refreshing reintroduction to the motion pictures of my youth.\u003c\/p\u003e -- Jerold Simmons * Journal of American History *\u003cbr\u003e\u003cp\u003eThe book intelligently combines social and political history of the period with an analysis of the films created during the time and, in doing so, displays the relation between the two, arguing that the cinema of the 1970s was greatly influenced by the socio-political changes that were taking place in the US.\u003c\/p\u003e -- Tatiana Prorokova (Marburg) * Amerikastudien *\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eTable of Contents\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cp\u003ePrologue1. Before the Flood2. Talkin' ’bout My Generation3. 1968, Nixon, and the Inward Turn4. The Personal Is Political5. Crumbling Cities and Revisionist History6. Privacy, Paranoia, Disillusion, and Betrayal7. White Knights in Existential Despair8. Businessmen Drink My Wine\u003ci\u003eAppendix\u003c\/i\u003e: 100 Seventies Films of the Last Golden Age\u003ci\u003eNotes\u003cbr\u003e Index\u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"Cornell University Press","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":49405137682775,"sku":"9780801451348","price":97.2,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0817\/1739\/5799\/files\/9780801451348.jpg?v=1730488843","url":"https:\/\/bookcurl.com\/products\/hollywoods-last-golden-age-9780801451348","provider":"Book Curl","version":"1.0","type":"link"}