Lost Decade

<p><b>Provides an analysis of Hollywood from a fresh viewpoint that shows the careers of Robert Altman Francis Coppola William Friedkin and others in the 1980s as far from conforming to a monolithic pattern of decline but rather as diverse and complex responses to political and industrial changes.</b> <p/>The 1980s are routinely seen as the era of the blockbuster and of 'Reaganite entertainment ' whereas the dominant view of late 1960s and early 1970s American film history is that of a 'Hollywood Renaissance' a relatively brief window of artistry based around a select group of directors. Yet key directors associated with the Renaissance period remained active throughout the 1980s and their work has been obscured or dismissed by a narrow singular model of American film history. <p/>This book deals with industrial contexts that conditioned these directors' ability to work creatively but it is also very much about the analysis of individual films bringing to light a range of unheralded work from the visual experimentation of <i>One from the Heart</i> (Coppola 1981) to the experimental production contexts of <i>Secret Honor </i>(Altman 1984) and the stylistic <i>élan </i>of <i>To Live and Die in L.A.</i> (Friedkin 1985). Behind the homogenous picture of the decline of the auteur in 1980s American cinema are films and careers that merit greater attention and this book offers a new way to perceive individual films American film history and the viability of sustained authorial creativity within post-studio era Hollywood.</p>