American Cinema: The Hollywood Style (1995)
*** 1/2 (out of 4)
The first of thirteen episodes in the series takes a look at the various styles that Hollywood has gone through over the years. At just fifty-minutes one might be surprised at how many things this tackles but we just from how one becomes a movie fan to the various influences that certain directors take from the films they love and put them in their own work. Martin Scorsese, Sydney Pollack and Lawrence Kasdan are just a few of the filmmakers who are interviewed about some of their favorite films and how they connect to their own work. The most interesting subject is Scorsese who talks about these connections and he even mentions a few that I never really caught on to. He mentions TAXI DRIVER being influenced by THE WRONG MAN and both of these are films I've seen countless times yet I never really caught the connection between the two. We also see a connection between THE HEIRESS and THE AGE OF INNOCENCE and we see RAGING BULL and the influence from BATTLESHIP POTEMKIN. Even Pollack talks about the influence of something like CASABLANCA on THE WAY WE WERE. Other subjects include Scorsese talking about the old studio system and how he would have enjoyed working back then because of the way directors could just go from one film to the next and do various subjects. Fans of cinema will certainly enjoy hearing the opinions of these directors and there are plenty of film clips along the way.
*** 1/2 (out of 4)
The first of thirteen episodes in the series takes a look at the various styles that Hollywood has gone through over the years. At just fifty-minutes one might be surprised at how many things this tackles but we just from how one becomes a movie fan to the various influences that certain directors take from the films they love and put them in their own work. Martin Scorsese, Sydney Pollack and Lawrence Kasdan are just a few of the filmmakers who are interviewed about some of their favorite films and how they connect to their own work. The most interesting subject is Scorsese who talks about these connections and he even mentions a few that I never really caught on to. He mentions TAXI DRIVER being influenced by THE WRONG MAN and both of these are films I've seen countless times yet I never really caught the connection between the two. We also see a connection between THE HEIRESS and THE AGE OF INNOCENCE and we see RAGING BULL and the influence from BATTLESHIP POTEMKIN. Even Pollack talks about the influence of something like CASABLANCA on THE WAY WE WERE. Other subjects include Scorsese talking about the old studio system and how he would have enjoyed working back then because of the way directors could just go from one film to the next and do various subjects. Fans of cinema will certainly enjoy hearing the opinions of these directors and there are plenty of film clips along the way.
