Movie Review – A Decade Under the Influence

A Decade Under the Influence (2003)
Directed by Ted Demme and Richard LaGravenese

Across the globe, there have been numerous cinematic movements. Two of the most influential were the French & Italian New Waves. Through revolutionary experimentation with style & content, the artists behind these movements were able to show how film could tell stories far beyond what people had once imagined. These films often touched on political topics, particularly social injustice and hypocrisy among the ruling classes. The United States saw a similar but much smaller film movement in the 1960s, but something different from the upheaval brought about by their European counterparts. John Cassavettes helped birth American independent cinema, but it was not widely recognized at the time. It would be the 1970s when the States would see their own transformation of movies.

A Decade Under the Influence is a series of anecdotes interspersed with historical context about the New Hollywood period. Make a note of that name. Most radical film movements during this time had the name of the country in their title, while America’s film movement bears the name of the city where mainstream movies were made. And it was undoubtedly all about Hollywood as distribution was much more controlled in the States than across Europe.

It would be Warner Bros.’s release of Bonnie & Clyde and Columbia choosing to distribute Easy Rider that kickstarted a cascade of mature, complex movies being released into theaters. If the corporations couldn’t profit from this, it would never have happened, and if it did, then only on a much smaller scale. The dependency on the corporate distribution model has also allowed smaller, character-focused movies to fade away in place of mindless spectacle.

I don’t want to shit on this documentary too much because it did play a crucial role in my development in learning to understand and appreciate great movies. I saw it when it aired on cable television shortly after its theatrical release, and it was my first exposure to many of these titles, directors, and actors. It makes for a great introduction to teenagers or college students who want to know where to start with cinema. However, as a documentary, it doesn’t provide much more insight into these pictures. It is trying to bite off far more than it can chew and would have benefitted from a docuseries format. Even then, that would still need to gloss over much detail. 

Revisiting the doc now, it is far less insightful than it had been when I was in college. It makes sense; I know much more about movies than I did then. However, I’ve watched plenty of documentaries on subjects I know better now and still be able to garner new insights. Ironically enough, Francis Ford Coppola mentions an obscure William Friedkin doc from his pre-feature film days that helped free a condemned man, which Copolla cites as the ultimate achievement any artist could attain. I think he’s exactly right; if your art can affect that kind of change in the world, then you have truly accomplished something. It’s a shame that a documentary like this falls so short.

If anything, this film made me want to seek out a comprehensive documentary on the work of William Friedkin if such a thing exists. There’s an anecdote where he talks about the use of the “n-word” in The French Connection and how there was tremendous pushback when he was making the movie. However, the director cites watching a packed theater in a predominantly Black neighborhood react with validation when that scene happens. It’s two cops talking about how they know what they did to a Black suspect was wrong, but one of them, Popeye Doyle, doesn’t care. Friedkin saw the audience’s reaction as them finally seeing a truth they had known their whole lives said on the big screen in a movie theater. That’s why that moment was critical; it didn’t attempt to present the police as “good guys.” It’s a shame that Disney has seen to cut this from the streaming versions of the film widely available online.

A Decade Under the Influence is mostly mildly interesting stories from people involved in making well-known 1970s movies. Bruce Dern does an impression of Jack Nicholson. In a rare moment of lucidity, Jon Voight talks about one of his best performances in Hal Ashby’s Coming Home. Julie Christie talks about McCabe and Mrs. Miller & Shampoo. The biggest thing I noticed was how bleach-white the assembled talking heads were. I believe Pam Grier is the only non-white person interviewed, or at least whose interview was included in the final cut. That makes sense, as the New Hollywood movement ultimately segregated itself from the Black American filmmakers making powerful cinema at the time.

A piece of more substance and length would be appropriate for American cinema in the 1970s. I don’t think anything will ever outrank Mark Cousins’s The Story of Film, and even that felt like it had to rush past so much. Could the best medium to dissect and analyze film be through the written word? That would be pretty ironic. Do any of you have a documentary about filmmaking movements or periods you feel does justice to the work?