Robert Walker Jr., Dennis Hopper in front of a Dr. Pepper sign, 1965, Digital print, Robert Walker Collection1969 - Woodstock, the Stonewall riots, Jimi Hendrix, Janis Joplin, the moon landing, lingering grief over the assassinations of Robert Kennedy and Martin Luther King Jr., the violence of Vietnam, Midnight Cowboy and Dennis Hopper's Easy Rider.
This discussion will explore the rise of the 'New Hollywood' which ruptured Hollywood conventions through maverick characters, non-linear narrative structures, improvisational style, rock'n'roll wallpaper and subversive ideology.
Gary Simmons will look at the social and political turmoil of the time with a particular emphasis on Easy Rider as one of the first films from a new wave of Hollywood directors, including Francis Ford Coppola, Robert Altman and Martin Scorsese.
