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One of the greatest films of all time about to show on BBC 2 at 23:35 tonight starring Jack Nicholson committed to an asylum. I wont say anymore in case you haven't seen it before.

Also the film during which he found out his sister was actually his mother.

'Mmmmm Juicy Fruit'

A true classic,why doesn't america make films of this quality anymore?

It is one of the best I have ever seen

Great film esp the bit where they wanted to watch TV and there was a slight problem.

Probably because films these days tend to be made for a very narrow demographic that wouldn't understand work of the calibre of OFOTCN.

The 1970s was awash with brilliant mainstream films aimed at an intelligent adult audience that simply would never get the green light now, such as The Conversation, Chinatown, Taxi Driver, Deerhunter, Meanstreets, Serpico, Dog Day Afternoon, Badlands, Days of Heaven, Sunday Bloody Sunday, Klute... I could go on.

Most of the Hal Ashby films notably Harold & Maude and the Last Detail, many of the Robert Altman films eg Nashville.

Too many suits who try to make movies to appeal to dumb little girls with lots of merchandise to sell.

The main reason that "Hollywood" doesn't make film's like this anymore is because they started losing control over the directors & then money.

The period you are talking about really ushered in a Golden Period for "Hollywood" as the old studio system, gave away to dynamic filmakers, making gritty & realistic films. That through their realism and connecting on many different levels with the public, went on to become "Classics"

The period you are referring to is called "New Hollywood" or "Post-Classic Hollywood" Where in the breakdown of the "Production Code" following the release of "Who's Afraid Of Virginia Woolf" attitudes were relaxed and a new rating system was introduced where-in films could be rated R and X and still be big hits for the studio's. As previously, if it didn't pass "Production Code" rules and stamped "Approved" it could only go on limited release in certain theatre's and ergo not make money!

The period you are talking about that is refered to as "New Hollywood" is generally regarded as coming into bein in the late 60's with the release of Arthur Penn's "Bonnie & Clyde" closely followed by both "The Graduate" and John Schlesinger's "Midnight Cowboy" which is still the only ever X-Rated film to win th "Best Picture" Academy Award. This allowed a whole new generation to come through and film the movies they wanted to film at big studio's. These new filmakers had come through the 60's school of filmaking & were influenced by "Hippy Ideal's" French & Italian "New Wave" films & German "Art House" movies as well as being affected by the Left-Wing uprising & the war in Vietnam. This impacted the way that the Major Studio's approached film-making. It has to remember that these new prominent Director's and their movies were part of the "Studio System" they were not "Independent Filmakers" making "Independent" movies. But rather they introduced subject matter and styles that set them apart from the old "Studio Tradition's". The period also defined a broader scale of film making covering many different social and idealogical changes influenced by the period and the director's themselves.

The reason for the change was down to changing attitudes of the period, the emergence of youth culture, left-wing ideals, the war in Vietnam, hippy culture, mass events and social gatherings and drug use in the West. But the biggest change was the advent of Television and it's popularity. With people choosing to stay at home and watch lavish TV programmes without spending money, films continued to lose business, to cope with this the Studio's started making more movies in Technicolour and in Cinemascope, shooting in Widescreen & Stereo to combat dwindling audience figures. Eventually the studio's started spending money making Epic Movies in the hands of trusted "Old School" Hollywood filmakers such as "Cleopatra" "Hello Dolly" and "Tora, Tora, Tora" all of which were expensive flops costing the studio's millions in lost revenue.

This ushered in the beginning of the "New Hollywood" era were gritty, realistic films could be made cheaper that appealed to a broader audience, especially the "Baby Boomer" generation of kids. These new directors were film school educated and counter-culture bred. And more importantly for the studio's "Young". This group of young filmakers dubbed "The New Hollywood" made up of actor's, directors and writers briefly changed the business from the producer-driven Hollywood "Studio System" of the past, and injected their movies with meaning, grittiness, determination, realism, freshness, energy, sexuality and a passion for the artistic value of film itself. The youth movement of the period, obsessed with counter-culture, mass gatherings & Left-Wing political ideals also turned to Anti-Heroes and made them pop-culture icons which propelled the success of films such as "Bonnie & Clyde" and "Cool Hand Luke". The success of these films along with "The Graduate", "Midnight Cowboy" and "Easy Rider" prompted the studio's to put faith in and trust the writing and budgets of films in the hands of these youthful new filmakers. Which in turn paved the way for the studio's to relinquish almost complete control to these innovative young filmakers. In the mid 70's this lead to the realise of some startling original film's such as "Klute" "The French Connection" "The Conversation" "Paper Moon" "Dog Day Afternoon" "Chinatown" and "Taxi Driver" among others. These movies enjoyed enormous critical and commercial success. And in turn, these successes led each of the new directors in turn to make more and more extravagent demands both on the studio and eventually on the audience.

Some of the most notable directors of the "New Hollywood" period are Hal Ashby, Robert Altman, Peter Bogdanovich, Woody Allen, Milos Forman, Brian De Palma, Alan J. Pakula, Francis Ford Coppola, John Schlesinger, Sidney Pollack, Roman Polanski, George Roy Hill, William Friedkin, Martin Scorsese, Arthur Penn, Sidney Lumet, Don Siegal, Stanley Kubrick, John Boorman, Terrence Mallick, Sam Peckinpah, George Lucas & Michael Cimino.

The reason it all ended was that the studio's baulked at losing so much control and once after having faith in these directors and producing money making movies. Their demands were becoming more and more and they eventually started producing costly flops. The beginning of the end really was the release of "Jaws" the 1st Summer blockbuster movie, closely followed by the release of "Star Wars" this led the producers to take back control of the films, this was expediated by some rather costly flops from the "New Hollywood" Directors, namely being Peter Bogdanovich's "At Long Last Love", Martin Scorsese's "New York, New York", William Friedkins "Sorcerer" and the big clincher & the final nail in the coffin for "New Hollywood" and the gritty realistic films we all love was Michael Cimino's "Heaven's Gate"

Cimino after directing "The Deer Hunter" which he co-wrote and co-produced, and was a major, critical and commercial epic, which won Cimino the "Best Director" Academy Award along with "Best Picture" "Best Editing" and "Best Supporting Actor". This movie made him in high demand and he choose to make his epic "Heaven's Gate". The movie is a Western and is set during the Johnson County War a dispute between land baron's and European Immigrant settlers in Wyoming. On the basis of the "Deer Hunter" Cimino was given free rein by United Artists and the movie came in several times over budget. The film was plagued by time consuming re-shoots, cost and time overruns, negative press and Cimino's overbearing directorial style. It cost an estimated budget of $56 million to make and was released to scathing reviews, some of the worst press & made a total of just $3 million at the box office. It is generally considered to be the biggest "Box Office Bomb" of all time. And eventually led to the demise of the studio with "Transamerica Corporation" being forced to sell "United Artists" and effectively destroyed the career of Cimino who has never recovered and never made another successful movie. The effects of this forced the studio's to take back control of the movies & led to the end of "New Hollywood".

Studio's now relied on big mass appeal movies and jumpstarted the studio's reliance on the "Blockbuster" with the focus now on a high concept premise, with greater concentration going into merchandising and tie-ins (i.e. Toys). Spin-off's into other media (i.e. Soundtracks) and the use of big-money sequals (which had been made respectable due to the success of Coppolla's "The Godfather part II"). This showed the studio's how to make money in this new enviroment. Once this was realised and seeing how much money could be made by releasing these films, Major Corporations started buying up the Hollywood studios. The corporate mentality for making "Big Money" leads us to today, and the release of so many big "Summer Blockbusters", "Christmas Movies", Films made for the intention to release sequals. Lots of comic book movies, action movies, superheroes. And the current trend for "Re-making" box-office classics and "Re-booting" a weary franchise and making it fresh again.

Movies will never go back to the way they where. And these corporations will never entrust so much free rein to Directors or fund their lavish budgets to make movies that are more thought-provoking and won't have a stupid kid rushing out to see it & then buy a soundtrack, a t-shirt, a cup, toys etc. Though we can all be thankful that for that brief moment the period was there. And some of the Greatest Movies Ever made was released during this period. We can have them all at home and revisit them whenever the mood takes us. For a more comprehensive insight into "New Hollywood" and how it all ended i would recommend you read Steven Bach's book "Final Cut" he can explain it much less crudely and more eloquently than i have here. Apologies for the length, this is the longest post i think i've ever written. It's epic - almost as much as "Heaven's Gate".