Fun in The Dark

I just read Opening Wednesday At A Theater Or Drive-In Near You, Charles Taylor's look at exploitation films from the 70's.

The titles, such as Vanishing Point, Hickey & Boggs, Foxy Brown, Ulzana's Raid, Citizen's Band and Bring Me The Head Of Alfredo Garcia, were dumped into theatres without much fanfare, treated as vaguely disreputable by the studios who made them.  Yet Taylor sees something more there.

It was a different time.  Hollywood, released from censorship, was experimenting, and the films of the era--not just famous ones like The Godfather or Chinatown or Nashville--treated audiences like they were adults.  In the post-Star Wars world, according to Taylor, Hollywood made movies for adolescents, but back then, even cheap films could have ambivalent characters, and protagonists who lose and lose big.

They also described, generally without condescension, an America that was at war with its own impulses.  Americans were searching for a sense of community that was lost (or never there to begin with) while at the same time seeking a sense of freedom and autonomy that required living outside normal society.

Taylor has always been a lively writer, and he expresses his enthusiasm for these films quite well.  He's also perceptive, making one want to take a second (or, in some cases, first) look at these films.  I question some of his arguments (both aesthetic and political), but overall, a book well worth reading.