The Maysles’ customized 16mm camera
and Nagra tape player captured the
raw footage that the brothers and editor
Charlotte Zwerin formed into a story
as compelling as any feature narrative.
What emerges is Willy Loman
made real.LEGACY: Alec Baldwin’s “inspirational”
speech in Glengarry Glen Ross (1992)
clearly draws on the angst-inducing
“pep” talk of the Bible salesmen’s
manager. Errol Morris has pointed
to the brothers’ work as shaping
his own documentary storytelling in
such films as The Thin Blue Line (1988).Easy Rider
(Dennis Hopper)Where to start with one of
the touchstones of independent
moviemaking? With a $400,000 budget
and a worldwide gross of $60 million,
Easy Rider, which is an outlaw western
at heart, opened eyes to the possibilities
of independent moviemaking. It seems
as if an entire industry has been built
to chronicle the making of the film—
with tales of happy accidents of partiallyexposed film contributing to the vibe
of the cemetery trip, the contribution
of drugs, or Dennis Hopper’s mood
swings. From its creative use of lens flare
to its building a soundtrack made up
of songs from a collection of recognized
musicians, Easy Rider made its own
rules—rules which then made their way
into other films. Of course, with financial
success comes messiness, and the film
had plenty of that—the claims and coun-
ter claims about the film’s parentage.
In any case, writing credits officially
belong to Hopper, Terry Southern,
and Peter Fonda. Mercifully, we were
spared an alternate ending where Fonda
and Hopper literally sailed into the
sunset.LEGACY: Helped pave the way for the
cinema of New Hollywood that took
chances and reached younger audiences
with such films as Five Easy Pieces
(1970), The Last Picture Show (1971),
and The King of Marvin Gardens
(1972). Sparked the evolution of
the musical soundtrack as storytelling
device and revenue stream, as
evidenced by American Graffiti (1973),
The Big Chill (1983), and Almost Famous
(2000).Butch Cassidy
and the Sundance Kid
(George Roy Hill)Hill put a contemporary filter on a simple
story about outlaws. The result: a regenera-
tion of the tiring western genre. This buddy
film reaffirmed Paul Newman’s star status
and catapulted Robert Redford into the
firmament. The film’s contemporary sheen
was provided by William Goldman’s dia-
logue, which provides a bevy of memorable
moments. (Sundance Kid: “I can’t swim!”
Butch Cassidy: “Are you crazy? The fall will
probably kill you.”) In addition, inclusion
of contemporary music contributed to the
freshness of the approach. While the movie-
makers were nervous about the B.J. Thomas’
“Raindrops Keep Fallin’ on My Head”
accompaniment to the bicycle interlude,
the scene played well and, in retrospect,
plays like a classic music video. Throw
in a freeze-frame ending that’s a nod to the
French New Wave, and you have a film that
breathed new life into the western.LEGACY: Influenced innumerable wise-crack-
ing buddy films that combine mayhem
with comedic quips, from Beverly Hills CopDING-DONG PITCH: DOCUMENTARY DUO DAVID (C) AND ALBERT MAYSLES (R) FOLLOW THE DOOR-TO-DOOR EXPLOITS OF BIBLE PEDDLER PAUL BRENNAN (L) IN THEIR
GROUNDBREAKING SLICE OF DIRECT CINEMA, SALESMAN44 SUMMER 2019 MOVIEMAKER.COM
COURTESY OF MAYSLES FILMS / PHOTOFEST