playfully with the survivors in the first film, and
Scream 3(2000). Kevin Williamson, who authored
the first twoScreamfilms, followed them up withI
Know What You Did Last Summer in 1997 (Jim
Gillespie), which was also followed by a sequel,I Still
Know What You Did Last Summer(1998). The oft-
repeated sequels ofHalloween, originally directed by
John Carpenter in 1978, continued withHalloween 6:
The Curse of Michael Myers(1995). In 1998, Steve
Miner directed Halloween: H20, which looks at
Laurie Strode, played again by Jamie Lee Curtis
twenty years after the original film.
Numerous science-fiction sequels made their ap-
pearances during the 1990’s. The long-running Star
Trek series finally reached its conclusion withStar
Trek 6: The Undiscovered Countr yin 1991. However, in
1994,Star Trek: Generations, the first film spin-off
fromStar Trek: The Next Generationtelevision series,
came on the scene featuring Captain Picard, fol-
lowed byStar Trek: First Contact(1996) andStar Trek:
Insurrection(1998) for the ninth film in the saga. In
1999, George Lucas completedStar Wars: Episode 1—
The Phantom Menace, the first part of his Star Wars
prequel trilogy. The 1979 filmAlien, which had a suc-
cessful sequel in 1986, saw two more in the 1990’s:
Alien 3(David Fincher, 1992), ending with Ellen
Ripley’s death, andAlien: Resurrection(Jean-Pierre
Jeunet, 1997), in which a cloned Ripley returns.
Successful crime films also engender sequels that
extend the story formula as far as possible. Francis
Ford Coppola’sThe Godfather, Part III(1990) ended
the narrative begun in 1972, and Richard Donner’s
Lethal Weapon 3(1992) andLethal Weapon 4(1998)
continued the popular adventures of Los Angeles
cops Roger Murtaugh and Martin Riggs. The huge
box-office returns for the firstDie Hardin the late
1980’s called out for a sequel,Die Hard 2: Die Harder
(1990), and a third film,Die Hard: With a Vengeance
(1995), all starring Bruce Willis. Tim Burton’s sec-
ond Batman effort,Batman Returns(1992), followed
his huge first hit and was succeeded by two more
films in the series.
Mainstream Films Beyond movies aimed for young
audiences, other films during the 1990’s found suc-
cess by speaking to a different audience. Veteran di-
rector Clint Eastwood, whose directorial career had
begun twenty years earlier, released Unforgiven
(1992) to solid critical acclaim and box-office suc-
cess. Viewers connected with the film, hailed by
many as Eastwood’s masterpiece, and its realistic
stance toward violence and the mythology of the
Western film genre. Kevin Costner’sDances with
Wolves(1990), starring Costner as a United States
soldier who becomes a member of a Sioux Lakota
tribe, appealed to viewers with its gorgeous scenery
and depiction of Native Americans. Martin Scorsese,
graduate of New York University’s film school and di-
rector of numerous films about violence and the de-
cline of spirituality in the modern world, enjoyed
praise and financial returns forGoodFellas(1990)
and his remake ofCape Fear(1991). Scorsese also di-
rectedThe Age of Innocence(1993),Casino(1995), and
Bringing Out the Dead(1999). Jonathan Demme’s
Philadelphia(1993), with Tom Hanks’s first-rate act-
ing, touched audiences with its depiction of an AIDS
victim suing for discrimination.
When he is not engineering blockbusters, Steven
Spielberg makes films reflecting his own personal in-
terest, namelySchindler’s List(1993), a powerful film
concerning the efforts of Nazi businessman Oskar
Schindler to employ over one thousand Jewish per-
sons in his factory and save them from extinction in
the concentration camps. Another earnest effort
from Spielberg wasSaving Private Ryan(1998), a
highly acclaimed World War II film that de-romanti-
cizes war. Besides his highly controversial filmNatu-
ral Born Killers, Oliver Stone was busy in the 1990’s
making films that mirrored his own American revi-
sionist histories.JFK(1991) endorses the idea of a
conspiracy behind the assassination of President
John F. Kennedy, andNixon(1995) presents Stone’s
own interpretation of events involving President
Richard M. Nixon. Mel Gibson, producer, director,
and star ofBraveheart(1995), inspired audiences
with the life of William Wallace, whose fight for free-
dom was passionate and bloody.
One of the highest-grossing films in 1993 was
Sleepless in Seattle, a light, romantic-fantasy comedy
directed by Nora Ephron, who also wrote and di-
rectedYou’ve Got Mail, another romantic comedy, in- Comedies, romantic and otherwise, fared
quite well with audiences in the 1990’s, withShake-
speare in Love(John Madden, 1998) collecting abun-
dant acclamation and profits, as didAs Good as It Gets
(James L. Brooks, 1997), featuring Jack Nicholson as
an obsessive-compulsive author in New York. On a
slightly different note wasGhost(Jerry Zucker), a ro-
mantic thriller whose great popularity made it a top-
grossing film of 1990.
336 Film in the United States The Nineties in America