Lost Illusions

David A. Cook is Founding Director of the Film Studies program at Emory University, where he is Professor of Film. He is the author of A History of Narrative Film and the "Motion Picture History" entry in the Encyclopedia Britannica.

• AcknowledgmentsContributorsContentsPreface: A Time of IllusionA Note on Box-Office RevenuesA Note on Aspect Ratios1 Introduction: A Decade of Change2 Formative Industry Trends, 1970--19793 Manufacturing the Blockbuster:The "Newest Art Form of the Twentieth Century"4 The Auteur Cinema: Directors and Directionsin the "Hollywood Renaissance"5 Genres 1: Revision, Transformation, and Revival6 Genres II: Exploitation and Allusion7 Orders of Magnitude I: Majors, Mini-Majors,"Instant Majors," and Independents8 Orders of Magnitude II: Costs, Agents, Stars9 Technological Innovation and Aesthetic Response10 Motion Picture Exhibition in 1970s AmericaDouglas Gornery11 Looking Back and Turning Inward:American Documentary Films of the SeventiesWilliam Rothman12 Avant-Garde Cinema of the SeventiesRobin BlaetzAvant-Garde Cinema FilmographyAppendixes:APPENDIX 1 ANNUAL U.S. BOX OFFICE RECEIPTS, 1970-1979APPENDIX 2 AVERAGE WEEKLY ATTENDANCE, 1970-1980APPENDIX 3 INFLATION 1970-1g8o, ACCORDING TO "CONSUMER PRICE INDEX"FIGURES COMPILED BY THE U.S. DEPARTMENT OF COMMEHCEAPPENDIX 4 AVERAGE TICKET PRICE IN THE U.S. EACH YEAR, 1970-1980APPENDIX 5 NUMBER OF MOVIE THEATERS IN THE U.S., 1970-1980APPENDIX 6 MAJOR COMPANY SHARE OF NEW RELEASES HANDLED BYNATIONAL DISTRIBUTORS, 1970-1980APPENDIX 7 MARKET DOMINATION BY SIX LEADING DISTRIBUTORS OFTHEATRICAL FILMS, 1977 AND 1980APPENDIX 8 MARKETING EXPENSES FOR MAJOR RELEASES, 1970-1980APPENDIX 9 MAJOR STUDIO REVENUES AND AFTER-TAX PROFITS, 1970-1980APPENDIX 10 LATE SIXTIES FLOPSAPPENDIX 11 HIT MOVIES OF THE 1968-1969 SEASONAPPENDIX 12 TOP TwENTY RENTAL FILMS, 1970-1980APPENDIX 13 NORTH AMERICAN RENTALS IN EXCESS OF $22.25MILLION, 1970-1980APPENDIX 14 MAJOR ACADEMY AWARDS, 1970-1980NotesBibliographyPicture SourcesGeneral IndexIndex of Films

"A book of impressive research which eschews vague impressions for a rigorous look at industry documents and publications, among other sources of information.... The breakthrough in Cook's study comes primarily from the ways he figures the interrelation of the two key developments in 1970s American film around auteurism and industry reconsolidation."-Dana Polan, Film Quarterly "David Cook's Lost Illusions is an excellent account of Hollywood in the 1970s-a decade of social upheaval around the world and major transformation in the U.S. movie industry.... His book overflows with useful data, and his lucid account of mainstream entertainment is nicely supplemented by the special chapters by other scholars: Douglas Gomery on exhibition, William Rothman on documentaries, and Robin Blaetz on the avant-garde."-James O. Naremore, author of More than Night: Film Noir in Its Contexts