What happened to our filmmakers?

1. 1. Lobotomies (Spielberg, Lucas)

1. 2. Emasculation (Scorsese)

1. 3. Burnout (Coppola, Friedkin, Bogdonavich, Altman, Rafelson, Penn)

1. 4. Industry exile (Wilder, Polanski)

1. 5. Death (Ashby, Hitchcock, Pekinpah)

It is impossible to make a strong American film that says anything of relevance in this day and age. The simple truth is that there is no art and there is nothing that we can do to change the popular opinion of the film industry. In fact the industry itself is the problem. Roger Ebert put it best when he talked of a gradual shift in thought from “trying to make the Great American Movie to making the Great American Hit.” The names listed above are grouped into categories of the fates of the New Hollywood directors. Others simply were written off, never to direct again. Legends died and no one was left to take their place.

What follows are articles on some of these filmmakers and what has become of them.