The golden era, why it ended

A splendid, engaging introduction to one of film’s richest eras, “Easy Riders, Raging Bulls” unspools at 7 tonight as part of American Cinematheque’s Alternative Screen series. For those who were around at the time, Kenneth Bowser’s comprehensive documentary from Peter Biskind’s book on the filmmakers who revolutionized Hollywood in the ‘60s and ‘70s is inevitably nostalgic and poignant.

During the period the film and book cover, Hollywood directors would often be granted more power than the producers, a situation virtually unheard of since the movies’ earliest days. Among the brightest talents to emerge were Arthur Penn, Peter Bogdanovich, Dennis Hopper, Bob Rafelson, Paul Schrader, Henry Jaglom, Hal Ashby, Martin Scorsese, Roman Polanski, Francis Ford Coppola, Robert Altman, Sam Peckinpah, George Lucas and Steven Spielberg. Among actors, Warren Beatty rightfully takes the spotlight, for as a producer he was willing to take a chance on projects with Penn, Ashby and Altman.

What makes Bowser’s film so special is that he doesn’t merely hit the obvious highlights and focus only on the still famous. It is rich in giving credit where credit is due -- e.g., to producer Bert Schneider, whose BBS company was responsible for a string of influential pictures, including “Five Easy Pieces” and the Vietnam War documentary “Hearts and Minds.” The film abounds in revealing detail -- from how Francois Truffaut not only had a hand in the “Bonnie and Clyde” script but also brought it to Beatty’s attention.

It was probably inevitable that the studios would begin reining in directorial power once the auteurs experienced a box-office failure. Bowser and his subjects themselves are blunt about the perils of arrogance, self-indulgence and, above all, cocaine.

What really ended this highly personal era of Hollywood filmmaking was the emergence of the special-effects blockbuster. Such films were put into saturation release, exploitation-picture style, beginning with “Jaws,” “Star Wars” and “Close Encounters of the Third Kind.” It was, observes narrator William Macy, “the ultimate triumph of the B movies.”

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The Cannes hit “The Man Without a Past,” by Aki Kaurismaki, opens the fourth Scandinavian Film Festival L.A. on Friday at 8:30 p.m. at the Writers Guild Theater.

Two of the features were the official Oscar entries of Iceland and Norway: Baltasar Kormakur’s “The Sea,” which screens Saturday at noon; and Trygve Allister Diesen’s “Hold My Heart,” which closes the festival Sunday at 8 p.m.

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Screenings

“Easy Riders, Raging Bulls,” tonight, 7 p.m., Lloyd E. Rigler Theatre at the Egyptian, 6712 Hollywood Blvd., Hollywood. (323) 466-FILM.

“The Man Without a Past,” Friday, 8:30 p.m. at the Writers Guild Theater, 135 S. Doheny Drive, Beverly Hills. (323) 661-4273.

“The Sea,” Saturday, noon at the Writers Guild Theater.

“Hold My Heart,” Sunday, 8 p.m., at the Writers Guild Theater.