|
What had started in the late sixties got even more prominent in the seventies. The moral fiber of the country changed permanently. Americans that were always portrayed as puritanical became overtly promiscuous sexually. The drug culture that began taking root in the late sixties became a permanent part of the American way of life. The incidence of violent crimes increased drastically. There were many movies made in the seventies none of them could really be considered defining moment movies such as Guess Who is Coming to Dinner in the sixties. Another phenomenon was the emergence of the so-called Black Exploitation movies in which black actors played the roles traditionally played by whites. Blacula was a black vampire with William Marshal in the title role and Pam Grier played in Foxy Brown (1974) as an avenging girl friend. Tamara Dobson played US special agent Cleopatra Jones (1973.) These movies were actually successful with the white audiences as well. Shaft (1971) which was directed by the veteran cinematographer turned director Gordon Park starred Richard Roundtree. It was notable because it showed sexual encounters between a black male and while females and portrayed the black private eye Shaft as a hero. The most successful movie of the seventies was Star Wars (1977) which created a huge industry for toys and artifacts. There were other major movies such as: Patton |