Hal Ashby was born on 2 September 1929. He died of cancer at only 59 years old. But he still managed to direct more than a dozen feature films — many of them iconic.
Although I’ve seen more, Ashby is important to me for three films: Harold and Maude, The Last Detail, and Being There. He had a positive view of humanity at the same time that he was sad about the world. Each of these three films end wistfully. Characters continue on despite the insanity of the world.
I like these kinds of films. They seem “true.” But I don’t get excited about them. This is Psychotronic Review, not New Hollywood Review. Part of this is that people already make far too big a deal out of these men. (It is almost entirely these men; also, these white men. I know there are exceptions, which rather proves my point.)
New Hollywood wasn’t so much a movement as a financial crisis for the film business. The studios didn’t have the control they once had. Television was cutting into profits. And tastes were changing. But Hollywood can always be trusted to do the right thing, once all other possibilities have been exhausted. And so money flowed more easily to new filmmakers. So, as usual, it’s all about money.
Hal Ashby worked as an assistant editor from the late 1950s through the mid-1960s. Then he edited a number of notable films in the late 1960s including In the Heat of the Night, for which he one an Academy Award. This led to his directing The Landlord, and the rest is history. (Note, however, that this is almost exactly the path that Edward Dmytryk took to directing the 1930s so… Maybe New Hollywood is kinda BS?)
Ashby would be 96 if he were still alive. I’m tempted to watch Harold and Maude but some of that film makes me cringe a bit. And I can’t face The Last Detail. So I guess it is Being There…
Hal Ashby via Wikipedia under Fair Use.
I liked Shampoo because of the political aspects (Jack Warden’s Nixon celebration party). But again — that’s in the excellent Towne script.
And of course you’re right that the New Hollywood thing ignored women directors/writers. Who didn’t have as many opportunities. But there were some influential ones behind the scenes at the time. Elaine May and Joan Tewksbury and Joan Micklin Silver and others.
TV has been a great help in terms of female directors. And things have gotten so much better. But I think Stephanie Rothman is a good example of how things went for women. She came out of that whole Corman group. She directed a number of good low budget films. You’d think TV would have snatched her up. But no. Eventually she and her producer husband moved and went into real estate.