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Realism, revisionism and visual style: The French Connection and the New Hollywood policier

2010; Routledge; Volume: 8; Issue: 2 Linguagem: Inglês

10.1080/17400301003700236

1740-7923

Paul Ramaeker,

Italian Fascism and Post-war Society

This paper will begin by exploring the historical development and functions of documentaristic realism in 1970s Hollywood crime dramas. I will analyze The French Connection as a prime example of the synthesis of realism and genre convention characteristic of this period of studio filmmaking, paying particular attention to issues of visual style, narration and the compromises of the ‘revisionist’ critique of genre and ideology. The paper will examine the interplay of realism and spectacle – realism in the context of action film style – in 1970s Hollywood. I will conclude by suggesting continuities in the norms and functions of visual style in the progression from the ‘realist’ cop thrillers of the 1970s to the hyperbolic blockbusters of the 1980s and since, exemplified here by Die Hard and the Bourne trilogy.