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139-600: My Own Private Idaho is a 1991 American independent adventure drama film written and directed by Gus Van Sant , loosely based on Shakespeare 's Henry IV, Part 1 , Henry IV, Part 2 , and Henry V . The story follows two friends, Mike Waters and Scott Favor, played by River Phoenix and Keanu Reeves respectively, as they embark on a journey of personal discovery that takes them from Portland, Oregon , to Mike's hometown in Idaho , and then to Rome in search of Mike's mother. My Own Private Idaho had its premiere at

278-460: A 1991 article by Lance Loud , and reprinted interviews with Gus Van Sant, River Phoenix and Keanu Reeves. Entertainment Weekly gave the DVD a "B+" rating and wrote, "While you may enjoy watching My Own Private Idaho , whether you choose to view this two-disc Criterion edition in its entirety depends on how much you enjoy watching people talking about My Own Private Idaho ", and concluded, "But with all

417-424: A big budget adaptation of Frank Herbert 's science fiction novel Dune for Italian producer Dino De Laurentiis 's De Laurentiis Entertainment Group , on the condition that the company release a second Lynch project, over which the director would have complete creative control. Although De Laurentiis hoped it would be the next Star Wars , Lynch's Dune (1984) was a critical and commercial flop, grossing

556-410: A billion-dollar deal, acquired New Line Cinema, Fine Line Features , and Castle Rock Entertainment in 1994. The acquisitions proved to be a good move for Turner Broadcasting as New Line released The Mask and Dumb & Dumber , Castle Rock released The Shawshank Redemption , and Miramax released Pulp Fiction , all in 1994. The acquisitions of the smaller studios by conglomerate Hollywood

695-475: A built-in national rating, in order to avoid presenting movies to inappropriately young audiences. Following the advent of television and the Paramount Case , the major studios attempted to lure audiences with spectacle. Widescreen processes and technical improvements, such as Cinemascope , stereo sound, 3-D and others, were developed in an attempt to retain the dwindling audience by giving them

834-460: A car, picks the unconscious Mike up, places him in the vehicle, and drives away. My Own Private Idaho originated from John Rechy 's 1963 novel City of Night , which featured street hustlers who did not admit to being gay. Van Sant's original screenplay was written in the 1970s, when he was living in Hollywood . After reading Rechy's book, Van Sant felt it was considerably better than what he

973-459: A centralized archive. Founded in 1962 by Jonas Mekas , Stan Brakhage , Shirley Clarke , Gregory Markopoulos , and others, the Cooperative provided an important outlet for many of cinema's creative luminaries in the 1960s, including Jack Smith and Andy Warhol . When he returned to America, Ken Anger would debut many of his most important works there. Mekas and Brakhage would go on to found

1112-573: A client in Seattle, Mike returns to his favorite spots to pick up clients. He is picked up by a wealthy older woman who takes him to her mansion, where he finds two fellow hustlers she has also hired. One of them is Scott Favor, Mike's best friend, and the other is Gary. While preparing to have sex with the woman, Mike has another narcoleptic episode and awakens the next day with Scott in Portland, Oregon. Mike and Scott are soon reunited with Bob Pigeon,

1251-481: A costly distribution system or concede defeat. The veteran producer Joseph Schenck was hired as president. Not only had he been producing pictures for a decade, but he brought along commitments for films starring his wife, Norma Talmadge , his sister-in-law, Constance Talmadge , and his brother-in-law, Buster Keaton . Contracts were signed with a number of independent producers, especially Samuel Goldwyn , Howard Hughes and later Alexander Korda . Schenck also formed

1390-490: A crowd of like-minded avant-garde filmmakers who were interested in creating films as works of art rather than entertainment. Based upon a common belief that the "official cinema" was "running out of breath" and had become "morally corrupt, aesthetically obsolete, thematically superficial, [and] temperamentally boring", this new crop of independents formed The Film-Makers' Cooperative , an artist-run, non-profit organization which they would use to distribute their films through

1529-482: A decade. Unlike the former, John Waters released most of his films during his early life through his own production company, Dreamland Productions . In the early 1980s, New Line Cinema agreed to work with him on Polyester (1981). During the 1980s, Waters would become a pillar of the New York–based independent film movement known as the " Cinema of Transgression ", a term coined by Nick Zedd in 1985 to describe

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1668-505: A fellow studio convert, George Lucas , a fan of Eraserhead and now the darling of the studios, offered Lynch the opportunity to direct his next Star Wars sequel, Return of the Jedi (1983). However, Lynch had seen what had happened to Lucas and his comrades in arms after their failed attempt to do away with the studio system. He refused the opportunity, stating that he would rather work on his own projects. Lynch instead chose to direct

1807-546: A few dozen or possibly a few hundred screens in select urban markets. Films like these usually cost less than $ 10 million, but frequently less than $ 5 million, with small marketing budgets that escalate if and when a particular film performs. The independent film industry exists globally. Many of the most prestigious film festivals are hosted in various cities around the world. The Berlin International Film Festival attracts over 130 countries, making it

1946-695: A girl and leaves the other behind. Van Sant had another script, The Boys of Storytown , containing the Mike and Scott characters, as well as Hans and Bob; Van Sant wanted to make the film but felt the script was unfinished. Ultimately, while editing Drugstore Cowboy , he combined the scripts for Modern Days and Storytown with the "Idaho" short story. Initially, no studio would finance the film because of its controversial and offbeat subject matter. After Drugstore Cowboy received favorable critical raves and awards, studios started to show some interest, but they all wanted revisions. Frustrated, Van Sant attempted to make

2085-403: A house in Portland during filming. A couple of times a week, they would play music together. Due to the low budget, a typical day of shooting started at 6 am and ended at 11 pm. The film was not storyboarded and was made without a shot list. The campfire scene, originally just three pages, was expanded by Phoenix into an eight-page scene in which Mike professes his love for Scott, thereby making

2224-405: A larger-than-life experience. The 1950s and early 1960s saw a Hollywood dominated by musicals, historical epics, and other films which benefited from these advances. This proved commercially viable during most of the 1950s. However, by the late 1960s, audience share was dwindling at an alarming rate. Several costly flops, including Cleopatra (1963) and Hello, Dolly! (1969) put severe strain on

2363-478: A loose-knit group of like-minded New York artists using shock value and humor in their Super 8 mm films and video art . Other key players in this movement included Kembra Pfahler , Casandra Stark , Beth B , Tommy Turner, Richard Kern and Lydia Lunch . Rallying around such institutions as the Film-Makers' Cooperative and Anthology Film Archives, this new generation of independents devoted themselves to

2502-526: A mere $ 27.4 million domestically against a $ 45 million budget. De Laurentiis, furious that the film had been a commercial disaster, was then forced to produce any film Lynch desired. He offered Lynch only $ 6 million in order to minimize the risk if the film had failed to recoup its costs; however, the film, Blue Velvet (1986), was a resounding success, earning him another Academy Award for Best Director nod. Lynch subsequently returned to independent filmmaking, and did not work with another major studio for over

2641-469: A middle-aged mentor to a gang of street kids and hustlers who live in an abandoned apartment building. Scott, the son of the mayor of Portland, confides in Bob that when he turns 21, he will inherit his father's fortune and retire from street hustling. Meanwhile, Mike yearns to find his mother, so he and Scott leave for Idaho to visit Mike's older brother, Richard. Along this journey, Mike confesses to Scott that he

2780-714: A number of filmmakers responded by building their own cameras and moving their operations to Hollywood, California , where the distance from Edison's home base of New Jersey made it more difficult for the MPPC to enforce its patents. The Edison Trust was soon ended by two decisions of the Supreme Court of the United States : one in 1912, which canceled the patent on raw film, and a second in 1915, which cancelled all MPPC patents. Though these decisions succeeded at legalizing independent film, they would do little to remedy

2919-590: A number of rioters. Rechy and the other two original detainees were able to escape. He later wrote about it in City of Night . Rechy is considered one of Mexican American Literature's founding authors, and based his early writings on Mexican values and cultural problems that were available to him in Mexican films. Though he is probably the best-known gay male Latino writer in the United States, his gay-themed work reflects little of his Mexican-American heritage, except for

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3058-450: A number of young film makers began to experiment with transgression not as a box-office draw, but as an artistic act . Directors such as John Waters and David Lynch would make a name for themselves by the early 1970s for the bizarre and often disturbing imagery which characterized their films. When Lynch's first feature film, Eraserhead (1977), brought Lynch to the attention of producer Mel Brooks , he soon found himself in charge of

3197-631: A plot that pivots on betrayal and death is reflected in magnetic performances from Reeves and Phoenix." Vincent Canby , in his New York Times review, wrote, "The performances, especially by the two young stars, are as surprising as they are sure. Mr. Phoenix ( Dogfight ) and Mr. Reeves (of the two Bill and Ted comedies) are very fine in what may be the two best roles they'll find in years. Roles of this density, for young actors, do not come by that often". In his review for Newsweek , David Ansen praised Phoenix's performance: "The campfire scene in which Mike awkwardly declares his unrequited love for Scott

3336-599: A prose so poetically crafted it sharpens our perception of both the beauty and the ache of the human experience." Writers Michael Cunningham , Kate Braverman , Sandra Tsing Loh , and Gina Nahai were students of Rechy's creative writing classes before becoming published authors. Rechy's contributions to women-centered narratives and the Chicana feminist canon are reflected in many of his works. Maria DeGuzman argues in her book, Understanding John Rechy , that "his decolonial Chicana feminist representations of women indicate

3475-498: A reformed Scott at an upscale restaurant, but he rejects them. That night, Bob has a fatal heart attack. The next day, the hustlers hold a rowdy funeral for Bob, while in the same cemetery, a few yards away, Scott attends a solemn funeral for his father. Finally, Mike is back on the deserted stretch of Idaho highway. After he falls into another narcoleptic stupor, two strangers pull up in a truck, take his backpack and shoes, and drive away. Moments later, an unidentified figure pulls up in

3614-623: A result of the falling cost of technology to make, edit and digitally distribute films, filmmaking is more widely accessible than ever before. Full-length films are often showcased at film festivals such as the Sundance Film Festival, Slamdance Film Festival, South by Southwest Festival, Raindance Film Festival, Telluride Film Festival, and Palm Springs Film Festival. Award winners from these exhibitions are more likely to get picked up for distribution by major film distributors. Film festivals and screenings like these are just one of

3753-508: A separate partnership with Pickford and Chaplin to buy and build theaters under the United Artists name. Still, even with a broadening of the company, UA struggled. The coming of sound ended the careers of Pickford and Fairbanks. Chaplin, rich enough to do what he pleased, worked only occasionally. Schenck resigned in 1933 to organize a new company with Darryl F. Zanuck , Twentieth Century Pictures , which soon provided four pictures

3892-581: A studio's ability to package and release their work. This table lists the companies active in late 1935 illustrates the categories commonly used to characterize the Hollywood system. The studio system quickly became so powerful that some filmmakers once again sought independence. On May 24, 1916, the Lincoln Motion Picture Company was formed, the first movie studio owned and controlled by independent filmmakers. In 1919, four of

4031-459: A unique story. The idea to combine the two scenarios occurred to Van Sant after seeing Orson Welles 's Chimes at Midnight . He has said, "I thought that the Henry IV plays were really a street story. I also knew this fat guy named Bob, who had always reminded me of Falstaff and who was crazy about hustler boys". Van Sant realized that Prince Hal in the plays resembled Scott and the sidekick

4170-515: A vacant lot near Georgia Street in downtown Los Angeles . While there, the company decided to explore new territories, traveling several miles north to Hollywood , a little village that was friendly and positive about the movie company filming there. Griffith then filmed the first movie ever shot in Hollywood, In Old California , a Biograph melodrama about California in the 1800s, while it belonged to Mexico. Griffith stayed there for months and made several films before returning to New York. During

4309-403: A year to UA's schedule. He was replaced as president by sales manager Al Lichtman who himself resigned after only a few months. Pickford produced a few films, and at various times Goldwyn, Korda, Walt Disney , Walter Wanger , and David O. Selznick were made "producing partners" (i.e., sharing in the profits), but ownership still rested with the founders. As the years passed and the dynamics of

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4448-583: Is a faculty member at the Master of Professional Writing Program at the University of Southern California. He is the first recipient of ONE Magazine Culture Hero Award. In 2016, he won the first annual Los Angeles Review of Books/UCR Creative Writing Lifetime Achievement Award. At the 30th Lambda Literary Awards in 2018, he won the Lambda Literary Award for Gay Fiction for After

4587-443: Is a marvel of delicacy. In this, and every scene, Phoenix immerses himself so deeply inside his character you almost forget you've seen him before: it's a stunningly sensitive performance, poignant and comic at once." Owen Gleiberman of Entertainment Weekly gave the film an "A−" rating and wrote, "When Van Sant shows us speeded-up images of clouds rolling past wheat fields, the familiar device transcends cliché, because it's tied to

4726-478: Is also more of a push from EU National governments to fund all aspects of the arts, including film. The European Commission for Culture has an Audiovisual sector, for example, whose role is most notably to help distribute and promote films and festivals across Europe. Additionally, the Commission organizes policymaking, research, and reporting on "media literacy" and "digital distribution." As with other media,

4865-458: Is in love with him, and Scott gently reminds Mike he only sleeps with men for money. Richard tells a story of a man he claims is Mike's father, but Mike insists that he knows it is Richard. Richard informs Mike that their mother works as a hotel maid; when Mike and Scott visit her workplace, they learn she went to Italy in search of her own family. At the hotel, they meet Hans, the man who drove them to Portland, and prostitute themselves to him. With

5004-426: Is notable for its then-taboo subject matter and avant-garde style. Mike, a street hustler , stands alone on a deserted stretch of highway. He starts talking to himself and notices that the road looks "like someone's face, like a fucked-up face". He then experiences a narcoleptic episode and dreams of his mother comforting him as home movies of his childhood play in his mind. Later, after receiving fellatio from

5143-502: Is otherwise stalled, or they feel unable to manage a more significant commitment to a studio film; the film offers an opportunity to showcase a talent that has not gained traction in the studio system; or simply because they want to work with a particular director they admire. Examples of the latter include John Travolta and Bruce Willis taking less than their usual pay to work with Quentin Tarantino on Pulp Fiction . Generally,

5282-410: Is said to have observed, "The inmates are taking over the asylum." The four partners, with advice from McAdoo (son-in-law and former Treasury Secretary of then-President Woodrow Wilson ), formed their distribution company, with Hiram Abrams as its first managing director. The original terms called for Pickford, Fairbanks, Griffith, and Chaplin to independently produce five pictures each year, but by

5421-554: Is the most progressive festival. Anything else would be a token". Phoenix was the Best Actor runner-up in the 1991 New York Film Critics Circle awards and received the Independent Spirit Award for Best Male Lead and National Society of Film Critics Award for Best Actor , becoming the second-youngest winner of the former. The film's six nominations at the 7th Independent Spirit Awards tied with Hangin' with

5560-432: Is usually a Shakespearean paraphrase. But this is a desperate imposition on an essentially inert film." In his review for The New Yorker , Terrence Rafferty wrote, "Van Sant has stranded the actor in a movie full of flat characters and bad ideas, but Phoenix walks through the picture, down the road after road after road, as if he were surrounded by glorious phantoms." On the review aggregator website Rotten Tomatoes ,

5699-487: Is wholly original, wholly fresh. My Own Private Idaho adds a new ingredient: a kind of boho sweetness. I loved it." Conversely, Mike Clark of USA Today gave My Own Private Idaho two and half stars out of four, calling it "nothing but set pieces; tossed into a mix whose meaning is almost certainly private". Time magazine's Richard Schickel wrote, "What plot it has is borrowed, improbably, from Henry IV , and whenever anyone manages to speak an entire paragraph, it

My Own Private Idaho - Misplaced Pages Continue

5838-546: The de facto ban on small productions; the independent filmmakers who had fled to Southern California during the enforcement of the trust had already laid the groundwork for the studio system of classical Hollywood cinema . In early 1910, director D.W. Griffith was sent by the Biograph Company to the west coast with his acting troupe, consisting of performers Blanche Sweet , Lillian Gish , Mary Pickford , Lionel Barrymore , and others. They began filming on

5977-466: The 48th Venice International Film Festival , and received largely positive reviews from critics, including Roger Ebert and those of The New York Times and Entertainment Weekly . The film was a moderate financial success, grossing over $ 8 million, above its estimated budget of $ 2.5 million. Phoenix received several awards for his performance in the film, including the Volpi Cup for Best Actor at

6116-648: The American Civil Liberties Union . Following on the heels of Easy Rider shortly afterward was the revived United Artists' Midnight Cowboy (also 1969), which, like Easy Rider , took numerous cues from Kenneth Anger and his influences in the French New Wave. It became the first and only X rated film to win the Academy Award for Best Picture. Midnight Cowboy also held the distinction of featuring cameo roles by many of

6255-555: The Anthology Film Archives in 1970, which would likewise prove essential to the development and preservation of independent films, even to this day. Not all low-budget films existed as non-commercial art ventures. The success of films like Little Fugitive , which had been made with low (or sometimes non-existent ) budgets encouraged a huge boom in popularity for non-studio films. Low-budget film making promised exponentially greater returns (in terms of percentages) if

6394-617: The Mirisch brothers, Billy Wilder , Joseph E. Levine and others. By the late 1950s, RKO had ceased film production, and the remaining four of the big five had recognized that they did not know how to reach the youth audience. In an attempt to capture this audience, the Studios hired a host of young filmmakers (many of whom were mentored by Roger Corman ) and allowed them to make their films with relatively little studio control. Warner Brothers offered first-time producer Warren Beatty 40% of

6533-578: The New School for Social Research . The Cooper Do-nuts Riot happened in 1959 in Los Angeles, when the lesbians, gay men, transgender people, and drag queens who hung out at Cooper Do-nuts and who were frequently harassed by the LAPD fought back after police arrested three people, including Rechy. Patrons began pelting the police with donuts and coffee cups. The LAPD called for back-up and arrested

6672-461: The U.S. domestic box office revenue was from independent studios. The 1990s saw the rise and success of independent films not only through the film festival circuit but at the box office as well while established actors, such as Bruce Willis , John Travolta , and Tim Robbins , found success themselves both in independent films and Hollywood studio films. Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles in 1990 from New Line Cinema grossed over $ 100 million in

6811-599: The World War I effort. Already veterans of Hollywood, the four film stars began to talk of forming their own company to better control their own work as well as their futures. They were spurred on by the actions of established Hollywood producers and distributors, who were making moves to tighten their control over their stars' salaries and creative license. With the addition of Griffith, planning began, but Hart bowed out before things had formalized. When he heard about their scheme, Richard A. Rowland , head of Metro Pictures ,

6950-404: The blockbuster Star Wars and Indiana Jones franchises. In fact, the only two movies of the movement which can be described as uncompromisingly independent are Easy Rider at the beginning, and Peter Bogdanovich 's They All Laughed , at the end. Peter Bogdanovich bought back the rights from the studio to his 1980 film and paid for its distribution out of his own pocket, convinced that

7089-599: The "prosumer" camera segment and film schools for those who are less autodidactic. Film programs in universities such as NYU in New York and USC in Los Angeles have benefited from this transitional growth. The economic side of filmmaking is also less of an obstacle than before, because the backing of a major studio is no longer needed to access necessary movie funding. Crowdfunding services like Kickstarter , Pozible , and Tubestart have helped people raise thousands of dollars; enough to fund their own, low-budget productions. As

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7228-485: The $ 5 million film The Elephant Man (1980) for Paramount. Though Eraserhead was strictly an out-of-pocket, low-budget, independent film, Lynch made the transition with unprecedented grace. The film was a huge commercial success, and earned eight Academy Award nominations, including Best Director and Best Adapted Screenplay nods for Lynch. It also established his place as a commercially viable, if somewhat dark and unconventional, Hollywood director. Seeing Lynch as

7367-423: The 1950s progressed, the new low-budget paradigm of filmmaking gained increased recognition internationally, with films such as Satyajit Ray 's critically acclaimed Apu Trilogy (1955–1959). Unlike the films made within the studio system, these new low-budget films could afford to take risks and explore new artistic territory outside the classical Hollywood narrative. Maya Deren was soon joined in New York by

7506-625: The 1991 Venice Film Festival, Best Male Lead from the Independent Spirit Awards , and Best Actor from the National Society of Film Critics . My Own Private Idaho is considered a landmark film in New Queer Cinema , an early 1990s movement in queer -themed independent filmmaking . Since its release, it has grown in popularity and been deemed a cult classic , especially among LGBT audiences. The film

7645-479: The B-grade shlock film soon fell to the level of the Z movie , a niche category of films with production values so low that they became a spectacle in their own right. The cult audiences these pictures attracted soon made them ideal candidates for midnight movie screenings revolving around audience participation and cosplay . In 1968, a young filmmaker named George A. Romero shocked audiences with Night of

7784-540: The Blue Hour . In 2018, Rechy was also awarded with the Robert Kirsch Award for lifetime achievement noting that he is "a major figure in Mexican, LGBTQ and Los Angeles literary communities." In 2020 The Texas Institute of Letters honored Rechy with its Lon Tinkle Lifetime Achievement Award. TIL President Carmen Tafolla called Rechy's work "a significant turning point in modern American literature, and

7923-615: The Edison era of the early 1900s, many Jewish immigrants had found jobs in the U.S. film industry. Under the Edison Trust, they were able to make their mark in a brand-new business: the exhibition of films in storefront theaters called nickelodeons . Within a few years, ambitious men like Samuel Goldwyn , Carl Laemmle , Adolph Zukor , Louis B. Mayer , and the Warner Brothers (Harry, Albert, Samuel, and Jack) had switched to

8062-627: The Hollywood movie studios to sell their theater chains and to eliminate certain anti-competitive practices. This effectively brought an end to the studio system of Hollywood's Golden Age . By 1958, many of the reasons for creating the SIMPP had been corrected and SIMPP closed its offices. The efforts of the SIMPP and the advent of inexpensive portable cameras during World War II effectively made it possible for any person in America with an interest in making films to write, produce, and direct one without

8201-458: The Homeboys for the most nominations at that ceremony. Winning three, it tied with Rambling Rose for the most awards. Independent film It is not unusual for well-known actors who are cast in independent features to take substantial pay cuts for a variety of reasons: if they truly believe in the message of the film, they feel indebted to a filmmaker for a career break; their career

8340-616: The Idaho road depicted in the film were shot near Maupin, Oregon , on Oregon Route 216 . Phoenix arrived in Portland two weeks before principal photography to begin research, with Van Sant remembering, "He seemed to be changing into this character". One of the film's directors of photography, Eric Alan Edwards, recalled that Phoenix "looked like a street kid", and "in a very raw way he wore that role. I've never seen anybody so intent on living his role". Several cast and crew members, including Michael Parker, Phoenix, Reeves, and Flea, lived together in

8479-534: The Living Dead , a new kind of intense and unforgiving independent horror film. This film was released just after the abandonment of the production code, but before the adoption of the MPAA rating system . As such, it was the first and last film of its kind to enjoy a completely unrestricted screening, in which young children were able to witness Romero's new brand of highly realistic gore. This film would help to set

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8618-525: The Moon . Rechy's novel inspired Van Sant to change the setting to Portland. The script originally consisted of two separate scenarios: the first, titled Modern Days , recounted Mike's story; the second updated the Henry IV plays with Scott's story. Van Sant realized he could blend the two stories together in the manner of William S. Burroughs ' "cut up" technique. In essence, this method involves various story fragments and ideas mixed and matched together to form

8757-526: The Pickford/Fairbanks Studio, but did not own a studio lot as such. Because of this, many of their films would be shot on location. Primarily acting as bankers, they offered money to independent producers. Thus UA did not have the overhead, the maintenance or the expensive production staff which ran up costs at other studios. UA went public in 1956, and as the other mainstream studios fell into decline, UA prospered, adding relationships with

8896-450: The Skin . He has written three plays, Tigers Wild (first performed as The Fourth Angel and based on Rechy's novel of that title), Rushes (based on his novel of the same title), and Momma as She Became—Not as She Was , a one-act play. Rechy was cited by journalist Amy Harmon in a 2004 New York Times article that reported about a computer glitch on Amazon.com that suddenly revealed

9035-449: The United States . The Hollywood oligopoly replaced the Edison monopoly. Within this new system, a pecking order was soon established which left little room for any newcomers. By the mid-1930s, at the top were the five major studios, 20th Century Fox , Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer , Paramount Pictures , RKO Pictures , and Warner Bros. Then came three smaller companies, Columbia Pictures , United Artists , and Universal Studios . Finally there

9174-541: The United States and Canada and $ 1.7 million in the United Kingdom. The film achieved critical acclaim. Film critic Roger Ebert wrote, "The achievement of this film is that it wants to evoke that state of drifting need, and it does. There is no mechanical plot that has to grind to a Hollywood conclusion, and no contrived test for the heroes to pass." In his review for Rolling Stone magazine, Peter Travers wrote, "Van Sant's clear-eyed, unsentimental approach to

9313-404: The United States making it the most successful indie film in box-office history to that point. Miramax Films had a string of hits with Sex, Lies, and Videotape , My Left Foot , and Clerks , putting Miramax and New Line Cinema in the sights of big companies looking to cash in on the success of independent studios. In 1993, Disney bought Miramax for $ 60 million. Turner Broadcasting , in

9452-538: The United States. But, even after the success of his first novel, he still worked as a prostitute, teaching during the day, and hustling at night. He worked as a prostitute into his forties while also teaching at UCLA. Through the 1970's and 1980's he dealt with personal drug use, as well as the AIDS crisis, which killed many of his friends. Rechy was born Juan Francisco Flores Rechy March 10, 1931, in El Paso, Texas. He

9591-530: The aid of any major film studio . These circumstances soon resulted in a number of critically acclaimed and highly influential works, including Maya Deren 's Meshes of the Afternoon in 1943, Kenneth Anger's Fireworks in 1947, and Morris Engel, Ruth Orkin and Ray Abrashkin's Little Fugitive in 1953. Filmmakers such as Ken Jacobs , with little or no formal training, began to experiment with new ways of making and shooting films. Little Fugitive became

9730-411: The availability of new technologies has fueled the democratization of filmmaking and the growth of independent film. In the late forties and fifties, new inexpensive portable cameras made it easier for independent filmmakers to produce content without studio backing. The emergence of camcorders in the eighties broadened the pool of filmmakers experimenting with the newly available technology. More recently,

9869-464: The biggest supplier of raw film, Eastman Kodak . A number of filmmakers declined or were refused membership to the trust and came to be described as "independent". At the time of the formation of the MPPC, Thomas Edison owned most of the major patents relating to motion pictures, including that for raw film . The MPPC vigorously enforced its patents, constantly bringing suits and receiving injunctions against independent filmmakers. Because of this,

10008-433: The business changed, these "producing partners" drifted away. Goldwyn and Disney left for RKO , Wanger for Universal Pictures , Selznick and Korda for retirement . By the late 1940s, United Artists had virtually ceased to exist as either a producer or distributor. In 1941, Mary Pickford , Charles Chaplin , Walt Disney , Orson Welles , Samuel Goldwyn , David O. Selznick , Alexander Korda , and Walter Wanger —many of

10147-411: The character's homosexuality obvious, as opposed to Van Sant's more ambiguous original version. Phoenix described his process as his "own stream-of-consciousness, and this just happened to be one that was more than actor notes. Then Keanu and I refined it, worked on it, but it was all done quickly. It was something I wrote down a night, two nights, before, and then I showed it to Keanu and Gus. And Gus kept

10286-546: The climate of independent horror for decades to come, as films like The Texas Chain Saw Massacre (1974) and Cannibal Holocaust (1980) continued to push the envelope. With the production code abandoned and violent and disturbing films like Romero's gaining popularity, Hollywood opted to placate the uneasy filmgoing public with the MPAA ratings system, which would place restrictions on ticket sales to young people. Unlike

10425-569: The craft. Aspiring filmmakers can range from those simply with access to a smartphone or digital camera, to those who write "spec" scripts (to pitch to studios), actively network, and use crowdsourcing and other financing to get their films professionally produced. Oftentimes, aspiring filmmakers have other day-jobs to support themselves financially while they pitch their scripts and ideas to independent film production companies, talent agents, and wealthy investors. This recent technology-fueled renaissance has helped fuel other supporting industries such as

10564-551: The defiance of the now-establishment New Hollywood, proposing that "all film schools be blown up and all boring films never be made again." In 1978, Sterling Van Wagenen and Charles Gary Allison , with Chairperson Robert Redford , (veteran of New Hollywood and star of Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid ) founded the Utah/US Film Festival in an effort to attract more filmmakers to Utah and showcase what

10703-540: The fact that he has long understood the relationship that exists between misogyny and homophobia (against gay men as well as against LGBTQ+ more generally). The oppression of women and trans women (for example, "Troja" in Marilyn's Daughter ) is not just about Latinx communities; it is, in Rechy's work, also about the larger U.S. culture." English pop artist David Hockney 's painting Building, Pershing Square, Los Angeles

10842-489: The features released in the United States and usually cost between $ 5 and $ 10 million to produce. Hollywood was producing these three different classes of feature films by means of three different types of producers. The superior products were the large, budget blockbusters and high-cost star vehicles marketed by the six major studio producer-distributors. Budgets on the major studios' pictures averaged $ 100 million, with approximately one-third of it spent on marketing because of

10981-509: The film as possible. The film's score was composed by pedal steel guitarist Bill Stafford. He recorded various arrangements for the film, including instrumental adaptations of " Home on the Range " and " America the Beautiful ". Stafford won the Independent Spirit Award for Best Film Music in 1992 for his score. Other original and selected songs from various artists were also featured in

11120-406: The film could have a successful run in the theaters. During this time, independent producer/director Roger Corman began a sweeping body of work that would become legendary for its frugality and grueling shooting schedule. Until his so-called "retirement" as a director in 1971 (he continued to produce films even after this date), he would produce up to seven movies a year, matching and often exceeding

11259-474: The film holds an approval rating of 80% based on 60 reviews, with an average rating of 7.7/10. The website's critics consensus reads, "A tantalizing glimpse of a talented director and his stars all at the top of their respective games, Gus Van Sant's loose reworking of Henry IV is smart, sad and audacious." Metacritic , which uses a weighted average , assigned the film a score of 77 out of 100, based on 18 critics, indicating "generally favorable" reviews. The film

11398-467: The film on a shoestring budget with a cast of actual street kids, including Michael Parker and actor Rodney Harvey , who was going to play Scott. Van Sant faced the problem of casting the two central roles. He decided to send the script to the agents of Keanu Reeves and River Phoenix , figuring that their agents would reject the script. Reeves's agent was amenable to the project, but Phoenix's would not even show it to him. Not to be deterred, Van Sant got

11537-438: The film, including: The soundtrack was not released on any media. My Own Private Idaho premiered at the 48th Venice International Film Festival on September 4, 1991. It also received screenings at the 17th Deauville Film Festival , 16th Toronto International Film Festival and the 29th New York Film Festival . The film was released in select theaters in the United States on September 29, 1991. It grossed $ 6.4 million in

11676-428: The filmmaking business would slowly squeeze out the more idiosyncratic of these young filmmakers, while ensconcing the more malleable and commercially successful of them. Film critic Manohla Dargis described this era as the "halcyon age" of the decade's filmmaking that "was less revolution than business as usual, with rebel hype". She also pointed out in her New York Times article that enthusiasts insisted this era

11815-608: The first independent film to be nominated for Academy Award for Best Original Screenplay at the American Academy Awards . It also received Silver Lion at Venice . Both Engel and Anger's films won acclaim overseas from the burgeoning French New Wave , with Fireworks inspiring praise and an invitation to study under him in Europe from Jean Cocteau , and François Truffaut citing Little Fugitive as an essential inspiration to his seminal work, The 400 Blows . As

11954-401: The five-per-year schedule that the executives at United Artists had once thought impossible. Like those of the avant-garde, the films of Roger Corman took advantage of the fact that unlike the studio system, independent films had never been bound by its self-imposed production code . Corman's example (and that of others like him) would help start a boom in independent B-movies in the 1960s,

12093-508: The following year, two New Hollywood directors had become sufficiently established for Coppola to be offered oversight of Paramount's The Godfather (1972) and Lucas had obtained studio funding for American Graffiti (1973) from Universal. In the mid-1970s, the major Hollywood studios continued to tap these new filmmakers for both ideas and personnel, producing films such as Paper Moon (1973) and Taxi Driver (1976), all of which met with critical and commercial success. These successes by

12232-652: The game. Though the eventual breakup of the studio system and its restrictive chain-theater distribution network would leave independent movie houses eager for the kind of populist, seat-filling product of the Poverty Row studios, that same paradigm shift would also lead to the decline and ultimate disappearance of "Poverty Row" as a Hollywood phenomenon. While the kinds of films produced by Poverty Row studios only grew in popularity, they would eventually become increasingly available both from major production companies and from independent producers who no longer needed to rely on

12371-531: The gross on his film Bonnie and Clyde (1967) instead of a minimal fee. The movie had grossed over $ 70 million worldwide by 1973. These initial successes paved the way for the studio to relinquish almost complete control to the film school generation and began what the media dubbed " New Hollywood ." Dennis Hopper , the American actor, made his writing and directing debut with Easy Rider (1969). Along with his producer/co-star/co-writer Peter Fonda , Hopper

12510-815: The idea for Reeves to personally deliver the film treatment to Phoenix at his home in Florida. Reeves did so over the Christmas holidays, riding his 1974 Norton Commando motorcycle from his family home in Canada to the Phoenix family ranch in Micanopy, Florida, outside Gainesville. Reeves was no stranger to Phoenix or his family, having worked previously with Phoenix on Lawrence Kasdan 's I Love You to Death and with his brother Joaquin Phoenix and girlfriend Martha Plimpton on Ron Howard 's Parenthood . After reading

12649-630: The identities of thousands of people who had anonymously posted book reviews. It was revealed that Rechy, among several other authors, had "pseudonymously written themselves five-star reviews, Amazon's highest rating". Amazon stopped accepting anonymous reviews as a result of this finding. In 2021 Rechy was at work on a new novel entitled Beautiful People at the End of the Line , inspired by "comic books and celebrity culture." Rechy says of his work, "An early admirer of my work labeled me 'an accidental writer' —

12788-541: The kind who writes randomly, off the top of his head, the way Kerouac is reputed to have done. But that's not true of me. I'm a very conscious writer, attentive to the right word, even the lengths of sentences, and punctuation for effect." Rechy is the first novelist to receive PEN-USA-West 's Lifetime Achievement Award (1997); he is the recipient of the Bill Whitehead Award for Lifetime Achievement from Publishing Triangle (1999) and an NEA fellow. He

12927-487: The large release campaigns. Another class of Hollywood feature film included art films, specialty films, and other niche-market fare controlled by the conglomerates' indie subsidiaries. Budgets on these indie films averaged $ 40 million per release in the early 2000s, with $ 10 million to $ 15 million spent on marketing (MPA, 2006:12). The final class of film consisted of genre and specialty films whose release campaigns were administered by independent producer-distributors with only

13066-778: The largest film festival in the world. Other large events include the Toronto International Film Festival , Hong Kong International Film Festival , and the Panafrican Film and TV Festival of Ouagadougou . The European Union , specifically through the European Cinema and VOD Initiative (ECVI), has established programs that attempt to adapt the film industry to an increasing digital demand for film on video on demand services, outside of theatrical screenings. With this program, VOD offerings are paired with traditional movie screenings. There

13205-427: The leading figures in American silent cinema ( Mary Pickford , Charles Chaplin , Douglas Fairbanks , and D. W. Griffith ) formed United Artists. Each held a 20% stake, with the remaining 20% held by lawyer William Gibbs McAdoo . The idea for the venture originated with Fairbanks, Chaplin, Pickford, and cowboy star William S. Hart a year earlier as they were traveling around the U.S. selling Liberty bonds to help

13344-406: The marketing of independent films is characterized by limited release , often at independent movie theaters , but they can also have major marketing campaigns and a wide release . Independent films are often screened at local, national, or international film festivals before distribution (theatrical or retail release). An independent film production can rival a mainstream film production if it has

13483-473: The members of New Hollywood led each of them, in turn, to make more and more extravagant demands, both on the studio and eventually on the audience. While most members of the New Hollywood generation were, or started out as, independent filmmakers, a number of their projects were produced and released by major studios. The New Hollywood generation soon became firmly entrenched in a revived incarnation of

13622-517: The money they receive from Hans, Mike and Scott travel to Italy. They find the country farmhouse where Mike's mother worked as a maid and English tutor. Carmela, a young woman who lives there, tells Mike that his mother returned to the United States months earlier. Carmela and Scott fall in love and return to the US, leaving a brokenhearted Mike to return on his own. Scott's father dies, and Scott inherits his fortune. Back in Portland, Bob and his gang confront

13761-504: The necessary funding and distribution. In 1908, the Motion Picture Patents Company or "Edison Trust" was formed as a trust . The Trust was a cartel that held a monopoly on film production and distribution comprising all the major film companies of the time ( Edison , Biograph , Vitagraph , Essanay , Selig , Lubin , Kalem , American Star , American Pathé ), the leading distributor ( George Kleine ) and

13900-536: The old studios from financial ruin by providing them with a new formula for success. Indeed, it was during this period that the very definition of an independent film became blurred. Though Midnight Cowboy was financed by United Artists, the company was certainly a studio. Likewise, Zoetrope was another "independent studio" which worked within the system to make a space for independent directors who needed funding. George Lucas would leave Zoetrope in 1971 to create his own independent studio, Lucasfilm , which would produce

14039-593: The options in which movies can be independently produced/released. John Rechy John Francisco Rechy (born March 10, 1931) is a Mexican-American novelist and essayist. His novels are written extensively about gay culture in Los Angeles and wider America, among other subject matter. City of Night , his debut novel published in 1963, was a best seller. Drawing on his own background, he has contributed to Mexican-American literature , notably with his novel The Miraculous Day of Amalia Gomez , which has been taught in several Chicano studies courses throughout

14178-628: The picture was better than what the studio believed — he eventually went bankrupt because of this. In retrospect, it can be seen that Steven Spielberg 's Jaws (1975) and George Lucas 's Star Wars (1977) marked the beginning of the end for the New Hollywood. With their unprecedented box-office successes, these movies jump-started Hollywood's blockbuster mentality, giving studios a new paradigm as to how to make money in this changing commercial landscape. The focus on high-concept premises, with greater concentration on tie-in merchandise (such as toys), spin-offs into other media (such as soundtracks), and

14317-431: The potential of independent film could be. At the time, the main focus of the event was to present a series of retrospective films and filmmaker panel discussions; however it also included a small program of new independent films. The jury of the 1978 festival was headed by Gary Allison , and included Verna Fields , Linwood Gale Dunn , Katherine Ross , Charles E. Sellier Jr. , Mark Rydell , and Anthea Sylbert . In 1981,

14456-620: The predominantly negative reviews the book received at the time of its publication, City of Night became an international bestseller. Alternately, it is also often included on lists of the most banned books in America. In addition to the dozen novels he has written to date, Rechy has contributed numerous essays and literary reviews to various publications including The Nation , The New York Review of Books , Los Angeles Times , L.A. Weekly , The Village Voice , The New York Times , Evergreen Review and Saturday Review . Many of these writings were anthologized in his 2004 publication Beneath

14595-485: The principal aim of which was to bring in the youth market which the major studios had lost touch with. By promising sex , wanton violence , drug use , and nudity , these films hoped to draw audiences to independent theaters by offering to show them what the major studios could not. Horror and science fiction films experienced a period of tremendous growth during this time. As these tiny producers, theaters, and distributors continued to attempt to undercut one another,

14734-638: The production code, this rating system posed a threat to independent films in that it would affect the number of tickets they could sell and cut into the grindhouse theaters' share of the youth market. This change would further widen the divide between commercial and non-commercial films. However, having a film audience-classified is strictly voluntary for independents and there is no legal impediment to releasing movies on an unrated basis. However, unrated movies face obstacles in marketing because media outlets, such as TV channels, newspapers and websites, often place their own restrictions on movies that do not come with

14873-434: The production side of the business. After hearing about Biograph's success in Hollywood, in 1913 many such would-be movie-makers headed west to avoid the fees imposed by Edison. Soon they were the heads of a new kind of enterprise: the movie studio . By establishing a new system of production, distribution, and exhibition which was independent of The Edison Trust in New York, these studios opened up new horizons for cinema in

15012-598: The production, distribution, and exhibition of films. In 1942, the SIMPP filed an antitrust suit against Paramount's United Detroit Theatres. The complaint accused Paramount of conspiracy to control first-run and subsequent-run theaters in Detroit. It was the first antitrust suit brought by producers against exhibitors alleging monopoly and restraint of trade. In 1948, the United States Supreme Court Paramount Decision ordered

15151-466: The same people who were members of United Artists—founded the Society of Independent Motion Picture Producers . Later members included William Cagney , Sol Lesser , and Hal Roach . The Society aimed to preserve the rights of independent producers in an industry overwhelmingly controlled by the studio system. SIMPP fought to end monopolistic practices by the five major Hollywood studios which controlled

15290-559: The same time that the maverick film students of the American New Wave were developing the skills they would use to take over Hollywood, many of their peers had begun to develop their style of filmmaking in a different direction. Influenced by foreign and art house directors such as Ingmar Bergman and Federico Fellini , exploitation shockers (i.e. Joseph P. Mawra , Michael Findlay , and Henri Pachard ) and avant-garde cinema, ( Kenneth Anger , Maya Deren and Bruce Conner )

15429-561: The same year that United Artists, bought out by MGM after the financial failure of Michael Cimino 's Heaven's Gate (1980), ceased to exist as a venue for independent filmmakers, Sterling Van Wagenen left the film festival to help found the Sundance Institute with Robert Redford. In 1985, the now well-established Sundance Institute, headed by Sterling Van Wagenen, took over management of the US Film Festival, which

15568-479: The script and the film's producer was worried that he was using too much film. Van Sant originally had the screen go black when Mike passed out, but was not satisfied with this approach. He used Edwards's footage to present Mike's perspective of "an altered sense of time". Some New Line executives disliked the Shakespeare scenes and wanted Van Sant to cut them, but foreign distributors wanted as much Shakespeare in

15707-539: The script around and, at the time, New Line Cinema was in the process of branching out into producing arthouse films and decided to back Van Sant's vision with a $ 2.5 million budget. In a 2012 interview, Kiefer Sutherland said that he declined Van Sant's offer to star in the lead role because he wanted to go skiing, a decision he has said he regrets. Principal photography took place from November to December 1990, primarily in Portland , Seattle , and Rome . Scenes of

15846-527: The script to a 20th Century Fox executive who liked Shakespeare. Eventually, he toned down the Shakespearean elements and modernized the language. Van Sant was also working on a "My Own Private Idaho" short story that he intended to film. Twenty-five pages long, it concerned two Latino characters on the Portland streets who go in search of their parents and travel to a town in Spain. One falls in love with

15985-483: The scripts were based on studio pitches and subsequently paid for by the studios, the production financing was from the studio, and the marketing and distribution of the films were designed and controlled by the studio's advertising agency. Though Coppola made considerable efforts to resist the influence of the studios, opting to finance his risky 1979 film Apocalypse Now himself rather than compromise with skeptical studio executives, he, and filmmakers like him, had saved

16124-409: The studio system, which financed the development, production and distribution of their films. Very few of these filmmakers ever independently financed or independently released a film of their own, or ever worked on an independently financed production during the height of the generation's influence. Seemingly independent films such as Taxi Driver , The Last Picture Show and others were studio films:

16263-411: The studios. Meanwhile, in 1951, lawyers-turned-producers Arthur Krim and Robert Benjamin had made a deal with the remaining stockholders of United Artists which would allow them to make an attempt to revive the company and, if the attempt was successful, buy it after five years. The attempt was a success, and in 1955 United Artists became the first "studio" without an actual studio. UA leased space at

16402-571: The surnames of some of his characters. While Rechy was working on his first novel, installments began to appear in 1958 in literary magazines such as Evergreen Review , Big Table, Nugget , and The London Magazine . These excerpts were fictitious recreations of his life working as a hustler in New York, Los Angeles and New Orleans and appeared alongside writers like Christopher Isherwood, Jack Kerouac and Jean Genet. The largely autobiographical novel City of Night , debuted in October 1963. Despite

16541-408: The switch from film to digital cameras, inexpensive non-linear editing and the move to distribution via the internet have led to more people being able to make and exhibit movies of their own, including young people and individuals from marginalized communities. These people may have little to no formal technical or academic training, but instead are autodidactic filmmakers, using online sources to learn

16680-407: The time the company got underway in 1920–1921, feature films were becoming more expensive and more polished, and running times had settled at around ninety minutes (or eight reels). It was believed that no one, no matter how popular, could produce and star in five quality feature films a year. By 1924, Griffith had dropped out and the company was facing a crisis: either bring in others to help support

16819-636: The top Warhol superstars , who had already become symbols of the militantly anti-Hollywood climate of NYC's independent film community. Within a month, another young Corman trainee, Francis Ford Coppola , made his debut in Spain at the Donostia-San Sebastian International Film Festival with The Rain People (1969), a film he had produced through his own company, American Zoetrope . Though The Rain People

16958-469: The treatment, Phoenix agreed to play Scott, but since Van Sant had already cast Reeves in the role, they had to convince River to take the edgier role of the drug-addicted hustler Mike. Van Sant promised not to make either actor do anything embarrassing. He got an offer of $ 2 million from an outside investor but when he put off production for nine months so that Phoenix could make Dogfight , the investor and his money disappeared. Producer Laurie Parker shopped

17097-444: The use of sequels (which had been made more respectable by Coppola's The Godfather Part II ), all showed the studios how to make money in the new environment. On realizing how much money could potentially be made in films, major corporations started buying up the remaining Hollywood studios, saving them from the oblivion which befell RKO in the 50s. Eventually, even RKO was revived, the corporate mentality these companies brought to

17236-548: The various interpretations and influences, this is definitely a film worth talking about". In 2015, The Criterion Collection released the film on Blu-ray, based on a restored 4K digital transfer. My Own Private Idaho received the Showtime International Critics Award at the 1991 Toronto Film Festival. River Phoenix received the Volpi Cup for Best Actor at the 1991 Venice Film Festival. In response, he said, "I don't want more awards. Venice

17375-594: The way that Mike, in his benumbed isolation, experiences his own life—as a running piece of surrealism. The sheer, expressive beauty of those images haunted me for days." J. Hoberman , in his review for The Village Voice , wrote, "While Phoenix vanishes with reckless triumph into his role, Reeves stands, or occasionally struts, uneasily beside his, unable to project even the self-mocking wit of Matt Dillon 's star turn in Drugstore Cowboy ." Hal Hinson of The Washington Post wrote, "Gus Van Sant's sensibility

17514-437: The whole thing. He didn't pare it down. It's a long scene." Phoenix has said that neither he nor Reeves felt uncomfortable with Idaho ' s queerness. When asked if he was worried that playing a gay prostitute might hurt his public image, Reeves said, "Hurt my image? Who am I—a politician? [laughs softly] No. I'm an actor. That wasn't a problem." Eric Edwards shot the time-lapse photography shots on his own. They were not in

17653-401: Was " Poverty Row ", a catch-all term used to encompass any other smaller studio that managed to fight their way up into the increasingly exclusive movie business. While the small studios that made up Poverty Row could be characterized as existing "independently" of any major studio, they utilized the same kind of vertically and horizontally integrated systems of business as the larger players in

17792-636: Was "when American movies grew up (or at least starred underdressed actresses); when directors did what they wanted (or at least were transformed into brands); when creativity ruled (or at least ran gloriously amok, albeit often on the studio's dime)." During the 1970s, shifts in thematic depictions of sexuality and violence occurred in American cinema, prominently featuring heightened depictions of realistic sex and violence. Directors who wished to reach mainstream audiences of Old Hollywood quickly learned to stylize these themes to make their films appealing and attractive rather than repulsive or obscene. However, at

17931-473: Was Mike. His script ended up as a restructuring of the Henry IV plays. Van Sant got the idea for Mike's narcolepsy from a man who was a guide of sorts when the director was gathering material for the film and who always looked like he was about to fall asleep. The film's title is derived from the song " Private Idaho " by the B-52's that Van Sant heard while visiting the state in the early 1980s. Van Sant showed

18070-522: Was a plan in part to take over the independent film industry and at the same time start "independent" studios of their own. The following are all "indie" studios owned by conglomerate Hollywood: By the early 2000s, Hollywood was producing three different classes of films: 1) big-budget blockbusters , 2) art films , specialty films and niche-market films produced by the conglomerate-owned "indies" and 3) genre and specialty films coming from true indie studios and producers. The third category comprised over half

18209-481: Was experiencing financial difficulties. Gary Beer and Sterling Van Wagenen spearheaded production of the inaugural Sundance Film Festival which included Program Director Tony Safford and Administrative Director Jenny Walz Selby. In 1991, the festival was officially renamed the Sundance Film Festival, after Redford's famous role as The Sundance Kid . Through this festival the Independent Cinema movement

18348-471: Was granted early release from the Army to enroll as a graduate student at Columbia University . He applied for admission to a creative writing class taught by novelist Pearl S. Buck by submitting an unpublished draft of a novel he had written titled Pablo! While his application to Buck's class was not accepted, Rechy was admitted into the writing classes of Hiram Haydn , a senior editor at Random House , at

18487-777: Was inspired by a passage in City of Night . The 1983 song "Numbers" by the English synth-pop duo Soft Cell was inspired by Rechy's 1967 novel of the same title. A CD-ROM of Rechy's life and work was produced by the Annenberg Center of Communications and is titled Mysteries and Desire: Searching the Worlds of John Rechy . In 2019 the Wittliff Collection at Texas State University acquired Rechy's complete archive stating, "This treasure trove of letters serves as

18626-645: Was largely overlooked by American audiences, Zoetrope would become a powerful force in New Hollywood. Through Zoetrope, Coppola formed a distribution agreement with studio giant Warner Bros., which he would exploit to achieve wide releases for his films without making himself subject to their control. These three films provided the major Hollywood studios with both an example to follow and a new crop of talent to draw from. Zoetrope co-founder George Lucas made his feature film debut with THX 1138 (1971), also released by Zoetrope through their deal with Warner Bros., announcing himself as another major talent of New Hollywood. By

18765-562: Was launched. Such notable figures as Kevin Smith , Robert Rodriguez , Quentin Tarantino , David O. Russell , Paul Thomas Anderson , Steven Soderbergh , James Wan , Hal Hartley , Joel and Ethan Coen and Jim Jarmusch garnered resounding critical acclaim and unprecedented box office sales. The significance of the Sundance Film Festival is documented in the work of Professor Emanuel Levy Cinema of Outsiders: The Rise of American Independent Film, (NYU Press, 1999; 2001). In 2005, about 15% of

18904-426: Was originally released on VHS and LaserDisc in 1992. In 2005, the film was remastered by The Criterion Collection and released on a two-disc DVD set. The second disc features new interviews, outtakes and more information about the movie. This DVD set is accompanied by an illustrated 64-page-booklet featuring previously published articles, interviews with cast and crew, new essays by JT LeRoy and Amy Taubin ,

19043-408: Was responsible for one of the first completely independent films of New Hollywood. Easy Rider debuted at Cannes and garnered the "First Film Award" ( French : Prix de la premiere oeuvre ) after which it received two Oscar nominations, one for best original screenplay and one for Corman-alum Jack Nicholson 's breakthrough performance in the supporting role of George Hanson, an alcoholic lawyer for

19182-400: Was the youngest of five children born to Guadalupe (née Flores) and Roberto Sixto Rechy. Both of Rechy's parents were natives of Mexico; his father was of Scottish lineage. He earned a B.A. in English from Texas Western College (now University of Texas at El Paso ), where he served as editor of the college newspaper. Following graduation from college, Rechy enlisted in the U.S. Army. He

19321-641: Was writing, and shelved the script for years. In 1988, while editing Mala Noche , Van Sant met street kid Michael Parker, who inspired the character of Mike in My Own Private Idaho . Parker also had a friend named Scott, a street kid like himself. In the script, Van Sant made the Scott character a rich kid, also fashioned after street hustlers Van Sant had met in Portland. Early drafts of the screenplay were set on Hollywood Boulevard , not Portland, with working titles such as Blue Funk and Minions of

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