This is a companion course to American Culture in An Age of Doubt: The 1970s, Larry Desotell. The 1970s proved to be a “Golden Decade” for American cinema. The turmoil of social protest and generational revolution that marked the 1960s effectively ended the Hollywood studio system and gave way to a young generation of auteur filmmakers who sought to defy the codes and conventions of cinematic storytelling, sometimes by reinventing those codes and conventions for an audience looking to be both challenged and entertained. This installment of “At the Movies”, which is intended as a companion to Larry Desotell’s examination of 1970s culture, will consider two films made by young filmmakers (albeit old now) whose talent and audacity helped create a new Hollywood order: Steven Spielberg’s Jaws, the adaptation of Peter Benchley’s bestselling novel whose box office success effectively changed the way movies were marketed; and Martin Scorsese’s Taxi Driver, the controversial New York City drama that shocked audiences and catapulted its director and its star (Robert De Niro) to the top ranks of American culture.