The Museum of Modern Art presents Paramount in the 1970s at the Museum of Modern Art from August 21st through September 15th.
The world was undergoing seismic changes in the 1960s, as was international cinema, as various “new waves” challenged outmoded filmic languages and oppressive moral orders, and “auteur theory” claimed cinema as a way for individual directors to express how they saw—and felt—an unstable world. Hollywood, however, kept betting on expensive musicals and grand visual spectacle detached from younger generations’ cultural, social, and political moods.
Paramount Pictures’ 1967 hiring of Robert Evans, a 36-year-old former actor, as its head of production signaled that the Hollywood studios were finally filling their ranks with new blood. The massive success of Francis Ford Coppola’s The Godfather helped Evans turn Paramount’s failing fortunes around, positioning the studio as a gateway for some of the most mature, risk-taking films of the 1970s—and opening up US mainstream cinema to depictions of collective fears fed by ethical crises and political disasters at home and abroad. For a few years, studios shifted from escapism toward painful reflections of how things could—and would—go wrong, filling screens with antiheroes, failed relationships, and a social contract threatened by well-earned mistrust in traditional institutions.
Before it ceded ground amid the late-1970s rise of the blockbuster, this “New Hollywood” offered mainstream audiences adventurous, often controversial visions tinged with violence, paranoia, and self-reflection—and Paramount Pictures was at the vanguard of this brief but pivotal moment. Paramount in the 1970s brings together a selection of 25 classic and lesser-known titles that were produced or distributed by the studio during this era, from Coppola’s first two Godfather films to government-conspiracy thrillers like Three Days of the Condor and The Parallax View to rarely screened gems like Richard Fleischer’s controversial Mandingo, Gordon Parks’s music biopic Leadbelly, and the documentary The Secret Life of Plants. Several films in the series are being presented in new restorations.
Museum of Modern Art is at The Museum of Modern Art 11 West 53rd Street, between 5th and 6th Avenues New York, NY 10019, New York, NY.
THE MUSEUM OF MODERN ART PRESENTS Tobe Hooper in the 1980s AUGUST 12 to 20 (8/12/24-8/20/24)
THE MUSEUM OF MODERN ART PRESENTS The Texas Chainsaw Massacre at 50 AUGUST 8 to 14 (8/8/24-8/14/24)
Rialto at 25 (4/19/23-5/22/23)
Georgia O'Keeffe: To See Takes Time (4/9/23-8/12/23)
Guillermo del Toro: Tales of Mourning and Imagination (1/9/23-1/29/23)
Videos
![]() |
The Last Podcast on Earth
Factors to Consider When Starting a Business (9/6 - 9/15) COMEDY NEW PLAY
PHOTOS
VIDEOS
DISCOUNT
| |
![]() |
HONOR
Gene Frankel Theatre (9/19 - 10/6) | |
![]() |
The Music of the Bard: Words & Music of Shakespeare in the Park 1956-1967
Joe's Pub (9/16 - 9/16) | |
![]() |
Kiss Me While We Have the Chance
The Green Room 42 (10/28 - 10/28) LIMITED TICKETS REMAIN
PHOTOS
| |
![]() |
The Civilians: Sex Variants of 1941
NYU Skirball (11/14 - 11/24) | |
![]() |
seapony
Dixon Place (9/14 - 9/14) | |
![]() |
HOT Dance
Dixon Place (9/12 - 9/12) | |
![]() |
THE DIRTY LITTLE SECRETS IMPROV SHOW
BATSU! Theatre (9/23 - 9/23) | |
![]() |
Ashley Wool - Broadway. That Happened.
Sargent Theatre at ATA (9/21 - 9/21) | |
VIEW SHOWS ADD A SHOW |
Recommended For You