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The History of American Cinema: 1972

July - December

6/7 -

30-year-old Brandon de Wilde, who made his film debut at the age of seven and appeared in Shane (1953) and Hud (1963), dies in a car crash in Denver. [ADD]

7/7 -

After 18 months in charge of production, Richard D. Zanuck and David Brown resign from Warner Bros to start their own production company, the Zanuck-Brown Company. [ADD]

18/7 -

Frank Sinatra appears before the U.S. House of Representatives to give evidence to a commission of inquiry into organised crime. [ADD]

30/7 -

John Boorman's Deliverance, in which four city friends are attacked by hillbillies when they ride the rapids of an Appalachian river, is released.   Burt Reynolds, Jon Voight, Ned Beatty and Ronny Cox play the four buddies who find they have to revert to primal instincts to survive. [ADD]

17/8 -

Everyone involved in the making of Deep Throat is charged with violating the law prohibiting the movement of pornographic material from one state to another. [ADD]

17/11 -

1776, Peter H. Hunt’s directorial debut, premieres in New York.   The film is a musical depiction of the events leading to the drawing up of the Declaration of Independence, much of the dialogue of which is taken from memoirs and letters of the historical figures depicted. [ADD]

9/12 -

Hollywood gossip columnist Louella Parsons dies at the age of 91. [ADD]

13/12 -

Ronald Neame’s The Poseidon Adventure is released.   The film that effectively kick-started the 70s disaster genre takes place on a vast ocean liner that is overturned by a tidal wave.   Among the survivors struggling to keep their heads above the rising sea water are Gene Hackman, Jack Albertson, Ernest Borgnine, Roddy McDowall, Red Buttons, Carol Lynley, Stella Stevens, Arthur O'Connell, Shelley Winters, and Pamela Sue Martin. [ADD]

22/12 -

The world premiere of Ingmar Bergman's Viskningar och rop (Cries and Whispers) starring Harriet Andersson, Kari Sylvan, Ingrid Thulin and Liv Ullmann, takes place in New York. [ADD]

– The MPAA changes the GP film classification to PG (parental guidance) because many thought GP stood for general public. [ADD]

– Panavision’s Panaflex 35mm silent reflex camera is used for the first time on a commercial feature by Vilmos Zsigmond on Steven Speilberg’s The Sugarland Express. [ADD]

- Burbank Studios is created.   It provides studio facilities for Warners, Columbia (who give up their Sunset and Gower Boulevard studios) and a number of independent operations. [ADD]

- Maya Angelou becomes the first Black woman to script and write the musical score for a film - Georgia, Georgia. [ADD]

Other Key American Films of 1972

Blacula (William Crain) [ADD]

Fat City (John Huston) [ADD]

Fritz the Cat (Ralph Bakshi) [ADD]

Jeremiah Johnson (Sydney Pollack) [ADD]

Junior Bonner (Sam Peckinpah) [ADD]

The Life and Times of Judge Roy Bean (John Huston) [ADD]

Man of La Mancha (Arthur Hiller) [ADD]

Play it Again, Sam (Woody Allen) [ADD]

Savages (James Ivory) [ADD]

Shaft’s Big Score! (Gordon Parks) [ADD]

Silent Running (Douglas Trumbull) [ADD]

Slaughterhouse-Five (George Roy Hill) [ADD]

Sounder (Martin Ritt) [ADD]

Superfly (Gordon Parks Jr) [ADD]

The History of Cinema: 1972