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The History of American Cinema: 1976

January - June

The trial of eleven people involved with the film Deep Throat begins in Memphis, Tennessee.   They are charged with "conspiring to distribute obscene material from one state to another."   This is the eleventh trial regarding the film to take place in the States.   The film was cleared of being obscene in eight of them. [ADD]

Richard Lester's Robin and Marian, which follows Robin Hood and his sweetheart as they enter late middle-age, is released.   Sean Connery and Audrey Hepburn star in the title roles. [ADD]

80-year-old George Burns wins the Best Supporting Actor at the 48th Annual Academy Awards for his role in Neil Simon’s The Sunshine Boys, while the Best Picture award goes to Milos Forman’s One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest. [MORE]

The eccentric and reclusive multi-millionaire Howard Hughes dies from a stroke at the age of 70 after being taken ill on board a chartered plane from Acapulco to Houston, Texas. [ADD]

Alan J. Pakula’s All the President’s Men is released.     Robert Redford and Dustin Hoffman star as Washington Post reporters Bob Woodward and Carl Bernstein, who uncovered the Richard Nixon Watergate scandal in 1973. [ADD]

Frank Sinatra is photographed at a concert in Westchester with Mafia crime bosses Carlo Gambino and Paul Castellano. [ADD]

A will in the name of Howard Hughes left at the Mormon Church’s headquarters in Salt Lake City by persons unknown is described by one of Hughes’ staff as a ‘very clever forgery.’ [ADD]

Six months after remarrying, Elizabeth Taylor and Richard Burton announce that they are to separate once again. [ADD]

Adolph Zukor, the last of the original movie moguls, dies in Hollywood at the age of 103.   Zukor became head of Paramount in 1935. [ADD]

Clint Eastwood’s The Outlaw Josey Wales is released.   Eastwood, who plays the title role, a Missouri farmer who drifts into a post-Civil War life of crime after his family is murdered by Unionist guerrillas, took over the reins after encountering creative difficulties with original director (and co-writer) Philip Kaufman. [ADD]

The History of Cinema: 1976