Smack in the heart of the New Hollywood era, 1975 witnessed the creation of some of the biggest cultural landmarks and artistic triumphs in cinema history. Gifted masters like Robert Altman, Akira Kurosawa, Francis Ford Coppola, and Stanley Kubrick released some of their most sprawling, ambitious works, while relative newcomers like Steven Spielberg completely transformed the Hollywood landscape, and international auteurs such as Werner Herzog and Chantal Akerman crafted boundary-pushing works that broke new ground in filmmaking.

As these milestones celebrate their 50th birthday this year, the Egyptian Theatre is proud to present 1975: Fifty is the New Hollywood. This screening series, held throughout May, will showcase films whose influence and style continue to inspire both filmmakers and audiences today, feeling as fresh and radical as when they were first released.

Special guests joining us at the Egyptian for the series include actors Keith Carradine and Ronee Blakley alongside Robert Altman’s Nashville. Carradine, who won the Oscar for Best Original Song for the film, will introduce the screening; Blakley, who was nominated for the Best Supporting Actress Oscar for her role, will participate in a post-screening Q&A moderated by film critic David Ansen. 

Werner Herzog will discuss one of his most personally cherished films, The Enigma of Kasper Hauser, which took home multiple awards at the 1975 Cannes Film Festival, including the Grand Prize of the Jury. 

And reuniting for the 50th anniversary of one of Black cinema’s most influential coming-of-age films, Cooley High (which boasts Spike Lee, Robert Townsend, and John Singleton among its many ardent admirers), are director Michael Schultz, and actors Glynn Turman and Lawrence Hilton-Jacobs.

Opening night of the series will feature a 35mm print of Dog Day Afternoon, screening as part of the Egyptian Theatre’s monthly collaboration with the Los Angeles Film Critics Association (LAFCA), which celebrates the 50th anniversary of LAFCA by screening a film each month that has been uniquely awarded by the organization over its 50-year history. Dog Day Afternoon won LAFCA’s inaugural Best Picture award in 1975, and the screening will be introduced by LAFCA member and film critic Peter Rainer.

Films also screening include special Memorial Day showings of the big winners from the 1975 Oscar ceremony: The Godfather Part II and Chinatown, as well as Steven Spielberg’s game-changing original blockbuster, Jaws. Stanley Kubrick’s Barry Lyndon, Akira Kurosawa’s Dersu Uzala on 35mm, and Chantal Akerman’s Jeanne Dielman, 23 quai du Commerce, 1080 Bruxelles – named the Greatest Film Ever Made in the most recent Sight and Sound poll – will also play. Additional films in the series include Hal Ashby’s Shampoo, a 4K restoration of Joan Micklin Silver’s Hester Street, which garnered Carol Kane an Oscar nomination for Best Actress, and Mel Brooks’ Young Frankenstein, which was nominated for Best Adapted Screenplay at the 1975 Oscars.

Features 35mm prints of Dog Day Afternoon and Dersu Uzala.

Additional guests and special introductions will be announced in the coming weeks.