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Five Easy Pieces In 1970, the '60s may have been over, but the youth of America was still riding the crest of the Woodstock Festival into the brand new decade. In 1969, Neil Armstrong walked on the moon, Charles Manson directed his followers to commit the Tate-LaBianca murders, Senator Edward Kennedy drove his car off a bridge, American troops illegally invaded Cambodia and had a continued presence in Vietnam, and American cinema celebrated the life of the hippie with Easy Rider. 1970 seemed an extension of 1969 as the Chicago Seven were convicted of conspiracy to riot, National Guardsmen shot and killed four students at Kent State University, and American cinema celebrated the restlessness of the new middle class in Five Easy Pieces (Lev, p.189-191). The success of Five Easy Pieces in America was an encouraging sign for American movies in an otherwise depressing time. In 1969 the surprising popularity of unconventional, 'downbeat' movies like Midnight Cowboy, Alice's Restaurant, They Shoot Horses, Don't They? and, particularly, Easy Rider seemed to represent the beginning of a vital new phase in the development of the American film. Also in 1970, younger film-makers were given unusual freedom to create personal pr