How the Watergate Scandal Changed the future of Movies

When you think of Hollywood in the 1970s, you're likely to picture scenes from Star Wars or The Godfather. Perhaps your mind is cast back to the many disaster films of the decade or the pure horror of films like The Exorcist. It's very likely that the first name to come to mind is probably

Richard Nixon, but the former President had more to do with the future of films than you might think.

A significant shift in the 1970s was the way in which crime was presented on film. Prior to the 1970s, some of the most thrilling, crime fighting heroes on film were cowboys and Westerns were incredibly popular with audiences. In fact, In the 1950s, John Wayne, the quintessential cowboy, was one of the top earning stars in Hollywood and Westerns like John Ford's, The Searchers, performed well at the box office. In the 1960s, the genre adapted into Spaghetti Westerns (made in Italy and Spain) like Clint Eastwood's The Good, The Bad and The Ugly which also found favour with audiences. However, a closer look at the films of the 1970s saw a shift away from Westerns and by the mid1970s there was a move towards cop films and conspiracy thrillers. This reflected a newfound distrust of the government and federal agencies after the Watergate Scandal.

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This reflected a newfound distrust of the government and federal agencies after the Watergate Scandal.

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If you're not familiar with this historical event, it refers to the attempted cover-up of the Nixon administrations burglary of the Democratic Party's headquarters located in the Watergate Office Building. The incident resulted in the resignation of President Richard Nixon.

In 1975, film critic Robert Ebert wrote, “Conspiracies involving murder by federal agencies used to be found in obscure publications of the far left, now they're glossy entertainments starring Robert Redford and Faye Dunaway.” He went on to say, ‘Hollywood stars used to play cowboys and generals. Now they're wiretappers and assassins, or targets.’ He was actually reviewing Francis Ford Coppola's film ‘The Conversation’ when he wrote this. The screenplay of this film technically predates Watergate but was released just months after news of the scandal broke out. Other notable films with these themes include Three Days of the Condor and All the President’s Men.

Admittedly, it could be argued that the Watergate Scandal is not solely responsible for this shift in movie themes. Firstly, "success breeds success" and so as soon as one of these types of films was successful, other movie studios wanted to follow suit. Secondly, audiences respond well to seeing their own world play out on the screen. According to statistics from the US Department of Justice, crime rates in America began to hit their peak in the mid 1970s. The topic of crime was being discussed more than ever before so studios responded with cop films like Dirty Harry, Serpico, The French Connection, Mean Streets and Taxi Driver. With the increased fear from the general population about crime on the streets, the popularity of gunslinging cowboys was being replaced by tough talking cops with unconventional tactics.

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...the popularity of gunslinging cowboys was being replaced by tough talking cops with unconventional tactics.

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Similarly, there is perhaps more to the end of the Western genre than just the rise in popularity of conspiracy thrillers. When it comes to movie studios, "money talks" and Westerns just weren't making money anymore. The typical storylines of the genre had been exhausted and audiences were looking for something new. Crime fighting cops were suddenly more exciting than cowboys.

For your convenience, we've included links to each of these films throughout this article. These are affiliate links which means we get a small commission should you choose to make a purchase using the link provided. This is done at no extra cost to you. Please ensure that any DVD is the correct format for your region before making a purchase.