Over the years, the idea of so-called auteur filmmaking has become identified with a certain breed of art-house cinema. A short list of American auteurs would probably include directors such as Woody Allen, Wes Anderson and Paul Thomas Anderson — but not someone like Sam Peckinpah, who made ultra-violent movies about cowboys and truckers, as well as “Straw Dogs,” the anti-intellectual film par excellence.
It’s worth recalling, though, that the idea of auteur filmmaking originated in the pages of French critical journal Cahiers du Cinema, with people writing passionately about directors like Alfred Hitchcock and Howard Hawks — individuals who worked within Hollywood yet somehow managed to put a personal stamp on their many disparate projects.
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