Cinema: The New Hollywood Is the Old Hollywood

I LOVE independence more than anything," says John Cassavetes. With the dedication of an artist and the disposition of a Greek gunrunner, he has spent much of his professional life fighting for it. So, by all rights, this should be his era—the era of the "new Hollywood," born out of the success of Easy Rider, and a time in which film makers can enjoy unrestricted personal expression. Cassavetes has heard a good deal about the "new Hollywood." He just cannot find it.

In the search, he has had a few bad scrapes. His first film,...