[maltaille]

Interesting you nominate this as the first step towards New Hollywood. I haven't seen it for years, but I always think of the performances as reminiscent of older films from the 40's and 50's - subtle and underacted, ambiguous, designed more to provoke a feeling than tell a story - than the sorts of performances that have been valued for the last 30 years. More is left unsaid than made explicit. I presume this was an outgrowth of having to tread a fine line regarding the homosexuality of Ratso and Joe, but I think it suits the entire picture well.