Filmmaker Bruce Conner died this week at the age of 74. Even the most ardent movie fan may not have heard of him, but his influence was widespread. Conner carved a niche for himself by compiling scraps of footage from other movies into original works that served as amusing social commentaries. Dennis Hopper said his work directly inspired him to shoot Easy Rider. Conner himself had originally been influenced by a scene in the Marx Brothers movie Duck Soup in which a "Help Wanted" sign is hung outside the war ministry in the hope of getting volunteers to sign up for the army. In the film, a quick cut shows everything from tanks to giraffes answering the call. Conner thought it would be entertaining to try this technique in a full length feature film, so he acquired snippets and scraps from newsreels and documentaries and fashioned them into unique works. The New York Times has a wonderful article about his life and career. To read click here