1) Probably in 1969, when American Zoetrope first took off, and when it looked like George Lucas, fresh from college, would be ready to direct John Milius' script. This got scrapped because it was too risky, both financially and in plain logistics, to go shoot a guerilla-style pseudo-documentary on Vietnam while it was still going on.
2) I guess I'll try my best to give answers to this- a) it gave hope to filmmakers that if you get in trouble financially or otherwise on a film, as did Coppola, if you rely on your creativity you can get out; b) it opened people's eyes to the horrors of the Vietnam war theatrically that didn't get as revealed in the previous years' The Deer Hunter and Coming Home (however, this was to change in the 80's, as other films like Walking Dead, Platoon, Full Metal Jacket, and Casualties of War among others, expounded on the subject); c) it proved that an overlong mess of a production can make its money back (the production period on this one film was the same as the LOTR trilogy), and d) it became very influential in the technical, acting, and story aspects to other filmmakers, as did the Godfather films and some of Coppola's other major efforts...
...On the other hand, one thing it didn't do for the American film industry was keep the spirit of the 70's. It is a landmark in film history, and it may gain a greater legend as the decades roll on. But because the film went over-budget, despite making it's money back and then some, directors like Coppola didn't have the kind of creative reign that they once had. 1979 and 1980 were two of the last true gems for the American film industry, and while here and there are some years that hold greater films than others (i.e. 1989, 1994, 1999), films like the ones made in those years, like A.N., Dawn of the Dead, Manhattan, Empire Strikes Back, Raging Bull, Alien, The Shining, aren't that common.
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