jaws
STEVEN SPIELBERG’s Earliest Films are better than yours.
Steven Allan Spielberg, (born December 18, 1946)[1] film director and producer. Two time Oscar winner (and victim of the Oscar Snub) and one of the most influential filmmakers in history.
I’ve been a fan of Steven Spielberg since I was about 5 years old, when I first saw the films JAWS. But I’ve never have seen his earliest works, until I looked up and realized You Tube had them. What don’t they have that isn’t MGM related material anyways ?
I have ran across a few people from time to time that decry the man and say it’s all BS and yes, it’s usually from the Art House Crowd wannabe who can’t see past the rose colored brain disorder they seem to have. If it ain’t Tarkovsky or Wenders, it’s crap ! Don’t get me wrong, I love those guys but if one cannot look at Schindler’s List and just not accept the genius, then you must be an idiot.
Speaking of Ray Carney, anti film fan with the thickest pair of rose colored goggles you’ll ever find and who has said that “Spielberg’s films lack depth and do not take risks”. Schindler’s didn’t take a risk ? The Color Purple didn’t take a risk ? Oh yes Ray, those films are sure blockbusters. Ray! You’re missing the point badly. It’s okay to like more than one type of cinema style or genre.
Before we get to the films …
My favorite(s)
Jaws (My GOAT)
Close Encounters of the Third Kind (Top 30 Ever)
1941 (Yes, absurd, but a timeless film from my childhood.)
Raiders of the Lost Ark (Top 20 Ever)
E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial
Poltergeist (Phantom Director)
Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom
Jurassic Park (The T-REX scene alone seals the deal)
Schindler’s List (2nd Best Film Ever for me)
Amistad
Saving Private Ryan (Top 20 Ever)
Minority Report
Munich (Top 30 Ever)
War of the Worlds
Not Favorites, but worth the time
The Color Purple
Empire of the Sun
Always
Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade
The Lost World: Jurassic Park
Artificial Intelligence: A.I.
Catch Me if You Can
The Terminal
Bad
Hook
Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull (Sorry Steven. George’s involvement with Indiana Jones has screwed up the entire thing.)
Amblin
Amblin’ is a short film released in 1968. It is the first completed film shot by Steven Spielberg on 35mm. The film is a short story set during late ’60s about a young couple who meet up in the desert, become friends, then lovers and make their way to a paradisiacal beach.
A young guy, carrying a closely guarded guitar case, hooks up with a free spirited girl when hitchhiking across the desert in southern California en route to the Pacific coast. Along the way, the man engaged the girl in an olive spitting contest and the girl initiates the guy into the joys of cannabis smoking and sex in a sleeping bag. As the pair reach the beach, the guy frolics in the surf and the girl checks out the contents of his guitar case: a suit and tie, toothpaste, mouthwash, a roll of toilet paper and a copy of Arthur Clarke’s The City and the Stars. The girl smiles in bemusement, perhaps sensing all along that her companion was a geek. She then proceeds to stand up and leave the beach, leaving the man behind.
ESCAPE TO NOWHERE
WW2 Super 8. Just like the ones I used to make when I was 14. Except not as good.
FIRELIGHT
Firelight is a 1964 science fiction adventure film. It was written by Steven Spielberg at the age of 16 and he directed it on a budget of $600. The film was his first commercial success, was shown at a local cinema and generated a profit of $100.
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If you like this then please subscribe to the AFI’s DISRESPECT AND SHUNNING OF THE HORROR FILM.
AFI. The American Film Institute. Recently gave us yet another list, the 10 Top 10. Covering categories from Comedy to Drama to Animation and Western, Sports and Mystery. Noticeably off the list ? The category of Horror.
Horror and the art of scaring audiences has been around for a hundred years, not too mention old legends of folklore and Fairy Tales for children. The genre is a staple of Cinema and storytelling as a whole. Why the omission ?
Nate Yapp put it nicely over at Classic Horror with the following word bite on AFI’s Top 100 (100 Years, 100 Movies)
A scant four horror films were worthy of the AFI’s mention: Psycho (#14), King Kong (#41), Jaws (#56), and The Sixth Sense (#89). Significant amongst the omitted is Frankenstein, which held the 87th slot on the same list ten years ago.
I’m not sure which I’m more annoyed with — the poor representation of the genre in general, or the dropping of what I consider to be the cultural milestone in Hollywood Horror. I’m not going to dig into their other selections; each film on the list has its champions and they have spoken. It’s just a bummer that the AFI’s creative think tank is treating horror like the poor cousin. Given the glitzy Hollywood focus of the list, I’m not expecting Night of the Living Dead to make the cut, but why not Rosemary’s Baby? If not The Texas Chain Saw Massacre, what about The Exorcist (which is not a film I enjoy, but it made #3 on the AFI’s own 100 Years… 100 Thrills list)?
1922’s Nosferatu
Makes no sense to me and is a virtual slap in the face to all moviegoers. We’re not talking about harcore horror or cultish fanboy stuff, I’m talking about omitting some of the greatest films in history, films that scare people and leave legitimate impact on them.
Whether outright horror (looks like, tastes like, feels like; it must be …) or horror sub-genres, Great, great films have been made that are screaming for attention
Four films listed on this one, and not a single category of respect in their latest 10 Top 10. I personally don’t even consider Animated Films to be real films (it’s my own spin) and am wondering how they could not come up with the Top 10 Best ever horror films for the respect of the genre.
Many a director has gotten their start in horror while others, even great ones have built entire bodies of work in the subject matter.
The Masta
Masters of the genre:
John Carpenter (The Thing, Escape from New York, The Fog, Halloween), Alfred Hitchcock, forever known as the Master of Suspense (The Birds, Psycho) , Brian De Palma (Carrie, Dressed To Kill, Sisters), Cronenberg (Rabid, The Brood, Scanners, Videodrome, The Dead Zone, The Fly), George Romero (The Dead Trilogy), Sam Raimi (The Evil Dead Series), Dario Argento (Suspiria), Lucio Fulci, Wes Craven (The Last House on the Left, The Hills Have Eyes, A Nightmare on Elm Street), Rob Zombie (House of 1000 Corpses, The Devil’s Rejects) and Richard Donner (The Omen)
Not too mention, notable Directors who got their start in Horror
Peter Jackson (Bad Taste, Heavenly Creatures, The Frighteners) and Steven Spielberg (Jaws) come to mind. I would love to see Steven tackle a legitimate horror film.
Which brings me to my (and it seems many) all time favorite horror films. It takes a lot to scare m in a movie, to really have any kind of serious affect. I’m making this list an unofficial AFI list, it is authoritative.
10. Salem’s Lot
‘Salem’s Lot is a 1975 horror novel written by Stephen King, and was the author’s second published novel. The title King originally chose for his book was Second Coming, but he later decided on Jerusalem’s Lot. The publishers, Doubleday, shortened it to the current title, thinking the author’s choice sounded too religious.
I don’t think there’s ever been a film that scared me more that was a Made For TV movie. Directed by Tobe Hooper, this film left scars on my child hood ass.
9. The Texas Chainsaw Massacre
The Texas Chain Saw Massacre is a 1974 American independent horror film written, directed, and produced by Tobe Hooper and Kim Henkel. So bizarre it could happen. Which is exactly what makes a horror film scary. Realizing that it could be you.
8. Carrie
Carrie is a 1976 American horror film directed by Brian De Palma and written by Lawrence D. Cohen, based on the novel by Stephen King. The film and the novel deal with a socially outcast teenage girl, Carrie White, who discovers she possesses telekinetic powers after being subjected to both physical and mental harassment by her peers, teachers, and her mother. The film stars Sissy Spacek, Piper Laurie, Betty Buckley, Amy Irving, Nancy Allen, William Katt and John Travolta.
Regarded as a watershed in the horror genre and is arguably one of best feature film adaptations of a Stephen King work.
7. Rosemary’s Baby
Rosemary and Guy Woodhouse move into an apartment in a building with a bad reputation. They discover that their neighbours are a very friendly elderly couple named Roman and Minnie Castevet, and Guy begins to spend a lot of time with them. Strange things start to happen: a woman Rosemary meets in the washroom dies a mysterious death, Rosemary has strange dreams and hears strange noises and Guy becomes remote and distant. Then Rosemary falls pregnant and begins to suspect that her neighbours have special plans for her child.
6. Jaws
Favorite film of all time, first film I remember seeing. My brother asked me “Jaws ? A horror film?” I said “Can you go in the ocean and not think for just one moment that Bruce is coming?”
5. Night of the Living Dead
Played to death in the public domain, I remember seeing this growing up and being mesmerized by how freaked out I was.
Here, watch the entire film for free
4. The Exorcist
Ain’t no intro needed
3. Psycho
2. The Shining
1. Halloween
VISUAL LANGUAGE - Jaws
Jaws. The defining film in my life. The first film I remember seeing as a child remains my favorite film of all time. Steven Spielberg was a Welleian 26 years old when he directed this masterpiece and it forever changed the landscape of the Worldwide Box Office, the film formula and Hollywood’s marketing machines.
Theatrical One Sheet
Based on the novel by Peter Benchley, Jaws tells the simple story of a small New England town terrorized by a great white shark but it’s in the 2nd act with what starts as a simple horror story turns into a Moby Dick tale at sea fueled by the 3 archetypes of Chief Brody, Matt Hooper, and Quint, our salty Ahab.
As much as it’s been compared to Melville’s Moby Dick, I don’t recall Dick giving people true fear. What Hitch did with Psycho and shower curtains, Spielberg to this day makes me think of what’s underneath me whenever I step foot into the ocean.
The film is perfect and I chose a very simple sequence too look at. A sequence which on the page was 3 sentences long. Keep this is mind all of you