Spielberg As A Contemporary Director

With a classic hit like E.T the Extra- Terrestrial (1982), Jaws (1975) and other box office smashes like the series Indian Jones with Harrison Ford (1981-1989), there is no doubt in my mind that Steven Spielberg is one of the most influential persons of today, and in Hollywood one of the most wealthiest and best know filmmakers in the world.(St. James Press) Steven Allan Spielberg was born in Cincinnati to a Jewish family on December 18, 1946. Arnold his father and Leah his mother were anxiously awaiting his arrival. His father was an electrical engineer and his mother a classical pianist, due to his father's job they often moved around from Ohio to New Jersey and then to Scottsdale Arizona were they spent the next seven years. Spielberg attended college at Long Beach University, but soon dropped out to pursue his dream of making movies. He started work as an assistant on the classic western "Wagon Train", and soon directed "The Last Gun" (1959), "Battle Squad" (1961), and then "Escape From Nowhere," staring his sister Anne Spielberg (1961). Through the next few years Spielberg directed a couple of movies that would be foretelling of his future career in filmmaking. A movie called "Firelight," came out in 1964 and it was aliens invading a small town, which some critics say is very similar to "Close Encounters of the Third Kind" (1977). There was also an unfinished movie entitled "Slipstream," but it was never completed. Many of Spielberg's early films take place in a desert or at least feature one at some point during the film.(Yevlar) A production company named Amblin hired Spielberg and he soon produced "Duel," (1971) a unique and classic TV series with Dennis Weaver. Today the series is still baffling many critics and that is why it's considered a classic. In the early 1970s Spielberg was directing TV shows like "Marcus Welby, MD". (1969), Rod Serling's "Night Gallery" (1970), and Columbo, and that's just a few. All of Spielberg's early productions and TV shows were just the beginning, he was just getting started and would soon release his chart topping movies such as "Jaws" (1975), "Indian Jones: Raiders of the Lost Ark" (1981), and "E.T. the Extra Terrestrial". With three groundbreaking special effect movies back to back he led the way for uprising entertainment.(St. James Press) Spielberg was the first director to use product advertising, for example a name brand company or food product would appear in his movies and he would receive funding in return. This type of advertising or "placement," as they call it in his movies, would help to earn a little extra, in E.T. he used and promoted Rieces Pieces.(Matlin) Now in almost every movie you will see "placement" is a big part, perhaps even a few times. Today it's accepted but back in the 1970s it was unheard of. Major companies like Cocoa Cola and Pepsi spend big money to have their products in Spielberg's movies now.(Matlin)<Tab/> Steven Spielberg has a very impressive line up of movies, he wrote the book, "The Sugarland Express," and later turned the story into a picture film. The script was based on a true story that took place in Texas of 1969, however, the book and following movie made the story line seem to unrealistic. The story is about a couple Lou Jean and Clovis Poplin and their race with the law. Lou Jean convinces her husband Clovis to break out of jail and find their son that was put into a foster home after he was convicted. Spielberg makes the Poplin couple out to be a regular Bonnie and Clyde that people crowd into the street to cheer them to victory. It was no surprise that the movie did poorly in the box offices because of the lack of integrity is sustained. Spielberg went for cheap jokes to get a laugh from his audience and in turn sacrificed what could have been a great story line. At the end of the movie Clovis is made to look like a fool when he listens to his wife and gives into the police, which in turn shoot him. The joke is on Clovis because Lou Jean spends a little over a year in jail and then continues her life raising her son.(Farber) The movie just lacked good content and if I wanted to see a movie like that I would have rented "Dumb and Dumber." <Tab/>The story line for "Jaws" was originally a novel written by Peter Benchley, which he later turned into a screenplay. In filming the actual movie the film went way over budget due to the expensive constructions of numerous mechanical sharks. When one of the sharks sank to the bottom of the Atlantic off the shore of Martha's Vinyard the possibility of the movie almost sank with it. The movie's original budget of $3.5 million ended up costing six million dollars when everything was said and done.(Meachum) Spielberg took a natural human fear and put it into the minds of everyone who watched the film. Suddenly it seemed like your chances of getting attacked by a shark were great if you set foot in the ocean. However Spielberg had to have done something right because the movies grossed over one hundred million in it's

initial run. Spielberg set a record for the highest grossed film in history until George Lucas broke the record with his film, "Star Wars."(Mott p.53) One of Spielberg's most successful accomplishments are a film called E.T. "Spielberg wanted space" A creature that only a mother could love. I didn't want him to be sublime or beatific-or there'd be no place to go in the relationship. The story is the beauty of E.T.'s character." (Meachum p.64) The story is about E.T. the extra terrestrial who is abandoned by his spaceship on earth and befriended a young boy named Elliot. Elliot needed a friend that he had things in common with and E.T. could give that to him. When Elliot was scared, E.T. was scared with him and when E.T. got sick Elliot became ill as well. Some critics believe that E.T. resembles the Christian story, "A Visitor From Another Realm," that was sent to save humanity. There are at least 33 similarities between E.T. and "A Visitor From Another Realm." Some similarities that E.T. remained hidden throughout the story and also bonded with little children. At the end of the movie E.T. returns to the sky his home as does Christ according to the Bible. This movie is one of Spielberg's more slowly, natural flowing movies because it moves at the same pace as the characters emotions. "Spielberg…merely makes the assumption that we are not alone in the universe and whatever is out there in space is not necessarily hostile to human kind."(Mott p.126) <Tab/> Spielberg also started a series, "The Adventures of Indiana Jones" with the first installment being titled, "Raiders of The Lost Ark."(1981) It was about a hero archeologist on the quest for another good find that would land him Pandora's box. The Ark is the major goal of the adventure and it's not until the end that he finally gets his hands on it. Spielberg likes to give the characters in his movies some type of prize or goal to go after, but they don't achieve it until the end of the movie. Spielberg likes to leave the underlying message of the film to be revealed at the very end of the movie. "Raiders of the Lost Ark," took place in 1941 and Jones is racing Nazi Germany for the lost ark to keep them from being able to control the world. The next installment of Indiana Jones was, "The Temple of Doom" in 1984. Some critics say that it didn't live up to its predecessor because of its controversial violence. "The Temple of Doom" was a Paramount picture and unlike "The Raiders of The Lost Ark," it was more dynamic and fast pace as if Spielberg was trying to keep the audience from becoming bored. A Newsweek reviewer, Jack Kroll claims, "Spielberg has gone to such lengths to avoid boredom that he has leaped squarely into the opposite trap: this movie has such unrelated action that it jackhammers you into a punch-drunk stupor."(Mott p.102) Temple of Doom changed Spielberg's light, family movie image to a more violent, action packed one. <Tab/>Through imagination and hard work Spielberg has brought forth some of the most exciting and popular movies of all time. I chose Steven Spielberg because of his influential movies. There are a few movies I did not get to mention like "Saving Private Ryan" and "Band of Brothers" both of these films are about soldiers in World War 2 and have had a great impact on my life. My grandfather was in WWII and now that I have seen some of what the men had to go through by the realism of his work, I am proud of my family and the fact that I serve in the military today. Most of Spielberg's work, keeps you by the hip till the very end were there an introduction to the antagonist awaits. In "Raiders" the Ark is not opened to the end, In "Jaws" you never see the jaws of the shark till the end. I think Spielberg chooses this approach because you know the audience will stay for the whole show. Spielberg has inspired us all with his children movies and action films, showing us he is capable of producing and directing anything.