This being Thursday, it's time for another edition of Thursday Movie Picks, the blogathon run by Wandering Through the Shelves. This week's theme is a fairly simple one, favorite Steven Spielberg movies.
Steven Spielberg has made a slew of memorable movies for close to 50 years now, so pretty much anybody should be able to think of three. The only question is which three to pick. I unsurprisingly went earlier:
The Sugarland Express (1974). Spielberg's first real feature film (Duel was a TV movie although as I understand it there were some places where it got a theatrical release). Goldie Hawn plays a woman who, along with her husband (William Atherton), was sentenced to prison. Since they were both in jail, their child was put in foster care. Hawn's gotten out of jail but finds that the foster parents are going to be allowed to adopt the kid. So she breaks her husband out of jail and kidnaps her child with the plan to escape to Mexico.
Close Encounters of the Third Kind (1977). Richard Dreyfuss is a man who sees a UFO and suddenly gets the urge to go to someplace he doesn't know yet but turns out to be Devils Tower, WY. The US military is leading an international group of researchers (including François Truffaut) investigating what turns out to be the same UFO heading for Devils Tower, and tries to keep civilians away. Why does the UFO want to go there anyway?
E.T. The Extra-Terrestrial (1982). An alien gets stuck on Earth and is found by siblings (Henry Thomas and Drew Barrymore) who protect it until they can figure out a way to get it back to the spacecraft that brought it to Earth. Meanwhile, the authorities know something is going on and want to find the extraterrestrial being for their own nefarious purposes. This one was a huge hit at the box office making Reese's Pieces popular and spawning a bunch of ancillary merchandise including a disastrous video game.
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6 comments:
I really, really hated Sugarland Express! Those people were noxious.
Close Encounters goes on too long but it is very enjoyable if you stick with it.
E.T. is a lovely film with a super message, it isn't one of his films I go back to very often though.
I try not to double dip and I’ve used all of my favorites (Raiders, Saving Pvt. Ryan, Catch Me If You Can, Lincoln, Bridge of Spies and The Post) of his theatrical releases before so I turned to that handful of his early TV films that I admire.
Duel (1971)-Suspense film of salesman Dennis Weaver driving through the desert and unconsciously offending a psychotic truck driver who then doggedly pursues him with the object of killing him. While it sounds simple Spielberg makes it incredibly taut. His first solo film directing effort was an enormous hit making his reputation.
Something Evil (1972)-Married couple Paul and Marjorie Worden (Darren McGavin and Sandy Dennis) move into what seems to be a bucolic Pennsylvania farm house with their kids and at first all is good. But suddenly disturbing events begin to transpire and Marjorie suspects what had only been hinted at by the locals before-the house is possessed by the Devil! Good acting and Spielberg’s firm hand make it a cut above. A precursor of his later Poltergeist.
Savage (1973)-Martin Landau plays Paul Savage, a renowned TV investigative reporter with his own weekly show (think a 70’s Anderson Cooper) covering the proposed nomination of a candidate to the Supreme Court. When the news is announced Savage is contacted by Lee Raynolds, a young woman in possession of damaging evidence she’s willing to sell. Savage goes to the network boss (a very young Dabney Coleman) for the cash but then word arrives that Lee is dead, a supposed suicide. But is that really so? Looking for answers leads Savage into a labyrinth of lies and deceit. A decent story enhanced by Spielberg’s directorial touches and aided by a strong cast including Barbara Bain (Landau’s wife at the time), Will Geer (Grandpa Walton) and Pat Harrington. This was Spielberg’s final TV gig before moving into features.
Bonus:
Eyes (1969)-Claudia Menlo (Joan Crawford) a fabulously rich but mercenary woman (she tells her doctor "My single abiding interest is MYSELF"!) who has been blind since birth blackmails a surgeon (Barry Sullivan-who also appears in Savage) to transplant the eyes of a desperate man she has bought so she can see for twelve hours. The surgery is a success but an unexpected hitch pitches her back into darkness. The second segment of the pilot for the TV show Night Gallery was Spielberg’s first professional directorial job and he aces it with an assured hand helped by Crawford’s accomplished performance.
I also chose E.T, that's definitely a favorite of mine. I haven't seen the other two, though I've seen a lot of clips of Close Encounters.
I don't remember much about The Sugarland Express but I like E.T.
I'm surprised you found the characters in The Sugarland Express noxious, Joel. I'm normally the one who gets aggravated with irritating, dislikable, or "difficult" characters in movies, but these two didn't bother me at all.
If memory serves, I think it would also make a good double bill with Ron Howard's Grand Theft Auto.
I have not seen Sugarland Express.but agree about Close Encounters and enjoyed it. ET is ok but haven’t seen it since it came out.
I saw Close Encounters recently, it began ok but got really boring the second half for me.
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