Steven Spielberg HBO Documentary Movie

Agent Coulson

HBO documentary on Spielberg this could be amazing if he gave them full access.

Wedwood

That looks great, looking forward to seeing it.

He effectively created the summer blockbuster and those of us who were kids in the 70's and 80's were treated to probably the golden age of great family movies.

Into the 90's and beyond, Spielberg made his more serious movies and capped it with Schindlers List.

Even his 'dud' movies are better than most filmmakers best efforts.

And lest we forget, Indiana Jones 5 is still on the way !!!

Tipsy McSwagger

Hopefully it's not just a love fest and shows him being a bit of a prick. I personally love his films but could never get into ET for some reason. His most underrated film is AI and overrated Schindler List.

Theboinkmaster

Tipsy McSwagger wrote: »

shows him being a bit of a prick.

I always got the impression he was a normal enough, very sound bloke.

Sad Professor

Sounds like he's still spinning the yarn about sneaking onto the Universal lot as a young man. If so I'll pass on this. Spielberg is a great filmmaker and worthy of many a documentary, but I'm not interested in hearing him self-mythologise himself.

valoren

I read an article on the BBC that describes the most successful people in almost any field as outliers.
The example used was that of Bill Gates. The idea was that while you could be an innately talented person, that while you could spend 10,000 hours at your craft to become a world class master of the field, it was not a guarantee of success.
What happened with Gates was that his family was wealthy enough to pay for his access to a computer at the time when it was a rarity anyone outside of Universities, let alone for a teenager in the 70's. When he set up Micro Soft, it was the notion that his mother through social connections enabled him to subsequently get a contract with someone working with IBM in the early 80's. From there he and the company flourished.

Spielberg is of the same ilk. Having a super 8 camera was a rarity. It allowed him to hone his passion. Not every kid in America had such a camera. Through connections he was offered an unpaid intern role in the Universal studios editing department where like Gates his long honed talent got noticed and he was set to make a career of made-for-TV movies and shows akin to 'Days of Our Lives'. A competent, professional director on the books at Universal. One of the TV movies was impressive enough for the Zanuck and Brown to offer him directorial duties on Jaws. He was probably seen as a safe pair of hands, passionate and his fee would be tolerable with the tight budget.

It is arguable that he owes the career he has enjoyed to the malfunctioning shark on the set of Jaws. Both that and the talented collaborator's he found himself working with.

As director, he fully intended to show the shark as much as possible, as with the 'Truck' in Duel. The idea that it simply didn't work as he'd envisaged meant the production needed to infer the presence of the shark covertly. With John Williams producing a classic score, Verna Fields' masterful editing, memorable dialogue and quality performances, Jaws was an absolutely massive hit.

It made Spielberg a very wealthy man, wealthy enough to pick and choose what he wanted to do. One wonder's if the shark was shown from scene one, with all the suspense sucked from the screen, if the score was rubbish or if the performances were terrible if Jaws would have been as big as it was. It could well have been a break even movie or a box office bomb for Universal.

Spielberg subsequently proved to be one of, if not the, greatest collaborator Hollywood has seen.
After Jaws it was Close Encounters, another hit, despite his desire to make a Bond film. Then he made 1941 which was a complete flop.

So back to collaborating again, this time with Lucas holding the purse strings thanks to Star Wars, and he enjoyed another classic hit with Raiders. To compound his reputation, there was more collaboration with ET with Williams winning another Oscar for his magical score, and enjoying some of the best performances from child actors in history. ET was the highest grossing film of all time. His reputation was solidified and whatever came after that be they flops or hit's, his status and stature in Hollywood was cemented permanently. Yet to suggest he was an auteur along the lines of Kubrick is wrong. He was a very talented and passionate person, who found himself in the right circumstances, with the right material at the right time. Thankfully he set up Amblin to pay it back for a new generation of film makers.

McGrath5

Not sure if this was aired last night?

Agent Coulson

Aired on Saturday night in the States.

Snake Plisken

Saw t over the weekend, a must see for any fans of Spielberg, interviews with the likes of Lucas DePalma Coppola John Williams JJ Abraham’s. It was interesting to see how the separation of his parents influenced themes in his movies. There are clips from some of the first TV shows he directed including Columbo and some of the 8mm films he shot as a teenager. I really enjoyed it,

TerrorFirmer

Tipsy McSwagger wrote: »

His most underrated film is AI and overrated Schindler List.

Really?

Schlinder's List is an astounding piece of film-making.

Tipsy McSwagger

This is available now on Sky Atlantic

Wedwood

Watched it the other night, it's probably the most definitive documentary on Spielberg to date. It gave a good picture of how his own life over the years have shaped his movies.

It was interesting hearing about the snobbery/jealousy that Spielberg had to contend with as his stature grew. Spielberg himself was surprisingly candid throughout, including acknowledging his mistakes like 1941.

I also enjoyed him firing back at those who accused him of 'ruining their childhood', clearly in reference to the borderline mass hysteria and ongoing overreaction that follows Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull to this day.

Theboinkmaster

Watched it last week, thought it was just OK, way too long at 2.5hrs.

Didn't like the structure of just going through each of the movies, very dull TBH and not much insight.

Best part was discussing his childhood, divorce etc.

AMKC

Theboinkmaster wrote: »

Watched it last week, thought it was just OK, way too long at 2.5hrs.

Didn't like the structure of just going through each of the movies, very dull TBH and not much insight.

Best part was discussing his childhood, divorce etc.

way too long at 2.5hrs.


Agreed. I was going to watch it but then seen it was that long and just don,t have the time to watch a documentary that long. I did get to watch the last 30 mins of it do so seen some of the best films he has made and him talking about as well as some I have never heard of. I will watch it all sometime when I have the time lol.

MfMan

Tipsy McSwagger wrote: »

Hopefully it's not just a love fest and shows him being a bit of a prick. I personally love his films but could never get into ET for some reason. His most underrated film is AI and overrated Schindler List.

I agree with you re: ET - could never get the love for it. Alien visits, dies, resurrects, returns home. Schmaltz. Meh. Also agree that AI is underrated, (love John Williams' theme). If you leave 1941 out of it, I think his worst are War Horse (aka Lassie Meets Black Beauty) and Minority Report (features the usual Tom Cruise trope of him running madly through rain-deserted streets at night).