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1、Steven SpielbergArguably the most important figure to emerge from the creative ferment of Hollywood cinema in the 1970s, Steven Spielberg has changed the way movies are made and about what they are made. He is perhaps the Western worlds most famous living filmmaker; three movies he directed (E.T. th
2、e Extra-Terrestrial 1981; Jurassic Park 1993; Jaws 1975) are among the top ten highest grossing films of all time. His former production company, Amblin Entertainment, was also responsible for such hits as Gremlins (1984), Back to the Future (1985) and Who Framed Roger Rabbit (1988). Spielberg has s
3、ucceeded in combining the intimacy of a personal vision with the epic requirements of the modern commercial blockbuster, but his astonishing success invalidated his acceptance as an artist for many years. Marketplace issues aside, Spielberg certainly travels in august creative company: like Orson We
4、lles, he has been celebrated and penalized for precocity; like Alfred Hitchcock, he has been alternately praised and damned as a master of emotional manipulation; and like Frank Capra, he has been criticized for shameless sentimentality. Spielbergs most important spiritual predecessor, however, is W
5、alt Disney, another creative individual who made himself into a brand name while attending to the serious business of making frivolous entertainments. Several Spielberg films have become landmarks in the development of special effects, both in their visual and aural aspects. This filmmaker, however,
6、 is no technocrat nor does he display a serious intellectual interest in science fiction. Spielberg utilizes elements of sci-fi and fantasy but tends to eschew heavy ideas in favor of sublime feelings, such as childlike awe and trust. Indeed, his work has decisively influenced the emphasis in late 2
7、0th Century sci-fi filmmaking on the sensibility of youth and they succeed in spite of blatant sentimentality through the directors masterful use of emotionally potent visual imagery. If nothing else, Spielberg possesses an uncanny knack for eliciting and manipulating audience response. Unlike many
8、of his contemporaries, Spielberg did not attend a major university film program. Largely self-taught, at age 16, he fashioned his first film Firelight, a two-hour science fiction movie, that a local movie house in Phoenix, AZ, consented to run for one evening. His short film, Amblin (1969) impressed
9、 executives at the television unit of Universal Studios and Spielberg was hired, making his debut directing the formidable Joan Crawford in the TV-movie pilot for Rod Serlings Night Gallery (NBC, 1969). He went on to hone his craft helming episodes of such weekly series as Columbo and Marcus Welby,
10、M.D. as well as three TV-movies. One telefilm, Duel (ABC, 1972), about a salesman (Dennis Weaver) pursued by a giant diesel truck whose driver is never seen, was released theatrically in Europe, where it enjoyed both critical and commercial success. Spielbergs first theatrical film, The Sugarland Ex
11、press (1974) was based on the true story of a lumpen Texas woman and her escaped convict husband fighting to regain custody of their baby. The film anticipates the emphasis on family in Spielbergs subsequent work; his choreographed car chases and deft handling of suspense and comedy marked him as a
12、director to watch. Poorly marketed, this entertaining and poignant feature failed at the box office. Spielbergs second, Jaws, however, helped usher in the modern age of movie blockbusters. This troubled production-a neophyte director and a disgruntled crew with a malfunctioning automated shark-emerg
13、ed as a classic adventure yarn that propelled Spielberg to the A-list of Hollywood directors. His transcendent follow-up, Close Encounters of the Third Kind (1977), revealed the first flowering of his cinematic interest in the world of childhood, an affinity shared with the late Francois Truffaut, w
14、ho played the head scientist in the film. Though initially terrifying, the alien creatures in this revisionist work resemble strange and wondrous children, presenting a more benign representation than the monstrous conquerors of 50s sci-fi films. These beings offer the promise of life beyond the res
15、trictions of middle-class conventions. When Richard Dreyfuss boards the mother ship for unknown adventures, it is the films final grandiloquent embrace of the possible. Riding high after two back-to-back blockbusters, Spielberg attempted a colossal big-budget comedy. 1941 (1979) was a loud, sprawlin
16、g and wildly uneven film about paranoia in a small California town after the attack on Pearl Harbor. Though it ultimately turned a profit, the film was perceived as a huge and indulgent flop. Spielberg next chose to work under the watchful eye of a tough producer, George Lucas, and fashioned what would turn out to be one of his signature films, Raiders of the Lost Ark (1981). The movie introduced the world to Indiana Jones (played by Har
