Sep
21
7:00pm
Steven Spielberg - The Big Picture
By Toby Jepson
Patreon onlyI can vividly remember the first time I watched the first Steven Spielberg movie DUEL. I was 10, or thereabouts, and I watched it on our portable black and white TV. It didn’t diminish the impact one iota.
From that moment I was a Spielberg fan.
At the time that film was made (1972) the then 26 year old Spielberg was a jobbing TV director for ABC and he had made it as a ‘movie of the week’ for the station. It caused such a commotion that Universal TV who owned the rights had it bumped up to a theatrical release. It’s now considered, quite rightly, as a cult classic.
Since then many of Steven Spielberg’s movies have become deeply embedded in the human creative lexicon, almost inherent in our DNA. It’s hard to imagine the world now without the socially changing wonders of JAWS, ET, Indiana Jones, Close Encounters and Jurassic park.
His body of work is unparalleled, his commercial success evidence of the connection he has with his world wide audience, but the success would not exist without the quality. He is the consummate storyteller, a creative genius of unbelievable focus, driven by a need to wrap up the audience in a world of wonder and magic, to inform, educate but above all entertain and bring a sense of the ‘anything is possible’.
It is said that his approach on set is to capture the moment, often only doing one or two takes of a set up - Stanley Kubrick he is not! The attention to detail and imagination is truly staggering and it’s something we’ve come to take for granted over the years.
As ever, he’s not without his failings, the mawkish over driven sentimentality and the air punching joy of some of his output can grate on the European sensibility, but it’s few and far between and even when he makes a dud - HOOK anyone? - there’s always something to enjoy and even his worst movies tend to outstrip others ‘best’.
A multi genre master, his serious drama films - certainly from ‘Schindler’s list’ onwards - equal anything his peers have managed to create. His action chops are equally as impressive, the visceral battle sequences of ‘Saving Private Ryan’ are enough to render the viewer speechless and not because they’re gratuitous, but because they are so honest and believable, and this from the man who brought us possibly to the greatest family film ever made with ET.
The depth of his understanding of the craft of filmmaking is jaw dropping, there is a casual brilliance to much of his style that plays with the notion that stories should enthral without taking themselves too seriously. I've no doubt his intentions are for the highest quality possible - you can feel the love he has for his work oozing out of the screen. I’ve always loved the playful tones of his adventure capers, where it’s clear he’s aware of his responsibilities to entertain without resorting to over grandstanding - there's a curious restraint to even his biggest scenes that always puts the focus on the story and characters - but just check out the background!!
To be a Spielberg fan is to give into joy and accept the ride. My life has been so enormously enhanced by watching his work in ways that have altered my consciousness. The characters he has created have invaded my very being, almost become part of me.
I’m a huge fan.
So join me on the BIG PICTURE where we will dive into the world of perhaps the greatest filmmaker of the 20th century.
Steven Spielberg.
hosted by
Toby Jepson
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