A Steven Spielberg Poll (1974-1993)

Ya'll the JP on this poll isn't the OG, it's the terrible sequel where a gymnast somersaults and kicks over a dinosau

Lol oops wrong thred

Close Encounters was the first Spielberg movie I ever saw, at the Ziegfeld Theater, and it was one of the more memorable experiences of my life, so that is what I'm going with

Just bought close encounters on dvd for $3, haven't seen it since I was about 10: looking forward to rewatching

i have a lot of good memories/associations with Hook

mostly cos, like Brad, my brother watched it every day when he was little and still knows every line. i can't be objective about it either

It ramps up the casual racism, if that's your thing

yaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaawn

I'm mystified that a guy who appreciates good populist art doesn't get Spielberg, especially compared with contemporaries were putting out.

yeah I mean it's just pleasure-center response for me. I was the target market for those movies when they were coming out; I did not enjoy them. I think the last Spielberg movie I saw from beginning-to-end was The Color Purple, which I saw in the theater. A couple years later I caught the first half hour or so of Empire of the Sun playing on a VHS in a facility where I was working I and said to myself, self, you've been checking this guy's stuff out for ten years now and it never really does the trick for you, move along.

I thought Empire of the Sun held up really well when I saw it again last year or so. Between that and The Color Purple (and Always?), felt like Spielberg (who was prolly what, 35?) was then trying to prove his worth as an adult director of grown up stuff, which is crazy, since his mastery of material, actors and filmmaking was already pretty unimpeachable.

This almost has to be CE3K for me.

kinda would like to see Dr. Morbius make the case for Spielberg the Genius.

naaah, you don't want me doing that. Even tho I don't think she evaluates him as a genius (nor do I!), you're better off with Molly Haskell:

https://yalebooks.yale.edu/book/9780300186932/steven-spielberg

Or Eric!

No way am I recommending myself over Molly Haskell

One of my favourite bits from that amazing Quincy Jones GQ profile is when he describes seeing Spielberg's E.T. prototype.

"They made that little monster, and he looked too much like a brother. That's why the second one had blue eyes."

between close encounters and et

i wrote this before reading any of the comments, but it's interesting how most people who regard close encounters as his best also consider et as a contender too

i was just talking to a friend a few days ago about how i find the indiana jones movies so boring

haven't seen sugarland, purple, always, or schindler's. do i need to see any of those before i vote? sounds like more people put sugarland in the top tier than i'd ever realized.

of the ones i've seen it has to be jaws, close encounters, raiders, or ET. that's a VERY tough choice tbh. close encounters really shook me up on recent viewing but i suppose i have to dock it points for some dropped threads and underdeveloped supporting characters versus the flawless, every-beat-is-perfect craft of the other three there. it probably has the least mawkish but still powerful sense of wonder, because mixed effectively with the darker notes of the sublime. neery at night on the road by himself, encountering the thing for the first time... finding that little group of ufo-watchers who are out waiting for Something, it rushing by in the cold night air - wow.

love jurassic park but it really does get sloppy in the last act as i've mused elsewhere. temple of doom has the racism and that can't be handwaved or yawned away, sorry - these are fun action-adventure films, so if it takes on the water of "i can't recommend this to friends" then it's halfway to sunk. last crusade is great fun but can't help but feel a little redundant or flabby next to raiders. hook is awful - the prestige treacley junk haters accuse his good films of being. also the plot doesn't work and neverland consists of four hideous expensive sets. 1941 has entertaining and charming aspects but is mostly an unfunny slog with no memorable characters or jokes. empire of the sun is flawed sure but definitely interesting. duel rules, though i admit i haven't seen it since high school.

Raiders has p much the same racial content as ToDoom w/ the non-Nazi supporting characters

disagreed!

do you remember Alfred Molina waggling his fingers in the first scene? "Adios, Dr Jones." Can't trust em.

it's extremely racist against the French

I love the Indiana Jones movies (well obviously not the fourth), I would probably rank them in the order of release.

I've said it elsewhere but I think there's a particularly haunting undercurrent of dread that builds throughout, leading to the opening of the Ark, that is more effective here than in any other film I've seen. it's in the background of the entire movie and usually plays out with a bit of wind or unsettling pauses. it's exceptionally well done.

also Brody and Sallah are outstanding characters as opposed to buffoons (though Elliott and Rhys-Davies both play buffoons well.)

Always is my least favorite Spielberg and that's including Hook. A totally charming cast wasted in a totally superfluous remake. I'd much rather watch the original.

Sallah is a buffoon by the time we get to Last Crusade; we've long forgotten he's the "finest digger in Egypt" when he's reduced to saying shit like, "in the belly of that steel beast."

yeah i mean those guys in Raiders are great characters vs their revisitation in LC.

all that shit about his brother in law's car is good for a smile, but he's playing a cartoon (like Brody is)

my least fave Spielberg is his Twilight Zone segment

Brody in Raiders had a sort of extremely casual confidence and wary nature and was clearly Jones' equal, just more of a university guy as opposed to an adventurer. I liked the knowing looks they'd share during the initial expository scene w/the government agents.

Denholm Elliott's name was Brody? why do you ppl remember that?

(i know youve watched RotLA 36x)

cuz he's called Marcus or Marcus Brody in two of the films?

omar little so otm about the "undercurrent of dread" throughout Raiders. it's in the supernatural music queue that comes up when the Top Men are informing Indy of the Biblical reality his mission, the queue pops up again on the ark's reveal, etc. there is a spookiness and a heaviness to the macguffin that works really well as isn't as strong in any of the other films. Temple of Doom feels way more cartoonlike in that aspect.

also i love Sallah's little singing "I am the monarch of the sea..." just before they find the bad dates.

xps well yeah, when it comes to Twilight Zone, Miller = Dante >> Spielberg >>>>>> Landis. (Killing a pair of kids moves you way down the list.)

so i gather, Alfred, and why wd a person use up memory with that?

You mean ears?

It's okay we don't know that the head German in Raiders is called Dietrich; he's only referred to by name once.

i prefer 'cartoonlike' to Frank Buck/James Bond with a whip, if such a distinction can be made

i can't help it, I'm like Marilu Henner over here, I can't forget anything, even the fact that she played Belinda in Noises Off with Denholm Elliott in his final film role.

i also remember that it's Sallah who calls him Dietrich. I don't think Toht is ever referred to by his name.

yep

(i know youve watched RotLA 36x)

this is an odd zing from one of the only people on ilx who seems to be expecting good things from ready player one, whose premise could be boiled down to "the protagonist has watched RotLA 36x"

I'm pretty sure I have seen Raiders at least 36 times. I think I saw it three times in the theater!

It takes more effort to push a memory out than to just let it hang around.

haha Dr C, I expect nothing, I just roll

probably have seen Raiders 3x total, 4 tops, i was in lolcollege when it came out (went opening night)

ive probably seen Raider 36 times. in none of those times there was an extended food gross out sequence where our heroes are disgusted by the food of their hosts. and that happens twice in Temple.

gotcha. love the monkeybrains sequence, wish i had em tonight.

i prefer raiders because it feels more like a classic carl barks uncle scrooge story. plus temple just feels like it goes on forever, i always start to feel claustrophobic about an hour from the end.

Thought you guys were referring to Roy Scheider re "Brody" for a moment

xxxxpost

Schindler's List, easily.

Also, lotta Kate shrieking in Doom, lotta Short-round, Kane Hodder in Indian-face... The Orientalism very much in character of cheesy, dubious old serials, though that is a weird defense. From an interview I did with Kal Penn:

I was probably in fourth grade when Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom came out. I remember when we went to see that movie, and there all these Indian characters that were eating monkey brains and snakes for dinner, and doing all these things that had absolutely nothing to do with being Indian at all. I went into school, and myself and every other Indian kid I know, and nobody would sit next to us at lunch, for months, because they were convinced we had monkey brains in our sandwich. Similarly, when the Simpsons first started airing, the character of Apu was so degrading, in my opinion. A lot of people disagree with me, but those are the media images that go into people’s heads, and if you don’t have close friends to disprove that, or even if you do but you’re only in fourth grade, that’s pretty powerful. That’s something I was very aware of/

That said, I own this shirt:

https://lastexittonowhere.imgix.net/uploads/catalogue/productimage-picture-lao-che-air-freight-2809.jpg

Dr. C, watch Sugarland Express! I first watched it as sort of a perfunctory completist gesture but I got converted. I really don't understand why it's so consistently underrated.

if anyone doesn't know why Raiders feels like Carl Barks: http://www.dialbforblog.com/archives/429/

i'm pretty sure Spielberg would not make Temple of Doom the same way today. I think he would still marry Kate Capshaw.