And here I thought I was the world's foremost amateur authority on Spielberg's life and career. I'm obviously dropping scores of brain cells every day. While his work on "Amblin," "Night Gallery" and "Duel" (the latter a USA TV-movie released theatrically abroad) put him on the map within the industry; his official "theatrical debut" with "Sugarland" made him a critic's darling in 1974, with Pauline Kael being his most notable booster back east. Still, Spielberg did not have the respect in Hollywood while making "Jaws," which had disaster written all over it, which included Richard Dreyfuss sh_____g on it in public before the picture was in post-production (long since recanted). "Jaws" is to Spielberg what "The 39 Steps" was to Hitchcock, etc. But yeah, sorry I botched his age. I've always looked at him as a "wunderkind" even though he's nearly a senior citizen now, a guy who still makes kinetically-styled films and seems forever determined not to embarrass his parents, hence his repeated penchant for gooey scenes and happy endings. Even now, I still feel like I always have to defend his body of work, perhaps too loudly even though his name being plastered as "executive producer" on so much crap is an obvious marketing tactic that has diluted the patina associated with his name. At any rate, thanks for the correction...
Date: Thu, 10 Mar 2011 13:35:05 -0800 From: [email protected] Subject: Re: New Jaws Book To: [email protected] he was not unknown David we all knew him from the highway terror film, Duel as well as the serious and funny Sugarland Express although clearly Jaws made him a household name and he was 29 when Jaws came out At 01:27 PM 3/10/2011, David Kusumoto wrote: Rudy - Thanks for posting this. Since the rash of books about Jaws that came out during the 1970s, there really hasn't been anything good that has come out lately about this break-out film. This book by Beller looks like a winner. Many people, esp. Spielberg haters, have rightly argued that among Spielberg's popcorn films, "Jaws" remains his best; it certainly has fewer flaws than his more feted dramas, e.g., Saving Private Ryan and Schindler's. Geez, hard to believe the guy was just 26 years old and a virtual unknown at the time of Jaws release. - d. > Date: Thu, 10 Mar 2011 09:31:24 -0800 > From: [email protected] > Subject: New Jaws Book > To: [email protected] > > Some of you might know Jim Beller as the ultimate Jaws collector. He's > co-authored a new book on that great horror film and it's sure to be > as compulsively complete as his collection. Regards, rudy > > > http://www.facebook.com/l/e0b43d0YDqW5X7nW5TIEmbkqysw/www.mvremembersjaws.com Visit the MoPo Mailing List Web Site at www.filmfan.com ___________________________________________________________________ How to UNSUBSCRIBE from the MoPo Mailing List Send a message addressed to: [email protected] In the BODY of your message type: SIGNOFF MOPO-L The author of this message is solely responsible for its content.
