E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial
Spielberg directs this film about a little boy who finds an Alien in his garden shed. He befriends the creature and tries to help it find its way back home. The film stars Henry Thomas, Drew Barrymore, and Peter Coyote.
It’s a contemporary science-fiction fantasy. It’s about human values. It’s about the understanding people have towards one another. It’s about compassion and love. They share so much of what they know about their own environments with each other and they come to have a great understanding for each other’s problems. Elliott understands that E.T. is lonely and has to get home to survive, and that he must save E.T.’s life.
Raiders of the Lost Ark
Spielberg directs high energy film that brings to mind the classic adventure serials of the 1920s. An archeologist is tasked with finding the mysterious Ark of the Covenant. Unfortunately, the Nazis are also looking for it, hoping to use its mystical powers as a weapon. The film was co-written by George Lucas and stars Harrison Ford. On Collaborator George Lucas:
I would trust George with any movie I ever direct to edit in any way he sees fit. He knows the secret of what an editor can do to a movie, how he can enhance the film.
1941
Spielberg directs this comedy about the hysteria that breaks out in California shortly after the Pearl Harbor attack as residents fear an imminent Japanese invasion of the US mainland. Saturday Night Live vets Jhon Belushi and Dan Aykroyd star.
[The Film] wanted to be bigger than the war, bigger than history.
Lupin the III: The Castle Of Cagliostro
Miyazaki’s cinematic debut is released. Based on the Lupin the 3rd TV show, Lupin the III: The Castle Of Cagliostro follows the adventures of the title character as he entangles himself in the affairs of the Duke Of Cagliostro.
So inside the castle I set myself a rule: always try to make the same space come up twice. If the character goes there once, then the character will go back to the same place again. It was like a game, and that was how I created the setting: “Here’s two lakes, a castle, there’s a Roman aqueduct…” And then I thought, “Yes, now I can make a film on this!” I just wish that I could have done it much, much better!
Close Encounters of the Third Kind
Spielberg directs this big budget science fiction film. After an encounter with a UFO, an engineer becomes psychically connected to a race of extraterrestrials who are about to visit earth. The film, which is notable for having a positive view of the potential of people encountering an alien race, rather than playing on the fearful aspects, stars Richard Dreyfuss and Teri Garr.
I really found my faith when I heard that the Government was opposed to the film. If NASA took the time to write me a 20-page letter, then I knew there must be something happening. I had wanted cooperation from them, but when they read the script they got very angry and felt that it was a film that would be dangerous. I felt they mainly wrote the letter because JAWS convinced so many people around the world that there were sharks in toilets and bathtubs, not just in the oceans and rivers. They were afraid the same kind of epidemic would happen with UFOs.
Jaws
Spielberg directs this horror film about a massive shark killing residents of a small New England beach community. Eventually three men leave in a boat, attempting to find the fish and destroy it before the local tourist economy is ruined. Roy Scheider, Robert Shaw, Richard Dreyfuss star.
I had no choice but to figure out how to tell the story without the shark. So I just went back to Alfred Hitchcock: ‘What would Hitchcock do in a situation like this?’ … It’s what we don’t see which is truly frightening.
The Sugarland Express
Spielberg directs this film about a woman who breaks her husband out of prison. The two of them then retrieve their child and run for it. When things eventually go sour, they are forced to take a police officer hostage. The film, which is Spielberg’s first theatrical production, stars Goldie Hawn, Ben Johnson, Michael Sacks
To me, the real villain’s Hawn; she’s the heavy for me—I mean, I intended it to be that way. But everybody has a different interpretation of who their villains are and who their heroes are.
High Plains Drifter
In this western, Eastwood directs and plays “The Stranger,” a man who agrees to help townspeople who are being terrorized by out-of-control brothers. Starring Verna Bloom and Marianna Hill. Who The Stranger is to him:
To me he was the brother. But I presented him… The way the whole town was, no children, kind of strange: it’s a weird situation. As far as me justifying the role, he was the brother. But as far as the audience is concerned, if they want to draw him as something a little more than that, that’s fine.
Death on a Barge
Nimoy makes his directorial debut during the 3rd season of Rod Serling’s Night Gallery. Death on a Barge, the 13th episode of that season, stars Lesley Ann Warren as a woman whose father confines her to a barge because she’s a vampire.
Fat Albert and the Cosby Kids
Cosby voices, produces and hosts the animated television series Fat Albert and the Cosby Kids. The show features the adventures of a group of Philadelphia inner-city kids.
When I did Fat Albert, I started thinking about, as the hero, what is it he could say that consistently and people would pick up on it. He loves the Temptations. And he wanted to be a background singer.
Duel
Spielberg directs this edge-of-your-seat TV movie about a man terrorized by a crazed truck driver while driving to work. The film is based on a script written by novelist Richard Matheson, and stars Dennis Weaver.
I was intimately familiar with the work of Richard Matheson because I was a complete, obsessive-compulsive Twilight Zone follower, and so I knew of his work on the Twilight Zone and some of his really great episodes of that.
Creates Atlanta University civil rights org
Bond helps create the Atlanta University student civil rights organization, which directs several years of nonviolent protests and wins integration of Atlanta’s movie theaters, lunch counters and parks.
Jamaica Inn
Hitchcock directs this movie about a young woman who discovers that there are criminal using her uncle’s inn as part of a scheme to wreck ships for profit. Maureen O’Hara, Robert Newton, and Charles Laughton star. On actor Charles Laughton:
When we started the picture, he asked me to show him only in close shots because he hadn’t yet figured out the manner of his walk. Ten days later he came in and said, “I’ve found it.” It turned out that his step had been inspired by the beat of a little German waltz.
The Lady Vanishes
Hitchcock directs this mystery film which also has touches of surrealism. A young woman traveling by train makes the acquaintance of a nice older lady who then vanishes without a trace. As the mystery deepens, and the other passengers continue to doubt her story, the young woman begins to question her own grasp of reality. Margaret Lockwood, Michael Redgrave, and Paul Lukas star. Director and Hitchcock scholar, Francois Truffaut:
Since I know it [The Lady Vanishes]by heart, I tell myself each time that I’m going to ignore the plot (and study the technique and effect). But each time, I become so absorbed by the characters and the story that I’ve yet to figure out the mechanics of the film.”
Sabotage
Hitchcock directs this movie about a bombing plot in London and an undercover detective’s efforts to thwart it. This follow-up to Hitchcock’s Secret Agent is actually loosely based on the classic Joseph Conrad novel with the same title, though the two films have completely different stories. Sylvia Sidney, Oskar Homolka, Desmond Tester star.
Aside from a few scenes . . . it was a little messy. No clean lines about it.
Secret Agent
Hitchcock directs this espionage film about a group of spies sent to assassinate an enemy agent. As they pursue their goal, they soon find themselves dealing with a crisis of conscience. The film is based on a novel by Somerset Maugham. John Gielgud, Madeleine Carroll, and Robert Young star.
The 39 Steps
Hitchcock directs this fast paced espionage thriller about a man falsely accused of murdering a female spy. Before dying, the woman gives him tantalizing clues about an enemy spy ring, and now he must unravel the mystery in order to prove his own innocence. Stars Robert Donat, Madeleine Carroll, and Lucie Mannheim.
The Man Who Knew Too Much
Hitchcock directs this tense thriller about a couple on vacation who witness the murder of a spy. Right before the man dies he gives the couple crucial information about an assassination plot, but before they can report anything their child is kidnapped in an attempt to force their silence. The film stars Leslie Banks, Edna Best, and Peter Lorre.
Number Seventeen
Hitchcock directs this action packed crime film about a group of thieves who steal a diamond necklace and then meet up afterward. Meanwhile, a clever detective is pursuing them relentlessly. The film stars Leon M. Lion, Anne Grey, and John Stuart. Hitchcock’s wife and collaborator, Alma Reville:
As the climax of a thriller was invariably a chase…Number Seventeen’s climax must be a chase to end all chases – its details so preposterous that excitement would give way to gales of laughter. It was on these lines and in this spirit that we conceived and wrote the script.
Rich and Strange
Hitchcock directs this film about a newly married couple who receive a large inheritance. They use the money to travel abroad, but things keep going awry as they gradually learn that there is much more to life than wealth. The film, which is also known as East of Shanghai, stars Henry Kendall, Joan Barry, and Percy Marmont.
