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In Reply to: I cannot sit through Jaws. posted by Harmonia on June 6, 2005 at 23:08:38:
"Jaws" signaled the fact that filmgoers, especially young filmgoers, would pay to see the same film several times. "Star Wars" showed the studios that PG action films with merchandising and game tie-ins would generate far more profits than adult dialogue-driven dramas.
But Spielberg and Lucas weren't alone in creating the era of the blockbuster....Robert Altman directed 7 films between 1976 and 1980. I'm a fan, but I don't think any of these films (which include "3 Women" and "Popeye") are as good as his 1970-1975 string of films.
Sam Peckinpah directed "Cross of Iron" and "Convoy" in 1977 and 1978, respectively. While there are some good moments in "Cross of Iron" (Orson Welles thought it was the best anti-war film ever made), Peckinpah only made one other film after these.
Francis Coppola directed "One from the Heart" and the two films based on S.E. Hinton books: "The Outsiders" and "Rumble Fish". Who is going to claim these films as Coppola's best?
Mike Nichols spent years on "Day of the Dolphins". It was a long, long time before he directed another film.
Peter Bogdanovich directed "Daisy Miller", "At Long Last Love", and "Nickelodeon". After that string of films, he had to wait four years before shooting "Saint Jack" and "They All Laughed." "Mask" gave him a little heat, but not for long.
Actually, you could make the argument that Martin Scorcese and Woody Allen were probably doing the best day-in, day-out jobs of American directors in the late Seventies. "New York, New York", "The Last Waltz", "Raging Bull", and "Love and Death", "Annie Hall", "Interiors", "Manhattan"; that's a pretty good run of films there.
I guess my point is that if Spielberg and Lucas showed the studios one way to make non-controversial, popular films, the other American directors showed the studios ways to make interesting failures or small successes. Like many film buffs here, I find films like "Cross of Iron", "3 Women", etc., much more interesting than 90% of the films released during the late Seventies. But the teen audience that has made up the majority of filmgoers since the Seventies went for the special effects. If you're the head of a studio that is now part of an entertainment conglomerate, which is safer? The kiddie action flick with explosions and snappy one-liners, or the great unknown, probably over-budget work that a more daring director would do?
Hey, get Spielberg on the phone now! And tell Altman I'm in a meeting!
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Follow Ups
- Re: Spielberg and Lucas aren't alone in creating the blockbuster era! - Gee LP 19:12:42 06/07/05 (0)
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