Damn, this crept up on me. Schindler’s finally hitting DVD tomorrow. Gonna have to pick it up. I actually bought it on laser disc about 10 years ago. But the last time I saw it was a few years ago when PBS showed it.
I really lose it when he’s saying goodbye to his workers at the end. Every. Single. Time.
I can usually make it through that scene…
…but the epilogue with the Schindler Jews and their descendents laying the rocks at his grave makes me blubber like a baby every damn time.
Maybe I’m just a heartless asshole, but the laying of the rocks scene was just SOOOOOOO cheesy in my mind. I really didn’t like that little coda to the whole film. The characters walking with the title cards was a really great ending, the rest just smelled of self-importance.
When he’s saying goodbye to his workers, I found that very touching.
Agreed. If you didn’t get at least a little choked up during the “I could have done more” scene, then you aren’t human.
I only ever saw the movie once, when it was first in theaters, and I still remember it well.
But the color coda with the survivors struck me as cheesy. In much the same way as the modern-day bookends in Saving Private Ryan did. Those weren’t in the original script and, for my money, the film would have been better without them.
Spielberg, while a brilliant film-maker, seems unable to end any of his recent films without some shockingly schmaltzy final scene. To wit: Saving Private Ryan, AI, and Minority Report, to which the final words really could have been “And they all lived happily ever after…”
I’d like to take this opportunity to once again resurrect my theory that AI would have been a brilliant movie had it ended a half-hour earlier, with David talking to the Blue Fairy under the sea. That’s how Kubrick would have ended it.
I would actually go so far as to say Spielberg is definitely not a brilliant filmmaker, just a good filmmaker who doesn’t drop the ball when given awesome ideas to film (which is better than most would do probably).
Jaws… made scary because the fear of the shark is all in your mind, only seeing glimpses here and there, what’s not shown is more frightening than what’s shown. Classic suspense filmmaking, lifted right from Hitchcock,but probably made possible because of technical problems with the mechanical shark.
Indiana Jones… damn, what an awesome concept, just begging to be made into a film. It’s perfect action movie material, with the perfect lead to play the part. I bet many filmmakers of that time could have made a great film out of Indy. When that awesome concept goes away, you’re left with Temple of Doom.
ET… ugh.
Color Purple… pretty good film
Empire of the Sun… pretty good film
Always ???
Hook ???
Jurassic Park… Spielberg I guess returns to form, but how much of this was seeing CGI dinosaurs? When the novelty of the dinosaurs wears off, you’re left with Jurassic Park II.
Schindler’s List… Spielberg’s masterpiece, but tanking the ending demonstrates that his instincts aren’t as masterful as the rest of the film would have you believe.
Amistad… uh-oh, Spielberg has now officially become a “serious filmmaker,” and the results are very uneven. Unbelievably powerful moments interspersed throughout an okay movie.
Saving Private Ryan… terribly overrated. Sure, eye-opening battle scenes, but all he did was decide to make it realistic, not the greatest leap of logic. I thought the constant handheld camera work was “the obvious” route to take for this even though it doesn’t quite fit with what he’s doing some of the time. The middle of the movie is basically “WW2 movie cliches Greatest Hits.” Sure, we didn’t have a guy in the unit named “Brooklyn,” but it was written on his jacket. Then the bookending, my God, the bookending. Not only is it cheesy to a fault, but it basically makes no sense narratively and it just KILLS whatever emotional power Tom Hanks had in his final moments. Again, more self-importance odor.
AI… embarrasingly bad. Spielberg proves he has no depths of darkness to reach to when the material calls for it. The movie would have been 1 million times better without the last 30 minutes, but it still would have only been okay.
Minority Report… Unbelievably cool concept. Phillip K Dick source material. A decent action star with a big name for the lead. But even Spielberg can’t completely escape the P.K. Dick curse in Hollywood. Again, called for a dark dystopia, we got sight gags during the jetpack chase sequence.
Catch Me If You Can… Spielberg gets back to the material he’s best at and makes a really fun, enjoyable picture where his type of ending really fits the story.
Now I don’t want to make it sound like I hate Spielberg, but I think when we step back and have some better perspective, I think Spielberg’s level of genius will be better understood. He is definitely no Simon West, Michael Bay, Bill Shatner good sirs. Spielberg is a rarity, a very solid director who got in at the right time and helped launch the blockbuster. His biggest accomplishment may be that he almost never makes a bad film (AI is the exception for me), which is a feat unto itself. But I bet I wouldn’t make a bad film either if I had top choice of scripts and talent.
Okay, I’m going to argue with you on this point. Here we go…
Jaws… made scary because the fear of the shark is all in your mind, only seeing glimpses here and there, what’s not shown is more frightening than what’s shown. Classic suspense filmmaking, lifted right from Hitchcock,but probably made possible because of technical problems with the mechanical shark.
Very few shots in that film called for a full view of the shark. The first half of the film hardly uses any mechanical shark stuff at all. The fact is that Spielberg knew that what is not seen is scarier than what is seen.
Indiana Jones… damn, what an awesome concept, just begging to be made into a film. It’s perfect action movie material, with the perfect lead to play the part. I bet many filmmakers of that time could have made a great film out of Indy.
This is utter nonsense. For a start, Spielberg cast the lead so he takes full credit for that, it’s not like he inherited it. Secondly, there are MANY film-makers that could have fucked up RAIDERS and made it a totally forgettable movie. More than almost any other, that film bears the stamp of a brilliant director. If you read the original (hand-written) script, you’d know what I’m talking about. More than any other, ROTLA demonstrates Spielberg’s genius as a director. I’ll defend this point until the day I die.
Jurassic Park… Spielberg I guess returns to form, but how much of this was seeing CGI dinosaurs?
This movie would never have existed had it not been for Spielberg’s vision in incorporating these untested images. A film-maker of his stature could have had his reputation destroyed had those VFX turned out to look anything less than fucking amazing (which they did - the T-Rex in the rain sequence still looks incredible more than ten years later). On top of this, Spielberg demonstrated in this movie what a master he is with tightly-ratcheted suspense sequences, particularly when the Raptors are stalking the kids in the kitchen.
And it’s worth noting that Spielberg made both JURASSIC PARK and SCHINDLER’S LIST in the same year – he was editing JP in Poland while he was filming SL. If that’s not showing some ungodly amount of creative versatility, then I don’t know what is.
Saving Private Ryan… terribly overrated. Sure, eye-opening battle scenes, but all he did was decide to make it realistic, not the greatest leap of logic.
Once again, it’s easy to say this after the fact, but nobody had shot combat this way until Spielberg did. To say “all he did was make it realistic” is a gross over-simplification of the achievement. I don’t like aspects of this movie (particularly the ending) but I think SPR is one of the best war films ever made.
Anyway, my point is this: his last few films may have been just average, but Spielberg has long since earned his place amongst the pantheon of modern film-making Gods with Jaws, Raiders, Jurassic Park, Schindler’s List… oh, and Close Encounters of the Third Kind, which you forgot to mention.
Unless you buy the possibility that the movie really ended with Tom Cruise being locked away, and everything after that is just happening in his mind. There is an allusion to that from the guy that ran the prison, saying that people were dreaming while in stasis.
True, but I believe to some degree that path was forced on the production team because of the mechanical problems. Once it was, Spielberg wisely went to the master, Hitchcock, and borrowed here and there to create a great suspense film.
This is utter nonsense. For a start, Spielberg cast the lead so he takes full credit for that, it’s not like he inherited it.
And Tom Sellick got the part!! But luckily (unlucky for Sellick) contractual issues with Magnum PI kept him from making the film. I don’t think Ford was hand-picked by Spielberg to replace Sellick. I think Lucas suggested him.
Secondly, there are MANY film-makers that could have fucked up RAIDERS and made it a totally forgettable movie. More than almost any other, that film bears the stamp of a brilliant director. If you read the original (hand-written) script, you’d know what I’m talking about. More than any other, ROTLA demonstrates Spielberg’s genius as a director. I’ll defend this point until the day I die.
Definitely, many directors could have blown Raiders, but I would say in the hands of a solid director, not even a great one, Raiders would have taken off. I do believe it’s the perfect type of material for Spielberg though. I never read the handwritten script, not sure who wrote it (and why would you read the hand written script? The first draft is always shit). But Kasden is a great screenwriter and I just can’t take credit away from him. Obviously film is a collaborative process so I can’t give all the credit to one specific person as well. I just don’t believe Spielberg gave Raiders its greatness. Kasden had nothing to do with the 2nd, Lucas and Spielberg did, and the magic just wasn’t there.
This movie would never have existed had it not been for Spielberg’s vision in incorporating these untested images. A film-maker of his stature could have had his reputation destroyed had those VFX turned out to look anything less than fucking amazing (which they did - the T-Rex in the rain sequence still looks incredible more than ten years later).
Sounds more like Spielberg’s clout than his talent. And I bet you extensive tests were done to make sure it would look amazing before Spielberg, or anyone involved, moved forward on that project. The Raptors in the kitchen scene was very well done, except when they used the doorknob.
And it’s worth noting that Spielberg made both JURASSIC PARK and SCHINDLER’S LIST in the same year – he was editing JP in Poland while he was filming SL. If that’s not showing some ungodly amount of creative versatility, then I don’t know what is.
This definitely shows a great deal of versatility, but I would wager that any talented storyteller could probably do something similar. It’s part of being a talented storyteller.
Once again, it’s easy to say this after the fact, but nobody had shot combat this way until Spielberg did. To say “all he did was make it realistic” is a gross over-simplification of the achievement. I don’t like aspects of this movie (particularly the ending) but I think SPR is one of the best war films ever made.
Again, it sounds more like his clout to some degreee. WW2 films weren’t in the mainstream at that point, but Spielberg wanted to do one. And Vietnam war films allowed war to be shown more for what it was, same with the depictions of soldiers. Spielberg took that and applied it to WW2 and the combination proved to be great. But I can’t call it one of the greatest war films ever made based on just the first 20 minutes. The middle is weak, story-wise and character-wise. And for me, the bookendings are so bad that I left the theater pissed that Spielberg ruined such a good film.
Anyway, my point is this: his last few films may have been just average, but Spielberg has long since earned his place amongst the pantheon of modern film-making Gods with Jaws, Raiders, Jurassic Park, Schindler’s List… oh, and Close Encounters of the Third Kind, which you forgot to mention.
I definitely disagree here. I don’t think he belongs with the filmmaking Gods, and I’m not sure how many modern-day ones there are at the moment. I would say List belongs right up there with the best (despite the very end), but his recent films aren’t just average, they strike me as being made by a bored filmmaker. I also forgot to mention Close Encounters… an unfortunate oversight because I feel it’s one of Spielberg’s best. It has a passion that rarely shows up in his films (it’s definitely there in Schindler’s List), and that’s partly why I don’t consider him among the best of the best in skill. Other great directors seem to get 110% of their personal passion behind their projects, Spielberg doesn’t strike me that way. He’s the first of his kind, the director that truly dominates the business. It allows him the choices no other director may ever have, I’m not always sure what he’s doing with those choices.
But I don’t want to make it sound like I don’t like Spielberg. I will definitely line up to see his films. He’s a great American filmmaker, a great Hollywood director. I admire his films, his ability to combine multiple shots into a single shot is wonderful. I’m just not sure I would ever call him one of the greatest. He’s had more chances than most filmmakers to make outstanding films, and you would hope that given what’s available to him (the best of the best in everything), that he would do well with each outing.
Anyway, sorry for the ramble. I don’t think we necessarily disagree across the board, I think we just label it differently to some extent.
I’ll definitely agree with you there. Close Encounters is a fantastic film, and holds up very well compared to a lot of his other work. Spielberg can definitely be hit or miss, but he tries a lot of different things, so it’s hard to fault him too much for that. When he’s on, though, he’s really on.
I thought the rock-laying at the end of Schindler’s was a nice touch. What I care for less and less with each viewing is the overwrought “I could have done more” scene. Not just because it’s over-the-top emotional, but because it turns out that the real Schindler did nothing of the sort. He basically just took the money and ran. It would have been a more interesting and better film if Spielberg had trusted his audience and avoided the temptation of transforming Schindler into an unblemished hero. As it stands, Schindler’s List gives us Spielberg at both his best and his worst. I don’t think any other director could match the power of the destruction of the village scenes, especially when the camera pulls back and all we see are the flashes of the machine gun fire in the houses. But a lot less sentimentality in the parting would have made things much more interesting.
I agree with aw on Catch Me If You Can. Spielberg really shines with this smaller film. He avoids the temptation to do too much and let’s the fine cast carry the story. And John Williams’ Mancini-like score is a great touch.
It was the other way around. George Lucas didn’t want to use Harrison Ford yet again, but relented when Tom Selleck couldn’t get out of his obligations to Magnum PI.
And if you’ve seen Tom Selleck’s Indy screen-tests, you know how big a bullet we all dodged. Although Sean Young probably didn’t help…
I think Tom Selleck would have done fine as Indiana Jones. The screen test snippet that I saw looked fine. And with the direction from Spielberg, I’m sure Selleck would have managed a fine Indy.
This is one movie I never saw that I truly regret having missed out on the first time around.
This comment may get me lynched here but a slightly different spin I have to say that I had this reaction to last year’s The Pianist. Gee its another jews getting repressed, tortured and killed by Nazi’s movie during the holocaust. At some point I have managed to acquire a “been there/done that” feeling on this topic. I am not trying to take away from the horror of the holocaust, nor that we should forget but I have sat thru so many topical movies on this subject that they have all started to blur together.
The only really crap movie Spielberg has made is 1942 - and even then it isn’t that bad.
I guess I am not human.
Ohhh, forgot about 1942. I guess that’s like the low budget porn that actors hope never gets uncovered when they hit it big. That movie was pretty bad.
I think you mean 1941. 1942 was a pretty good vertical shoot 'em-up, however :D
The rock-scene is touching because it tells you that this wasn’t some silly sob story about Jews, it actually fucking happened and these are these are the people on the List. These are the ones he saved and the generations to come. It makes it more real, and hence an even stronger and grander story.
— Alan
I’m not human.