Steven Spielberg (141 page)

A frame enlargement from
Firelight
(1964), with alien lights over the Arizona landscape. Allen Daviau, the cinematographer who later worked with Spielberg on such films as
Amblin
’ and
E.T.
, said of this amateur feature, “The effects were what was really amazing—that’s what his heart was in. What he did with crumpled aluminum foil and bits of Jell-O on a kitchen table was pretty amazing.”

By the end of his years in Phoenix, Spielberg had become such a
hometown
celebrity that the
Arizona Republic
sent photographer Ralph Camping to document the making of his first feature,
Firelight
, in 1963. Steve is shown behind his Bolex 8mm camera, directing actress Carol Stromme, with his father as a crew member, while shooting the opening sequence inside the family carport, using his mother’s Jeep to simulate a drive through the desert night. (
Phoenix Newspapers, Inc.
)

The premiere of
Firelight
in Phoenix was commemorated with a mimeographed program. (
Susan Roper Arndt
)

Conferring with cameraman Serge Haignere, Spielberg shows concern about the shooting schedule during the 1967 filming of his unfinished bicycle movie,
Slipstream
. Because the directors he watched at Universal wore ties and sweaters, the aspiring young director did too. (©
Ralph Burris
)

The first film Spielberg completed in 35mm,
Amblin
’ (1968), was a short subject designed to prove he could make a professional-looking movie. He began filming this bittersweet tale about a young hitchhiking couple that July on a soundstage in Hollywood.
Amblin
’ won Spielberg a seven-year contract as a Universal TV director. (©
Ralph Burris
)

The end of the road in
Amblin
’: foreshadowing the mature Spielberg visual style, this composition reveals the contrasting moods of Pamela McMyler and Richard Levin as they reach the Pacific Ocean. Allen Daviau, who later photographed
E.T.
and other Spielberg features, was the cinematographer.

On his twenty-second birthday, December 18, 1968, Spielberg, wearing a Nehru jacket, premiered
Amblin
’ with a party at a screening room on Sunset Boulevard in Los Angeles. (©
Ralph Burris
)

Producer Denis C. Hoffman accepting an award for
Amblin
’ with Spielberg at the 1969 Atlanta Film Festival.
Twenty-six
years later, the former partners sued each other over the option clause in their contract. (
Denis C. Hoffman
)

Joan Crawford was taken aback by Spielberg’s youth, but the legendary star behaved like a trouper when he directed her in his first professional assignment, the “Eyes” segment of Rod Serling’s 1969 TV movie
Night Gallery
. (
Photofest/Universal Television
)

Sidney J. Sheinberg, who launched Spielberg’s career by hiring him to direct for Universal, looks on with paternal pride as his protégé accepts the 1995 AFI Life Achievement Award. (
KABC-TV, Los Angeles
)

The program Spielberg considers his best work for series television—the 1971 “Par for the Course” episode of
The Psychiatrist
, with Clu Gulager as a professional golfer dying of cancer and Joan Darling as his grief-stricken wife. (
Universal Television
)