Re: He is Risen

On Wed, 26 Mar 2008 16:25:57 -0700, Kurt Busiek <kurt@[EMAIL PROTECTED]
>
wrote:

>On 2008-03-26 15:36:21 -0700, Sea Wasp <seawaspObvious@[EMAIL PROTECTED]
>
said:
>
>> Gene Ward Smith wrote:
>>> Gene Ward Smith <gene@[EMAIL PROTECTED]
> wrote in 
>>> news:Xns9A6D759EF1F51genewardsmithsbcglob@[EMAIL PROTECTED]
>>> 
>>> 
>>>>> They did EVERYTHING for the other aspects of SF. Note that
Spielberg's 
>>>>> SF films came AFTER Star Wars.
>>>> 
>>>> They did not. Close Encounters and Star Wars were both big summer
films in
>>>> 1977.

"Star Wars" opened in early May, _before_ the traditional summer
season.  CE3K was at the very end of the summer.

>> 	I'll give you that. CE3K, though, is like 2001; for those who like it,

>> a lovely film; for those that don't, a snoozer. And not influential in 
>> any significant sense.
>
>It was a huge hit.  I think it did come out after STAR WARS, but not 
>much after -- it had to have been in the works well before STAR WARS 
>came out.

It was in the works, yes, but it was seen as a huge gamble, the studio
indulging Spielberg as a reward for "Jaws" -- until "Star Wars" hit
big and SF was suddenly hot, whereupon CE3K suddenly got big-time
studio backing and opened huge, with an advertising campaign that some
of my friends cynically described as, "Here's something to hold you
geeks until the "Star Wars" sequel comes out!"

>Spielberg is pretty clearly the more influential filmmaker in general, 
>but when you limit it to SF, Lucas has at least a competing claim to 
>the crown.

I'd agree with that summary.



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