Ahoy, squirts! Quint here with today’s Behind the Scenes pic!
1941 is a fascinating movie, especially to Spielberg fantatics like me. Picture yourself in his shoes. The year is 1978 and you’re the boy with the golden touch. Kid Midas. You’ve made three theatrical films and on two of them either you or your picture have been nominated for best picture or director. They’ve all won critical and box office acclaim.
You’ve found your close collaborators. From John Williams to Michael Kahn and together you can do no wrong. You’ve made a horror/adventure, a family drama/sci-fi flick and the world eats it up.
Then comes 1941. You want to do a broad, epic comedy the likes of which the world hasn’t seen since IT’S A MAD, MAD, MAD, MAD WORLD. You cast the biggest and brightest up and coming comedians. John Belushi, Dan Aykroyd, John Candy, etc. You bring in people you’ve always wanted to work with. Christopher Lee, Toshiro Mifune, Warren Oates, Elisha Cook Jr., Slim Pickens, Sam Fuller. And you swing for the fences. Why not? You can do no wrong.
Then, a year later, 1941 comes out and flops with critics and audiences.
It’s a fascinating movie and in many ways there’s a lot of himself on that screen. Hell, the movie opens with a JAWS throwback. He lampoons himself in the opening sequence.
I love the movie, but it’s a trainwreck. When it hits it’s amazing. When it misses, it’s a very loud thud. But I love the sincerity of the movie. John Williams’ score is incredible. And that cast is unbelievable.
The reason I’m connecting this photo to yesterday’s Raiders pic isn’t just due to the similarities between the shots (both involve periscopes, water and Spielberg) or the director connection, but because without 1941 Raiders of the Lost Ark wouldn’t exist.
At least not as we know it. 1941 served as a big ego check for Spielberg. He could do wrong. He could misdeliver a movie. The film was so massive it went out of control. The budget went higher and higher, the shoot went way over and unlike when that happened on JAWS the movie didn’t come out the other end unscathed.
It was because of the failure of this movie that he put restrictions on himself with Raiders of the Lost Ark. He took less money than he could have gotten, he shot with less days than he could have gotten… in short, he was strict with himself. If he couldn’t get what he wanted, he figured out a creative solution.
As a result Raiders of the Lost Ark is lean, man. That film just moves. And I don’t know about you, but I don’t feel that he lost anything with these self-imposed restraints.
So, here’s a shot from 1941 submitted by a reader named “Greekgeek.” It’s obviously a scanned picture and if anyone can pinpoint the magazine that got the image let me know and I’ll attribute it to them.
Here’s the pic, involving Spielberg shooting a scene he’s already done before, but instead of poor Susan Backlinie being eaten by a shark, this time she’s surprised by a submarine! Click for the bigger version!
If you have a pic you think should be included email me. I’m looking for the iconic, the rare or the just plain cool behind the scenes shots to feature here.
Tomorrow’s Behind the Scenes Pic will take the cannoli. See ya’ then!
-Quint
quint@aintitcool.com
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