Amblin'

1968's AMBLIN' wasn't writer/director Steven Spielberg's first short film, but rather the one that got him a second glance.  Leading to a contract at Universal and a future name for his production company.  The film is an ode to hippie life, packing wistfulness, humor, and (mild) profundity into its twenty five minutes.  You would expect it to be shot with some level of skill.   You might attribute at least an ounce of this to cinematographer Alan Daviau, who would later again collaborate with the director on E.T.

It's a simple tale of two young wanderers, a man and a woman, amblin' their way around the California desert and eventually the beach.  They meet while hitching rides, quickly bonding.  They play silly games.  We do not hear them speak.  Never see their lips move as if a conversation ever occurs.  And the guy clutches his guitar case awfully close.  What is he hiding? Is he seeking abandonment, a free spirited life? It seems the girl may have already found it.

AMBLIN' does at times resemble a television commercial from its era.  Maybe for chewing gum or shampoo.  Maybe this was unavoidable, or even intentional.   It's a true curiosity - snippets in time of a brief encounter that will fade on the Pacific shore.  The final moments were more poignant than I would've expected, and the film earns it.  Earlier, the inevitable marijuana sharing and intimacy scenes also have a certain warmth and innocence to them, despite the film's inexplicable R-rating.  Bathed in a hazy memory sorta way, perhaps as if recalled by one of the principals many years later.  I always dig that method.  Maybe you've done that for an old boyfriend/girlfriend.  Then you wonder why they crossed your path at all, albeit briefly.  Did they teach you something?

The talent is already in evidence.  Tracking shots.  Good use of locations.  Artistic composition.  It is easy to see why this was young Mr. Spielberg's calling card.  It is worth a look for more than just completists.