d-a-half-hour science fiction epic about an investigation of mysterious lights in the sky. However, it was also a look at a rocky marriage. Could the couple within the film have been Arnold and Leah who divorced when Steven was nineteen? Although Steven disregarded it as a terrible film, it was a commercial success. After his family had hired a local movie theatre to screen it, it earned back its entire 500-dollar budget in one night. (Stein 7) Throughout high school, Steven did not receive grades one might call Harvard quality. Because of this, he was not accepted to any film schools. Therefore, he later enrolled in California State College where he majored in English. In his spare time, he studied films and spent a lot of time trying to get into the parking lots of motion picture studios in an attempt to get producers to look into his films. Unfortunately, the studios would not budge. It would not be until Sidney Sheinherg, head of television at Universal Studios, caught a glimpse of Stevens twenty-five minute road movie, Amblin. After seeing it, Sheinherg offered Steven a seven-year contract to direct television episodes. He would go on to direct episodes of Marcus Welby, M.D., Columbo, and The Name of the Game (Corliss 80). Eventually Universal assigned Steven to his first made-for-television film, Duel. Showing off his skills at editing and creating heart-stomping action sequences, the film was well received critically. Pauline Kael of the New Yorker writes, it is one of the most phenomenal debut films in the history of movies (Graham 531) Many critics still consider it the best American television movie ever made (529). Due to the films success overseas, Universal Studios handed Steven the adaptation of Peter Benchleys popular novel Jaws, a story of a great white shark terrorizing a seaside community. The film, starring Richard Dreyfuss and Roy Scheider, broke ground in many ways. Aside from eclipsing e...
