Amblin'

Amblin' (1968)

He and she were thumb-trippin'. They had the makin's... and the tail-end of summer.

Two wanderers, a young man and a young woman, meet in the desert and decide to travel on together. The two travellers walk and hitch-hike their way down the road to their destination, the beach, becoming friends and lovers.

Date of release
1968-12-18
TMDB
6.1 / 10 (52)
Runtime
26m
Genres
Drama, Romance
Director
Steven Spielberg

Casting

Interesting facts

  • Filmed in: Malibu

Amblin' is a 1968 American short film written and directed by Steven Spielberg. It was Spielberg's first completed film shot on 35 mm. The film is a short love story set during the hippie era of the late 1960s about a young man and woman who meet in the desert, attempt to hitchhike, become friends, then lovers, make their way to a beach, and part ways. It later became the namesake for Spielberg's production company, Amblin Entertainment.

Production

Spielberg found his lead actor Richard Levin working as a librarian in the Beverly Hills Public Library. For the mysterious redhead in the film, Spielberg discovered Pamela McMyler from the Academy Players directory. She had previously been a member of the Pasadena Playhouse and had a small role in The Boston Strangler and Adam-12 as "Sally" (Season 1 episode 20).

Amblin' became a reality after Spielberg was introduced to aspiring producer Denis C. Hoffman. The movie had a $15,000 budget. In 1968, his friend Hoffman provided financing of approximately $10,000. At the time, Hoffman had no experience in producing, writing or developing motion picture projects. At Hoffman's request, the music of October Country, a band he was managing at the time, was used for the film.

In exchange for the financing provided by Hoffman, Hoffman exacted from Spielberg the young filmmaker's agreement to (a) direct Amblin' for no compensation whatsoever and (b) be bound for ten years to direct any script selected by Hoffman if such a script was brought to Spielberg by Hoffman. For this second film, Spielberg was to receive the payment of $25,000 plus 5% of the profits after expenses (the so-called "1968 Amblin Contract").

No second film for Hoffman was ever made. Spielberg bought out the contract in 1977 for $30,000, but Hoffman claimed the buyout was invalid and sued Spielberg in 1995 for $33 million. The matter was settled out of court.

Amblin' started shooting on July 6, 1968, at Denis Hoffman's Cinefx soundstage. The filming commenced with a complicated tracking shot following a trail of matches leading to a bonfire shot in the studio in order that cinematographer Allen Daviau could control the lighting.

Read on Wikipedia · Text from Wikipedia, CC BY-SA 4.0. Data from Wikidata.

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