All language subtitles for Spielberg Completist THE NAME OF THE GAME LA 2017 (1971).en

for many years I have been longing to

see la 2017 the single episode which

Steven Spielberg directed for the

television series the name of the game

in 1971 it's never been released on DVD

but it seems to have acquired a small

cult of fans over the years and now that

it is 2017 I figured it was as good a

time as any to find some way of seeing

it as chance would have it the pally

Center for media in Beverly Hills had a

copy of Le 2017 in their digital library

archives so I went over there and took a

look at it based on a first impression I

will say this I didn't necessarily enjoy

la 2017 but I certainly admired it the

thing I loved the most about the episode

was the art direction by William H ton

Kay best known for his work on Mary

Poppins I also enjoyed the climactic car

chase up in the hills with those

futuristic cars firing machine guns it's

hard to believe the budget was only

$375,000 one problem I had with the

episode is that I had trouble following

in the plot like I understood how Los

Angeles was somehow driven to ruins in

the future because the air was pooed by

algae or something to that effect but I

didn't really understand the objectives

or motivations of any of the characters

also most of the acting is rather

average gene Barry does a competent job

in the lead role but to be honest I kind

of think that his five second cameo and

Spielberg's War of the Worlds was more

memorable by comparison the best

performance in LA 2017 is by Edmund

O'Brian who gives this really insane

monologue grandma I had no idea what he

was talking about but he certainly had

presence and the fact that O'Brien was

in the early stages of Alzheimer's when

he took this role makes his performance

all the more impressive but the biggest

problem I had with the episode is that I

didn't really get involved in the story

I didn't care much about what was going

on and it didn't move me much on an

emotional level and whenever I watched

something directed by Steven Spielberg I

fully expect to have an emotional

reaction to

I mean nobody's better at doing that

sort of thing that he is in fact the

most moving moment in the whole episode

is something really simple barry

sullivan grieving over the death of his

endangered pet goldfish without having

to say a single word sold and gives a

much better performance in this one

scene than he did with all of his talky

dialogue and Spielberg's Night Gallery

episode but other than that LA 2017 left

me cold although I did think Sharon

Farrow was pretty hot as the secretary

the thing about le 2017 is that it's a

very cerebral episode and Spielberg

isn't a cerebral filmmaker he's a

visceral filmmaker le 2017 does have a

lot of neat visual ideas but as a work

of futuristic science fiction I wouldn't

put on the level of later Spielberg

masterpieces like AI or Minority Report

still although I have some issues with

le 2017 it's certainly worth seeing at

least once this was 1971 and at the same

time that Spielberg was working on la

2017 at Universal George Lucas was

working on thx 1138 at Warner Brothers

now isn't that a coincidence that year

both of them were in the beginning

phases of their careers directing their

own individual works of dystopian

futuristic sci-fi little did anyone know

that by the end of the decade both of

them would change science fiction

forever special thanks to Martin

castaigne and the pally Center for media

for letting me view their copy of la

2017