It’s a film I’ve tried to see and given up on at home five or six times previously. This time on a big screen, the first two shots are simply dazzling, I watched them with my mouth open, whereas at home on tv I simple missed them. They simply didn’t register. The last shot of the film, the fishing on the river at dusk with the golden light is extraordinary work from Vilmos Zsigmond….and yet, to me the film still doesn’t work. The cast, particularly Hawn is wonderful, but her Lou Jean is so intent on getting what she wants that she thinks little of getting her husband (William Atherton) killed. Surely a problem. And this reinforces my prejudices about Spielberg, an almost genius level understanding of technique, a not very complex understanding of politics or society or even, with the exception of children, people. Genius technique at the service of limited understanding.

José Arroyo