As far as Spielberg is concerned, no one cut a film with more invigorating flair than John Frankenheimer. The director of such classics as “Birdman of Alcatraz,” “The Manchurian Candidate” and “Seconds” had an innate feel for how a movie should play rhythmically. Speaking to Sight and Sound in 1977, Spielberg observed, “His editing often has more energy than the content of the story. When I saw ‘The Manchurian Candidate,’ I realized for the first time what film editing was all about.”
Spielberg took what he learned from Frankenheimer’s masterpiece, and applied it to the short films he was crafting as a teenager in the 1960s.
After that, I made a number of 8mm films at home and began to experiment with cutting and juxtaposing scenes and tricks in the cutting room. I learned all the negative things, the things I try not to do in movies, from television. One thing I learned from TV was that there was nothing worse than a close-up that’s from the chin to the forehead. I remember watching ‘Paths of Glory’ and realizing how few tight close-ups there were, but when Kubrick used a closeup it meant something.
