Amblin' - Steven Spielberg's Breakthrough Short Film [Low Budget Masterpieces]

Steven Spielberg got his career kicked started when he released Amblin' in 1968. His first piece shot on 35mm, the film follows a young couple who meet in the desert and become friends, then lovers and they travel to a paradisiacal beach.

From the Wikipedia:

A young guy, carrying a closely guarded guitar case, hooks up with a free spirited girl when hitchhiking across the desert in southern California en route to the Pacific coast. Along the way, the man engaged the girl in an olive spitting contest and the girl initiates the guy into the joys of cannabis smoking and sex in a sleeping bag. As the pair reach the beach, the guy frolics in the surf and the girl checks out the contents of his guitar case: a suit and tie, toothpaste, mouthwash, a roll of toilet paper and a copy of Arthur Clarke's The City and the Stars. The girl smiles in bemusement, perhaps sensing all along that her companion was a geek. She then proceeds to stand up and leave the beach, leaving the man behind.

Some lovely person has uploaded the full length film to youtube. The film contains an amazing shot of the couple sitting at the entrance to a cave or tunnel, with them in silhouette. Watch it, and you will see that, although it is directed and photographed with style, it is actually not a very good story. The weak writing of this short further proves the theory that a great films needs a great script. Still, he has made up for it since :)