I promise I’m not trying to be controversial for the sake of being controversial when I say this, but Steven Spielberg has had a pretty decent career as a director. Yeah, you grab those ice packs after that scorching hot take, but I stand by it.
In all seriousness though, it’s hard not to marvel at just how many great movies Spielberg has directed as you watch this video from Burger Fiction, which takes us through his career and evolution as a filmmaker, starting with his short film Escape to Nowhere from 1961 (though IMDB does have two other credits predating that), up to his latest, The BFG.
Besides super famous, iconic movies like Jaws, Jurassic Park, Close Encounters of the Third Kind, E.T., and the Indiana Jones movies (three of them at least), he has directed a lot of really good, enjoyable movies. Films that don’t even crack his top 10, but would be the best thing on any other director’s résumé. That includes movies like Catch Me If You Can, The Terminal, Lincoln, Minority Report, etc etc. It’s really impossible to list all his impressive achievements, so please don’t be mad if I excluded yours.
What you also notice is the diversity of his movies, from big action films like War of the Worlds, to period pieces like Amistad, to important, transcendent movies like Schindler’s List.
Even in the case of his spectacular failure Hook, he followed up the disappointment with a run of movies that other creative types would literally give an arm to have made. After the Peter Pan adaptation, his next five films were Jurassic Park, Schindler’s List, Amistad, The Lost World, and Saving Private Ryan.
Damn.
Going back to 1971’s Duel, a sneaky awesome film of his, Spielberg’s evolution has really just meant getting older, all while keeping his fastball.
What is your favorite Spielberg film? Tell us in the comments below.
Featured Image: ABC
Image: Universal Pictures
