*Jaws*: The Blank Check
This is the most important movie that Steven Spielberg ever made. For with the success of this movie, Steven Spielberg now had earned a blank check to do whatever he wanted for the rest of his career. Steven Spielberg had made the biggest blockbuster hit in Hollywood history so far. From this point on, he could do whatever he wanted. No businessmen to tell him not to persue his passion project. From this point on, Steven Spielberg had a blank check to persue his heart's biggest passion projects, to make whatever movies he wanted. It was all up from here.
*Close Encounters of the Third Kind*: It Begins
This is it! The big time!
Finding God in aliens from outer space!
The first of Speilberg's magnum opuses!
Close Encounters of the Third Kind!
This is finding God and Wonder and Beauty and All That Really Matters in contact with Life from across the stars!
This is Steven Spielberg's autobiography, for Richard Dreyfuss's character is Steven Spielberg as he makes the movie, and with this movie Spielberg proves himself the most intensely autobiographical of all filmmakers.
This is the story of the Rebirth of the 20th Century, as a weary world learns to dream again by watching the stars!
This is it- Part 1!
Close Encounters of the Third Kind!
And this is the movie that, with Star Wars and the Viking and Voyager space probes, launched an era!
The era that I grew up in!
Close Encounters of the Third Kind
To Learn to Dream Again!
*Raiders of the Lost Ark*: 90 % pure fun, 10 % Amazing Masterpiece
Indiana Jones!
Adventure! Thrills! Exotic places, fantastic dreams!
This is 90% pure fun, 90 % the greatest pure fun movie of all time, along with Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade and the original Jurassic Park.
Thrills, adventure, mystery, compelling characters!
But then there is the other 10 %!
The 10 % that is one of the greatest serious movies of all time, counterpart to Close Encounters and E.T.!
History, discovery of a beautiful wider world!
Compelling character storytelling!
And a deeply meaningful commentary on the nature of the Divine!
90% of Raiders is the greatest pure fun movie of all time, along with Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade and the original Jurassic Park.
But the other 10 % stands alongside Close Encounters, E.T., and 10% of Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade as Steven Spielberg's Masterpiece!
The era that I grew up in, and a core part of the legacy!
*E.T.*
This is it!
The masterpiece!
The movie that, more than any other work, shaped my own career as a writer!
Steven Spielberg's greatest magnum opus!
A story of love, deep family love between people from other worlds who become brothers
A movie to show us the meaning of life!
To reach out and make contact!
This, completing the great trifecta of Steven Spielberg masterpieces, with Close Encounters and Indiana Jones!
Awe and wonder, meaning and love, connections and life!
This is it!
Perhaps the greatest movie ever made!
*The Color Purple*: The Beginning of a Historian Filmmaker
The beginning of a long and distinguished phase of Spielberg's career, as Steven Spielberg takes on serious gloomy history for the first time
The beginnings of Steven Spielberg the Historcal Filmmaker, a major part of his legacy
Taking on the scariest, darkest corners of recent history
Leading to such movies as Saving Private Ryan and Lincoln
No one does serious gloomy historical movies as well as Steven Spielberg!
It would not be a complete retrospective without giving recognition to this important phase of Steven Spielberg's career!
For no one does this kind of movie as well as Spielberg does!
*Steven Spielberg the Collaborator*
Robert Zemeckis Back to the Future
Don Bluth An American Tail The Land Before Time
George Lucas Indiana Jones
I now pay tribute to one of the most important parts of Steven Spielberg's legacy- Steven Spielberg the collaborator!
The Steven Spielberg that gave Robert Zemeckis his start
The Steven Spielberg who got Don Bluth's great animated movies noticed, and told the story of his own Jewish ancestors in collaboration with Bluth in An American Tail
The Steven Spielberg who did Indiana Jones with George Lucas
The Steven Spielberg who realized Stanley Kubrick's unrealized project A.I. Artificial Intelligence
Steven Spielberg the collaborator!
Without him, we would not have Forrest Gump or Who Framed Roger Rabbit, would never have heard of Don Bluth's brilliant animated masterpieces!
This too is a huge part of his legacy!
*Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade* Once again, 90 % pure fun, 10 % grand masterpiece!
The final chapter in the great phase of Steven Spielberg's career that laid the groundwork for much of my childhood and virtually all of my career as a writer!
The second legendary Indiana Jones movie, counterpart to Close Encounters, E.T., and Raiders of the Lost Ark at the very core of Steven Spielberg's legacy, a kind of movie that few have ever been able to make!
90% pure fun, adventure, thrills, 90% simply the greatest pure fun movie ever made (with two others)
And 10% a great radiant serious masterpiece to stand beside Close Encounters and E.T.!
Just like Raiders of the Lost Ark!
A meaningful character story between father and son, the discovery of the wonder of our own world, and a deep meditation on the nature of the divine, to stand alongside Raiders of the Lost Ark!
It is complete!
The holy foursome of Steven Spielberg masterpieces is complete!
The final chapter of the greatest phase of Spielberg's career is complete!
*Jurassic Park*: The greatest pure fun movie ever made
The two greatest Indiana Jones movies are 90% the greatest pure fun movies ever made
This is the third!
There is no serious 10% here- just enough meaning and depth to make this the greatest pure fun movie ever made!
For there should be some meaning and depth in a great fun movie!
It is all here!
Thrills, monsters, fantasy, adventure!
This is Jaws done better than Jaws, Jaws with dinosaurs!
This is a pure fun movie that you can take either way
Dinosaurs are dangerous, nature is dangerous- but nature is beautiful and incredible!
It's your choice: focus on the danger and darkness
Focus on the awe and wonder
Or simply enjoy the ride!
The greatest pure fun movie ever made!
And the most amazing CGI special effects
Because Steven Spielberg knows how to make the CGI look great with his incredible filmmaking skills!
Sit back and enjoy the thrill ride!
The greatest pure fun movie ever made!
*Schindler's List, Saving Private Ryan, Lincoln*: From here on out
From here on out, we go right back to The Color Purple and history, because Steven Spielberg does this kind of movie better than anyone in history
Serious historical movies, masterpieces
From here on out, this will be a big part of his career
Lincoln
Private Ryan
And we leave it here, the retrospective is complete, save for one final observation:
Experiments
Experiments with odd and interesting concepts for movies
Things like Catch Me if you Can and Minority Report
Interesting experiments for a brilliant filmmaking mind
This completes my Speven Spielberg retrospective!
God loves you!
Sincerely,
David S. Annderson