Steven Spielberg

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Steven Spielberg
Steven Spielberg has directed some of the most
successful movies, icluding six that are ranked in the top
25 highest grossing films to date. Many have associated
Spielberg’s success and fame with his movie sensation, E.T.,
while others argue that it was gained by some of his other
works such as Jaws, Saving Private Ryan and Schindler’s
List. The purpose of this paper is to uncover,through
research, which film, in fact, made Spielberg a Hollywood
icon as well as one of its highest paid directors.
Author, Virginia Meachum insists that Spielberg’s first
smash hit, Jaws, not only made him famous, but was the sole
spark that ignited his successful career. She claims that
it was the movie’s sequels that continued to put him in the
position as one of the most popular directors in America.
She adds, to prove the films success, that Jaws holds the
record for the highest grossing film of all time. Meachum
also stresses that Spielberg would have never been able to
gain success if he had not, at first, followed his childhood
dreams and lived in a world of pure imagination (Meachum
93).
In contrast, Alexander Walker states that if Jaws put
him on the map, it was E.T. that made him a star and will
likely define his movie career, as the little film became
the biggest box office success. However, Walker admits that
it took films such as Saving Private Ryan and Schindler’s
List to prove that Spielberg was also among the greatest
directional talents this world has ever seen and that, yes,
he can make a serious adult movie (Walker 126).
Phillip Taylor believes that it was the film, Schindler’s List, that gave Spielberg
the glory he deserved. Taylor argues that although Raiders of the Lost Ark won Speilberg
5 Academy Awards and Jaws ranked as the highest grossing film in history, it was
Schindler’s List that gave him and Oscar, as well as the Best Picture Awards of virtually
every cri...