Steven Spielberg Essay, Research Paper

Steven Spielberg

Steven Spielberg is an American motion-picture director, producer and executive, who has achieved great commercial success and is among the most popular film-makers of the late 20th Century.

Spielberg made his first film at the age of 12. In 1969, his short film “Amblin” came to the attention of Universal Pictures and he signed a seven-year contract with them. His earliest commercial efforts were television movies, which included the f

m “Duel” made in 1971, and which gained him wider recognition.

In 1975 Spielberg made the film “Jaws”, a thriller based on Peter Benchley’s novel about a great white shark. “Jaws” proved to be a tremendous success and quickly established Spielberg’s reputation and fame.

After this, with only few exceptions, almost every motion picture that Spielberg has handled has become a box-office hit, and he has been increasingly regarded as a film-maker of genuine artistic ability.

Subsequent films have included “ Close Encounters of the Third Kind”(1977), “1941”(1979), “Raiders of the Lost Ark”(1981) and it’s sequels: “Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom”(1984) and “Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade(1989),

also “E.T.” (1982) which has been said to have been his greatest achievement, “The Color Purple” (1985), “Empire of the Sun”(1987), “Always”(1989) and “Hook”(1991).

In 1993 Spielberg released two films that had tremendous commercial and artistic impact. “Jurassic Park” featuring computer-createad dinosaurs, which within four weeks of it’s release became the top-grossing motion picture up to that time. He als

released “Schindlers List”, an epic of the Holocaust, this proved him to be a director of grear power and sensitivity, he received an academy award for best director and best picture. In 1987 he had received the Irving Thalberg Award.

In 1994, with Jeffrey Katzenberg and David Geffen, Spielberg formed a new studio, Dreamworks SKG, they also annouced the formation of a creative partnership with Microsoft Corporation – Dreamworks Interactive – to produce interactive games, videos a

teaching materials.

Other films that Spielberg has made are : “Gremlins” (1984), “Back to the Future”(1985), “Young Sherlock Holmes” (1985), “*batteries not included”(1987), “Back to the Future 2” (1989), “Arachnophobia” (1990), “Cape Fear” (1991), “The Flinstones” (1

4), “ An American Tail” (1986), “Who Framed Roger Rabbit” (1988, “ An American Tail: Fievel Goes West” (1991) and “We’re Back! A Dinosaurs Story” (1993). Spielberg has also continued to be active in television with the series “Amazing Stories” (1985-1

7) and “The Young Indiana Jones” (1992-1994).