Steven Allan Spielberg - Featured Director of Month

Steven Allan Speilberg  needs no introduction. Yet, he is one director who is difficult to be slotted into any genre of film making. Starting his career as a director of television series he was soon spotted by Hollywood and directed his first theatrical feature Sugarland Express in 1974. In between he had also done Duel, a television movie that is sometimes credited as his first theatrical movie ( probably in consideration of the fact that it has been released outside the US).  This period can be called Speilberg’s formative  phase as his later movies have  shown  a rare craftsmanship that could have come out directing such tightly controlled films as the Duel.

Speilberg shot into international fame with his direction of the screen adaptation of Peter Bencheley’s book Jaws.  A movie that set the signature for later Speilberg movies , larger than life entertaining adventures. He was now on his way to his second and most productive spell of movie making.  During this time he directed the Indiana Jones trilogy starting with Raiders Of The Lost Ark.    This movie was like breath of fresh air. Combining the adventurous qualities of a James Bond movie with an everyday life character that  somehow conveyed to people that they didn’t need to lead a mundane life. It was a go ahead to people to fantasize and empowered them at a certain level.  This was followed by ET which was the biggest box office grosser of all time. 

In his third phase he directed movies like Saving Private Ryan and Schindler’s List. Movies that were  more of an attempt to be taken as a film maker  who could handle serious themes. In many ways he was a failure here. Though Oscars came his way, his movies lacked the qualities of his earlier films and somehow gave one the feeling of being dramatized documentaries ( especially Schindler’s List).  The true Speilberg  will always be remembered for his second and most creative phase.

Though he is primarily known for as a director , he has also produced some great movies. Today  he is one of the most respected and richest Hollywood personalities lauding over Dream Works, one of the great new studios that has sprung up in Hollywood

Spielberg is a winner of three Academy Awards. He has been nominated for six Academy Awards for the category of Best Director, winning two of them (Schindler's List and Saving Private Ryan), and seven of the films he directed were up for the Best Picture Oscar (Schindler's List won). In 1987 he was awarded the Irving G. Thalberg Memorial Award for his work as a creative producer.

Drawing from his own experiences in Scouting, Spielberg helped the Boy Scouts of America develop a merit badge in cinematography. The badge was launched at the 1989 National Scout Jamboree which Spielberg attended, personally counseling many boys in their work on requirements.

That same year, 1989, was the release of Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade. The opening scene shows a teenage Indiana Jones in scout uniform bearing the rank of a Life Scout. Spielberg stated he made Indiana Jones a Boy Scout in honor of his experience in Scouting. For his career accomplishments and service to others, Spielberg was awarded the Distinguished Eagle Scout Award.

In 1998 he was awarded the Federal Cross of Merit with Ribbon of the Federal Republic of Germany. The Award was presented to him by President Roman Herzog in recognition of his movie "Schindlers List" and his Shoa-Foundation.

In 1999, Spielberg received an honorary degree from Brown University. Spielberg was also awarded the Department of Defense Medal for Distinguished Public Service by Secretary of Defense William Cohen at the Pentagon on August 11, 1999. Cohen presented Spielberg the award in recognition of his movie Saving Private Ryan.

In 2001, he was honored as an honorary Knight Commander of the Order of the British Empire (KBE) by Queen Elizabeth II.

In 2004 he was admitted as knight of the Légion d'honneur from president Jacques Chirac. On July 15, 2006, Spielberg was also awarded the Gold Hugo Lifetime Achievement Award at the Summer Gala of the Chicago International Film Festival, and also was awarded a Kennedy Center honour on December 3. The tribute to Spielberg featured a short filmed biography narrated by Tom Hanks and included thank-yous from World War II veterans for Saving Private Ryan, as well as a performance of the finale to Leonard Bernstein's Candide, conducted by John Williams (Spielberg's frequent composer).

In November 2007, he was chosen for Lifetime Achievement Award to be presented at the sixth annual Visual Effects Society Awards in February 2009. He was set to be honored with the Cecil B. DeMille Award at the January 2008 Golden Globes; however, the new, watered-down format of the ceremony result from conflicts from the 2007-08 writers strike, the HFPA postponed his honor to the 2009 ceremony. In 2008, Spielberg was awarded the Légion d'honneur.

In June 2008, Spielberg was the recipient of Arizona State University’s Hugh Downs Award for Communication Excellence.

• 1977 - Close Encounters of the Third Kind
• 1981 - Raiders of the Lost Ark
• 1982 - E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial
• 1993 - Schindler's List (win)
• 1998 - Saving Private Ryan (win)
• 2005 - Munich

• 1975 - Jaws
• 1981 - Raiders of the Lost Ark
• 1982 - E.T: The Extra-Terrestrial
• 1985 - The Color Purple
• 1993 - Schindler's List (win)
• 1998 - Saving Private Ryan
• 2005 - Munich
• 2006 - Letters from Iwo Jima (producer)