Director's Focus - RR's top 10 films of Steven Spielberg + interesting facts

Every once and awhile, I will put together a short compilation of some of the most influential directors in film. When considering a film to watch this weekend, these suggestions might help you to choose better films. 

Steven Spielberg has to be considered one of the most influential director's in history. He has put forward some of the biggest blockbusters and directed some of the most critically acclaimed films in the past 40 years. Steven has had a few missteps in his career, but he will be remembered for his artistic contribution to his field. 

It is hard to imagine the same person directed Hook and Amistad, yet his box office success and award winning films show we love his films. Spielberg's direction does not always guarantee the quality of the film (1941), but there are few other directors who have put out more consistent hits and influential films. I found it hard to narrow it down to a top 5, so I doubled the choices for this director. Below is RR's top 10 films. 

A few interesting facts about Steven Spielberg:

1. He was never paid for his work on ‘Schindler’s List’. This movie was considered to be the most expensive black and white film ever made. But Spielberg didn’t accept any payment for his work on this movie, he stated that any money accepted would be “blood money”, considering the Holocaust. He was given permission to shoot the film within Auschwitz concentration camp, but he decided against it, due having respect for the victims.

2. He was a college dropout. Steven Spielberg was denied entry into USC’s elite directing program three times due to his C-average. He was eventually admitted into the film program at California State University. But he was later dropped out in 1968 to make a 22-minute film entitled Amblin. However he finally managed to finish his degree through an independent projects program. In 2002, he was awarded a B.A. in film production by California State.

3. He suggested the PG-13 movie rating. Steven Speilberg was the first person to suggest/introduce PG-13 rating, which indicates that only people who are 13 years or above can be granted the right to watch a movie. This happened because of the complaints made by parents over the PG ratings of movies like Poltergeist, Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom, etc. By seeing this Speilberg suggested a new rating to MPAA president Jack Valenti for films that have too much adult content to be rated PG, but not quite enough to be rated R. Then this PG-13 was introduced. The first film distributed with a PG-13 rating was Red Dawn (1984).*

Here are RR's top ten Steven Spielberg films:

1. Minority Report

2. E.T.

3. Raiders of the Lost Ark

4. Jurassic Park

5. Amistad

6. Catch Me if You Can

7. Saving Private Ryan

8. Empire of the Sun

9. Close Encounters of the Third Kind

10. War Horse

*Read more at http://moviesdrop.com/2013/04/interesting-steven-spielberg-facts-1525/

Rankings by Russell Matthews @ Russelling Reviews