Ep. 81: Steven Spielberg – Top 6 Movies

April 16, 2023 Peter Jans

Intro

Hello and Welcome to this episode of the podcast, "The Mnemonic Tree", where we add a single mnemonic leaf, to our Tree of Knowledge.

Today's episode is on one of the most successful, prolific and influential filmmakers of all time. Steven Spielberg hit the ground running with a film called “Duel” which in my opinion is still an absolute classic, considering there was really only one main character, in the film which was Dennis Weaver who was the car driver, along with an angry truckdriver who is actually never revealed in the entire movie.

He became a household name with his first blockbuster film “Jaws” which I can still remember when I was quite young, jumping out of my seat when the head popped out of the sunken boat as the diver surveyed.

Another interesting fact from that movie; ironically, when Steven Spielberg first heard the iconic music theme for Jaws, from the legendary composer David Williamson, he apparently laughed and said “You can’t be serious?” Well, Williamson was and went on to win an Oscar for the score, and they both went on to form one of the most successful working relationships in movie history.

Today’s mnemonic is on Steven Spielberg’s top 6 movies.

So, with no further ado, we will begin with a summary from Wikipedia.

https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Steven_Spielberg_by_Gage_Skidmore.jpg

Wikipedia Summary

Steven Allan Spielberg KBE (/ˈspiːlbɜːrɡ/; born December 18, 1946) is an American filmmaker.[1] A major figure of the New Hollywood era and pioneer of the modern blockbuster, he is the most commercially successful director of all time.[2] He is the recipient of various accolades, including three Academy Awards, two BAFTA Awards, and four Directors Guild of America Awards, as well as the AFI Life Achievement Award in 1995, the Kennedy Center Honor in 2006, the Cecil B. DeMille Award in 2009 and the Presidential Medal of Freedom in 2015. Seven of his films have been inducted into the National Film Registry by the Library of Congress as "culturally, historically or aesthetically significant".[3][4]

Spielberg was born in Cincinnati, Ohio, and grew up in Phoenix, Arizona.[1] He moved to California and studied film in college. After directing several episodes for television including Night Gallery and Columbo, he directed the television film Duel (1971) which later received an international theatrical release. He made his theatrical film debut with The Sugarland Express (1974), and became a household name with the 1975 summer blockbuster Jaws. He then directed huge box office successes Close Encounters of the Third Kind (1977), E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial (1982) and the Indiana Jones original trilogy (1981–89). All these films were among the top ten highest-grossing films of the 1970s and 1980s, with Jaws and E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial the highest-grossing film ever at the time of their respective releases. He subsequently explored drama in The Color Purple (1985) and Empire of the Sun (1987).

In 1993, Spielberg directed back-to-back box office hits with the science fiction thriller Jurassic Park, the highest-grossing film ever at the time, and the Holocaust drama Schindler's List, which has often been listed as one of the greatest films ever made. He won the Academy Award for Best Director for the latter and for the 1998 World War II epic Saving Private Ryan. Spielberg continued in the 2000s with science fiction films A.I. Artificial Intelligence (2001), Minority Report (2002) and War of the Worlds (2005). He also directed the adventure films The Adventures of Tintin (2011) and Ready Player One (2018); the historical dramas Amistad (1997), Munich (2005), War Horse (2011), Lincoln (2012), Bridge of Spies (2015) and The Post (2017); the musical West Side Story (2021); and the semi-autobiographical drama The Fabelmans (2022).

Spielberg co-founded Amblin Entertainment and DreamWorks, and he has served as a producer for many successful films and television series. He is also known for his long collaboration with the composer John Williams, with whom he has worked for all but five of his feature films.[5][6] Several of Spielberg's works are considered among the greatest films of all time, and some are among the highest-grossing films of all time.[7] Premiere ranked him first place in the list of 100 Most Powerful People in Movies in 2003.[8] In 2013, Time listed him as one of the 100 most influential people.[9]

Extracted from: [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Steven_Spielberg]

https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Steven_Spielberg_-_Walk_of_Fame.jpg

Mnemonic

Steven Spielberg – Top 6 Movies – JESSI J

(Picture Steven Spielberg doing the bang bang in Jessie J’s music video with Ariana Grande and Nicki Minaj!)

1. Jaws - 1975

2. E.T. the Extra – Terrestrial - 1982

3. Saving Private Ryan - 1998

4. Schindler’s List - 1994

5. Indiana Jones Series - 1981

6. Jurassic Park - 1993

Five Fun Facts

1. Steven Spielberg is yet again another example of someone that dropped out of college, who then went on to becoming extremely successful. He did however come back to college to complete his Bachelor of Arts degree in his 50s.

2. Spielberg’s parents were also very accomplished. His mother was a concert pianist, while his father was an electrical engineer, whose work helped develop computers.

3. Spielberg also has two very famous god daughters. He was chosen to be godfather to Gwyneth Paltrow when she was born and Drew Barrymore in her teens, after he became somewhat of a mentor to Barrymore during the filming of E.T.

4. Though Steven Spielberg has just about done everything in the film world, he did however have a slow start. He struggled as a kid with reading being approximately two years behind in development and hence dreaded being called out to read aloud in class. The associated bullying made this more difficult and it wasn’t until age 60 that he was diagnosed with dyslexia.

5. Steven Spielberg once owned the iconic sled from the classic movie Citizen Kane. He had purchased old “Rosebud” in an auction in 1982 and later kindly donated to the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences.

https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Steven_Spielberg_-_GianAngelo_Pistoia_1.jpg

Three Question Quiz

Q.1. Which Spielberg movie starred Whoopie Goldberg and Oprah Winfrey?

Q.2. What is the name of the town in Spielberg’s movie Jaws?

Q.3. Name one of the two film production companies founded by Spielberg?

Bonus Q. What is the name of the author of the novel that Jurassic Park is based?

Mnemonic Recap

Steven Spielberg – Top 6 Movies – JESSI J

(Picture Steven Spielberg doing the bang bang in Jessie J’s music video with Ariana Grande and Nicki Minaj!)

1. Jaws - 1975

2. E.T. the Extra–Terrestrial - 1982

3. Saving Private Ryan - 1998

4. Schindler’s List - 1994

5. Indiana Jones Series - 1981

6. Jurassic Park - 1993

Three Question Quiz Answers

Q.1. Which Spielberg movie starred Whoopie Goldberg and Oprah Winfrey?

A. The Color Purple

Q.2. What is the name of the town in Spielberg’s movie Jaws?

A. Amity Island

Just in regards to Jaws, recently Spielberg announced that there would be no more shark movies. This came as a big shock and a real jaw-dropper to Spielberg fans!

Q.3. Name one of the two film production companies founded by Spielberg?

A. Amblin Entertainment or DreamWorks

Bonus Q. What is the name of the author of the novel that Jurassic Park is based?

A. Michael Crichton

Word of the Week

feirie

[ feer-ee ]

adjective

healthy; strong.

Example

The list of movies that Steven Spielberg has produced is feirie, diverse, and numerous.

Extracted from: [https://www.dictionary.com/]