Steven Spielberg has fashioned an enviable career as a writer, producer,
and director of American motion pictures, winning Academy Awards for
Best Direction (Saving Private Ryan, Schindler's List), and for Best
Film (Schindler's List). With David Geffen and Jeffrey Katzenberg he
founded Dreamworks SKG, already one of the most productive and respected
studios in Hollywood. Despite Spielberg's notable successes, however,
his films have not avoided controversy. The Films of Steven Spielberg
provides for the first time a collection of critical writings by
professional film critics about the director and his films, bringing
together many articles and reviews scattered in often inaccessible
specialist publications and professional journals. The opinions vary
from complimentary to critical, but they definitely provide a
well-rounded view of the films and the director. Twelve of Spielberg's
major box office hits, including Jaws, Raiders of the Lost Ark, E.T: The
Extra-Terrestrial, The Color Purple, Empire of the Sun, Jurassic Park,
Schindler's List, Amistad, Saving Private Ryan, and Close Encounters of
the Third Kind, are discussed in essays that vary in complexity ranging
from the heavily theoretical to the more general. This collection of
essays, compiled for both film students and professionals in the film
industry, attests to the influence of Spielberg and the films that have
earned him a significant place in the history of cinema as one of
America's most innovative and culturally important filmmakers.
