Steven Spielberg!  Need we say more…

Steven Spielberg has had an amazing career as a film producer, executive producer, writer and director of many amazing films. He tells compelling stories and creates heartfelt memories with his wonderful set of skills. He first created a shock with “Jaws” in the year of 1975, it’s an epic tale of a mysterious monstrous shark who would devour the local town visitors and residents. This film would set the precedent for all films that would equal the same value in the box office, which also coined the term Blockbuster for movies. Jaws would have two more sequels and that also set the precedent for others to follow, which proved very lucrative for Spielberg, as well as Hollywood.

Through the years Mr. Spielberg has created a filmmaking empire with such epic films as, the “Indiana Jones” Film Series, starting in the year of 1981-2008, starring Harrison Ford in which Spielberg teamed up with his friend George Lucas, the creator of the science fiction epic film series Star Wars, now owned by Disney.

Spielberg went on to create an even more successful film, with “E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial” in the year of 1982. This film is about an extraterrestrial alien who lands on earth and befriends a young man in his attempts to phone home. This film would prove to break even more records, and helped to jump start the careers of Henry Thomas (Elliott), and  Drew Barrymore (Gertie) respectively.

This film would also be the foundation of Spielberg’s film and television production company Amblin Entertainment, founded by Steven Spielberg, Frank Marshall and Kathleen Kennedy, which gets its name from Spielberg’s first short film “Amblin” made in the year of 1968, however the company’s logo, is the signature image of young Elliott flying high in the air on his BMX bicycle, with ET riding on the front handlebars in a milk crate.

The parent company Amblin Partners,  founded by Steven Spielberg Jeff Skoll of Participant Media, Anil Ambani of Reliance Anil Dhirubhai Ambani Group and Darren Throop of Entertainment One in the year of 2015, would also be the catalyst in the restructuring of  DreamWorks Studios SKG, which was originally founded by Steven Spielberg, Jeffrey Katzenberg, David Geffen, i.e., SKG. The Color Purple” in the year of 1985 was also a momentous film, adapted from the novel by Alice Walker. The Film starred Danny Glover, Oprah Winfrey in her film debut, and Whoopi Goldberg in her film debut as Celie , as well as Desreta Jackson, Margaret Avery, Adolph Caesar and Rae Dawn Chong. The critically acclaimed motion picture also produced by Quincy Jones, Kathleen Kennedy, Frank Marshall was nominated for eleven Academy Awards in 1986, including Best Actress for Whoopi Goldberg, but the film was not the recipient of the Oscar that year.

The Oscar went to actress Geraldine Page for “The Trip to Bountiful”, and The Color Purple went on to tie a record set in the year of 1977 by the drama film about the ballet in New York City called “The Turning Point” starring Shirley MacLaine for the most Oscar nominations without  winning the cherished golden male statue, however “The Color Purple” was Whoopi Goldberg’s most compelling role to date.

In fact, it would be interesting to know how many people remember “The Trip to Bountiful” film, or Geraldine Page playing the role of Mrs. Watts. With no disrespect to the acting ability of  Geraldine Page, one could wonder what the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences was thinking, “The Color Purple” will go down in history as one of the most compelling films in American history no doubt, and this is yet another AMPAS failure to recognize such a great film, an upset and blunder, or wonder indeed hummm…

The”Jurassic Park” Film Series starting in the year of 1993, which was the infamous story about a prehistoric dinosaur park, was a film series also tremendously successful, with the latest installment Jurassic World, in the year of 2015. So many audiences lives have been touched by the amazing lens of Steven Spielberg, with his countless amazing stories and film productions, TV shows, and animated series, most filmmakers would consider taboo. With Steven Spielberg being an active member of the Jewish community, he directed and produced “Schindler’s List”, in the year of 1993 to pay homage to the victims of the holocaust, which was adapted from the novel Schindler’s Ark, a Booker Prize-winning historical fiction novel by Thomas Keneally.

This also proved to be a very momentous film as well as a tearjerker , listed as among one of the greatest films ever made and in the year of 2007, the American Film Institute ranked the film 8th on the list of the 100 best American films of all time, and the Library of Congress selected Schindler’s List”  for preservation in the National Film Registry in the year of 2004.

The film stars Liam Neeson and Ben Kingsley in Neeson’s most compelling role to date, of a German businessman who saved the lives of thousands of Polish-Jewish refugees from the Holocaust. The film won seven Oscars at the 66th Annual Academy Awards in the year in 1994 for Best Picture, Best Director, Best Adapted Screenplay, and Best Original Score, and other awards such as, seven BAFTAs and three Golden Globe Awards. In the year of 1997, Steven Spielberg teamed up with diverse producers such as Debbie Allen with the creation of “Amistad”, which is the compelling story of the Spanish slave ship La Amistad starring Morgan Freeman, Anthony Hopkins, Matthew McConaughey, and a young Chiwetel Ejiofor and Djimon Hounsou who sighted the chilling and compelling catch phrase “Give Us Free!”, as in to give them freedom from the shackles that bound them together. The film won an NAACP Image Award for Outstanding Supporting Actor in a Motion Picture.

With this proof of concept, Mr. Spielberg  is considered a movie mogul, but he didn’t stop there, he teamed up with actor/ rapper Will Smith and acclaimed actor Tommy Lee Jones with the creation of the “Men in Black” Film Series starting in the year of 1997 to 2012.

Steven Spielberg then won an Oscar for Best Director for the outstanding war film “Saving Private Ryan” starring Tom Hanks, Matt Damon, a young Vin Diesel and Paul Giamatti in the year of 1998. This graphic tail of World War II, U.S. Army Rangers behind enemy lines are sent on a mission to rescue the son of a family from Iowa.  The critically acclaimed film was selected for preservation in the National Film Registry by the Library of Congress, in 2014, being deemed “culturally, historically, or aesthetically significant.

The Academy Awards recognized Spielberg’s “Lincoln” starring Daniel Day-Lewis for Best Production Design and Best Actor in the year of 2012 adding to the log list of trophies. The “Transformers” Film Series starting in 2007 to  Transformers: The Last Knight in 2017 with Michael Bay directing is sure to please most of young Autobot and Hasbro fans. With all this the Hollywood Chamber of Commerce definitely got it right when the awarded Steven Spielberg with a Star on the Hollywood  Walk of Fame.

Article by Shaunti Griffin

There’s a funny story I like to tell about the 67th Academy Awards at the Shrine Auditorium, March 27, 1995. This is when I was working Security for the show and was in charge of the limousine entrance and exit for all the stars.

The show was over and I can remember iconic stars such as, the late great  Gregory Peck, Morgan Freeman and Steven Spielberg waiting for their limos to arrive to go to their respective after parties. They were busy conversing about the show and what not, and after they were waiting for an unusually long period of time, one of them said, how long does it take to get a limo in this town.

The irony of it all, was there stood the embodiment of Hollywood right before my eyes, but they still found it difficult to find good means of transportation. Yes only in Cali. Entertainment Equals Diversity.