Steven Spielberg has directed some of the most.
successful movies, icluding six that are ranked in the top.
25 highest grossing films to date. Many have associated.
Spielberg's success and fame with his movie sensation, E.T.,.
while others argue that it was gained by some of his other.
works such as Jaws, Saving Private Ryan and Schindler's.
List. The purpose of this paper is to uncover,through.
research, which film, in fact, made Spielberg a Hollywood.
icon as well as one of its highest paid directors.
Author, Virginia Meachum insists that Spielberg's first.
smash hit, Jaws, not only made him famous, but was the sole.
spark that ignited his successful career. She claims that.
it was the movie's sequels that continued to put him in the.
position as one of the most popular directors in America. .
She adds, to prove the films success, that Jaws holds the.
record for the highest grossing film of all time. Meachum.
also stresses that Spielberg would have never been able to.
gain success if he had not, at first, followed his childhood.
dreams and lived in a world of pure imagination (Meachum.
93).
In contrast, Alexander Walker states that if Jaws put.
him on the map, it was E.T. that made him a star and will.
likely define his movie career, as the little film became.
the biggest box office success. However, Walker admits that.
it took films such as Saving Private Ryan and Schindler's.
List to prove that Spielberg was also among the greatest.
directional talents this world has ever seen and that, yes,.
he can make a serious adult movie (Walker 126).
Phillip Taylor believes that it was the film, Schindler's List, that gave Spielberg.
the glory he deserved. Taylor argues that although Raiders of the Lost Ark won Speilberg.
5 Academy Awards and Jaws ranked as the highest grossing film in history, it was.
Schindler's List that gave him and Oscar, as well as the Best Picture Awards of virtually.
every critics group, and the National Society of Film Critics Award as Best Director.