Cuarón and Hitchcock and Scorsese, Oh My! The Greatest Directors Of All-Time

14. Steven Spielberg

Image Source: Variety

He’s a mogul now, running a studio he co-owns, but under the surface lurks a 13-year-old kid making war movies in his backyard. As children, we were enamored by the magic of the universe with E.T: The Extra Terrestrial. As adolescents, we wanted to be the cool, nerdy Indiana Jones. As young adults, we couldn’t hold back our tears when we saw the burning red coat in Schindler’s List.

The “blockbuster” originated in 1976, when Spielberg’s Jaws packed a record number of moviegoers into theaters around the country. Ever since, studios have been scrambling to one up each other for bragging rights at the box office. Shunned and disparaged by film experts and intellectuals for being “artistically hollow” and financially successful, Spielberg is unarguably one of the few American filmmakers who have bridged the gap between commercial cinema and art.