Seven Times Steven Spielberg Changed Cinema
The lasting influence of Hollywood’s greatest director.
Throughout Steven Spielberg’s extraordinary career, he has made films loved by both audiences and critics. Many of them proved hugely influential, provoking both crude imitators cashing in, as well as creative innovators putting their spin on Spielberg’s groundwork. In some cases, his films have changed the industry forever. Here are seven examples.
Jaws (1975)
The 1970s were a second golden era in Hollywood. Freed from the confines of the Hays Code and riding the waves of the counter-culture movements of the 1960s, many innovative films stretched the envelope of cinema. MASH (1970), The French Connection (1971), The Godfather (1972), Cabaret (1972), Mean Streets (1973), A Clockwork Orange (1971), Chinatown (1974), and The Exorcist (1973) are just a few examples. Jaws is also a part of that golden era, as is Star Wars (1977), but those two films are celebrated (and sometimes derided) for essentially creating Hollywood’s obsession with blockbusters. In that respect, with Jaws, Spielberg was responsible for the first modern blockbuster.
