Birthday Shout-Out: Steven Spielberg

[erik]

Here's a birthday shout-out to the most successful film director in the history of Mankind, Steven Spielberg, who celebrates his 66th birthday today:


Born in Cincinnati, Ohio on December 18, 1946, he and his family were quite migratory, and he lived in four different cities between his birth and the time he went to college here in Southern California in 1967. Between 1957 and 1964, they lived in the Arcadia section of Phoenix, Arizona; and for that reason, plus the fact that he began making films there, he considers Phoenix to be his hometown.

His latest film, LINCOLN, about our nation's 16th president, has been judged as one of the best movies of 2012, and rightly so (IMHO).

[the Scribe]

Happy birthday Steven!

I have only seen one or two of his movies but thought they were pretty good.

[erik]

A shame that you haven't seen more of them (IMHO). The scope of his work is immense, in that he can go from sci-fi (CLOSE ENCOUNTERS; E.T.) to horror (JAWS); edge-of-your-seat suspense (DUEL); thrill-ride stuff (the Indiana Jones series); World War II (SAVING PRIVATE RYAN); the Holocaust (SCHINDLER'S LIST); studies in slavery (AMISTAD), terrorism (MUNICH), and the Civil War (LINCOLN) and character studies (CATCH ME IF YOU CAN; THE TERMINAL).

And let's not forget two other things: that he was inducted into the Arizona Music and Entertainment Hall of Fame in 2007, along with Our Girl and Stevie Nicks; and that he happens to be an unabashed political liberal and Democrat. Just thought I'd throw that last one in, because it's true.

[the Scribe]

I saw Jaws and Close Encounters. My tastes run more towards documentaries and non-fiction but I can appreciate the entertainment value of a Spielberg.