Iconic American film director Steven Spielberg (Raiders of the Lost Ark, E.T., Schindler’s List) is revealing how he first encountered movie magic and its effect on his heart and mind in the new autobiographical film The Fabelmans. The New York Times calls it “Spielberg’s own sentimental education.”
The Fabelmans has already won the People’s Choice Award at the Toronto Film Festival and it’s all queued up for major Oscar attention.
The self-examining metier — a theme in nearly every Spielberg project, but especially acute in The Fabelmans — brings fresh attention to Spielberg’s influences. For people who are stirred to find out more about those influences, especially after they’ve seen The Fabelmans, the list below contains what the director has in the past referred to as his 20 favorite films.
- It’s a Wonderful Life – Frank Capra (1946)
- The Godfather – Francis Ford Coppola (1972)
- Fantasia – Walt Disney (1940)
- A Guy Named Joe – Victor Fleming (1943)
- Guardians of the Galaxy – James Gunn (2014)
- War of the Worlds – Byron Haskin (1953)
- Psycho – Alfred Hitchcock (1960)
- 2001: A Space Odyssey – Stanley Kubrick (1968)
- Lawrence of Arabia – David Lean (1962)
- Intouchables – Olivier Nakache and Éric Toledano (2011)
- The Dark Knight – Christopher Nolan (2008)
- The 400 Blows – François Truffaut (1959)
- Day for Night – François Truffaut (1973) Bot avialbe
- Citizen Kane – Orson Welles (1941)
- Captains Courageous – Victor Fleming (1937)
- The Best Years of Our Lives – William Wyler (1946)
- The Searchers – John Ford (1956)
- Tootsie – Sydney Pollack (1982)
- Seven Samurai – Akira Kurosawa (1954)
- Dumbo – Walt Disney (1941)
As far as streaming packages that afford the most exhaustive viewing of Spielberg’s favorites, Amazon Prime is the most comprehensive at present. All but three of Spielberg’s 20 favorite films are available to stream immediately via rental on Amazon Prime.
Disney is, of course, an Amazon competitor that has rolled up much of its content inhouse for distribution on its own streaming service. Despite this catch, of the two Disney productions on Spielberg’s faves list, viewers can rent and immediately stream Dumbo from 1941 (spoiler alert: he flies).
However, Fantasia, the signature Disney film from 1940 that changed the cinematic landscape, can’t be rented but only purchased on the streamer. Price: $18.49.
Of non-Disney offerings on the list, only Olivier Nakache and Éric Toledano’s Intouchables (see trailer above) and Francois Truffaut’s Day for Night can’t be played immediately on Amazon.
