Steven Spielbergs 10 Best Historical Epics

Steven Spielberg’s 10 Best Historical Epics

Steven Spielberg made his name making fun summer blockbusters, but he also had an amazing career, making critically acclaimed historical epics.

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Steven Spielberg created what most people know today as the summer blockbuster, thanks to his 1975 movie Jaws. However, while he became synonymous with big summer movies, Spielberg proved how great he was when he took on historical epics, and he started winning Oscars for his work on important prestige pictures.

Spielberg has won two Best Director Oscars in his career, both for historical epics. While he has 17 Oscar nominations for Best Picture or Best Director, he only directed one Oscar winner, which was a historical epic. On top of that, seven of his movies are part of the National Film Registry at the Library of Congress, so he has proven that he can entertain and educate with equal success.

10 War Horse (2011) – Available On HBO Max

In 2011, Steven Spielberg told a heartwarming story about a boy and his horse in the historical epic, War Horse. Based on the book by Michael Morpurgo, the movie tells the story of a horse named Joey, a beloved pet for a young boy who was sold into service during World War I.

The film traced the journey of the horse to the front lines and eventually back to the boy who lost him, but later signed up to fight in the war himself. War Horse is great because it is a prototypical Steven Spielberg movie, taking the sentimentality of his family movies and adding in the wartime tension of his epics.

9 The Post (2017) – Available On Spectrum

In 2017, Steven Spielberg directed a journalism movie called The Post. The movie tracked the real-life story of the Washington Post trying to publish the Pentagon Papers, despite the classified documents detailing the U.S. government’s actions in the Vietnam War.

Tom Hanks and Meryl Streep lead the cast as the editor and publisher of the Washington Post as they fight their way through the battle with the White House to publish the papers. While not as great as the journalism movie All The President’s Men, which followed the Washington Post in the aftermath of this investigation, it is a great look at the press in action.

8 Amistad (1997) – Available On Max Go

Steven Spielberg directed Amistad in 1997, and it received critical accolades. The historical epic told the real-life story of the slave ship, La Amistad, where the tribesmen aboard the shop took control only to end up captured by the United States, and the slaves ending up in court.

The film received positive reviews and picked up four Oscar nominations. The cast was top-notch, with Morgan Freeman, Djimon Hounsou, Matthew McConaughey, and Anthony Hopkins leading the cast. The movie is a great historical look at a difficult subject matter, with Spielberg taking the interesting angle of framing it in a courtroom battle.

7 Lincoln (2012) – Available On Max Go

In 2012, Steven Spielberg directed the historical biopic Lincoln, telling the story of the United States’ 16th President, Abraham Lincoln. Spielberg got the best actor in the world to lead the movie, with Daniel Day-Lewis taking on the role of the president as he worked toward the end of the Civil War.

The movie was a huge success, picking up 12 Oscar nominations, with Day-Lewis winning Best Actor. It also made $275 million at the box office and featured a wide cast of recognizable faces as well-known historical figures. The acting is what makes Lincoln rise above the rest, with some of the best performances of any Spielberg movie.

6 Munich (2005) – Available On Fubo

In 2005, Steven Spielberg made a movie about the Munich massacre at the 1972 Summer Olympics. This movie told the story about the Israeli government’s retaliation, known by the name Operation Wrath of God. The movie starred Eric Bana and Daniel Craig.

Munich received critical praise, but it was a failure at the box office, only bringing in $47 million domestically, the lowest of Spielberg’s career. What makes this movie great is its look at an act of vengeance and retaliation and how the fallout from that tore down those involved.

5 Bridge Of Spies (2015) – Available On IMDb TV

Steven Spielberg teamed up with one of his most-used actors in 2015 for the historical drama, Bridge of Spies. Based on the true story of lawyer James B. Donovan, who during the Cold War was tasked with negotiating for the release of a U.S. Air Force pilot in 1960, exchanging him for a convicted KGB spy held by the United States.

The movie was a big success, grossing $165 million and picking up six Oscar nominations. Mark Rylance won for Best Supporting Actor. Bridge of Spies remains a great movie to watch because Spielberg took a forgotten Cold War story and filled it with intrigue and suspense, a very different experience from something like Munich.

4 Empire Of The Sun (1987) – Available On HBO Max

Empire of the Sun was one of Christian Bale’s earliest acting roles, starring in the movie as a 13-year-old. Bale plays Jamie, a young British boy in China who ends up separated from his family when the Japanese invade and begin to occupy the area.

The story then follows him as a young prisoner of war in a Japanese internment camp in World War II. The movie was a great turn from Spielberg at the time, with fantastic acting from the young Bale and a movie that recalled the scope and scale of a David Lean historical epic.

3 The Color Purple (1985) – Available On HBO Max

In 1985, Steven Spielberg had already made his name with science fiction, horror, and action movies. He decided to set out to do something serious and chose to adapt the Alice Walker novel, The Color Purple. This was only his eighth movie and his first serious drama.

The cast was impressive, with Danny Glover, Oprah Winfrey, and Whoopie Goldberg, with a score by Quincy Jones. The movie was a great turn for Spielberg, who proved he could do more than summer blockbusters, and it picked up 11 Oscar nominations, including Best Picture and Best Director, despite winning none of them.

2 Saving Private Ryan (1998) – Available On Fubo

Steven Spielberg directed one of the most successful historical epics of his career when he made Saving Private Ryan in 1998. The movie had an all-star cast led by Tom Hanks as a U.S. Army Captain sent to retrieve Private James Ryan from the battlefield after his brothers all died in action.

The movie made $481 million worldwide, with Spielberg winning his second Oscar for Best Director. The movie was great thanks to a mix of acting, with Hanks a standout, and Spielberg’s directing. The entire realistic opening of Saving Private Ryan, with the attack on the beach, filmed in one long intense shot, remains one of the best of Spielberg’s directing career.

1 Schindler’s List (1993) – Available On Apple TV

In 1993, Steven Spielberg did something amazing. He directed Jurassic Park, which ended up becoming the highest-grossing movie ever at that time and was a perfect summer blockbuster. But the same year, Spielberg also released Schindler’s List, which ended up winning two Oscar that year, Spielberg’s first big win for Best Picture and Best Director.

It proved he could make crowd-pleasing action movies and critically acclaimed masterpieces, and he did it in the same year. Schindler’s List told the story of Oskar Schindler, a German businessperson who helped over a thousand Jewish refugees escape the Nazis in World War II.

Link Source : https://screenrant.com/steven-spielberg-best-historical-epic-movie/

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