The 1980s film Steven Spielberg called his career’s most underrated: “I love the movie, I really do”
Is it even possible for anything you’ve directed to be underrated when you’re Steven Spielberg? After all, he is, in fact, Steven Spielberg, one of the greatest directors in cinema history, so it’s not as if he’s been flying under the radar at any point since the mid-1970s.
He’s a three-time Academy Award winner, the highest-grossing director of all time, and the only one to helm a $10 billion filmography, which means that you’d have to travel pretty far to find someone who’s never seen at least one of his pictures, never mind someone who doesn’t have a clue who he is.
Like every other filmmaker, he’s had his hits and his flops. However, it would be an understatement to say that the good dramatically outweighs the bad, with every 1941 or The BFG easily countered by a Saving Private Ryan, Catch Me If You Can, Jaws, Close Encounters of the Third Kind, Schindler’s List, or Jurassic Park.
Few auteurs have ever had a decade anywhere near as strong as Spielberg had in the 1980s, though, where he conspired to release the original Indiana Jones trilogy, ET the Extra-Terrestrial, and The Color Purple, with the latter signalling his first shift into more serious, awards-baiting territory. It may have set one of the most unwanted records in Oscars history, but it’s still a strong movie.
However, Spielberg is adamant that one of his credits from that time is the most underrated thing he’s ever made. You could make a case for Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom, but if you know anything about him, you’ll know that it’s not Indy’s second adventure, because he’s not its biggest fan.
Empire of the Sun would be another decent shout, since it was only a middling performer by Spielberg’s usual critical, commercial, and awards season standards, but few would point to 1989’s Always. In fact, according to some very knowledgeable sources, it isn’t underrated at all; it’s one of the worst films he’s ever made.
Remaking 1943’s A Guy Named Joe seemed pointless to begin with, and the finished article hardly made everyone eat their words. It’s Spielberg at his most mawkish and sentimental, which is never a good thing when it’s ladled on so thick, and the only reason it’s worth remembering is for its status as Audrey Hepburn’s final big-screen role. Otherwise, it’s as forgettable as he’s ever been.
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Still, if anyone’s allowed to disagree, it’d be Spielberg himself. When asked to name the most underrated work of a filmography that’s over 35 features deep, he couldn’t see past Always. “I love the movie,” he said. “I really do.” At least someone does, although there surely can’t be too many others who’d fawn over it to the same extent as its creator.
What is Spielberg’s most underrated film, then? It’s hard to say, since you could ask 20 people and get 20 different answers, but something like AI Artificial Intelligence, Munich, or even West Side Story has a stronger leg to stand on than fucking Always.
