Courtesy of Nate Winslow:
This is a list that someone sent me during a conversation on Twitter. It’s unofficially referred to as “Steven Spielberg’s List of Movies You Have to See Before You Can Work With Him” aka “Steven Spielberg’s Curriculum.” Weirdly enough, I could only find ONE mention of it on Google. ONE. And it was a weird mention here: But it’s a list of 206 movies that Spielberg assembled as movies that should be required viewing for any aspiring filmmaker. And if you listen to the way Spielberg talks about cinema and the history of film, it’s quiiiiite clear he has seen more movies than anyone on earth other than Martin Scorcese. But just goes to show you how overlooked that part of your mantra is: watch. Movies. A lot of the great directors from Spielberg’s era have probably seen more than half of those movies. Maybe even 3/4. The younger filmmakers coming up now? I’d be shocked if they’d seen 30 of them. I haven’t seen anywhere NEAR half of them. Anyways. Pretty interesting list. I uploaded it as a Google document which I figure is probably easier for sharing than a Word document.
This on the heels of our own Deep Focus: The Go Into The Movies Project, the point of which is to provide free online resources to encourage you to immerse yourself in the world of cinema.
For Spielberg’s alleged list of must-see movies, go here.
Read scripts.
Watch movies.
Write pages.
You should do all three if you’re serious about becoming a screenwriter.
Many thanks to Nate for creating the Google doc. I’ve added that to our Deep Focus resource.
The shame for me isn't that I've only seen about 50 of these. It's that at least another 50 have been sitting on my Netflix Queue for years without me actually getting them, sitting down, and watching them.
I've seen most on the list, but there are a surprising number I haven't. It's lit a fire under my ass to see them, that's for sure!
My count was only 45, but now I know what I'll be doing!
Spielberg only put one of his own films on the list and it's Close Encounters. Interesting…
How old is this list? The newest film on there from what I can see is Scent of a Woman (1992). Maybe he doesn't like new movies but it seems a bit strange he would leave some modern classics off the list, like Shawshank Redemption and Megashark vs. Giant Octopus (one of those is a joke.)
@Teddy: In terms of how old the list is, good question. I know a lot of old farts tend to think movies went to crap after the 70s, but that's just not true. Some of my personal favorite films were produced in the last two decades like Shawshank, Adaptation, and TDK.
Perhaps time for Mr. Spielberg to update his list? How many more do you think he'd add if went through the 90s and 2000s?
Did anyone else find three Albert Brooks inclusions vs. say, only one Carol Reed, a surprise?
Still have quite a few to get to…
I don't doubt Nate's veracity one bit but… is this real?! I mean, you'd think there'd be scores of people in the cinema-know wagging their tongues about this. Because let's face it… it's a goldmine. Who better to guide you on a path of self-induced movie college of knowledge than THE MAN himself.
Either way, I this is a great find!
Oh and my number stands around 140. Nice to have a new checklist to work on!
The three you mentioned, and perhaps these:
Pulp Fiction
City of God
Being John Malkovich
American Beauty
Life Is Beautiful
Unforgiven
Toy Story
Amelie
Lord of the Rings trilogy
The Lives of Others
The Royal Tenenbaums
Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind
Pan's Labyrinth
The Departed
No Country For Old Men
There Will Be Blood
Spirited Away
Inception
4 Months, 3 Weeks and 2 Days
The Tree of Life
Another Year
Lost In Translation
The Harry Potter series
Mulholland Drive
Who says there aren't any good movies made anymore?
@Jeffrey: I can't vouch for the authenticity of the list 100%. Regardless it's a good list. And my default mode is to promote writers seeing movies. One need consider how Tarantino learned the craft of filmmaking, largely by watching and analyzing movies.
@Teddy: Now you've done it, opened the floodgates to movies from the 90s and 2000s that deserve to be screened. How about Miyazaki? Pixar? "Up" is definitely one of my top 10 favorite movies of all time.
He he, there are so many from the last two decades. I haven't compared the two, but do you feel that Spielberg's list corresponds to the Deep Focus essentials you compiled?
I've seen all but 7. Mostly the French ones as I had a French girlfriend who turned me on the Cousine, Cousine and At Long Last Love. But then she broke my heart and to spite her I refused to watch any more French movies.
Pleasant surprise to see Albert Brooks there. I consider him to be a genius. His movie about sense of humor in the middle east is another classic, so is the Scout and the Muse.
It's a great list. missed some classics like Mr.Lucky with Cary Grant, but it will do.
@Jefferey: Yeah, no way to know exactly 100 percent: I didn't find the list on his desk, but I'd be willing to bet it's real. If it's not, it was put together by someone who understands Spielberg's influences uncannily well. And, like Scott says, it's a list of great movies. We should all watch them anyways
. Again, though, valid point. I'll ask around and see if some friends have heard of this.
@Teddy: I'm not totally sure at all when it was created, but I'd guess that the lack of newer films has more to do with the goal of the list rather than the new-movies-suck attitude. Reading it in 2011, these are almost all "classic" movies in the sense that they're all from 30-40 years ago, minimum. I thought of it as Spielberg picking out the classics/original movies that influenced him/his entire generation of filmmakers–to give us the people that came up with styles and techniques that a younger filmmaker might assume originated from whatever 1991 film he loved so much in his childhood. Which is totally valid. I'm 23 and I don't think I've seen half of these. Most guys and girls my age probably haven't even HEARD of half of these :/.
@Scott: Official GITS addendum to the list to represent the 90s and 2000s for our own viewing pleasure?
OK now the bloodhound detective in me is sniffing on a trail…
John mentioned the inclusion of the Brooks films which I too find curious. Not because of their presence (I personally find Albert Brooks to be THE comedy mind of our time, perhaps even over Woody Allen, Mel Brooks, and the Pythons) but because of the titles selected.
Modern Romance and Real Life, while both terrific (Real Life especially for basically "inventing" the notion of reality TV 20 years before its time), are FAR from his finest works, which are, arguably, Lost in America (which is there), Defending Your Life, and Mother.
So what to surmise from these oddities? First, it dates the list, as we have all pretty much established, and second… it makes it all the more authentic for me, if only because of the quirky inclusion of the 3 Brooks titles like that. Someone trying to "make a list like Spielberg would make" probably wouldn't opt for a trio of neurotic, fidgety works from a comic whose real name is Albert Einstein.
Er, right?
This is fascinating stuff!
Great list! My count was 94 and I don't think I watch enough films! Seriously, I think if you just stayed in and watched TV one christmas you'd see around 30 of these.
A lot I've seen because of my age, around 50 as a direct result of various books/classes about screenwriting telling me I should see them.
Amazed and slightly ashamed at what I still haven't seen though.
Wow, Spielberg clearly has a big blind spot when it comes to Marlon Brando. There are a lot of bloated '60s melodramas (many of them starring bloated '60s Brando) on this list that are terrrrrrrrrrible.
There are some odd choices, but any list like this (authentic or not) will necessarily be personal, and reflect where you were when you made it…
I was a little surprised that there were so many I had not seen, as I watch a LOT of movies. Especially as someone who hasn't "studied" film. (For example, I've rated over 3000 on Netflix.) But there were even a handful I hadn't heard of.
Still, I've watched 169 of these, which is not too bad.
Would be curious to see a more updated list.
Thing is, most folks entering the biz will have seen most of the movies they're supposed to see in the 90s and above … if not, it will be quickly apparent.
Older films, however, are a different story … I first saw Citizen Kane as a freshman in college as part of a film appreciation class (they had a class, called film appreciation, I signed up because a class where we get to watch movies! how bummed was I when I discovered it was mostly old black and white films) … a lot of people are like that, unless you catch it on the TCM, you might not watch it … I'm still surprised at how many people haven't seen THE GREAT ESCAPE … it's an awesome movie …
btw, according to my count, I think I've seen 95 of the movies on this list … so I'm way behind, too.
I have my father to thank for The Great Escape. And the Bridge over River Kwai. And Patton.
We always watched war movies and westerns (and James Bond movies) together. Otherwise I probably would have seen far fewer of the films on that list. In fact, there are a couple of movies I didn't give myself credit for watching, that I may have seen as a kid… but if I don't remember for sure, I don't think it counts.
@Laura: I have a similar but different dynamic. I've watched tons of family / children's movies over the last two decades that I never would have watched if it hadn't been for my sons.
We should be thankful for those who persuade us to see movies, even crappy ones. [I still haven't forgiven my wife for convincing me to see "The Hunger" instead of "Monty Python's Meaning of Life." I made up for that by seeing MPMOL the very next night]. Even bad movies teach us something.
Nice! Thanks for posting this! I've only seen 49 so I've got some work to do.
I've seen all but 14 of them. Anyway since Dr. Strangelove isn't on the list it cannot be taken seriously. Fail.
I've seen about 120 films on the list, including many that I should have skipped. The list could do with some pruning.
I would drop "Modern Times" and add "City Lights" and "Gold Rush" by Chaplin; I haven't seen "The Immigrant", or else have forgotten it. I would delete "The Godfather III", or else just leave it as an example why some movies should never be made.
I think there are several more films by Akira Kurosawa besides "The Seven Samurai" that belong on any list, especially "Yojimbo" but some prefer "Rashoman".
I would also include several more works by Stanley Kubrick. I do not need to name them.
I am ready..I have seen all but 2 of these movies, does that mean I watch way to many movies or that I have great taste. I would say the later..A movie buff foever
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