He’s one of the greatest, most successful filmmakers in the history of the moving image, but there were times throughout his career when even Steven Spielberg needed a hit.
Badly.One such crucial juncture arrived in 1980.
After the unprecedented blockbuster combo of “Jaws” and “Close Encounters of the Third Kind,” Spielberg face-planted with the critically reviled World War II comedy “1941.” Turns out a lot of folks thought making hay out of the Pacific Coast’s gun-toting freakout in the immediate wake of Pearl Harbor was in poor taste.
In any event, though the film was a moderate box office hit, it was perceived as a full-scale fiasco for the Hollywood wunderkind.
Had success spoiled Steven Spielberg?Spielberg not only felt the heat, he thought he’d barely escaped disaster with his two smashes.
He’d come close to getting fired when “Jaws” went way over schedule (as he scrambled to shoot around a…
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