Forty-two years ago a little-known, 30-something actor named Steven Spielberg played a Cook County Assessor clerk in “The Blues Brothers.” He had a few lines, such as “Can I help you?” and “Here is your receipt.” His on-screen career came and went so fast you never noticed. But that filmmaking career — well, it’s hard to overstate its importance and reach. At the 94th annual Academy Awards on Sunday, Spielberg, now 75, will be a contender for best director for the eighth time. It ties him with Billy Wilder for number of nominations in the category, placing him ahead of Alfred Hitchcock and John Ford, but just behind Martin Scorsese (nine nominations) and William Wyler (12 nominations). Spielberg is also the first director to receive a nod in six different decades.
In other words, we have been watching Steven Spielberg movies for 50 years.
To be specific, his first feature, “Duel,” a nasty little Dennis Weaver road-rage thriller, debuted on ABC in the fall of 1971, then internationally in movie theaters a few months later. A half-century later, the latest film he’s nominated for is his remake of “West Side Story.”
