Smash hit

Not surprisingly, the complaisant finale is there like a safety net in his first serious film, The Color Purple. But the story peaks when Whoopi Goldberg finds the courage to leave her tyrannical husband. What follows is a 25-minute series of feel-good resolutions, including a lucky inheritance and a gospel choir set-piece out of The Blues Brothers. They remove all the sting. The big mother-and-child reunion scene, complete with slow-motion running through a field, is not a healing balm on pain and loss, but syrup on syrup.

Spielberg’s own human flaw is very similar to his robot-child hero — he has a sentimental streak to crack the Moon. It it hard to know where to look, for example, during the coda scene of Saving Private Ryan, when the misty-eyed veteran turns to his wife and blubs: “Tell me I’ve led a good life. Tell me I’m a good man.”

It is not the line so much as the gushing staging of the scene that feels so false.

Even Schindler’s List, an otherwise impeccably restrained film, trips up with the climactic scene of Schindler’s departure. “I could have done more,” he sobs in front of the entire camp. “I threw away so much money, you have no idea.”

Again, it is not the sentiment that rings false, but the staging. The lines sound like a quiet confession Schindler might make to his wife later, but they are inflated into a soaring, sobbing set piece complete with group hug.

Schindler’s List used to seem to be the signpost to a more experimental future, but now it looks increasingly like a detour. Spielberg’s next project is an update of The War of the Worlds with Tom Cruise, confirming he is a director who craves mega-hits above all else.

He is an artist with the soul of a tycoon, and an insecure soul at that. A film-maker who keeps trying to win an audience he has already won.

THE ONES THAT GOT AWAY

White Lightning (1973) Car chase flick with Burt Reynolds. Spielberg passed on it as he thought it was too close to his man v truck movie Duel.

The Taking of Pelham 123 (1974) He was in the frame for this subway heist movie until United Artists thought it “director proof” so gave it to journeyman Joseph Sargent.

California Split (1974) While still in TV, he worked with the writer Joseph Walsh on a gambling script which stalled after Walsh clashed with MGM. The writer later made it with Robert Altman.

Lucky Lady (1975) Too busy with Jaws to direct this 1930s romp about rum-runners with Burt Reynolds and Liza Minnelli. It bombed as a Stanley Donen film.

Magic (1978) Richard Attenborough directed Anthony Hopkins as the ventriloquist controlled by his dummy. It might have been Spielberg and Robert De Niro.

Big (1988) Tale of a kid in an adult’s body was scripted by Spielberg’s sister Anne and developed for Harrison Ford. Brother Steven withdrew, apparently not to overshadow her achievement.

Rain Man (1998) Worked for a year with Dustin Hoffman, Tom Cruise and writer Ron Bass but left to honour his commitment to the Indiana Jones franchise.

Cape Fear (1991) Planned a remake of the 1950s thriller, then handed it over to Martin Scorsese. De Niro as menacing Max Cady was Spielberg’s suggestion.

The Bridges of Madison County (1995) Originally announced as a Spielberg project but Clint Eastwood eventually directed and starred with Meryl Streep.

Memoirs of a Geisha (2004) Spent years developing Arthur Golden’s novel. Now being directed by Rob (Chicago) Marshall.

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