10 Directors Who Bounced Back With A Vengeance After Failed Movies

7) Steven Spielberg: From 1941 To Raiders of the Lost Ark

The Failure

Ever wonder why Steven Spielberg – with all his crowd-pleasing credentials – doesn’t make more comedies? Well, with 1941 you have your answer. An ill-advised mix of slapstick, big blockbuster antics, and WWII-era nostalgia, 1941 is the bloated result of Spielberg at the height of an ego trip. It’s epic, technically impressive, but crucially, hardly ever funny. Spielberg looks back on the film with little fondness, and the same goes for the few who actually paid to see it.

The Comeback

After 1941, Spielberg’s went from perhaps his worst film to quite possibly his best: Raiders of the Lost Ark. Now regarded as one of the great action/adventure movies, the film spawned a lucrative franchise, confirmed the megastar status of Harrison Ford, and returned Spielberg to his blockbuster roots. Nowadays, there’s no measuring the cultural impact of Raiders, easily one of the most iconic, quotable films ever made.