Steven Spielberg’s Forgotten Fantasy Masterpiece Officially Says Goodbye to Netflix
Steven Spielberg’s Always, a lesser-known melodrama and homage to golden-age Hollywood romance films, is departing Netflix. The 1989 film remains one of Spielberg’s smaller productions, often overshadowed by the concurrent release of Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade.
According to the article, Always exemplifies a common challenge with classic films: their influence can make them feel less impactful to modern audiences. As subsequent generations of filmmakers built upon the original’s blueprint, the film’s innovations became absorbed into pop culture, making it appear more conventional to viewers experiencing it for the first time. This effect is particularly pronounced with films from the 1980s and earlier, created before contemporary media developed its reflexive irony and self-aware cynicism.
The unapologetic melodrama stands as a distinctive entry in Spielberg’s filmography, representing a deliberate stylistic choice that connects to cinema’s golden age rather than the science fiction and adventure films the director is best known for. As it exits the streaming platform, Always becomes yet another example of how classic films’ availability on major services remains in constant flux, dependent on licensing agreements and platform decisions.