While Schindler’s List (1993).
Scarface stars Carrie (1976) and Dressed to Kill (1980), and launched him into the status of prominent suspense and crime director in Hollywood.
According to Spielberg's direction wasn't a substantial contribution, but it was an interesting scene to add to his portfolio for the intense action shots he had yet to film. The Indiana Jones movies had a few fight scenes that likely inspired Spielberg, but nothing as dark as a gunfight to assassinate a drug lord.
Spielberg and De Palma were apparently good friends at the time and were known to frequent each other’s movie sets. The two directors had always wanted to collaborate on a film, so when Spielberg was on set for Scarface's climactic gunfight scene, De Palma convinced him to take over one of the early shots. Spielberg apparently wanted his contribution to be uncredited so as to not take any creative recognition away from De Palma. Fortunately for De Palma, Spielberg didn’t ask to take over the infamous “say hello to my little friend” part of the scene.
At the time of his Scarface directing bit, Spielberg had just come off of E.T. in 1982 and may have been searching for a way to ease into a darker, more dramatic style of movies. While the scene of Tony’s house raid is one of the most famous crime scenes in history, it’s not the most violent scene Spielberg has shot. Considering the early Omaha Beach scene in Saving Private Ryan puts one right in the middle of the deadly World War II battle, Scarface was just a preview of the violence Spielberg was waiting to portray. It’s only a matter of time until the world gets a full feature gangster movie from Spielberg to add to the classics by Coppola, Scorsese, and De Palma.
