All of Steven Spielberg's movies, ranked (including 'Jaws')
All of Steven Spielberg's movies, ranked (including 'Jaws')
Show Caption
Hide Caption
Top 3 scary moments in 'Jaws'
'Jaws' turns 50 this summer and USA TODAY film critic Brian Truitt celebrates with his favorite bloody moments.
Love movies? Live for TV? USA TODAY's Watch Party newsletter has all the best recommendations, delivered right to your inbox. Sign up now and be one of the cool kids.
For movie lovers who grew up in the blockbuster era, there's no more iconic filmmaker than Steven Spielberg.
And there's no more iconic blockbuster than the one that started them: Spielberg's "Jaws," the infamous shark movie that's celebrating its 50th anniversary. (Original release: June 20, 1975.)
Spielberg, 78, has done it all in his legendary Hollywood career, including winning two Oscars as best director. But it's easy to forget just how deep his filmography really goes.
His resume includes classic films like "Close Encounters of the Third Kind," best picture winner "Schindler's List," the first two "Jurassic Park" movies and the Indiana Jones franchise, with Harrison Ford as the globetrotting hero of "Raiders of the Lost Ark." And Spielberg is still breaking fresh ground: His 2022 drama "The Fabelmans" fictionalized his own childhood in coming-of-age fashion.
To mark "Jaws" turning 50, we're celebrating Spielberg's vast filmography by ranking every one of his feature films:
34. 'The Lost World: Jurassic Park' (1997)
The sequel is simply a poor genetic clone of the first "Jurassic Park." There's plenty of giant dinosaurs around, but the dinos and the humans alike are done in by weak characterization, iffy action scenes and a lack of the original's spirit.
33. 'Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom' (1984)
The Shanghai-set "Anything Goes" opening is magnificent. Unfortunately, everything else in this misadventure, from annoying love interests to cloying sidekicks, is a minecart going off the rails.
32. 'War of the Worlds' (2005)
Maybe it's an answer to the more benevolent aliens earlier in his career? Spielberg puts his own spin on the H.G. Wells invasion classic with Tom Cruise along for the ride, with mediocre results.
31. 'Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull' (2008)
Shia LaBeouf, aliens and an indestructible fridge aren't the greatest additions to the Indy franchise, but the franchise return of Karen Allen and debut of Cate Blanchett as an evil Soviet villainess make up for them.
30. 'The Terminal' (2004)
Tom Hanks is by far the best thing in the so-so dramedy about an Eastern European man stuck in New York's JFK airport thanks to a civil war that makes his passport null and void.
29. 'The BFG' (2016)
Spielberg plays it a little too safe with the outsized tale of an orphan girl and her very large best friend. However, it's a perfect intro to his oeuvre for the littlest kids entertained by flatulent corgis and a gibberish-spouting giant.
28. 'A.I. Artificial Intelligence' (2001)
Stanley Kubrick was originally supposed to direct, which would have yielded a much different movie than Spielberg's warm tale of a robot kid with the ability to love.
27. 'The Sugarland Express' (1974)
Goldie Hawn shines in one of her first dramatic roles in the story of two criminal parents who kidnap a cop and go to extreme lengths to get their baby boy back.
26. 'Hook' (1991)
Spielberg's films tend to be corny at times and this is the pinnacle of that, a sugary-sweet and well-meaning take on the Peter Pan mythology with Robin Williams as the Boy Who Wouldn't Grow Up actually grown up.
25. 'Always' (1989)
It goes overboard with the emotionally manipulative romance, but the flick gets points for having Audrey Hepburn in her last film role as an angel. The spirit greets a firefighting pilot who dies and then has to help a fellow flyboy who falls in love with the late dude's girlfriend.
24. 'Amistad' (1997)
Maybe not Spielberg's best "important" film but it's definitely one that's effective in conveying the historical significance of Africans taking over a slave ship heading to the USA circa 1839 and the ensuing legal fight.
23. 'Duel' (1971)
Before rampaging dinos and hungry sharks, Spielberg's film debut (which premiered as a TV movie but also got a theatrical release) offered a truck as its main antagonist. And the road rage is palpable and knuckle-clenching as a traveling salesman tries to avoid getting run off the road and killed by a vengeful big rig driver.
22. 'Ready Player One' (2018)
It's a little odd to see Spielberg directing what's pretty much an homage to his entire geeky filmography. Still, youthful rebellion in virtual reality looks great and the concept of online escapes resonates in an increasingly intense real world.
21. 'Munich' (2005)
A poignant thriller spin is put on one of the sports world's darkest moments, recounting the Israel government's secret act of vengeance for the massacre of its athletes at the 1972 Summer Olympics.
20. 'War Horse' (2011)
The filmmaker goes for all the fuzzy feels on a grand canvas with this World War I tale of a boy and his horse, their parallel stories and their long road to find each other again.
19. 'The Adventures of Tintin' (2011)
The animated effort with Peter Jackson gives us some serious Indiana Jones vibes with a young French journalist and his loyal canine friend on the hunt for a treasure-filled sunken ship.
18. 'Catch Me If You Can' (2002)
There's a fun and retro vibe to the real-life 1960s cat-and-mouse chase between a teenage con man (Leonardo DiCaprio) and dogged FBI agent (Hanks), made all the more so with a jazzy John Williams score.
17. 'Minority Report' (2002)
Featuring Cruise, the futuristic neo-noir sci-fi – about law enforcement capturing ne'er-do-wells before they do anything illegal – has only grown more engrossing and salient as technology has taken big leaps around us.
16. 'Bridge of Spies' (2015)
The filmmaker puts you right into the chilly spycraft of the Cold War, though it's the chemistry between Hanks and Mark Rylance – as an earnest attorney and his Russian secret-agent client – that fuels the drama.
15. 'The Fabelmans' (2022)
This is the portrait of an icon as a 1960s youngster, with Gabriel LaBelle playing a talented teen who loves making movies but faces troubles at home with his parents (Paul Dano and Michelle Williams) and at school with antisemitic bullies.
14. '1941' (1979)
While Spielberg's purest comedy didn't get the best reception, the World War II flick is a hilarious, star-studded wonder about panicked and paranoid LA citizens worrying about a Japanese attack after Pearl Harbor.
13. 'Empire of the Sun' (1987)
Nearly 20 years before he was Batman, Christian Bale was the posh British lad living in China who becomes separated from his parents and ends up in a World War II Japanese internment camp in the emotional epic.
12. 'Lincoln' (2012)
Daniel Day-Lewis transforms into the 16th president in one of his most memorable roles, and Spielberg crafts an amazing look at the later months of the Civil War that would either make or break the country.
11. 'The Post' (2017)
The Pentagon Papers drama is a spiritual prequel of sorts to "All the President's Men," a love letter to journalism and the convening of an amazing cast, including Hanks as hard-charging Washington Post editor Ben Bradlee. In a modern landscape where media struggle to survive, Spielberg rallies to celebrate what makes it great.
10. 'West Side Story' (2021)
It takes some major chutzpah to tackle the classic Broadway show onscreen for the first time since the Oscar-winning 1961 adaptation. But leave it to Spielberg to retell the love story of Tony (Ansel Elgort) and Maria (Rachel Zegler) in a fresh and relevant way, craft epic musical numbers that bring new life to Leonard Bernstein's music and Stephen Sondheim's lyrics, improve the storytelling of this piece of Americana and snag another best picture nomination.
9. 'Saving Private Ryan' (1998)
One of the best war movies ever, period. Spielberg's excellent take on the Invasion of Normandy was groundbreaking in its graphic depictions of the battlefield but especially for its ferocious knockout of an opening. The landing on Omaha Beach shows the carnage and chaos from the perspective of an Army Ranger captain (Hanks), stunned and stumbling in bloody water, and forces an audience to feel unflinching horror.
8. 'E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial' (1982)
The seminal movie for '80s kids captures hearts and jerks tears with the story of a super-cute alien and the youngsters who rally to keep him safe from authorities and take care of him when he's sick. As key as E.T. is, what's even more important is his friendship with Elliot (Henry Thomas), an alienated boy desperately needing a connection in the wake of his parents' divorce. E.T. wants to go home, but Elliott has to rediscover his own, too.
7. 'Close Encounters of the Third Kind' (1977)
The more grown-up complement to E.T. put a mysterious and thoughtful spin on first contact with aliens and the idea that we're all just a small piece of a bigger puzzle. When the visitors come, it's not spoken language but instead a musical theme that bridges the intergalactic gap between us and them, and Richard Dreyfuss' blue-collar worker is every dreamer who's ever looked into the sky and wanted to see the stars. Spielberg's vision is sentimental yet feels so satisfying.
6. 'Jurassic Park' (1993)
Dinosaurs were already cool but in the hands of Spielberg, they are a grand spectacle – and a fearsome set of antagonists – in a movie about not messing around with Mother Nature. The filmmaker takes on corporate greed and mankind's god complex by imagining a theme park of genetically cloned reptiles, but on a more popcorn-chewing level, Spielberg crafts both a terrifying journey as well as a breathtaking collection of species we can only wish existed.
5. 'The Color Purple' (1985)
Exceptional performances (especially Whoopi Goldberg and Oprah Winfrey) drive this wrenching and intimate story of abused but strong women who find their voices and identity in early 20th-century Georgia. Goldberg's Celie is the mousy wife of a mean, bullying farmhand (Danny Glover), one of the men she's been oppressed by and who've kept her from family and a real life, until she finally roars in a rousing catharsis that feels hugely meaningful.
4. 'Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade' (1989)
It's rare that a threequel is almost as good as the first, but this two-fisted quest for the Holy Grail doubles as a surprisingly deep narrative about fathers, sons and mortality. All the usual fun Indy stuff is here – Nazis, treasured artifacts – though the bantering chemistry between Ford's hard-luck hero and Sean Connery as his grumpy dad is off-the-hook spectacular. Bogie and Bacall have nothing on these two.
3. 'Jaws' (1975)
It takes something really special to affect the American populace so much they rethink their beach trips. With that ominous two-note John Williams theme and an infamous killer shark, the movie spawned the summer blockbuster and wracked many a nerve with its water-bound terror. It also taps into a man-vs.-nature dynamic as a modern-day Moby-Dick with Robert Shaw's Quint as the obsessed hunter inextricably tied to his great white nemesis.
2. 'Schindler's List' (1993)
Spielberg's black-and-white dramatic masterwork is a beautiful and brutal look at the Holocaust and an unlikely hero that manages to find hope and kindness in the face of pure evil. The character arc of German businessman Oskar Schindler (Liam Neeson) is astounding, from hiring Jewish workers because they're cheap to giving away a fortune to save hundreds from certain doom. Through his eyes, we see the hatred, dread and innocence lost of that period in history.
1. 'Raiders of the Lost Ark' (1981)
The first Indiana Jones movie – with lots of Nazi-punching and world-shaking religious implications – is the perfect action adventure. In fact, face-meltingly so. It makes smart heroes cool forever after (in everything from "The X-Files" to "Iron Man"), offers a love interest who's just as good in a fight as Indy, is as funny as it is compelling, and – sorry, "Star Wars" – gives us Ford's signature cinema icon. It's the kind of movie that reminds us all why we love movies.
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
Yahoo
17 minutes ago
- Yahoo
'Jaws 'Actress Lorraine Gary Admits She Had a 'Mad Crush' on Costar Robert Shaw (Exclusive)
Lorraine Gary played Ellen Brody in the 1975 thriller Jaws In a new interview with PEOPLE for the film's 50th anniversary, the actress admits she had a "mad crush" on costar Robert Shaw Gary also remembers director Steven Spielberg having nerves while helming his first big filmEllen Brody may have been married to the police chief in Jaws, but in real life, she was much more interested in Quint. "I had a mad crush on Robert Shaw," Lorraine Gary, who played Ellen, tells PEOPLE in an exclusive interview. Shaw portrayed Quint, the hardened hunter tasked with taking down the shark terrorizing Amity Island in the 1975 thriller. "Now for me, he was more than a gorgeous actor," she continues. "He was a playwright, he was an intellectual, he was a lovely, lovely human being. And yes, that was thrilling." Shaw died in 1978 at the age of 51 of a heart attack, three years after the release of Jaws. "We only had three days together in the Vineyard, and that's when I began to know him," Gary recalls, referencing Matha's Vineyard, where the film was primarily shot. "But when we came back to California and the film was still shooting at Universal, we had dinner first at a restaurant with Robert." "My son Billy opened the door and let him in, and Robert said, 'Hello, poxy!' In other words, 'You've got chicken pox.' And [Billy] at the point had no fever, no spots, nothing. But having had so many kids, he recognized the symptoms of someone who was coming down with it." She adds, "He had, like, 12 children!" Gary, 88, retired from acting in 1979 after starring in Steven Spielberg's 1941. She reprised her role as Ellen once more for the final Jaws movie in 1987, Jaws: The Revenge. Jaws was the first Spielberg movie Gary starred in. Her husband, Sid Sheinberg, the head of Universal at the time, is credited with discovering the fledgling director. Gary recalls her husband first told her Universal was producing Jaws, and her agent put her up for the role with no audition. "Steven knew my work, and he liked my work and that was it," she says. Jaws was famously shot on-location in the Atlantic Ocean and went 100 days over schedule, causing Spielberg to think his career as a filmmaker was "over." Never miss a story — sign up for to stay up-to-date on the best of what PEOPLE has to offer, from celebrity news to compelling human interest stories. "Steven's a very human guy, and of course he was nervous," Gary says. "I'm sure he was scared that he'd be pulled from this first big movie, but he was confident in his own work. What he wasn't confident in was the building of the shark, until it finally worked several times after failing and working on the ocean, which was an enormous risk and caused a lot of the delay." The mechanical shark frequently malfunctioned in the water, delaying the production process. But Gary adds that her husband was confident the risk would pay off. "It was Sid that decided to spend the extra money to bet on Steven's talent. He knew this was going to be a very big movie, and it was Sid's idea to open huge in 400 theaters, which was generally not done," she shares. "And he's the man you can blame for the summer blockbusters! I blame him for that too. I don't like most of those other movies, but I did like Jaws." For more on Jaws, pick up the latest issue of PEOPLE, on newsstands Friday. Read the original article on People
Yahoo
2 hours ago
- Yahoo
Danny Boyle admits he couldn't make 'Slumdog Millionaire' today because of cultural appropriation concerns
English director Danny Boyle said that he would not direct "Slumdog Millionaire" if it was made today due to "cultural appropriation" and would rather have a "young Indian filmmaker" make it instead. "We wouldn't be able to make that now. And that's how it should be. It's time to reflect on all that. We have to look at the cultural baggage we carry and the mark that we've left on the world... At the time it felt radical," Boyle told The Guardian. 'Snow White' Becomes Disney's Worst-performing Live-action Remake In Nearly 10 Years Set in India, the movie tells the story of Jamal, a young "slumdog" who's been selected to appear on the country's version of "Who Wants to Be a Millionaire?", and hopes to also find his childhood lost love, Latika. Throughout his appearance, events from his tumultuous life are shown in flashback and help him answer the questions. Released in 2008, "Slumdog Millionaire" was a hit with audiences and critics, grossing nearly $380 million on a $15 million budget and winning eight Oscars, including Best Picture and Director for Boyle. Denzel Washington Shuts Down Reports He Bailed On Cannes Film Festival After Red Carpet Incident Read On The Fox News App However, despite its success, the movie was controversial for appearing to exploit Indian culture and portray stereotypes of India from a western perspective. Some Indian critics enjoyed the movie, but some Indian artists were underwhelmed, claiming it was "saturated with stereotyped images of India," TIME magazine reported. Boyle added that while the film was in production over 15 years ago, he was sensitive to the exploitative implications of making the movie as a foreigner then. "We made the decision that only a handful of us would go to Mumbai. We'd work with a big Indian crew and try to make a film within the culture. But you're still an outsider. It's still a flawed method. That kind of cultural appropriation might be sanctioned at certain times," Boyle told The Guardian. He went on to say, "But at other times it cannot be. I mean, I'm proud of the film, but you wouldn't even contemplate doing something like that today. It wouldn't even get financed. Even if I was involved, I'd be looking for a young Indian filmmaker to shoot it." Boyle's other notable movies include "Trainspotting," "Steve Jobs," "127 Hours" and the "28 Days Later" horror series. The latest, "28 Years Later", was released on Friday. Boyle nor his representatives immediately responded to Fox News Digital's request for comment. Click Here To Read More On Fox NewsOriginal article source: Danny Boyle admits he couldn't make 'Slumdog Millionaire' today because of cultural appropriation concerns
3 hours ago
Nat Geo documentary explores cultural phenomenon of "Jaws" 50 years after its debut
Ginger Zee shares how the film changed movies and beach visits forever with National Geographic's upcoming documentary "Jaws @ 50: The Definitive Inside Story."
