{"id":631031,"date":"2026-06-10T11:18:41","date_gmt":"2026-06-10T11:18:41","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/631031\/"},"modified":"2026-06-10T11:18:41","modified_gmt":"2026-06-10T11:18:41","slug":"every-steven-spielberg-movie-ranked-from-duel-to-disclosure-day","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/631031\/","title":{"rendered":"Every Steven Spielberg Movie Ranked \u2014 From Duel To Disclosure Day"},"content":{"rendered":"

Has any filmmaker had as much of an impact on cinema and pop culture at large as Steven Spielberg? The director of many of the greatest blockbusters, most stirring dramas, most beloved kids\u2019 films<\/a>, most exciting thrillers, and most spine-tingling sci-fi movies<\/a> of all time is one-of-a-kind \u2013 rising up in the New Hollywood era of the 1970s to redefine the landscape of Hollywood in every decade since. Across 35 features, he\u2019s run the gamut of genres, tones, and emotions, with his own signature moves and thematic occupations shining through \u2013 and now, with the release of Disclosure Day, Steven Spielberg is preparing to shock and awe cinemagoers once again by returning to the kind of big-hearted sci-fi blockbuster he made famous, daring to answer questions he’s been asking since way back when with Close Encounters<\/a>.<\/p>\n

There\u2019s the impossible question though: among his many masterful works, which one stands tallest? Team Empire gathered to vote for the best Steven Spielberg films, picking from a catalogue packed with unimpeachable masterpieces. But a consensus was eventually reached \u2013 and you can read the official ordering below. Ranked order aside, taking an overview of his astonishing career is another reminder of just how lucky we are to have him.<\/p>\n

35) 1941 (1979)
\n\"1941\"<\/p>\n

\u201cSteve\u2019s direction was brilliant,\u201d George Lucas once observed about 1941. \u201cThe idea was terrible.\u201d Spinning off from the real-life panic that swept through Los Angeles in the aftermath of the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor, the biggest misfire in Spielberg\u2019s career was billed as a \u201cComedy Spectacular\u201d (written by a pre-Back To The Future<\/a> Robert Zemeckis and Bob Gale) that for much of its running time is a laugh-free zone. Still, there are moments of jaw-dropping brilliance \u2014 a jitterbug dance sequence is as bravura as anything in West Side Story \u2014 and, in the midst of the cast shouting their heads off, has touches of sly wit (a tank becomes multi-coloured as it crashes through a paint factory, before being cleaned by careening through a turpentine warehouse). It is visually spectacular (a Ferris Wheel rolls down a pier), has a ridiculously catchy John Williams march, and is the answer to the pub question: \u201cWhich film features Toshiro Mifune, Christopher Lee and Mickey Rourke?\u201d But it\u2019s also monotonal, repetitive and, as critic Pauline Kael once eloquently put it, like \u201chaving your head stuck in a pinball machine for two hours.\u201d Spielberg hasn\u2019t made an out-and-out comedy since.<\/p>\n

Read Empire’s review of 1941<\/a>.<\/p>\n

34) Hook (1991)
\n\"Hook\"<\/p>\n

Spielberg himself has gone on to say that he was never particularly happy with Hook. But this late-in-life Peter Pan epic is giddily good fun, from its candy-coloured food fight to its swashbuckling showdowns. The worldbuilding is pure Spielberg magic, with Never Never Land\u2019s bustling, fantastical vistas \u2014 especially the Lost Boys\u2019 tree-set sanctuary \u2014 the film\u2019s strongest hand. The filmmaker\u2019s knack for hiring great collaborators saw Carrie Fisher board the film as script doctor, whose contributions made Julia Roberts\u2019 Tinkerbell a funnier, fresher take on the Disney waif. As Spielberg\u2019s first children-centric film since E.T., Hook was always a film with the odds stacked against it, and tepid reviews upon its release confirmed that it didn\u2019t quite capture the alien caper\u2019s enchanting spell over audiences. Yet for people who grew up with the film, there will always be that spark of delight when Peter first slices that spinning coconut in two.<\/p>\n

Read Empire’s review of Hook<\/a>.<\/p>\n

33) The BFG (2016)
\n\"The<\/p>\n

Let\u2019s be clear: Spielberg\u2019s take on the classic Roal Dahl tale is perfectly solid, with a warm performance from the legendary Mark Rylance as the BFG (that\u2019s, Big Friendly Giant for the non-initiated), and Ruby Barnhill rising to meet him in her screen debut as 10-year-old orphan girl Sophie. But the potential here was for an all-out classic \u2014 especially when you factor in E.T. scribe Melissa Mathison on scripting duties. While there\u2019s an over-reliance on floaty CGI giants and an oddly meandering plot, there are still moments of magic here \u2014 the Lilliputian wonder as tiny Sophie stalks through the giants\u2019 oversized world, and the ethereal sight of the BFG capturing dreams in the nighttime London streets. Still, it\u2019s more breezy, flawed and gentle, from a filmmaking team capable of delivering works of brilliant, fantastic genius. Snozzcumbers, anyone?<\/p>\n

Read Empire’s review of The BFG<\/a>.<\/p>\n

32) Indiana Jones And The Kingdom Of The Crystal Skull (2008)
\n\"Indiana<\/p>\n

Talk about immense pressure: living up to the original Indy trilogy was always going to be near-impossible. And while Crystal Skull doesn\u2019t help itself at various points (the monkey-swinging vine sequence, the CGI aliens, the goofy quicksand scene), there\u2019s still some stellar stuff here. The opening hotrod chase, situating audiences in the 1950s, is masterful. The re-introduction of Indy himself \u2014 entering frame silhouette-first \u2014 is perfect. The shake, rattle, and rollin\u2019 greasers-vs-jocks brawl and subsequent motorcycle chase is a blast, as is the Area 51 warehouse setpiece. Crucially, most of that comes from the film\u2019s opening hour, which holds up far better than given credit for. But undeniably, the film begins to wobble from there, becoming tonally-muddled, with a meandering plot, off-putting turns by John Hurt and Ray Winstone, and CGI-assisted action sequences that just feel off. Shia LaBoeuf\u2019s Mutt never connects, while the fact that Cate Blanchett\u2019s stern Russian baddie ends up feeling bland is near-inconceivable. Still, it\u2019s hard not to get caught up when the theme kicks in and Indy is back in action. And can we finally admit that the nuke-the-fridge sequence (inspired by an abandoned Back To The Future<\/a> idea) is actually very good?<\/p>\n

Read Empire’s review of Indiana Jones And The Kingdom Of The Crystal Skull<\/a>.<\/p>\n

31) Always (1989)
\n\"Always\"<\/p>\n

Possibly the forgotten film of Spielberg\u2019s career (The Sugarland Express at least gets mentioned in dispatches because it\u2019s technically his feature debut), Always is a light-as-a-feather confection, but still much more entertaining than its detractors give it credit for. The director\u2019s remake of 1944\u2019s Spencer Tracy-starrer A Guy Named Joe (it appears on the TV in Poltergeist<\/a>) features an impish Richard Dreyfuss as a firefighting flying ace who, killed in action, returns to haunt his ex (Holly Hunter) as she starts a new relationship with a lunkheaded pilot (Brad Johnson). As ever it is sky-high on filmmaking brio \u2014 the forest fire sequences are astonishing \u2014 but the sophistication of the artistry isn\u2019t matched by the maturity of the relationship dynamics. It\u2019s a minor work with major flourishes.<\/p>\n

Read Empire’s review of Always<\/a>.<\/p>\n

30) The Terminal (2004)
\n\"The<\/p>\n

Spielberg\u2019s third Tom Han<\/a>ks<\/a> collab is the anti-1941 \u2014 small, perfectly formed, and human. After a coup d\u2019etat in his homeland of Krakozhia (top fictional nation name) renders him without citizenship, Hanks\u2019 everyman Viktor Navorski is forced to stay in New York\u2019s JFK airport until the issue is resolved. The visual comedy of Jacques Tati meets Capra-esque heartfelt cornball as Viktor plays matchmaker to airport staff (hello, Diego Luna and Zoe Salda\u00f1a) and finds romance himself with cabin crew Catherine Zeta-Jones. Spielberg constructed his own airport in a massive LA hangar and became the first movie to use a Spidercam \u2013 a camera on wires that\u2019s now a staple in TV sports coverage \u2013 to traverse the huge space in epic shots. Still, it remains an intimate film, full of lovely grace notes (Viktor \u2018tries on\u2019 a Hugo Boss suit in a shop window reflection) and has moments of drama (Navorksi acts as an interpreter for a Russian man stopped from bringing medicines into the US) that belie its trifling reputation.<\/p>\n

Read Empire’s review of The Terminal<\/a>.<\/p>\n

29) The Sugarland Express (1974)
\n\"The<\/p>\n

With Duel being made for TV, The Sugarland Express is Spielberg\u2019s official theatrical debut. While it may never make those dazzling debut lists occupied by Breathless<\/a>, Citizen Kane<\/a>, and Reservoir Dogs<\/a>, it\u2019s still an underrated treat. Inspired by a true story, it centres on spunky-but-dim Lou Jean Poplin (Goldie Hawn, terrific) who breaks her husband Clovis (a pre-Ghostbusters<\/a> and –Die Hard<\/a> William Atherton) out of a reform centre, takes a State Trooper (Michael Sachs) hostage, and travels cross Texas to reclaim their son Langston from foster parents. It\u2019s a film that sees Spielberg\u2019s already prodigious talents fully-formed, not just in the stunning choreography of the film\u2019s car chases and crashes, but also in the sensitive work with performance and character. It has that \u201870s New Hollywood melancholy about it, but it also has a technical assurance that belongs to an earlier age \u2014 chiefly recalling the economy and simplicity of John Ford (see The Fabelmans). You feel in safe hands from the get-go.<\/p>\n

Read Empire’s review of The Sugarland Express<\/a>.<\/p>\n

28) Amistad (1997)
\n\"Amistad\"<\/p>\n

In 1993, Spielberg pulled off the double whammy of Jurassic Park and Schindler\u2019s List in the same calendar year. Four years later, he repeated the trick to less acclaim with The Lost World: Jurassic Park and Amistad, released within seven months of each other. But the farther we get away from Spielberg\u2019s slavery drama, the more impressive it gets. Telling the story of the legal battle over 53 African slaves who were arrested after mutiny on the Spanish ship La Amistad, it is the biggest departure from the filmmaker\u2019s usual mode in his career, mostly told in beautiful painterly tableaux with little camera movement, while Spielberg\u2019s cinematic intelligence courses through every frame. Occasionally it\u2019s dramatically inert, but at its best \u2014 the middle passage, where slaves are thrown overboard tied to rocks, is as harrowing as anything in Schindler\u2019s List \u2014 it is terrific. A fascinating companion piece\/quasi prequel to Lincoln.<\/p>\n

Read\u00a0Empire’s\u00a0review of Amistad<\/a>.<\/p>\n

27) War Horse (2011)
\n\"War<\/p>\n

For years after Saving Private Ryan, Spielberg steered away from war films, per se \u2013 but he squelched back onto the battlefield with an adaptation of Michael Morpurgo\u2019s World War I story about the bonds built between men and animals amid life on the Western Front in Flanders. And it makes total sense too: part Private Ryan (mud, explosions, muddy explosions) and part E.T. (boy loves creature which is ultimately taken away), War Horse\u2019s great strength is that it absolutely refuses to be embarrassed about leaning into the deep, sweeping sentiment at its centre, instead matching it with vast, romantic vistas. There\u2019s a purity of heart to War Horse which it\u2019s hard not to be swept up by \u2013 and it\u2019s worth remembering, too, that it heralded a sea change in Hollywood. Basically nobody made World War I films in 2011. In War Horse\u2019s wake came 1917<\/a>, Benediction<\/a>, and the rest.<\/p>\n

Read\u00a0Empire’s\u00a0review of War Horse<\/a>.<\/p>\n

26) Ready Player One (2018)
\n\"Ready<\/p>\n

In 2018, it had been well over a decade since Spielberg had last leant into full-blown sci-fi territory. Then along came Ernest Cline\u2019s Ready Player One, a nerd-nirvana novel about a virtual reality dystopian future which references every pop culture touchstone worth its salt \u2014 including, not for nothing, a fair few Spielberg classics. The result is an insane candy store of nostalgia overload, a visual effects spectacle that rarely stops for breath, right up to its cameo-stacked pause-to-catch-everything finale. It\u2019s a film with its fair share of detractors \u2014 it is, admittedly, quite silly and noisy and a little shallow. But that feels kind of the point: this is cheesy, big-screen blockbuster spectacle as only Spielberg can make it, with all the masterful craft and popcorn thrills that implies. And, in its central Shining<\/a> homage sequence, it lets the director indulge his own pop cultural favourites too, gleefully running amok in the Overlook Hotel. Strap on your VR goggles and just enjoy the ride.<\/p>\n

Read Empire’s review of Ready Player One<\/a>.<\/p>\n

25) The Color Purple (1985)
\n\"The<\/p>\n

This film marks the pivot between Spielberg\u2019s years as a director who looked outside of Earth to learn more about humanity, and his later years where he would become as likely to delve back into history to explore where we were going. Based on Alice Walker\u2019s book of the same name, it follows Georgia teen Celie Harris (Whoopi Goldberg), who\u2019s had two children by her horrifically abusive father. As she grows up, her trauma weighs on her, but she finds solace in the friendship of her husband\u2019s son\u2019s wife Sofia (Oprah Winfrey) and the slowly growing love of showgirl Shug (Margaret Avery). Though it\u2019s definitely downplayed, the fact that there\u2019s a queer love story in a massively successful film in 1985 is worth celebrating along with the vividly created turn-of-the-century Deep South. With this, Spielberg\u2019s blockbuster era was replaced by something quieter, more thoughtful, and no less rewarding.<\/p>\n

Read Empire’s review of The Color Purple<\/a>.<\/p>\n

24) Empire Of The Sun (1987)
\n\"Empire<\/p>\n

If much of Spielberg\u2019s career celebrates the joy of childhood, Empire Of The Sun rings the death knell for it. Adapting J.G. Ballard\u2019s autobiographical novel about growing up in Shanghai during the Japanese invasion in 1941, Spielberg beautifully etches the privileged life of Christian Bale\u2019s Jamie Graham (J.G. geddit), before smashing it to smithereens as Japanese forces take control of the city in stunningly-orchestrated mayhem. Separated from his parents, Jamie lives on his wits, ending up in a prison camp as his innocence slowly ebbs away. It is, of course. the film that gifted the world Christian Bale (Spielberg bonded with the young actor by racing remote control cars with him), and much of the actor\u2019s subsequent intensity is in evidence here, perfectly portraying an increasingly broken psyche \u2014 when he barely recognises his parents at a painful reunion, it\u2019s the perfect riposte to those accusations of Spielbergian schmaltz.<\/p>\n

Read Empire’s review of Empire Of The Sun<\/a>.<\/p>\n

23) The Lost World: Jurassic Park (1997)
\n\"The<\/p>\n

A rare Spielberg sequel, it\u2019s easy to see why the director couldn\u2019t resist a second round of dinosaur action. After all the breakthroughs of the original, both in its industry-evolving CGI and its outstanding use of animatronics, there\u2019s a sense of escalation in The Lost World that could only have come in the wake of what was achieved first time around. You have Peter Stormare attacked by a mass of writhing, chittering compsognathus, two T-Rexes this time, and a slick stampede-safari sequence as InGen\u2019s forces swoop in to round up valuable dino-assets on \u2018Site B\u2019 island, Isla Sorna. But there\u2019s no denying that the elegance and simplicity of Jurassic Park\u2019s plotting is absent here, replaced with a muddier narrative tangle (and a notably angrier tone) that make this return less fun, less wondrous, and less engaging. Even Jeff Goldblum\u2019s returning Ian Malcolm is a tad dour in this one. But, when it cooks, Spielberg still delivers \u2013 the clifftop motorhome scramble is breathlessly tense, the (all-too-brief) raptors in the long grass moment remains a spectacular image, and the ultra-B-movie T-Rex in San Diego finale is as fun as it is dumb. The less said about the gymnastics-vs-raptors beat, though, the better.<\/p>\n

Read Empire’s review of The Lost World: Jurassic Park<\/a>.<\/p>\n

22) The Post (2017)
\n\"The<\/p>\n

When his proposed production of David L. Kertzer\u2019s novel The Kidnapping of Edgardo Mortara collapsed, Spielberg rushed debutante screenwriter Liz Hannah\u2019s script The Post into production. But more than just filling a hole on a dance card, the urgency (present in every frame) was driven by examining the Trump administration\u2019s shady dealings and blatant undermining of journalism through the prism of history. Spielberg mined the story of The Washington Post\u2019s crusade to publish The Pentagon Papers \u2014 documents that confirmed the Nixon Administration knew the Vietnam war was unwinnable \u2014 for all its 2017 resonances. The finished film never feels preachy, just punchy. It\u2019s also a rare Spielberg story to be driven by a woman. Meryl Streep, who provided the voice for the Blue Mecha in A.I., is superb as publisher Kay Graham, beset on all sides \u2014 including by Tom Hanks\u2019 editor Ben Bradlee \u2014 as she weighs up whether to publish, or not to publish. A nimble, entertaining workplace story, that turns a sub-editor into a hero of Indiana Jones proportions.<\/p>\n

Read Empire’s review of The Post<\/a>.<\/p>\n

21) The Adventures Of Tintin (2011)
\n\"The<\/p>\n

One of the great injustices of modern cinema is that we still haven’t had the long-promised Peter Jackson<\/a> adaptation of Tintin adventure Prisoner Of The Sun<\/a> (i.e. the freaky story with the terrifying living mummy) yet \u2014 even if it is now finally on its way<\/a>. Because Spielberg\u2019s spin on Herge was as lively as a nest of rattlesnakes (\u00a9 Captain Haddock) and as unique as a cachinnating cockatoo (also \u00a9 Captain Haddock). Powered by zesty mo-cap performances by Jamie Bell, Andy Serkis, a having-the-time-of-his-life Daniel Craig, et al, it saw the director unleashed like never before, creating monster action set-pieces that thrum with wit. Just head to YouTube to remind yourself of the Bagghar chase, a high-velocity four-minute ballet of destruction involving a motorcycle, tanks, a falcon, zip-lines and a bunch of laundry, which surely counts among Spielberg\u2019s most gleeful bit of directing ever. It\u2019s his only time diving properly into animation as a director \u2014 and proved any doubters to be addle-pated lumps of anthracite (no need for attribution).<\/p>\n

Read Empire’s review of The Adventures Of Tintin<\/a>.<\/p>\n

20) Disclosure Day (2026)
\n\"Disclosure<\/p>\n

Having spent a career pondering extraterrestrial life, Disclosure Day serves as a fitting final note on the third kind from a master of this particular storytelling form. With one foot in the optimistic uplift of Spielberg’s finest sci-fi work and the other in his tightly strung post-2000 thrillers, what emerges feels like nothing less than the culmination of a director\u2019s entire body of work \u2014 warts and all. Wildly confident action sequences, gonzo sci-fi concepts, and some big, BIG ideas abound, and even if some momentarily exceed Disclosure Day’s grasp, the film\u2019s rallying cry for empathy and compassion beams through like a beacon from the cosmic deep, reminding us that no one does it quite like Spielberg.<\/p>\n

Read Empire’s review of Disclosure Day<\/a>.<\/p>\n

19) Lincoln (2012)
\n\"Lincoln\"<\/p>\n

Adapting Doris Kearns Goodwin\u2019s doorstop Abraham Lincoln biography Team Of Rivals remains one of Spielberg\u2019s longest-gestating passion projects, taking thirteen years and a switcheroo of lead actors (Daniel Day-Lewis, Liam Neeson, then back to Day-Lewis) before it hit screens. The stroke of genius is how the resulting film zeroes in on just four months of Lincoln\u2019s life, concentrating on the passing of the 13th Amendment by the House of Representatives to abolish slavery and involuntary servitude. Stylistically, it\u2019s stately, sober Spielberg \u2014 to get into the vibe he directed the film wearing a suit \u2014 but, as Lincoln manipulates support from both sides of the House, it\u2019s a gripping drama with more political chicanery in 150 minutes than a season of The West Wing<\/a>. Day Lewis is immense as Abe, finding the man beyond the monument, backed by one of the most stacked supporting casts of the 21st Century (Sally Field! Tommy Lee Jones! David Oyelowo! Adam Driver!). Kushner\u2019s original script ran 560 pages and, when financing was proving difficult, Spielberg considered it as an HBO miniseries. A ten-part series of this quality? Bring it on.<\/p>\n

Read Empire’s review of Lincoln<\/a>.<\/p>\n

18) Bridge Of Spies (2015)
\n\"Bridge<\/p>\n

Bridge Of Spies is a film of two equally powerful halves. The first is a courtroom drama as insurance lawyer James Donovan (Tom Hanks) is assigned to represent Rudolph Abel (Mark Rylance), a Russian suspected of spying in the US, under increasing personal risk to Donovan\u2019s life; the second half sees the lawyer journey to Berlin to negotiate the release of downed US airman Gary Powers (Austin Stowell) in exchange for Abel. Within the espionage genre Spielberg manages to smuggle in personal cores \u2014 his memories of watching \u2018duck and cover\u2019 public information films at school, his father\u2019s work trip to Russia \u2014 and his directorial genius is present and correct in creative blocking that makes a men-talking-in-rooms film feel visually alive. The result is a cracking thriller featuring memorable Coen-penned dialogue, an intense plane crash, and lots of nifty spycraft. But at the heart of the film is the touching understanding between Donovan and Abel, two gentlemen in a harsh world, perfectly played by Hanks and Rylance.<\/p>\n

Read Empire’s review of Bridge Of Spies<\/a>.<\/p>\n

17) War Of The Worlds (2005)
\n\"War<\/p>\n

After years of sending benevolent E.T.s to Earth to make nice, War Of The Worlds finally saw Spielberg dispatch aliens to wreak havoc. But rather than Independence Day<\/a>-style fun and games, Spielberg took H.G. Wells\u2019 sci-fi classic and turned it into a terrifying 9\/11 parable. From the Tripods zapping fleeing humans into dust, to corpses flowing down a river, to the missing persons notices tied haphazardly to fences, Spielberg tapped into the zeitgeist to create something that evoked post-Twin Towers unease and hysteria. Throw in Tom Cruise \u2014 surprisingly believable as a deadbeat dad trying and failing to connect with his kids (Dakota Fanning, Justin Chatwin) \u2014 and the result, despite all the spectacle on show, is perhaps the most harrowing summer blockbuster ever made. It\u2019s surprising it didn\u2019t spawn an Unhappy Meal tie-in.<\/p>\n

Read Empire’s review of War Of The Worlds<\/a>.<\/p>\n

16) Munich (2005)
\n\"Munich\"<\/p>\n

What Schindler\u2019s List was to Jurassic Park \u2014 a weighty historical drama released months apart from a spectacular sci-fi blockbuster \u2014 Munich is to War Of The Worlds. Spielberg\u2019s gripping depiction of the Mossad response to the murder of Israeli athletes at the 1972 Munich Olympics is the director at his most engaged and thorny. It starts as a gripping procedural, as the team lead by Mossad agent Avner (Eric Bana) track down the killer responsible for the Munich massacre, shot in the propulsive, gritty style of a \u201870s thriller. But what seems like a clear-cut act of revenge becomes something much more ambiguous and interesting, with Spielberg not offering any easy answers or soothing resolutions. Moral murk is rarely this compelling.<\/p>\n

Read Empire’s review of Munich<\/a>.<\/p>\n

15) A.I. Artificial Intelligence (2001)
\n\"A.I.<\/p>\n

The mind-meld of Spielberg and Stanley Kubrick, two seemingly polar opposite sensibilities, was always going to produce something interesting \u2014 but A.I. Artificial Intelligence transcends any easy conceptualisation. Telling the story of David (an unsettling Haley Joel Osment), a robot boy who goes on an odyssey to become human (Pinocchio<\/a> references abound), it\u2019s a fascinating mix of Spielbergian emotion and Kubrickian coldness, filled with bizarre but unforgettable ingredients; a sentient teddy bear, a heart-wrenching mother-son goodbye, a carnival where robots are tortured, Jude Law as a robot gigolo, and a last act that jumps 2000 years into the future. With a screenplay by Spielberg himself, the scale is off the chain, as is the intellectual ambition. Over two decades on, it remains perhaps the weirdest, freakiest, least predictable, most challenging film on the director\u2019s CV. And, for all those reasons, one of the most memorable.<\/p>\n

Read Empire’s review of A.I. Artificial Intelligence<\/a>.<\/p>\n

14) Catch Me If You Can (2002)
\n\"Catch<\/p>\n

Having saved Private Ryan, Tom Hanks and Spielberg\u2019s second mission sent them back to France the long way round \u2013 via New York, Louisiana, and wherever else Pan Am happened to be flying \u2013 on the trail of wunderkind con artist Frank Abagnale Jr. Hanks is the dogged and slightly dorky FBI agent Carl Hanratty chasing Leo DiCaprio<\/a>\u2019s Frank, who leaves home at 16 when his parents divorce and makes ends meet with some extravagantly ballsy grifting. The smartarse kid who\u2019s also frightened beyond his wits and the jaded company man are a great combo, and it zips along so confidently while building a version of \u201860s America that looks so gleamingly appealing that you can see why Frank wanted to grab as much of it as he possibly could. There\u2019s a soft centre too though. Spielberg himself was a teenager when his parents split \u2013 you feel his sympathy for poor Frank, adrift in the clouds in the wake of that turmoil.<\/p>\n

Read Empire’s review of Catch Me If You Can<\/a>.<\/p>\n

13) Duel (1971)
\n\"Duel\"<\/p>\n

It\u2019s almost inconceivable to think that Duel was originally made for TV. Spielberg\u2019s first feature-length project<\/a> \u2014 in which Dennis Weaver\u2019s beleaguered salesman David finds himself harassed and increasingly endangered by a relentless tanker truck on a long and winding road \u2014 was originally broadcast at 74 minutes, and later expanded to a 90-minute cut. But with its expansive desert locations and near-constant suspense, it could barely feel more cinematic. Adapting Richard Matheson\u2019s short story, scripted by Matheson himself, so many of Spielberg\u2019s hallmarks are present: a sense of lived-in Americana in the open-road setting; an ordinary man facing down a formidable unknowable force (the truck driver himself is never revealed); a prodigious talent for knowing exactly where to place his camera for maximum impact; an instinct for combining terrifying thrills with exhilarating spills. In so many ways, it now plays as a (literal) dry-run for Jaws \u2013 lean and scary, depicting a battle not just of wills and survival, but of masculinity. For many other filmmakers, a work like Duel would be their crowning achievement. For Spielberg, it was just the beginning.<\/p>\n

Read Empire’s review of Duel<\/a>.<\/p>\n

12) The Fabelmans (2023)
\n\"The<\/p>\n

There have been flashes of autofiction across Spielberg\u2019s prolific filmography, from the absent father of E.T., to the generational trauma of Schindler\u2019s List, to the just-keep-running emotional undercurrent of Catch Me If You Can. But it took decades for the filmmaker to be ready to make The Fabelmans. It\u2019s a film that tells the story of his own often troubled childhood, with his loving parents (played by Paul Dano and Michelle Williams) slowly drifting apart, just as the young filmmaker \u2014 here re-imagined as \u2018Sammy Fabelman\u2019, brilliantly played by newcomer Gabriel LaBelle \u2014 slowly discovers his filmmaking vocation. Equal parts tragic and funny, special shout-outs must go to Michelle Williams giving great melodrama as the Fabelman matriarch, and killer bit parts from Judd Hirsch and David Lynch. It took over 30 films to get there, but in The Fabelmans, we finally got the full Spielberg origin story; his entire career feels richer as a result.<\/p>\n

Read Empire’s review of The Fabelmans<\/a>.<\/p>\n

11) West Side Story (2021)
\n\"West<\/p>\n

Spielberg\u2019s first musical is apparently also his last. \u201cThe worst day of the West Side Story shoot was the last day,\u201d he told The Hollywood Reporter, \u201cbecause I knew I wouldn’t direct another musical.” It\u2019s our loss: his single entry in the genre is a spectacular redo of the iconic New York toe-tapper from Bernstein, Sondheim, and Larent, a childhood favourite of the director. Both deferentially faithful (it is closer to the original stage play than the 1961 film) and thrillingly modern, it updates the Romeo & Juliet riff with acrobatic cinematography, timely themes of immigration and gender fluidity, and star-making turns from Rachel Zegler and Ariana Debose. It all comes to a peak in the dazzling \u2018America\u2019 sequence, the frame exploding with colour and energy as the camera becomes part of the dance \u2013 you can feel how long Spielberg has been waiting to make the film as the imagery floods onto the screen. If your eyes aren\u2019t at least misty by the end, you\u2019re as cold as Officer Krupke.<\/p>\n

Read Empire’s review of West Side Story<\/a>.<\/p>\n

10) Indiana Jones And The Temple Of Doom (1984)
\n\"Indiana<\/p>\n

Much of Indy\u2019s second outing \u2014 with its orientalist tropes, white saviourism, and monkey-brain eating \u2014 has not exactly dated well with modern sensibilities. Spielberg himself has since distanced himself from the film, claiming in 1989 that \u201cthere\u2019s not an ounce of my personal feeling\u201d in it. Yet beyond the uncharacteristic darkness (both Spielberg and George Lucas were experiencing turbulence in their personal lives at the time) and not-inconsiderable political incorrectness, there\u2019s some vintage Spielbergian filmmaking prowess on show here: from the Busby Berkeley-esque musical opener, to the ingenious and thrilling mine cart sequence, to the cinematic acting debut of future Oscar winner<\/a> Ke Huy Quan as Short Round. It may be considered the lesser entry of the original Indy trilogy, but there is still much whip-lashing adventure to be had here \u2013 and the heart-ripping torture sequences are a rare example of all-out Spielberg horror, seared into generations of kids\u2019 heads. Hold on to your potatoes!<\/p>\n

Read Empire’s review of Indiana Jones And The Temple Of Doom<\/a>.<\/p>\n

9) Minority Report (2002)
\n\"Minority<\/p>\n

Hot on the heels of A.I., Spielberg continued his new-millennium turn towards a colder, more brittle style of science-fiction \u2013 with its icy hues and chilly vision of the future, Minority Report is among the director\u2019s steeliest works. It\u2019s a fitting tone for a film in which personal freedom comes as the cost of a world with no crime \u2013 where psychic \u2018precogs\u2019 witness murders before they happen, and \u2018Precrime\u2019 police swoop in to make arrests on not-yet-guilty parties. Tom Cruise is cop John Anderson, forced to go on the run when the precogs see violence in his future \u2013 leading to a cat-and-mouse thriller that delves into a dizzying conspiracy. Based on a Philip K Dick novel, it\u2019s satisfyingly heady stuff \u2013 but Spielberg brings real blockbuster brio to proceedings too, from a jetpack fight sequence (complete with the jetpack-flame sizzling a burger), to a skin-crawling eye-replacement-surgery sequence, to a brawl in a futuristic car factory where a vehicle is assembled around Anderson and Colin Farrell\u2019s Danny as they scrap. Its real legacy though? More or less inventing gesture-controls five years before the iPhone was invented.<\/p>\n

Read Empire’s review of Minority Report<\/a>.<\/p>\n

8) Saving Private Ryan (1998)
\n\"Saving<\/p>\n

Though Spielberg\u2019s game-changing Second World War movie takes us deep into France \u2014 following Hanks\u2019 Captain Miller and his ragtag bunch of leftovers and scraps who managed to survive the slaughter at Omaha beach \u2014 this is very much a post-Vietnam kind of a war movie. You wouldn\u2019t have seen Robert Mitchum dazedly holding his own blown-off arm in The Longest Day. Brave but terrified, proud to serve but desperate to go home, Miller and co have to track down Private Ryan, the last survivor of four brothers, to get him out of harm\u2019s way. That concussive opening sequence<\/a> might be the best evocation of the pure confusion and randomness of war on film. But wipe away the guts and it\u2019s a film about sons and fathers, and Spielberg\u2019s father in particular \u2013 Arnold Spielberg was in the Air Corps. Spielberg Jr had been making World War II movies for 20 years before Saving Private Ryan, and it\u2019s telling that he\u2019s not returned to it on the big screen since. World War II? Completed it mate.<\/p>\n

Read Empire’s review of Saving Private Ryan<\/a>.<\/p>\n

7) Close Encounters Of The Third Kind (1977)
\n\"Close<\/p>\n

A fighter squadron turns up in the middle of the desert. A warship is beached on the East Asian plains. Richard Dreyfuss fiddles with his mashed potato. As the UN investigates, Dreyfuss\u2019 Roy Neary becomes haunted by UFOs and the image of a great mountain, while a young boy is mysteriously abducted. Given huge freedom after Jaws had devoured the box office, Spielberg went back to his earliest work<\/a>, the UFO thriller Firelight \u2014 its themes of obsession and wonder (as well as several specific shots) were tractor-beamed into Close Encounters. What the 18-year-old Spielberg didn\u2019t have to hand back then was John Williams. The musical sequence he landed on as the means by which humanity makes contact with aliens might be his most potent: there\u2019s hope, and beauty, and wonder, and communion, all rendered in five tentative notes. While E.T. is his most thoroughly Spielbergian extra-terrestrial film, Close Encounters feels like the one that he desperately needed to make \u2014 and it\u2019s the one that cemented him as a filmmaker of phenomenal vision who could communicate huge feelings without words. The last 10 minutes are properly transcendent.<\/p>\n

Read Empire’s review of Close Encounters Of The Third Kind<\/a>.<\/p>\n

6) Indiana Jones And The Last Crusade (1989)
\n\"Indiana<\/p>\n

When it comes to the adventures of Henry Jones Jr., Raiders tends to soak up the lion’s share of applause (keep reading). But only a fool would overlook the trials of such lethal cunning that constitute Indy’s third and most straight-up enjoyable adventure. Spielberg struck gold pairing Harrison Ford with both Karen Allen and Kate Capshaw, but Ford’s electrifying chemistry with Sean Connery eclipses them both with ease. The pair bounce effortlessly off one another as estranged parent and child, exchanging perfectly weighted barbs (“I should have mailed it to the Marx brothers!”) while painting a beautifully measured and touching father\/son dynamic \u2014 despite a mere 12 year age gap between them \u2014 that ellicits as many tears as laughs (“I thought I’d lost you, boy”). This is a white-knuckle, globe-trotting hunt for the lost grail, but one that also pulls back the veil on both Indy’s material past (The hat! The whip! The scar! ) and his elusive upbringing (“We called the dog Indiana!”). Throw in emotional depth, a Hitler cameo, and an immortal grail knight and you have all the ingredients for one of the greatest adventures of the modern era.<\/p>\n

Read Empire’s review of Indiana Jones And The Last Crusade<\/a>.<\/p>\n

5) Schindler’s List (1993)
\n\"Schindler's<\/p>\n

Has any filmmaker ever had a year quite like Steven Spielberg\u2019s 1993? In the same 12 months that saw the release of Jurassic Park \u2014 perhaps his most entertaining, popcorn-friendly crowd-pleaser \u2014 the director also released Schindler\u2019s List, his most mature, political, emotionally-complex and deeply-felt drama. Having long wanted to pay tribute to his Jewish ancestry and the tragedy of the Holocaust in cinematic form, he suddenly felt compelled to make the film during Jurassic\u2019s final stages (leaving his friend George Lucas to oversee the end of post-production on the dino-epic). The result is a stylistically unusual entry in the Spielberg filmography: black-and-white photography, handheld documentary-style camerawork, difficult and often harrowing subject matter. But the director\u2019s trademark humanism and optimism still glimmers through the inhumanity of the Nazi\u2019s genocidal evils \u2014 especially in the form of Liam Neeson\u2019s rich, layered performance as Oskar Schindler. 30 years later, it has lost none of its devastating, soul-stirring power.<\/p>\n

Read Empire’s review of Schindler’s List<\/a>.<\/p>\n

4) Jurassic Park (1993)
\n\"Jurassic<\/p>\n

Artful creature-features. Boundary-pushing science-fiction stories. Rollocking adventures. Pulse-pounding survival thrillers. Spielberg had serious pedigree in all of the above before 1993 \u2014 but the way they collided in Jurassic Park resulted in one of the all-time-great blockbusters, bursting with his signature blend of wonder and terror. If the DNA goes right back to Michael Crichton\u2019s novel \u2013 using the \u2018dinosaur theme-park goes wrong\u2019 premise as a way to tackle chaos theory and man playing god \u2013 the execution is all Spielberg<\/a>: not only playing out familial themes in the journey of Sam Neill\u2019s Alan Grant from kid-skeptic to sprog super-protector, but infusing every moment with sheer cinematic might. The spine-tingling tension of the rippling water glass. The ratcheting dread of the raptors in the kitchen. The muscular onslaught of the T-Rex rampage. The impish glee of the Dilophosaurus attack. It\u2019s all perfectly handled, losing none of its impact 30 years on, backed by John Williams at his most soaring. With its groundbreaking early CGI effects and masterful, tangible puppeteering, Jurassic Park saw Spielberg quite literally bring dinosaurs back to life \u2013 and, once again, he changed cinema forever in the process.<\/p>\n

Read Empire’s review of Jurassic Park<\/a>.<\/p>\n

3) E.T. The Extra Terrestrial (1982)
\n\"E.T.<\/p>\n

It\u2019s hard to even think about E.T. without bawling. For whatever reason \u2014 the aching story of a child of divorce desperate for a friend, Melissa Mathison\u2019s heart-crushing dialogue, a gobsmacking performance of absolute purity from Henry Thomas, Allen Daviau\u2019s warm cinematography, perhaps the most beautiful score John Williams ever blessed us with, the best actual (well, kind of) flesh-and-blood alien Hollywood\u2019s ever produced\u2026 okay, stop. For all of those reasons and so many more, every second, every frame of E.T. seizes our hearts, making us all Elliott, making us all fall in love with that exotic visitor, turning us all into kids again. It\u2019s a testament to Spielberg that the domestic scenes \u2013 the squabbling at the dinner table (\u201cIt was nothing like that, penis breath!\u201d), the pang of the missing father \u2013 are as entrancing as, well, the alien stuff. For all the fantasy, for all the wonder, every bit of it feels real.<\/p>\n

Read Empire’s review of E.T. The Extraterrestrial<\/a>.<\/p>\n

2) Jaws (1975)
\n\"Jaws\"<\/p>\n

The impact of Jaws simply cannot be overstated. It created the notion of the summer blockbuster. It made millions feel it wasn\u2019t safe to go back in the water. And, for all the clear potential of his early work, it well and truly put Spielberg on the map. It was, famously, nightmarish to shoot \u2014 waterlogged, behind schedule, over budget, and with a mechanical shark that kept breaking. But for all that churn beneath the surface, what the audience sees is effortless brilliance \u2014 a tense, beautifully-shot shark-attack thriller with deeply-layered characters, outstanding dialogue, and heart-stopping moments forever burned in the cultural landscape. Roy Scheider is utterly believable as vulnerable everyman police chief Martin Brody, forced to face the reality of a murderous shark on the shores of Amity Island, teaming up with Richard Dreyfuss\u2019 preppy marine biologist Hooper and Robert Shaw\u2019s salty sea-dog Quint to blow it to bits. Their chemistry steers the entire ship \u2014 sure, the scary set-pieces are outstanding, but so too is Quint\u2019s haunting USS Indianapolis monologue. But the real star here isn\u2019t them, or even Bruce the shark \u2014 it\u2019s Spielberg himself. The eerie shark POV shots. The mind-bending dolly zooms. The head popping out of the boat. His work here is a pure display of cinematic mastery from first minute to last \u2014 the head, the tail, the whole damn thing.<\/p>\n

Read Empire’s review of Jaws<\/a>.<\/p>\n

1) Raiders Of The Lost Ark (1981)
\n\"Raiders<\/p>\n

If you ever want a pitch-perfect example of how to establish a brand new hero of adventure cinema and immediately propel them to icon status, look no further than Raiders Of The Lost Ark. In fact, even just the opening 10 minutes will do. In 1980, Spielberg was right in the middle of perhaps the hottest hot streak of any 20th century director, and Raiders \u2014 which saw him team up with George Lucas and Harrison Ford with the express aim to create nothing less than an action-adventure legend<\/a> \u2014 reigns supreme because it brings together so many of the things that make him, him. There\u2019s the fascination with the supernatural, of course, and the urge to mould new stories from the clay set down in his childhood. The swashbuckling \u201830s serials he and Lucas loved become a quest to stop Adolf Hitler getting his hands on the Ark of the Covenant, a relic which would make the Nazis invincible. Standing in the Third Reich\u2019s way: curmudgeonly, adventuring archaeologist Indiana Jones. (By the way: has any man ever looked more knuckle-bitingly gorgeous than Ford in Raiders? No, he has not.) And there\u2019s perhaps the most Spielbergian feeling of all: a giddy, breathless, Nazi-thwacking glee at the sheer fun cinema can create. It\u2019s still as thrilling as it was more than 40 years ago. But as a certain buff archaeologist might remind us: it\u2019s not the years, honey, it\u2019s the mileage.<\/p>\n

Read Empire’s review of Raiders Of The Lost Ark<\/a>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Has any filmmaker had as much of an impact on cinema and pop culture at large as Steven…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":631032,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[27],"tags":[96,2839,56,54,55],"class_list":["post-631031","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-movies","tag-entertainment","tag-movies","tag-uk","tag-united-kingdom","tag-unitedkingdom"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/631031","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=631031"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/631031\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/631032"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=631031"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=631031"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=631031"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}