Looking at all the movie titles as a group I just realized I don't really like Spielberg's movies all that much with a handful of exceptions.
I saw Duel on tv in the '70s and it stuck in my mind. I would keep revisiting it every other decade and now with the DVD I can watch it and the extras about it any time. I think it's just so well made and acted, no huge budget or important statement even, just sheer craft! To be honest nothing else on the list is a favorite like Duel, but some great films. It's kind of like how those Dan Curtis Kolchak The Night Stalker tv movies also rate high, or the Dark Shadows series re-runs; might not be defensible as great 'capital A' art for the ages, they just got on with it and made something different and high quality and I loved it! So maybe I'm saying... Duel Duel Duel Duel Duel ?
Empire's held up for me unlike some of the other ones... it's not formulaic and sentimental for one thing...
Love those Kolchak the Night Stalker flicks! Got the box set several years back to refresh my memory of them...
Agreed. The first one enchanted me as a young teen... saw the others as they were released and although only a little older, they'd already lost their charm...
I'm of the opinion "Saving Private Ryan" as his masterpiece. And trust me, that's say's a lot considering the classics he's done.
Votes for Jaws, Close Encounters of the Third Kind, Raiders of the Lost Ark, E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial and Jurassic Park.
I agree, his serious films have been woeful. The opening scenes of Private Ryan are superb but the plot of the movie is trash.
It’s interesting to see them in order... he made those massively popular and groundbreaking movies at the start of his career and acquired a grandmaster aura. When E.T. and Poltergeist were released in 1982, Spielberg was looking like he would rule the cinematic world forever. It wasn’t to be - he made some very good movies, but the “popular” ones were never as much fun as Jaws and Raiders and the “serious” ones should have come with a title card that said “A VERY Important Movie by...” (And I don’t think E.T. has held up well.) So: Jaws Close Encounters Raiders and the field.
