Jurassic Park Schindler's List Raiders of the Lost Ark The Last Crusade Close Encounters of the Third Kind These are sort of the stand out titles for me, had to go with The Last Crusade over Jaws because I find it to be much more entertaining.
Jaws Close Encounters Raiders Empire of the Sun ________________ 'Jaws' is pretty much flawless, and is the best of them all. The only minor flaw of it is the absurdity of the shark's leaping onto the boat at the end, but hey, we'll let it pass. The shot that zooms in on Brody's face as he realizes the shark is killing the kid might be Spielberg's finest moment, ever. 'Close Encounters' is as equally nearly flawless. Bit less thrilling scene-to-scene, but with a greater sense of wonder. 'Raiders' is the most fun of all his movies, and is impossible not to enjoy. Maybe dogged a small point or two for racial-ethnic stereotyping and some rather abrupt, awkwardly-edited scenes during the part where Indiana is on the ships and swimming around (or something), but a masterpiece of adventure filmmaking. 'Empire of the Sun' is amazing, and I love it. It isn't flawless, as it lacks a strong, emotional center -- we're never really fully invested in the kid, I think, despite Bale's superb performance -- but then again maybe that emotional distance is why I like it. It's a war film without any manipulative rah-rah (see: Saving Private Ryan), and it immerses us in the naked futility of it all. Quite a unique tone among all his films (that I've seen), too. Those 4 tower above all his films, for me.
I like his earlier, very simple movies and I'm a tiny bit miffed that Amblin' wasn't included (it's a short student film, I know), but from the list, my choices are: Duel (amazing use of very low budget) The Sugarland Express (my favorite, by far, even if I'm in a minority) E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial (cute movie, brings back childhood memories, but got weaker for me as I grew older) The Color Purple (great one) Always (saccharine, sure, but I have a soft spot for it)
Jaws Close Encounters Raiders Of The Lost Ark Schindler's List Saving Private Ryan And the top three are the ones I return to most often.
Jaws Close Encounters of the Third Kind Raiders of the Lost Ark E.T. Jurassic Park These films alone make for one hell of a run. I've heard the criticism about his films being heavy on sentiment, but that's always been a crucial ingredient for what makes a Spielberg film.
Spielberg's work as producer had a couple of 80s classics: Back To The Future, The Goonies, Gremlins. His involvement in these films is evident, though I know we are focusing on his directorial work.
My top four are the usual suspects...Jaws/Raiders/Schindler/Ryan...but I also picked “1941”, for which I’ve always had a certain soft spot.
1st 4 were EASY: Jaws CE3K Raiders ET After that, it was tougher. Went "Jurassic" because of its impact and influence, but could've gone "Last Crusade" or "Empire of the Sun" instead.
CE3K Schindler's List Saving Private Ryan Duel Raiders of the Lost Ark Initially I was going to put Raiders higher in the list. It's a great movie but I've seen it so many times I can talk along with the dialog. And yes Speilberg's movies have gotten so semtimental I can barely stand them.
I think it's a decent movie but I feel it remains of interest solely because of SS's later fame. "Duel" holds up better. SS wouldn't really show his talent until "Jaws", though. The Sugarland Express [Blu-Ray] (1974)
I believe Spielberg has directed about 34 feature films, so this list leaves quite a few out. I'm inclined to credit him with Poltergeist as well, because I think he did a lot more work on it than credited director Tobe Hooper. If you read some of the biographies out there on Spielberg, you might be surprised to know there's another 15-20 films he tried to make but (for a variety of reasons) never happened.
It's a poll of his 70s/80s/90s films - says that right at the top. There's a separate poll for 00s/10s.
Well, whataya know; I got all 5 correct answers! Jaws Raiders of the Lost Ark The Color Purple Schindler's List Saving Private Ryan Did I win the internet?
