Every Steven Spielberg Movie, Ranked
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It must be summer, because Steven Spielberg has a blockbuster in theaters. Arguably our greatest living director—the now-79-year-old behind Jaws, Jurassic Park, and Saving Private Ryan—is back with Disclosure Day, a mysterious sci-fi epic. Now, while it doesn’t land among our ranking of the best movies in Spielberg’s storied career, rest assured: It’s a damn good time. (Especially if you want to see Emily Blunt speak fluently in all matter of languages.)
But yes, reader, we took on the epic task of ranking all of Spielberg’s films, from worst to best. Of course, there’s not really a wrong answer when it comes to naming your favorite Spielberg film—I’m an ET guy, through and through—but it’s nearly impossible to put Saving Private Ryan against Schindler’s List, or even The Post versus Bridge of Spies. Especially Jaws versus Jurassic Park.
No matter how you feel about where your favorite Spielberg film landed, I just have one simple request: Be good. You can read our full ranking of every Steven Spielberg movie, from worst to best, here. Below, we highlighted the top ten.
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10. The Fabelmans
In The Fabelmans, Spielberg tells a familiar story: A movie-obsessed child moves across the country, sees his parents’ marriage dissolve, and triples down on his directorial dreams. Yes, folks, this is Spielberg’s origin story—and he directs his fictionalized younger self, Sammy Fabelman (Gabriel LaBelle) with an astounding level of heart. Even though it was overshadowed by Everything Everywhere All at Once during the 2023 awards season, The Fabelmans is so much more than its billing as Spielberg’s quasi autobiography. It’s a portrait of what it means to choose a life in the arts. In 20 years or so, when we see the full scope of Spielberg’s third act, it wouldn’t surprise me if The Fabelmans maintains this spot on the list—if not inching even higher. —Brady Langmann, senior entertainment editor
9. Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade
Raiders of the Lost Ark is such a perfect film that it ensured Indy and Harrison Ford’s legend would live forever (despite how you may feel about Temple of Doom). That said? We should be damn happy that Spielberg closed out the original trilogy on a stellar note in Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade. Indy’s third trip around the world saw him chase after (what else?) the Holy Grail, assisted by his father, played by (who else?) Sean Connery. Never afraid to deliver on the price of admission, Spielberg bounced back from Temple of Doom with some deliciously Jonesian antics, from superb father-son banter (“Fly, yes. Land, no.”) to that motorcycle chase. —B.L.
8. Catch Me If You Can
Stylish, hilarious, and sometimes surprisingly sweet, Catch Me If You Can succeeds whether or not the tall tales of Frank Abagnale Jr. are true. Based on Abagnale’s autobiography, Catch Me If You Can chronicles the yearslong chase between an FBI agent (Tom Hanks) and a charismatic con man (Leonardo DiCaprio) who schemes his way through 1960s America. Armed with a delectable spy-movie-inspired score by John Williams, Catch Me If You Can will inspire you to order a martini and trick the bartender into making it on the house. — Eric Francisco, associate entertainment editor
7. E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial
Go ahead, use any and every word you’d use to describe a Spielberg adventure: wonder, awe, magic, discovery, heart. Because E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial has all of those things and more. The film—which debuted at Cannes and unseated Star Wars as the highest-grossing movie of all time—follows a young boy named Elliott (Henry Thomas) who befriends a lost alien and (after lots of Reese’s Pieces) helps him to return home. There’s a reason E.T. and Elliot’s flight has dutifully served as the logo for Amblin—Spielberg’s production company—for over 40 years. If you were to show, say, an extraterrestrial from another planet a Spielberg film? It just might be E.T. —B.L.
6. Saving Private Ryan
Easily among the greatest World War II movies ever made, Spielberg’s Saving Private Ryan exists as a moving portrait of bravery, valor, and sacrifice, minus the sepia-toned glamorizing of the war that most other period movies succumb to. Tom Hanks leads an ensemble of tobacco-chewing Army Rangers to spearhead a PR-centric rescue mission to bring home Private James Ryan (Matt Damon) from somewhere in the rubble of Normandy. The grisly opening scene depicting D-Day is legendary, but the whole movie is worthy of salute. —E.F.
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Steven Spielberg, 28, nearly suffered a nervous breakdown on the set of Jaws as the film ran into one fiasco after another. photo by: Archive photos // Getty Images.
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5. Schindler’s List
Even though Spielberg released a little film called Jurassic Park in 1993, it’s no surprise that Schindler’s List took home seven Oscars at the 1994 Academy Awards—including Best Picture and Best Director. His black-and-white masterpiece adapts Thomas Keneally’s 1982 novel Schindler’s Ark, which followed a real-life German industrialist named Oskar Schindler who saved over 1,000 Jewish lives during the Holocaust. Topped by three powerhouse performances from Liam Neeson, Ralph Fiennes, and Ben Kingsley, Schindler’s List is still just as powerful as it was 30 years ago. Of course, Spielberg himself is not the author of this list, but this certainly means something, doesn’t it? “It’s the best movie I’ve ever made,” he told The Hollywood Reporter in an oral history of Schindler’s List in 2024. I am not going to say it’s the best movie I ever will make. But currently, it’s the work I’m proudest of.” —B.L.
4. Close Encounters of the Third Kind
Truly, only Spielberg could follow up Jaws—Jaws!—with a film like Close Encounters of the Third Kind. After his great-white-sized success, Spielberg immediately reteamed with Richard Dreyfuss for his next effort. The story follows Roy Neary (Dreyfuss), an unremarkable Indiana man who encounters—and promptly loses his mind over—a UFO encounter. Close Encounters not only captures our obsession with alien life—it understands on a damn near molecular level why we’re compelled to follow the unknown. And if Spielberg was working out the kinks in his about-to-be-legendary style in Duel and broke through in Jaws, then Close Encounters feels like we’re already watching a master at work. Case in point: Do me a favor and rewatch the UFO chase scene to end all UFO chase scenes—it still holds up. —B.L.
3. Jaws
It’s more than a little intimidating to praise Jaws after Chris Nashawaty’s beautiful 50th-anniversary tribute for Esquire, but here goes. Jaws virtually invented and defined the summer blockbuster in one big, toothy bite—but you already know that. It’s far more fun to list your favorite reasons why: a manifest of iconic quotes (“That’s a bad hat, Harry” will always have my heart), Robert Shaw’s delirious ship captain, and the extent to which scheming, money-hungry politicians can torpedo the best interests of the citizens they swore to protect. (Which ... is relevant.) But the real star, of course, is Spielberg. The then-27-year-old director famously braved such a turbulent production that Jaws is as much a feat of filmmaking as it is a testament to his force of will. —B.L.
2. Jurassic Park
Allow me to reintroduce the Spielberg classic that made damn sure every ’90s kid owned a toy T. rex growing up—and not so secretly harbored dreams of digging up dinosaur bones for a living: Spielberg’s feature-film adaptation of Michael Crichton’s 1990 novel Jurassic Park. Everything that makes Jurassic Park one of Spielberg’s best films—and, yes, one of the best movies of all time—you know by heart. The life-size animatronic T. rex. Charming-as-hell, star-making performances from Jeff Goldblum, Laura Dern, and Sam Neill. Velociraptors in the kitchen! All coupled with, once again, a bone-crushing message reminding us who always has the upper hand in the battle of man versus nature. There’s a reason why no follow-up in the franchise has come close to the heights of the 1993 movie—it’s a once-in-a-generation film. Cue the Jurassic Park theme. —B.L.
... And for our No. 1 pick?
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Harrison Ford as Indiana Jones in Raiders of the Lost Ark. photo by: Paramount Pictures//Getty Images
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A reader left a comment on our Spielberg ranking over the weekend, writing that Empire of the Sun was a top-five Spielberg film. I’m down for a critical reappraisal of the World War II film starring a (very) young Christian Bale—we have it at No. 31 on our list—but in the top five? That’s a big jump, but I respect it.
What do you think of the list? Let me know your favorite Spielberg film by writing to me at josh.rosenberg@hearst.com.
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The Continuing Adventures of the Esquire Entertainment Desk
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Dwayne “the Rock” Johnson graced the cover of Esquire’s latest issue for a wide-ranging interview about his political aspirations, a recent health scare, and how he felt after the Oscars snubbed his performance in The Smashing Machine. Read the cover story here.
Dutton Ranch star Hart Denton spoke about leaving the Yellowstone spinoff, which he called the best role of his career so far. “It’s so hard to rope cattle,” he said. “But what’s so cool about a Taylor Sheridan show, especially this one, is that the cowboys are the toughest guys I’ve ever met in my life.” Read the interview here.
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Dwayne Johnson / photo by: Shaniqwa Jarvis
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The Cliff-Hanger's Winners and Losers of the Week
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Winner: New York City
The New York Knicks defeated the San Antonio Spurs to clinch the NBA championship on Saturday night, resulting in the basketball team’s first title in 53 years. “I’m in awe,” Knicks point guard Jalen Brunson told ESPN in his postgame interview. “Whenever people counted us out, we came back and did something about it.”
Loser: New York City
I don’t like to let a few bad sports ruin the many, many glorious and safe celebrations that poured into the streets of New York City on Saturday night after the Knicks won. But I have no idea how it ever gets to the point where you’re burning a bus in Times Square.
Winner: Die-hard fans of Taylor Swift and Yellowstone
The pop megastar mentioned the Western drama during her speech at the Songwriter’s Hall of Fame on Thursday. She quoted John Dutton’s line: “It’s the one constant in life, son, you build something worth having, somebody’s gonna try to take it,” from season 3. “If you make anything awesome, someone out there is bound to say horrible things about it,” she told her fans. “Take what’s useful and constructive and leave out what’s damaging to your creativity.”
Loser: The Love Island USA Voting App
Fans of the reality dating series flocked to the official Love Island USA app to vote for new couples last Tuesday when the entire network crashed. Now, we know how. According to The Hollywood Reporter, the voting app received so many new signups that the service became the No. 1 app in the App Store—overtaking ChatGPT. Any win for humanity is a win!
Winner: 24 Jump Street
The producers behind 21 Jump Street and 22 Jump Street announced that a third film with Channing Tatum and Jonah Hill is in the works, titled 24 Jump Street. What happened to 23 Jump Street? Well, as the team joked: “It took so long to make we had to skip one.”
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