The best Steven Spielberg movies
The top 3 according to 1,117 votes from people: Schindler's List (1993) · Jaws (1975) · Raiders of the Lost Ark (1981). (Updated Aug 12, 2023.)
From Jaws to Schindler's List: Spielberg's films ranked by critics (The Hollywood Reporter, Metacritic, Rolling Stone).
Top 12
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1
Schindler's List (1993)
An industrialist saves his Jewish workers; Metascore 90.
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2
Jaws (1975)
The first summer blockbuster.
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3
Raiders of the Lost Ark (1981)
Indiana Jones' first adventure.
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4
Saving Private Ryan (1998)
The Omaha Beach landing and a search behind enemy lines.
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5
E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial (1982)
A boy, an alien and a bicycle across the moon.
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6
Jurassic Park (1993)
Cloned dinosaurs and groundbreaking effects.
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7
Close Encounters of the Third Kind (1977)
Five musical notes and a mountain in Wyoming.
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8
Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade (1989)
Indy, his father and the Holy Grail.
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9
Minority Report (2002)
Tom Cruise and a crime that hasn't happened yet.
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10
Catch Me If You Can (2002)
Leonardo DiCaprio's con man and Tom Hanks' FBI agent.
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11
The Fabelmans (2022)
Spielberg's own childhood and love of film.
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12
Munich (2005)
The aftermath of the 1972 Olympics attack.
How is this ranking ordered? By people's votes: each ▲ adds a point and each ▼ takes one away. Anyone can vote and add what is missing.
Is something missing?
Comments (10)
Minority Report aged incredibly well, half that tech exists now.
E.T. made me cry as a kid and it made my kids cry too.
Close Encounters is his most personal film for me, more than The Fabelmans.
Catch Me If You Can is so underrated, pure fun from start to finish.
Jaws should be #1. It invented the modern blockbuster and it's still perfect.
Schindler's List is the greater film, but Jaws is the one I rewatch every summer.
The Omaha Beach sequence in Saving Private Ryan is the most intense 25 minutes ever filmed.
No A.I.? That ending divides everyone but I love it.
Raiders is the perfect adventure movie, no notes.
Munich is his most underrated serious film.