The Guardian Ranks All of the Spielberg Films

[Tom 4,654]

Perhaps a topic for some discussion.  

 

https://www.theguardian.com/film/2022/oct/13/all-steven-spielberg-films-ranked-director-the-fabelmans-et-harrison-ford

[Edmilson 7,436]

Here's the ranking:

 

33. Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull (2008)
32. Hook (1991)
31. War Horse (2011)
30. Always (1989)
29. Ready Player One (2018)
28. The BFG (2016)
27. The Terminal (2004)
26. The Lost World: Jurassic Park (1997)
25. The Color Purple (1985)
24. Amistad (1997)
23. Munich (2005)
22. The Adventures of Tintin: The Secret of the Unicorn (2011)
21. 1941 (1979)
20. Empire of the Sun (1987)
19. Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade (1989)
18. The Post (2017)
17. The Sugarland Express (1974)
16. Lincoln (2012)
15. War of the Worlds (2005)
14. West Side Story (2021)
13. Jurassic Park (1993)
12. Bridge of Spies (2015)
11. Catch Me If You Can (2002)
10. Minority Report (2002)
9. Saving Private Ryan (1998)
8. Schindler’s List (1993)
7. AI Artificial Intelligence (2001)
6. Duel (1971)
5. Raiders of the Lost Ark (1981)
4. Close Encounters of the Third Kind (1977)
3. Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom (1984)
2. Jaws (1975)
1. ET: The Extra-Terrestrial (1982)

 

I agree with Indy 4 in the last position, but Munich and The Last Crusade behind The Post, Lincoln and West Side Story was pretty depressing to read. And some people may dislike Temple of Doom ahead of Raiders, or Minority Report ahead of Jurassic Park.

[Bellosh 3,418]

BFG should be last.

 

But even as someone that loves Temple of Doom....you don't put that over Raiders.

 

Also swap The Post and War Horse.

[A24 4,331]

Silly list.

[mrbellamy 6,286]

Two swaps I'd make, Color Purple/The Post and WotW/Munich 

 

I don't really have a problem with the top 10 as a group except for ToD at 3. It wouldn't make my ten in the first place but I'd get placing it like, 9 between SPR and Minority Report. That'd still be kind of a bold ranking for it if they just had to have it in there. I'd also say Last Crusade at 3 would feel less egregious to me over Raiders but I still wouldn't. 

 

Everything else is in a reasonable ballpark imo. 1941 a little high but eh, wouldn't make any big swap with it from the bottom eight either. 

[karelm 2,913]

On 14/10/2022 at 6:47 AM, Edmilson said:

I agree with Indy 4 in the last position, but Munich and The Last Crusade behind The Post, Lincoln and West Side Story was pretty depressing to read. And some people may dislike Temple of Doom ahead of Raiders, or Minority Report ahead of Jurassic Park.

No way!  Always was way worse.  Just meh at all levels.  Annoying characters (even actors I loved!), lousy acting, weak story.  This was by far the worst film Spielberg made where you could tell he was thinking "I don't care, JW will make something amazing out of this turd".  The only positive is the immortally endearing Audrey Hepburn's final role but that had nothing to do with Spielberg.  This was his only film I loathed.  

[Tom 4,654]

I would have both BFG and Tintin higher.  I think the first is a top-tier film for young kids and Tintin for older (pre-teen) kids.  Teens and adults are simply not the target audience, just as young kids are not the target audience for many of his other films.  

 

Always (a snoozefest with a creepy Dreyfus), KotCS, and WotW (most annoying child performance in history--my goodness, I was rooting for the aliens), are my bottom three.  

 

Also, thanks Edmilson for taking the time to write out the list--I wish the thread creator had not been so lazy.  

[publicist 4,643]

9 hours ago, karelm said:

No way!  Always was way worse.  Just meh at all levels.  Annoying characters (even actors I loved!), lousy acting, weak story.  This was by far the worst film Spielberg made where you could tell he was thinking "I don't care, JW will make something amazing out of this turd".  

 

And he didn't. 

 

'Always' has one basic problem they couldn't lick over a 10-year gestation period: by taking the original story out of its WW2 flier context without updating societal mores this abomination is basically Spielberg's worst 'Amazing Stories' episode ('The Mission' is really bad, too, but it's one hour shorter).

 

I can't remember when Spielberg felt grown-up enough to show people fucking (was it 'Munich'?), but for 'Always' this would have been the only straw to make it halfway relevant for the time it was made. Without something like that, Dreyfuss' invisible jealousy has nothing to play against it as the new lovebirds hardly touch each other - and Spielberg fell deep into a trap he's often set up for himself, namely just barely connecting the scenes he is visually after with a workable script only being an afterthought. The few visually stunning scenes make this failure all-too apparent (the thing still made too much money for how childish it was).

[bollemanneke 3,344]

Huh? TOD so high?!

[Nick1Ø66 4,714]

This correctly places Indy IV at the bottom. The rest of the list is rubbish. E.T., while wonderful, is best described as the "sentimental favourite" among those who saw it at a certain age.

[A24 4,331]

11 hours ago, karelm said:

No way!  Always was way worse.  Just meh at all levels.  Annoying characters (even actors I loved!), lousy acting, weak story.  This was by far the worst film Spielberg made where you could tell he was thinking "I don't care, JW will make something amazing out of this turd".  

 

Yeah, I kinda forgot about Always and how bad is was. Your post is bringing back some of the feelings I had when I saw it at the theatre in 1989. It's like Steven 'Peter Pan' Spielberg felt very uncomfortable with filming a true love story.

[mrbellamy 6,286]

1 hour ago, publicist said:

I can't remember when Spielberg felt grown-up enough to show people fucking (was it 'Munich'?)

 

I guess West Side Story doesn't have a sex scene per se, Tony/Maria is all vignette-y foreplay, but he does depict the characters' sex lives including Anita/Bernardo. Probably the first of his movies where sex factors into the narrative or characterizations in any relevant way since Munich. 

[Disco Stu 15,495]

25 minutes ago, mrbellamy said:

Probably the first of his movies where sex factors into the narrative or characterizations in any relevant way since Munich. 

 

I believe you're forgetting War Horse.  Everybody wanted to fuck that horse!

[Nick Parker 3,040]

7 hours ago, Disco Stu said:

 

I believe you're forgetting War Horse.  Everybody wanted to fuck that horse!

Separated by war. Tested by battle. Bound by horse fucking.

[Disco Stu 15,495]

On 16/10/2022 at 6:59 AM, Nick1Ø66 said:

This correctly places Indy IV at the bottom. The rest of the list is rubbish. E.T., while wonderful, is best described as the "sentimental favourite" among those who saw it at a certain age.

 

ET is correctly regarded as one of the best films ever made.

[mrbellamy 6,286]

I never really cared about ET or watched it repeatedly growing up and it's only in recent years that I've started to come around to thinking it might really be his #1 after all. It just kind of looks right at the top of his filmography. If you were to somehow transform "Spielbergian" into a natural element, there'd be more ET than anything else. 

[Koray Savas 2,251]

Duel at #6 is an odd choice. 

[Nick1Ø66 4,714]

7 hours ago, Disco Stu said:

 

ET is correctly regarded as one of the best films ever made.

It is. I just didn’t think it’s Spielberg’s best film.

[Edmilson 7,436]

Anyone else agrees that Empire of the Sun was ranked way too low?

[Raiders of the SoundtrArk 2,433]

Yes and no. 20th sounds low but all the previous one are so great too, the man just did so many great movies

[Score 770]

On 16/10/2022 at 2:20 PM, Disco Stu said:

 

I believe you're forgetting War Horse.  Everybody wanted to fuck that horse!

 

Still better than the opposite, I guess