Steven Spielbergs Greatest Film

[Brian Braddock]

And one more thing - why isnt Poltergeist on the list?

 

[steintym]

I have to go with Raiders, one of my favorite movies but others are close.

1) Raiders
2) Jurassic Park
3) Jaws
4) ET
5) Temple of Doom

 

[Hush]

Not seeing alot of Hook on anybodies lists and that kinda confuses me. I thought that got alot of Love on the net. Its prolly my favorite one but his best though very close for me.

 

[raybia]

I have to name Raiders as his best and then Schindler's List.

I think Empire of the Sun is his most underrated movie.

 

[danoyse]

And one more thing - why isnt Poltergeist on the list?

Technically, Tobe Hooper was the director of Poltergeist.

 

[Brian Braddock]

Exactly - as you say, it's a 'technically' given whatever members of the cast you ask.

'Twas just joke, Danoyse.

 

[Spider-Who?]

Ibelieve that accolade goes to Thunderball.

Technically, Gone with the Wind (1939) is one of the first "blockbusters", if your speaking of box office revenue.

Jaws was the first "blockbuster" when using the term to identify a genre of film based on the size of its production, marketing, and summer release date.

Of course, at that is moot, due to the fact that theatrical plays were the first form of entertainment to be called "blockbusters", since a highly successful play could cause neighboring theater companies to go out of business.

 

[raybia]

Technically, Gone with the Wind (1939) is one of the first "blockbusters", if your speaking of box office revenue.

Jaws was the first "blockbuster" when using the term to identify a genre of film based on the size of its production, marketing, and summer release date.

Of course, at that is moot, due to the fact that theatrical plays were the first form of entertainment to be called "blockbusters", since a highly successful play could cause neighboring theater companies to go out of business.

Yeah, Jaws started the whole "summer blockbuster" craz.

 

[Thebumwhowalks]

1. Raiders of the lost ark.

I think Raiders ended up being his best ever movie because he threw every part of himself into making it the best possible film he could, digging right into himself and finding even more to his bow than he had before with Jaws(his next best).
I have never bothered to watch 1941, caught bits of it on tv, but apparently he overindulged, it was a comedy that was not that funny, was all over the place, the critics hated it, and his creative roll came to a stop.
So, he went right back to basics and made Raiders, a no bs, exciting movie that knew exactly what it was and what it wanted to do.

and I agree with raybia, EOTS is his most underrated, I can easily forget about that flick, but, looking at the list, i think it's his third best after those two.

 

[raybia]

1. Raiders of the lost ark.

I think Raiders ended up being his best ever movie because he threw every part of himself into making it the best possible film he could, digging right into himself and finding even more to his bow than he had before with Jaws(his next best).
I have never bothered to watch 1941, caught bits of it on tv, but apparently he overindulged, it was a comedy that was not that funny, was all over the place, the critics hated it, and his creative roll came to a stop.
So, he went right back to basics and made Raiders, a no bs, exciting movie that knew exactly what it was and what it wanted to do.

and I agree with raybia, EOTS is his most underrated, I can easily forget about that flick, but i think it's his third best after those two.

I love EOTS and a remarkable performance by child actor Christian Bale who is also very underrated.

 

[Thebumwhowalks]

I love EOTS and a remarkable performance by child actor Christian Bale who is also very underrated.

Yeah, we have it here on dvd in the house, but someone has had a loan of it for a long while, it is a great movie, and it is a big kick watching the young Bale acting alongside John Malcovich, who plays one of those crazy roles that feels like it was written for him.
One of the good things about the movie, in terms of evaluating it alongside his other work, is that it does not feel like a Spielberg movie, most of the others all have that, I don't know, nice sparkly Christmas wrapping vibe, lol, that can sometimes enchant you, but at other times can put you off watching the movie all together.
I think he should have lost that Christmas wrapping vibe a lot more when making his movies.
edit: in non-abstract terms, what that means to me, is that I sat down to watch Hook, and it felt like it was going to be over-smaltzy, so i didn't bother watching it, but what do i know, someone voted for it, maybe i would have liked it.
And ET is a great movie, a lot of it is perfectly pitched between the magical and the mundane, but at times it can get a little too smaltzy and sentimental, and i wish he had held back the tweaking of emotions a bit, and it would have been just right.(and he should not have released that SE version, I find that unwatchable, but you can get the original re-mastered on dvd, unlike the Lucas ones)
EOTS just feels like a great movie made by a master filmaker, no flab, crap or sparkly wrapping.

edit: duel is probably the closest one to Raiders in feel, and i think it's great for the same reasons, ie he has something to prove, what would have been a throwaway, tv director for hire gig became a passionate excercise in filmaking(and it was released into cinemas as a result).
I was into columbo when i was a kid, and i always recall watching one when i was a teenager, when i was first starting to get into film, studying them a bit more, wanting to make my own etc, and i noticed that one ep was particularly well made, and it was speilberg's name that came up at the end, I felt quite pleased with myself that I'd clocked it was a particularly well directed one.

 

[DCW]

Not seeing alot of Hook on anybodies lists and that kinda confuses me. I thought that got alot of Love on the net. Its prolly my favorite one but his best though very close for me.

My wife and I picked that up on Black Friday for like three bucks. I hadn't seen it for years but it was one of my favorites when I was a kid, I only saw the first thrid of it so far but I absolutely loved what I saw!

 

[childeroland]

1) Raiders
2) Jaws
3) Close Encounters
4) Schindler's List
5) Duel

 

[Frosty81]

I need to rewatch so many.

Me too. I love Spielberg films.

 

[Brother Jack]

I think Empire of the Sun is his most underrated movie.

Agreed, although Hook is quite under appreciated as well.

EOTS is just a beautiful, beautiful film.

 

[night0205]

Hook is the lowest rated film on rotten tomatoes for Spielberg. I definitely don't think it's anywhere near his best. Wow, I just learned he produced Gladiator.... my favorite movie of all time. Didn't know that, Ridley Scott and Spielberg. J. J. Abrams and Spieldberg will be a great match. Peter Jackson and Spielberg will be great as well. Jaws and Jurassic Park and Schindler's List.

 

[Asteroid-Man]

Schindler's List. Freaking incredible.

 

[Kahran Ramsus]

Raiders of the Lost Ark is my second favourite film, so I had to vote for that. I've watched it a million times, and I never get tired of it.

Jaws is also in my top five favourite films ever.

My top five:

1) Raiders of the Lost Ark
2) Jaws
3) Schindler's List
4) Jurassic Park
5) ET: The Extra-Terrestrial

 

[Timstuff]

How is it that his best movie did not make it onto the poll?

The reason I didn't pick Raiders is because it was more of a collaboration between Spielberg and Lucas. I think it's my favorite movie that Spielberg has directed, but as far as pure Spielberg goes, I gotta go with Saving Private Ryan. Although Jurassic Park comes in second.

 

[CBGB]

It's a close tie between Jaws and Close Encounters for me.

 

[Spider-Fan]

Easily, the answer is Schindler's List. He has made some great films, though the majority of his recent work is lazy and uninspired, but Schindler's List is his masterpiece by far. Now, saying that is not an insult to what he did prior to that, it is praise for Schindler's List.

 

[Hush]

Again I didn't put duel on there because I was only going for THEATRICAL releases. Sorry guys! Next Time in like 5 years!

 

[El Payaso]

Raiders and Jurassic Park are in the 'meh to bad' categrory?

Raiders and all the Indiana Jones are in the 'okay-fun' category. Exciting movies but nothing else.

And Jurassic Park had great effects and action scenes (well action as in people running from dinosaurs). But many of the main roles were bad for me. The Santa-Claus-esque owner of the park. The annoying I'm-a-genius-so-I-mumble-and-stutter superficial characterisation of Jeff Goldblum character and his unbearable monologues about nature finding its path. The ridiculous, obviiously ugly and ever-greedy lawyer.

But the kids... oh the kids got my eyeballs hurting from so much eyerolling. I swear I was happy when I thought that little brat had been eletrocuted to death. I don't know why Spielberg seems to think that the most idiotic and annoying a child is the better. That prevented me from liking JP. And the second one, I just hated it.

 

[Spider-Who?]

you must have hated the book then; half of it was nothing but monologues about nature and science and how to ethically handle the two.

As for the kids; i thought they were fine. I've seen far worse portrayals of children.

 

[Kent]

For me it's a toss up between Raiders, Jaws, Jurassic Park and Schindler's List, but I gave the vote to Raiders.