All 35 Steven Spielberg Movies, Ranked

Steven Spielberg has been a household name for close to half a century at this point, as he began directing feature films while he was still in his 20s and hasn’t ever slowed down since. His earliest work came in the form of directing for television (both TV movies and episodes of shows), but it’s his features that made him one of the most well-recognized American directors of all time. His filmography is defined both by quality and quantity – he’s had very few total misses regarding the former, and regarding the latter, he’s generally put out a movie every year or two since 1974.

Considering all those feature films and ranking them in some kind of order is a considerable task, but that’s what the following intends to do. There are 35 theatrically released Spielberg movies to consider (including one anthology movie, and one TV movie that did end up getting a limited theatrical run). Not every Spielberg movie is a masterpiece, but even his lesser ones tend to be interesting in their own ways, and his best films undoubtedly rank as some of the greatest movies ever made.

35 'The Terminal' (2004)

Starring: Tom Hanks, Catherine Zeta-Jones, Stanley Tucci

There were enough pieces in place for The Terminal to work as a film… it’s just a shame those pieces didn’t really come together. It’s one of several Steven Spielberg movies to star Tom Hanks, it was loosely inspired by a strange real-life story, and the core premise of a man having to live inside John F. Kennedy Airport because of bureaucratic complications does make it sound interesting.

Regrettably, The Terminal falls flat when it tries to be funny (a big problem for a movie that’s intended to work as a dramedy), and in its more dramatic moments, it can feel overly sentimental; much more than is bearable. Spielberg can make sentimentality work, and has done so in his more effectively emotional films, but The Terminal just feels a bit hollow and even uncanny. It’s not particularly funny, moving, or romantic, and it feels a good deal longer than its 128-minute runtime.

The Terminal

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34 'The BFG' (2016)

Starring: Mark Rylance, Ruby Barnhill, Rebecca Hall

A family-friendly fantasy movie that blends live-action with computer animation, The BFG adapts the Roald Dahl novel of the same name and is undoubtedly a strange entry within Spielberg’s filmography. There’s a child protagonist, an unlikely friendship that develops, and some impressive work done technically; that’s all Spielbergian stuff. But something about it just feels off, on some kind of gut level.

Even if the giants are supposed to look unsettling in some capacity, the animation used here is the wrong kind of ugly. It feels unintentionally creepy alongside being intentionally creepy, and if a film makes you think of some of the lesser Robert Zemeckis animated movies, that’s never a good sign. It’s also hard to imagine kids getting much enjoyment out of The BFG, as it’s rather plodding, long, (occasionally) creepy, and it never really manages to soar or truly impress.

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33 'Twilight Zone: The Movie' (1983)

Starring: Scatman Crothers, Bill Quinn, Martin Garner

Twilight Zone: The Movie unsurprisingly serves as a feature film version of the iconic sci-fi/horror anthology series, The Twilight Zone. There are four main segments in the film, plus a prologue of sorts, with Steven Spielberg only being responsible for one of those four main segments. His portion of the film is called “Kick the Can,” and it revolves around a group of elderly people being transformed into younger versions of themselves.

Spielberg’s segment is pretty weak, in all honesty, and tends to get overshadowed by the controversy surrounding the movie, with John Landis’s segment notoriously being one where Vic Morrow and two child actors died on set. Without the accident, Spielberg’s segment would still probably be overshadowed by the third and fourth stories in the movie, directed by Joe Dante and George Miller respectively, which admittedly would work pretty well on their own as short films.

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32 'War Horse' (2011)

Starring: Jeremy Irvine, Peter Mullan, Emily Watson

“Acceptable” might be the best word to use to describe War Horse, which isn’t exactly praising it a great deal, but it does mean this is the point where things gradually start getting praiseworthy. It’s about a war – specifically, World War I – and it’s also about a horse, so there’s nothing misleading about the title at least. War Horse has got that going for it.

In all seriousness, War Horse is sincere and comes close to feeling moving at times. It’s all technically well put together and some of the choices it makes narratively do prove a little surprising; not necessarily in a bad way. However, like many Spielberg movies of the past couple of decades, War Horse is bloated. It has a simplicity and purity that’s sort of at odds with a runtime of nearly 2.5 hours. It’s hard to tell a director with decades of experience “no,” but complaints about things being just a little too long are going to apply to many soon-to-be-mentioned films. Get used to it.

War Horse

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31 'The Post' (2017)

Starring: Meryl Streep, Tom Hanks, Sarah Paulson

The Post is a noble enough film, if a little dry, retelling the true story surrounding The Washington Post publishing the Pentagon Papers back in the early 1970s. It was an event that had some serious consequences, particularly regarding how willing the U.S. public was to trust everything the government said, given how these documents exposed lies told about the Vietnam War.

The story behind The Post is indeed interesting, but it’s all approached in a rather safe and by-the-numbers fashion in the film itself, which can make it a little dull. It’s a serviceable dramatization, and the cast members – led by Meryl Streep and Tom Hanks – all turn in pretty good performances, but it’s not a film that really sticks with you. Indeed, very few people have talked about it all that much in the years since it came out (and it didn’t even come out all that long ago).

The Post

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Facing immense pressure, journalists from The Washington Post risk their careers to expose a massive government cover-up. Led by editor Ben Bradlee and publisher Kay Graham, they race against time to publish the Pentagon Papers, uncovering decades of government secrets and challenging the limits of press freedom.

30 'Bridge of Spies' (2015)

Starring: Tom Hanks, Mark Rylance, Amy Ryan

Many of the things that can be said about The Post could also be said about Bridge of Spies, for better or worse. Both movies see Spielberg at arguably his most cautious, and thereby perhaps his least exciting. Bridge of Spies is a perfectly serviceable historical/thriller film, and one where it’s hard to point out much by way of serious missteps, but it’s also just there. It’s a bit flat.

It takes place during the Cold War, and mostly centers on a tense prisoner exchange between the U.S. and the Soviet Union. It checks all the boxes it needs to and, again, there’s a level of competency here that will ensure most come away not feeling like they’ve wasted money and/or time… well, some might feel they’ve wasted a little time, given Bridge of Spies is another Spielberg movie that’s a little long-winded, running close to two-and-a-half hours when a runtime closer to two would’ve been just fine.

Bridge of Spies

29 'Always' (1989)

Starring: Richard Dreyfuss, Holly Hunter, John Goodman

If The Post and Bridge of Spies might both be a tad overrated (that’s a loaded word and is not used lightly here), then there’s a chance Always might be a bit underrated. Those aforementioned 2010s films were safe and not very risky, whereas Always does take some fairly big swings, and has an unabashedly emotional central story that gets to be a little too much here and there.

However, some of the sentimentalism found in Always works, and parts are indeed moving. It’s one of Steven Spielberg’s most romance-heavy films, also broadly dealing with the grieving process and the idea of moving on from a love that once was. It also demonstrated Spielberg’s willingness to remake older films, with Always being a remake of A Guy Named Joe (and certainly wasn’t the final time Spielberg remade an older classic).

Always

The spirit of a recently deceased expert pilot mentors a newer pilot while watching him fall in love with the girlfriend that he left behind.

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28 'Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull' (2008)

Starring: Harrison Ford, Cate Blanchett, Karen Allen

Thanks to the rather dismal Indiana Jones and the Dial of Destiny, Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull no longer feels like the worst Indiana Jones movie. Some might consider it the most disappointing, given it still trails behind the earlier three movies in the series Steven Spielberg directed, but, in the end, of the five Indiana Jones films, all but the worst of the bunch carry Spielberg’s name.

Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull is a bit messy, falling apart further by the final act, but before then, there’s entertainment value to be found here. Indy’s old, but not so old that he can’t fully take part in all the action, and the best set pieces still have that Spielberg spark and effortless fluidity; qualities lacking from Dial of Destiny (even though James Mangold’s usually a solid director, he just couldn’t quite get the tone/feel right in that 2023 film).

Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull

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Indiana Jones becomes entangled in a Soviet plot to uncover the secret behind mysterious artifacts known as the Crystal Skulls.

27 'Hook' (1991)

Starring: Dustin Hoffman, Robin Williams, Julia Roberts

Hook is another somewhat messy Steven Spielberg film, but there are undeniable good parts to it that can be taken alongside the less-than-great parts. It’s appropriately imaginative for a fantasy movie, following a surprisingly grown-up Peter Pan who’s forced to return to Neverland after his children are kidnapped by Captain Hook, with the whole adventure naturally allowing him to reconnect with his childhood.

It's a film that largely succeeds on a technical level, and has an undeniably star-studded cast that includes Robin Williams, Dustin Hoffman, Julia Roberts, and the always-great Bob Hoskins. Critically, it paled in comparison to most of Spielberg’s other films of the 1990s (he had a particularly great 1993, just a couple of years on from Hook), but this family-friendly blend of comedy, fantasy, and adventure still works pretty well. The critics were maybe a little harsh, overall.

Hook

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Directed by Steven Spielberg, Hook stars Robin Williams as Peter Banning, a harried American lawyer who, after his children are kidnapped by Captain Hook, finds out that he is Peter Pan, having lost his memories of Neverland. In order to rescue his children, Peter must find his childlike spirit of adventure and regain his memories as he does battle with Hook and his crew. Dustin Hoffman stars alongside Williams as Captain Hook, along with Julia Roberts, Maggie Smith, and Charlie Korsmo.

26 '1941' (1979)

Starring: Dan Aykroyd, Ned Beatty, John Belushi

Commonly regarded as a low point in Spielberg’s filmography, 1941 might not be great – and is certainly inconsistent – but the derision is unwarranted, because it offers a surprising amount. Admittedly, you might have to have some idea of what you’re in for, in order to have a chance at enjoying 1941. Simply put, it’s a comedic war film wherein anarchy reigns supreme, and everything that could be over-the-top is.

There’s a premise in 1941 – involving fear of an imminent Japanese invasion during World War II – that ends up being more of an excuse than a story; an excuse to have ridiculous action sequences and bizarre slapstick comedy on a scale that’s found in precious few films (1963’s It’s a Mad, Mad, Mad, Mad World being one of them). And where else are you going to find a movie that stars such a random assortment of actors, including Dan Aykroyd, John Belushi, Christopher Lee, and even the legendary Toshirō Mifune?

1941

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Hysterical Californians prepare for a Japanese invasion in the days after Pearl Harbor.

25 'Ready Player One' (2018)

Starring: Tye Sheridan, Olivia Cooke, Ben Mendelsohn

Like 1941, it’s possible to argue that Ready Player One is a bit over-hated as far as Spielberg movies go. It is a movie that’s unabashedly about nostalgia in a way that doesn’t feel particularly clever or subversive, but as far as crowd-pleasers go, Ready Player One should please crowds… and hey, it kind of did, earning just over $600 million worldwide on a budget of about $175 million.

That’s to say it might well be one of Spielberg’s biggest films, at least in terms of delivering action and sci-fi spectacle, with the plot focusing on various parties competing to be the owners of a huge virtual reality simulation known as the OASIS. It’s a good popcorn flick, honestly, even if some of it feels a little derivative and shallow here and there. The fact that it doesn’t have John Williams serving as the composer also feels a bit weird, being one of only a handful of Spielberg movies that were made without Williams composing.

Ready Player One

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When the creator of a virtual reality called the OASIS dies, he makes a posthumous challenge to all OASIS users to find his Easter Egg, which will give the finder his fortune and control of his world.

24 'Amistad' (1997)

Starring: Morgan Freeman, Anthony Hopkins, Djimon Hounsou

Like some of the aforementioned Steven Spielberg historical films, there is some dryness to be found in Amistad, but it’s overall more impactful than some of his more recent dramas with period settings. It’s set during the 19th century, and narratively revolves around the aftermath of an uprising that took place on the Amistad slave ship, largely becoming a courtroom drama.

And it’s a solid courtroom drama film overall, taking its time in some places (like Spielberg movies can sometimes do), but generally telling the story at hand in a respectful way. It’s one of the more intense and harrowing films the director’s made, understandably lacking sentimentality and refusing to shy away from the brutalities central to the story, but there is still a humanity to Amistad that prevents it from ever being too detached.

Amistad

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23 'Duel' (1971)

Starring: Dennis Weaver, Jacqueline Scott, Eddie Firestone

Duel was originally a TV movie, but can be considered among Steven Spielberg’s theatrical releases for a couple of key reasons. The first – and more objective – reason is that it was given a limited theatrical run with a few extra scenes filmed, taking it from about 75 minutes in length to 90. The second reason is that it honestly transcends the realm of made-for-TV movies, feeling truly cinematic and indeed being better than some of Spielberg’s “proper” feature films.

And it does all this while having a plot that’s as simple as plots get, with Duel revolving around one man driving in the desert, and then finding himself in a fight to survive when the driver of a large truck decides to try and kill him. Road rage spirals out of control and sustains enough suspense to pretty much carry a feature-length film (there’s a little repetition eventually, but that feeling sets in later than you’d expect). Not many directors could spin something so engaging out of something so simple, but a young Spielberg – who made the film the year he turned 25 – was more than up to the task.

Duel

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A business commuter is pursued and terrorized by the malevolent driver of a massive tractor-trailer.

22 'War of the Worlds' (2005)

Starring: Tom Cruise, Dakota Fanning, Justin Chatwin

Time didn’t dull Spielberg’s capacity to direct something white-knuckle, because War of the Worlds is similarly intense as Duel, but is also a much bigger production, not to mention a work of science fiction. It’s a film that modernizes H. G. Wells's The War of the Worlds, taking that story into the 21st century and showcasing a deadly alien invasion on a massive and devastating scale.

It’s pretty harrowing in parts, even with a PG-13 rating, looking at both the horrors that come from the extra-terrestrials and the dangers of interacting with other human beings during such desperate times. It’s not one of Spielberg’s very best sci-fi movies, but few would call it one of his worst. War of the Worlds generally succeeds and works as a science fiction thriller, also benefiting from a typically committed Tom Cruise performance at its center.

War of The Worlds (2005)

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In a gripping adaptation of H.G. Wells' classic novel, Earth faces an unprecedented threat when extraterrestrial tripods descend to wreak havoc, leading to humanity's desperate fight for survival. The story follows a divorced father striving to protect his children amidst the chaos.

21 'Lincoln' (2012)

Starring: Daniel Day-Lewis, Sally Field, David Strathairn

Once more, 2012 saw the release of a historical drama by Steven Spielberg that impressed, more or less, while also feeling a little dry: Lincoln. It’s a competent look at the final months of Abraham Lincoln’s presidency, though excels largely thanks to the strengths of its cast, with Daniel Day-Lewis in particular disappearing into the central/titular role (winning his third Academy Award in the process).

Lincoln also has strong supporting turns from Tommy Lee Jones and Sally Field, plus too many other well-known actors (including a few who weren’t quite household names in 2012, like Adam Driver and a pre-SuccessionJeremy Strong) to count. The filmmaking sort of takes a backseat to the acting, and there isn’t really anything done stylistically or narratively that’s likely to surprise, but Lincoln is a good biographical film and maybe even one of the better movies Spielberg directed in the 2010s; a comparatively weak decade by the director’s admittedly high standards.

Lincoln

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As the Civil War rages on, U.S President Abraham Lincoln struggles with continuing carnage on the battlefield as he fights with many inside his own cabinet on his decision to emancipate the slaves.

20 'The Adventures of Tintin' (2011)

Starring: Jamie Bell, Andy Serkis, Daniel Craig

Speaking of 2010s movies directed by Steven Spielberg, The Adventures of Tintin is probably the best one he made that decade, and it also happened to be released the same year as War Horse. It’s a very different kind of film, though, being the only entirely animated movie Spielberg’s directed to date, and having a kind of adventurous spirit that makes it feel very reminiscent of Indiana Jones at times.

Well, it could be more accurate to say that Indiana Jones was reminiscent of Tintin, given the comic series The Adventures of Tintin (2011) was based on was published as far back as 1929. This film adaptation captures the spirit of its source material, with Spielberg being perfectly suited to the simple yet satisfying action/adventure narrative at its center. If any Spielberg movie from the last decade or so deserves a sequel, it’s this one.

The Adventures of Tintin

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19 'The Color Purple' (1985)

Starring: Whoopi Goldberg, Danny Glover, Margaret Avery

Steven Spielberg helped define the blockbuster, as a film, with George Lucas’sStar Wars also playing a clear role, of course. At some point in the mid-1980s, though, Spielberg seemed willing to pivot away from pure spectacle and toward something a little more serious. Later dramas from the director did prove more effective, but The Color Purple was a noble starting point for this eventual branching out.

It unfolds over numerous decades and deals with some heavy themes, telling the story of an African-American woman named Celie, and the ordeals she went through while living in the South during the early 20th century. Tonally, the film demonstrates some growing pains regarding Spielberg working with more serious material, all the while retaining traces of his trademark sentimentality, but there’s more about The Color Purple that works than doesn’t, and it largely ends up being very moving.

The Color Purple (1985)

A black Southern woman struggles to find her identity after suffering abuse from her father and others over four decades.

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18 'Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom' (1984)'

Starring: Harrison Ford, Kate Capshaw, Ke Huy Quan

The initial Indiana Jones trilogy might not be untouchable, but it has to be considered pretty strong overall if the closest thing it has to a weak entry is Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom. It’s known for being relentlessly dark and grim, and with good reason. While the first movie had its moments of surprisingly bloody violence, things are pushed further in Temple of Doom, with more gross-out moments, extra intimidating villains, and scenes that include things like child slavery and human sacrifices.

But at the same time, Temple of Doom is non-stop as an action/adventure movie, providing a good deal of fun alongside the darkness. And, when all is said and done, you do have to admire the risks taken in providing viewers with something they might not have been expecting. You still get big set pieces and Harrison Ford doing his thing, but it’s easy to see why other parts of the movie shocked audiences back in 1984.

Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom

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17 'The Lost World: Jurassic Park' (1997)

Starring: Jeff Goldblum, Julianne Moore, Pete Postlethwaite

Some people tend to label The Lost World: Jurassic Park as a disappointing sequel, and if you’re expecting something as good as the 1993 original, then sure, it might “technically” be disappointing. But as far as follow-ups go, it does deliver a similar amount of spectacle to the first while also being exceedingly entertaining, not to mention upping the stakes and featuring a kind of silly, kind of awesome final act where a Tyrannosaurus rex stomps around San Diego.

Also, even if Jeff Goldblum’s Ian Malcolm works better as a side character, there’s a certain novelty to seeing him play the lead, and all the special effects used throughout impress, similarly to the first movie. It might be a little like Kingdom of the Crystal Skull in that subsequent, Spielberg-free films make an earlier Spielberg-directed film look better in hindsight, because The Lost World does indeed have more creativity and passion to it than say 2022’s entirely forgettable Jurassic World Dominion.

The Lost World: Jurassic Park

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16 'The Sugarland Express' (1974)

Starring: Goldie Hawn, Ben Johnson, Michael Sacks

Due to Duel being a TV movie that was later given a theatrical run, it’s possible – and maybe more accurate – to label The Sugarland Express as Steven Spielberg’s first theatrically released feature film. It’s also easily one of his most underrated, working as a genuinely compelling crime movie about a pair of criminals going to desperate lengths to stop the state of Texas from taking custody of their baby.

Much of The Sugarland Express plays out like an extended road movie, with the main characters hurtling toward a clear goal, all the while an increasing number of police officers pursue them. It’s efficiently told from a narrative perspective, and is technically strong, especially for a film made by such a young director. It’s also worth appreciating The Sugarland Express for marking the first time Spielberg and John Williams collaborated, with few – if any – director/composer duos proving quite as legendary.

The Sugarland Express

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A woman attempts to reunite her family by helping her husband escape prison and together kidnapping their son. But things don't go as planned when they are forced to take a police hostage on the road.

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