# Your favorite Spielberg film? **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [June 11, 2011, 2:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/your-favorite-spielberg-film/585109 "2011-06-11T14:35:21Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![DCnDC](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dcndc/32/2842_2.png) [@DCnDC](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DCnDC)\ **Post date:** [June 11, 2011, 2:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/your-favorite-spielberg-film/585109/1 "2011-06-11T14:35:21Z")
Includes all films he has directed, even including _Firelight_, made when he was only 16. Wait for the poll. ---
**Author:** ![Munch](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/munch/32/5281_2.png) [@Munch](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Munch)\ **Post date:** [June 11, 2011, 2:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/your-favorite-spielberg-film/585109/2 "2011-06-11T14:42:37Z")
I simply cannot choose between Jaws and Raiders of the Lost Ark. Those are in my Top Five of all time. ---
**Author:** ![DCnDC](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dcndc/32/2842_2.png) [@DCnDC](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DCnDC)\ **Post date:** [June 11, 2011, 2:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/your-favorite-spielberg-film/585109/3 "2011-06-11T14:44:27Z")
Wrestling with that exact choice myself. Both are on my short list of films that I _have to_ watch if they’re on, even if I was already watching something else. ---
**Author:** ![Art\_Rock](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/art_rock/32/525_2.png) [@Art\_Rock](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Art_Rock)\ **Post date:** [June 11, 2011, 2:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/your-favorite-spielberg-film/585109/4 "2011-06-11T14:51:24Z")
Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade - my favourite movie anyway. ---
**Author:** ![Justin\_Bailey](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/justin_bailey/32/8792_2.png) [@Justin\_Bailey](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Justin_Bailey)\ **Post date:** [June 11, 2011, 2:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/your-favorite-spielberg-film/585109/5 "2011-06-11T14:53:58Z")
> [@Munch](#): > > I simply cannot choose between Jaws and Raiders of the Lost Ark. Those are in my Top Five of all time. Agreed. And then you go through the rest of the list and see things like Jurassic Park, Last Crusade and Duel, picking one becomes a lost cause. ---
**Author:** ![El\_Kabong](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/el_kabong/32/496_2.png) [@El\_Kabong](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/El_Kabong)\ **Post date:** [June 11, 2011, 2:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/your-favorite-spielberg-film/585109/6 "2011-06-11T14:56:03Z")
Hunh, turns out I’ve seen every one of his works except the two student films, _Hook_ and _Amistad_. My top fave: _Close Encounters_, as perhaps the most archetypal Spielberg film, not to mention the wonderful riffing on nearly every UFO legend of the period. Such a tour de force that it manages to make one of the most suspenseful scenes in film history out of a radio conversation between an air traffic controller and a commercial pilot. After that, maybe _Jaws_, then _Raiders of the Lost Ark_. His one filmic tic that invariably bugs the hell out of me is his habit of insisting on gloopy, sentimental endings even when the whole rest of the film has been unflinchingly harsh. _Saving Private Ryan, War of the Worlds_ and several others, I’m looking at you. ---
**Author:** ![Mahaloth](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mahaloth/32/1079_2.png) [@Mahaloth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mahaloth)\ **Post date:** [June 11, 2011, 3:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/your-favorite-spielberg-film/585109/7 "2011-06-11T15:01:31Z")
> [@Art\_Rock](#): > > Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade - my favourite movie anyway. My pick also and one of my fav. films. His second best movie is Minority Report, in my opinion. ---
**Author:** ![PapSett](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/ecc23a/32.png) [@PapSett](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/PapSett)\ **Post date:** [June 11, 2011, 3:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/your-favorite-spielberg-film/585109/8 "2011-06-11T15:04:00Z")
I voted for Jurassic Park, but there are so many _right there_, nipping at its heels- Jaws, Raiders, JP2… so many. But Jurassic Park edges them because it has thos wonderful dinosaurs!! And it was the first to bring them to life. ---
**Author:** ![JohnT](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/johnt/32/15048_2.png) [@JohnT](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/JohnT)\ **Post date:** [June 11, 2011, 3:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/your-favorite-spielberg-film/585109/9 "2011-06-11T15:17:17Z")
There are a lot of great movies on that list… this is hard. However, I voted for _War of the Worlds_ as my _favorite_ Speilberg film because of its relentlessly dark nature: it’s the only blockbuster American film I can think of (well, right now) where the protagonist goes through a character arc where, as part of his redemptive quest to provide for his child and be a real father, he must calculatingly murder somebody in cold blood (and gets away with it). And I don’t know if it mattered, because at the end, there’s Tim, with his kids. People who harp on Robby not having died kind of missed the point. IMHO. Why isn’t **Poltergeist** on this list? 😉 ---
**Author:** ![Zeldar](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/z/b77776/32.png) [@Zeldar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Zeldar)\ **Post date:** [June 11, 2011, 3:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/your-favorite-spielberg-film/585109/10 "2011-06-11T15:26:08Z")
My vote goes to _Schindler’s List_ because I thought Spielberg went well beyond his comfort zone and produced some views of history that offset the depravity of that period. After I voted I checked IMDb for his work sorted by IMDb rating and found that SL is near the top of his list. > **[Sort by IMDb Rating - Highest Rated Movies and TV Shows With Steven Spielberg...](https://www.imdb.com/filmosearch/?role=nm0000229&sort=user_rating&explore=title_type)** > > IMDb's advanced search allows you to run extremely powerful queries over all people and titles in the database. Find exactly what you're looking for! ---
**Author:** ![Justin\_Bailey](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/justin_bailey/32/8792_2.png) [@Justin\_Bailey](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Justin_Bailey)\ **Post date:** [June 11, 2011, 3:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/your-favorite-spielberg-film/585109/11 "2011-06-11T15:41:32Z")
> [@Zeldar](#): > > After I voted I checked IMDb for his work sorted by IMDb rating and found that SL is near the top of his list. Look again. Schindler’s List is his top-rated movie (and #7 in the IMDB Top 250). > **[Advanced search](https://www.imdb.com/search/title/?role=nm0000229&sort=user_rating&explore=title_type)** ---
**Author:** ![scruffycat](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/scruffycat/32/200_2.png) [@scruffycat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/scruffycat)\ **Post date:** [June 11, 2011, 4:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/your-favorite-spielberg-film/585109/12 "2011-06-11T16:15:32Z")
Raiders, but wow what a difficult decision that was. Jaws and Jurassic Park would make up my top three I think but Raiders of the Lost Ark, well my 9 year old self thought it was the greatest motion picture ever and in some ways my adult self feels the same. ---
**Author:** ![Capitaine\_Zombie](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/e95f7d/32.png) [@Capitaine\_Zombie](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Capitaine_Zombie)\ **Post date:** [June 11, 2011, 4:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/your-favorite-spielberg-film/585109/13 "2011-06-11T16:20:16Z")
Raiders or Munich. ---
**Author:** ![Rhiannon8404](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/rhiannon8404/32/17929_2.png) [@Rhiannon8404](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rhiannon8404)\ **Post date:** [June 11, 2011, 5:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/your-favorite-spielberg-film/585109/14 "2011-06-11T17:16:24Z")
I had a hard time choosing between _Raiders of the Lost Ark_ and _Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade_. I chose the latter because I just love that movie. ---
**Author:** ![Lantern](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/d26b3c/32.png) [@Lantern](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lantern)\ **Post date:** [June 11, 2011, 5:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/your-favorite-spielberg-film/585109/15 "2011-06-11T17:17:52Z")
I am kind of surprised that there are several others who agree with Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade. I think it took the basic template of the Raiders and improved it with even better action set-pieces and some great jokes. I also thought Raiders had a really weak ending: literally a Deus ex Machina. I liked Connery as Indy’s dad and thought the father-son angle worked better in Last Crusade than some of Spielberg’s other films perhaps because it was part of a fun action film. I like most of Spielberg’s films but they tend to fall apart in the last 15 minutes. ---
**Author:** ![blondebear](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/blondebear/32/1022_2.png) [@blondebear](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/blondebear)\ **Post date:** [June 11, 2011, 7:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/your-favorite-spielberg-film/585109/16 "2011-06-11T19:06:12Z")
Can’t choose…my top 4 would be Jaws, ET, Close Encounters and Raiders. I checked IMDB and was amused to see that Firelight was filmed with _ **regular** _ 8mm. (eta–on second glance, the 8mm spec on IMDB doesn’t seem to differentiate between regular and super 8) ---
**Author:** ![RealityChuck](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/realitychuck/32/195_2.png) [@RealityChuck](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RealityChuck)\ **Post date:** [June 11, 2011, 7:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/your-favorite-spielberg-film/585109/17 "2011-06-11T19:49:48Z")
Have to go with **Raiders** for personal reasons – it was my first date with my wife. Though I think my favorite otherwise is **The Sugarland Express**. Certainly his most charming film. ---
**Author:** ![ChockFullOfHeadyGoodness](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chockfullofheadygoodness/32/511_2.png) [@ChockFullOfHeadyGoodness](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ChockFullOfHeadyGoodness)\ **Post date:** [June 11, 2011, 8:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/your-favorite-spielberg-film/585109/18 "2011-06-11T20:29:42Z")
Although I think **Schindler’s List** is his _best_ film (except for the epilogue that dragged on too long, going from uplifting to poignant to “ok, we get it, he touched a LOT of lives” to “will you just end the fucking movie already” - 2 minutes of it would have left me in tears - 10 minutes just pissed me off as I could feel Stevie mechanically pushing the “cry now” button over and over), I find \*\*Raiders \*\*to be his most enjoyable and rewatchable film. **Jaws** , **Jurassic Park** , and the opening 25 minutes of **Saving Private Ryan** are all high ranking runners up. ---
**Author:** ![Elmer\_J.Fudd](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/elmer_j.fudd/32/1211_2.png) [@Elmer\_J.Fudd](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Elmer_J.Fudd)\ **Post date:** [June 11, 2011, 8:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/your-favorite-spielberg-film/585109/19 "2011-06-11T20:36:33Z")
\*Jaws \* is the closest thing to a perfect movie ever made. I could watch that film a million times and never get bored. ---
**Author:** ![KneadToKnow](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kneadtoknow/32/3999_2.png) [@KneadToKnow](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/KneadToKnow)\ **Post date:** [June 11, 2011, 8:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/your-favorite-spielberg-film/585109/20 "2011-06-11T20:39:20Z")
_CE3K_ with _Jaws_ running a very close second. There’s about four tied for third place. [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/your-favorite-spielberg-film/585109.md?page=2)