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Every Steven Spielberg Movie Ranked by Tomatometer

A box office success out of the gate (at 16, he shot a movie for $500 and sold $501 in tickets), Steven Spielberg has toiled in what must be the world’s funnest imaginary sandbox, on his way to becoming the most successful movie director ever. From the depths of his talent, we’ve gotten dashing adventurer archaeologists (Indiana Jones), far-away visitors(E.T.), hungry hungry dinos (Jurassic Park and sequel), and maturing insight into some dark moments of recent history (Schindler’s List, The Post). For his latest, Spielberg looks to his own past, creating a semi-autobiographical portrait of the artist as a young man in The Fabelmans.

Sure, his movies transcend generations — but how do they stack against each on the Tomatometer, piled up like so much mashed potatoes? We’re ranking all of the Steven Spielberg movies from lowest to highest, and finding out.

#1

E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial (1982)

99%
72%

#1

Adjusted Score: 114528%

Synopsis: After a gentle alien becomes stranded on Earth, the being is discovered and befriended by a young boy named Elliott…
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Starring: Henry Thomas, Dee Wallace, Peter Coyote, Drew Barrymore

Directed By: Steven Spielberg

#2

Schindler’s List (1993)

98%
97%

#2

Adjusted Score: 111820%

Synopsis: Businessman Oskar Schindler (Liam Neeson) arrives in Krakow in 1939, ready to make his fortune from World War II, which…
[More]

Starring: Liam Neeson, Ben Kingsley, Ralph Fiennes, Caroline Goodall

Directed By: Steven Spielberg

#3

Jaws (1975)

97%
90%

#3

Adjusted Score: 114432%

Synopsis: When a young woman is killed by a shark while skinny-dipping near the New England tourist town of Amity Island,…
[More]

Starring: Roy Scheider, Robert Shaw, Richard Dreyfuss, Lorraine Gary

Directed By: Steven Spielberg

#4

Catch Me if You Can (2002)

96%
89%

#4

Adjusted Score: 102908%

Synopsis: Frank Abagnale, Jr. (Leonardo DiCaprio) worked as a doctor, a lawyer, and as a co-pilot for a major airline –…
[More]

Starring: Leonardo DiCaprio, Tom Hanks, Christopher Walken, Martin Sheen

Directed By: Steven Spielberg

#5

Saving Private Ryan (1998)

94%
95%

#5

Adjusted Score: 103434%

Synopsis: Captain John Miller (Tom Hanks) takes his men behind enemy lines to find Private James Ryan, whose three brothers have…
[More]

Starring: Tom Hanks, Edward Burns, Tom Sizemore, Jeremy Davies

Directed By: Steven Spielberg

#6

Raiders of the Lost Ark (1981)

93%
96%

#6

Adjusted Score: 108966%

Synopsis: Dr. Indiana Jones, a renowned archeologist and expert in the occult, is hired by the U.S. Government to find the…
[More]

Starring: Harrison Ford, Karen Allen, Paul Freeman, Wolf Kahler

Directed By: Steven Spielberg

#7

The Fabelmans (2022)

92%
83%

#7

Adjusted Score: 114338%

Synopsis: Young Sammy Fabelman falls in love with movies after his parents take him to see “The Greatest Show on Earth.”…
[More]

Starring: Michelle Williams, Paul Dano, Seth Rogen, Gabriel LaBelle

Directed By: Steven Spielberg

#8

West Side Story (2021)

91%
93%

#8

Adjusted Score: 111203%

Synopsis: Love at first sight strikes when young Tony spots Maria at a high school dance in 1957 New York City….
[More]

Starring: Ansel Elgort, Rachel Zegler, Ariana DeBose, David Alvarez

Directed By: Steven Spielberg

#9

Bridge of Spies (2015)

91%
87%

#9

Adjusted Score: 106511%

Synopsis: During the Cold War, the Soviet Union captures U.S. pilot Francis Gary Powers after shooting down his U-2 spy plane….
[More]

Starring: Tom Hanks, Mark Rylance, Alan Alda, Amy Ryan

Directed By: Steven Spielberg

#10

Jurassic Park (1993)

91%
91%

#10

Adjusted Score: 105365%

Synopsis: In Steven Spielberg’s massive blockbuster, paleontologists Alan Grant (Sam Neill) and Ellie Sattler (Laura Dern) and mathematician Ian Malcolm (Jeff…
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Starring: Sam Neill, Laura Dern, Jeff Goldblum, Richard Attenborough

Directed By: Steven Spielberg

#11

Close Encounters of the Third Kind (1977)

90%
85%

#11

Adjusted Score: 102699%

Synopsis: Science fiction adventure about a group of people who attempt to contact alien intelligence. Roy Neary (Richard Dreyfuss) witnesses an…
[More]

Starring: Richard Dreyfuss, François Truffaut, Teri Garr, Melinda Dillon

Directed By: Steven Spielberg

#12

Lincoln (2012)

90%
80%

#12

Adjusted Score: 103953%

Synopsis: With the nation embroiled in still another year with the high death count of Civil War, President Abraham Lincoln brings…
[More]

Starring: Daniel Day-Lewis, Sally Field, David Strathairn, Joseph Gordon-Levitt

Directed By: Steven Spielberg

#13

Minority Report (2002)

89%
80%

#13

Adjusted Score: 98179%

Synopsis: Based on a story by famed science fiction writer Philip K. Dick, “Minority Report” is an action-detective thriller set in…
[More]

Starring: Tom Cruise, Colin Farrell, Samantha Morton, Max von Sydow

Directed By: Steven Spielberg

#14

Duel (1971)

89%
84%

#14

Adjusted Score: 94050%

Synopsis: David Mann (Dennis Weaver), a mild mannered electronics salesman, is driving cross-country on a two-lane highway when he encounters an…
[More]

Starring: Dennis Weaver, Tim Herbert, Charles Seel, Eddie Firestone

Directed By: Steven Spielberg

#15

The Post (2017)

88%
74%

#15

Adjusted Score: 110692%

Synopsis: Katharine Graham is the first female publisher of a major American newspaper — The Washington Post. With help from editor…
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Starring: Meryl Streep, Tom Hanks, Bruce Greenwood, Matthew Rhys

Directed By: Steven Spielberg

#16

The Sugarland Express (1974)

87%
66%

#16

Adjusted Score: 92478%

Synopsis: Married small-time crooks Lou-Jean (Goldie Hawn) and Clovis Poplin (William Atherton) lose their baby to the state of Texas and…
[More]

Starring: Goldie Hawn, William Atherton, Ben Johnson, Michael Sacks

Directed By: Steven Spielberg

#17

Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade (1989)

84%
94%

#17

Adjusted Score: 96726%

Synopsis: An art collector appeals to Jones to embark on a search for the Holy Grail. He learns that another archaeologist…
[More]

Starring: Harrison Ford, Sean Connery, Denholm Elliott, Alison Doody

Directed By: Steven Spielberg

#18

Munich (2005)

78%
83%

#18

Adjusted Score: 85864%

Synopsis: After the murder of 11 Israeli athletes and their coach at the 1972 Olympics, the Israeli government secretly assigns Avner…
[More]

Starring: Eric Bana, Daniel Craig, Geoffrey Rush, Ciarán Hinds

Directed By: Steven Spielberg

#19

Amistad (1997)

78%
79%

#19

Adjusted Score: 82317%

Synopsis: In 1839, the slave ship Amistad set sail from Cuba to America. During the long trip, Cinque (Djimon Hounsou) leads…
[More]

Starring: Morgan Freeman, Anthony Hopkins, Matthew McConaughey, Nigel Hawthorne

Directed By: Steven Spielberg

#20

Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom (1984)

77%
82%

#20

Adjusted Score: 90047%

Synopsis: The second of the Lucas/Spielberg Indiana Jones epics is set a year or so before the events in Raiders of…
[More]

Starring: Harrison Ford, Kate Capshaw, Ke Huy Quan, Amrish Puri

Directed By: Steven Spielberg

#21

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

77%
53%

#21

Adjusted Score: 89780%

Synopsis: It’s the height of the Cold War, and famous archaeologist Indiana Jones (Harrison Ford), returning from his latest adventure, finds…
[More]

Starring: Harrison Ford, Cate Blanchett, Shia LaBeouf, Karen Allen

Directed By: Steven Spielberg

#22

Empire of the Sun (1987)

77%
90%

#22

Adjusted Score: 82702%

Synopsis: Jamie Graham (Christian Bale), a privileged English boy, is living in Shanghai when the Japanese invade and force all foreigners…
[More]

Starring: Christian Bale, John Malkovich, Miranda Richardson, Nigel Havers

Directed By: Steven Spielberg

#23

A.I.: Artificial Intelligence (2001)

76%
64%

#23

Adjusted Score: 83383%

Synopsis: A robotic boy, the first programmed to love, David (Haley Joel Osment) is adopted as a test case by a…
[More]

Starring: Haley Joel Osment, Jude Law, Frances O’Connor, Brendan Gleeson

Directed By: Steven Spielberg

#24

War of the Worlds (2005)

76%
42%

#24

Adjusted Score: 86197%

Synopsis: Dockworker Ray Ferrier (Tom Cruise) struggles to build a positive relationship with his two children, Rachel (Dakota Fanning) and Robbie…
[More]

Starring: Tom Cruise, Dakota Fanning, Miranda Otto, Justin Chatwin

Directed By: Steven Spielberg

#25

The Adventures of Tintin (2011)

75%
74%

#25

Adjusted Score: 84411%

Synopsis: While shopping at an outdoor market, young reporter Tintin (Jamie Bell), accompanied by his faithful dog, Snowy, buys a model…
[More]

Starring: Jamie Bell, Andy Serkis, Daniel Craig, Nick Frost

Directed By: Steven Spielberg

#26

War Horse (2011)

74%
74%

#26

Adjusted Score: 83768%

Synopsis: Albert (Jeremy Irvine) and his beloved horse, Joey, live on a farm in the British countryside. At the outbreak of…
[More]

Starring: Emily Watson, David Thewlis, Jeremy Irvine, Peter Mullan

Directed By: Steven Spielberg

#27

The BFG (2016)

74%
57%

#27

Adjusted Score: 88760%

Synopsis: Ten-year-old Sophie is in for the adventure of a lifetime when she meets the Big Friendly Giant (Mark Rylance). Naturally…
[More]

Starring: Mark Rylance, Ruby Barnhill, Penelope Wilton, Jemaine Clement

Directed By: Steven Spielberg

#28

Ready Player One (2018)

71%
77%

#28

Adjusted Score: 95953%

Synopsis: In 2045, the planet is on the brink of chaos and collapse, but people find salvation in the OASIS, an…
[More]

Starring: Tye Sheridan, Olivia Cooke, Ben Mendelsohn, Lena Waithe

Directed By: Steven Spielberg

#29

The Color Purple (1985)

73%
94%

#29

Adjusted Score: 85376%

Synopsis: An epic tale spanning forty years in the life of Celie (Whoopi Goldberg), an African-American woman living in the South…
[More]

Starring: Whoopi Goldberg, Danny Glover, Margaret Avery, Oprah Winfrey

Directed By: Steven Spielberg

#30

Always (1989)

70%
58%

#30

Adjusted Score: 71725%

Synopsis: Aerial firefighter Pete (Richard Dreyfuss) risks himself and his vintage World War II airplane in a constant and death-defying quest…
[More]

Starring: Richard Dreyfuss, Holly Hunter, Brad Johnson, John Goodman

Directed By: Steven Spielberg

#31

The Terminal (2004)

61%
73%

#31

Adjusted Score: 67888%

Synopsis: When Viktor Navorski (Tom Hanks), an Eastern European tourist, arrives at JFK in New York, war breaks out in his…
[More]

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

Directed By: Steven Spielberg

#32

Twilight Zone: The Movie (1983)

59%
55%

#32

Adjusted Score: 62790%

Synopsis: This tribute to the beloved supernatural TV show has four episodes. In the first, racist Bill Connor (Vic Morrow) is…
[More]

Starring: Vic Morrow, John Lithgow, Kathleen Quinlan, Scatman Crothers

Directed By: John Landis, Steven Spielberg, Joe Dante, George Miller

#33

The Lost World: Jurassic Park (1997)

53%
52%

#33

Adjusted Score: 58550%

Synopsis: Four years after “Jurassic Park”, mathematician Ian Malcolm ventures onto a second island to save his girlfriend from becoming dinosaur…
[More]

Starring: Jeff Goldblum, Julianne Moore, Pete Postlethwaite, Arliss Howard

Directed By: Steven Spielberg

#34

1941 (1979)

39%
48%

#34

Adjusted Score: 41137%

Synopsis: After Japan’s attack on Pearl Harbor, residents of California descend into a wild panic, afraid that they might be the…
[More]

Starring: John Belushi, Dan Aykroyd, Lorraine Gary, Ned Beatty

Directed By: Steven Spielberg

#35

Hook (1991)

29%
76%

#35

Adjusted Score: 34456%

Synopsis: When his young children are abducted by his old nemesis, Capt. Hook (Dustin Hoffman), middle-aged lawyer Peter Banning (Robin Williams)…
[More]

Starring: Dustin Hoffman, Robin Williams, Julia Roberts, Bob Hoskins

Directed By: Steven Spielberg