American filmmaker Steven Spielberg is considered a pioneer of the modern blockbuster. He is widely regarded as one of the greatest and most influential filmmakers in the history of cinema, and is the highest-grossing film director of all time.
Among other accolades, he has received three Oscars, four Golden Globes, and three BAFTAs, as well as an honorary knighthood and the Presidential Medal of Freedom. Rotten Tomatoes has ranked all of Spielberg’s films to celebrate the anniversary of Jaws, saying his films “transcend generations”. Coming in fifth is Saving Private Ryan, a 1998 epic war film set in Normandy, 1944. It follows a group of WW2 soldiers on a mission to find Private Ryan and bring him home after his brothers are killed in action. The film has 94% on Rotten Tomatoes, with the critical consensus saying: “Anchored by another winning performance from Tom Hanks, Steven Spielberg’s unflinchingly realistic war film virtually redefines the genre.” In fourth is Catch Me If You Can, a 2002 crime comedy-drama starring Tom Hanks and Leonardo DiCaprio. The story is based on a semi-autobiographical (and heavily disputed) book by Frank Abagnale Jr., who claims that prior to his 19th birthday, he successfully performed cons worth millions of dollars by posing as a Pan American World Airways pilot, a Georgia doctor, and a Louisiana parish prosecutor.
The film has a 96% score on Rotten Tomatoes, with the critical consensus saying: “With help from a strong performance by Leonardo DiCaprio as real-life wunderkind con artist Frank Abagnale, Steven Spielberg crafts a film that’s stylish, breezily entertaining, and surprisingly sweet.”
Coming in third is Jaws, a 1975 thriller based on a novel that follows a police chief, a marine biologist, and a shark hunter who, together, hunt a man-eating Great White Shark that has been attacking beachgoers in a New England resort town.
The film has a 97% score on Rotten Tomatoes, with the critical consensus saying: “Compelling, well-crafted storytelling and a judicious sense of terror ensure Steven Spielberg’s Jaws has remained a benchmark in the art of delivering modern blockbuster thrills.”
In second is Schindler’s List, a 1993 epic historical drama following the story of Oskar Schindler, a German industrialist who saved more than a thousand mostly Polish–Jewish refugees from the Holocaust by employing them in his factories during World War II.
The film has a 98% score on Rotten Tomatoes, with the critical consensus saying: “Schindler’s List blends the abject horror of the Holocaust with Steven Spielberg’s signature tender humanism to create the director’s dramatic masterpiece.”
Topping the ranking for Spielberg’s best films is E.T., a 1982 science fiction film telling the story of Elliott, a boy who befriends an extraterrestrial he names E.T. who has been stranded on Earth and needs help to get home.
The film has a 99% score on Rotten Tomatoes, with the critical consensus saying: “Playing as both an exciting sci-fi adventure and a remarkable portrait of childhood, Steven Spielberg’s touching tale of a homesick alien remains a piece of movie magic for young and old.”
Between sixth and tenth place are Raiders of the Lost Ark (1981), The Fabelmans (2022), West Side Story (2021), Bridge of Spies (2015), and Jurassic Park (1993).