Ranking Steven Spielberg’s 10 greatest scenes
Whether you’re a lover of arthouse cinema or a casual viewer of Hollywood cinema, there can be no denying that Steven Speilberg is one of the most significant filmmakers of modern cinema. Respected in the industry in the same breath as Stanley Kubrick, Christopher Nolan and Denis Villeneuve, Spielberg has had a monumental impact on the shape of 20th-century cinema, inspiring a remarkable amount of filmmakers to take up the creative pursuit.
Taking to the industry in the 1970s, Spielberg was responsible for the emergence of the Hollywood blockbuster after his 1975 flick Jaws saw queues around the block to catch the $9million shark thriller. Earning $476.5million at the box office, the film became an instant sensation, and Spielberg became a household name, with far more to offer up until the end of the decade.
Releasing the alien sci-fi movie Close Encounters of the Third Kind in 1977 and the comedy 1941 two years later, Spielberg became a regular Hollywood fixture as the industry entered the 1980s. His ‘70s efforts were merely an appetiser for the following decade, too, with such films as Raiders of the Lost Ark and E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial lighting up the early ‘80s thanks to their vibrant creativity.
Across the course of 34 feature films, Spielberg has created a glittering filmography that is widely regarded as one of the most formidable bodies of work in cinema history. Whilst each film hasn’t been a masterpiece, they all share a similar feeling of Spielberg spectacle, so let’s take a look back and pick out his ten greatest scenes of all time.
Steven Spielberg’s 10 greatest scenes:
10. Saluting the pilots – Empire Of The Sun (1987)
Spielberg’s 1987 war drama Empire Of The Sun may not be one of his most beloved movies, but it’s still a competently made piece of cinema with lashings of the director’s magic. Starring a young Christian Bale alongside John Malkovich and Ben Stiller, the film follows a young English boy who struggles to survive under the Japanese occupation of China during World War II, with Spielberg combining two of his narrative joys; war and coming-of-age tales.
Perhaps its greatest moment comes when Bale’s young character, Jim, witnesses a group of pilots take to the sky in kamikaze suicide whilst he sings Suo Gan, a welsh lullaby. Sure, it’s a little schmaltzy, but that’s Spielberg.
9. The war begins – War of the Worlds (2005)
Spielberg’s filmography is too often praised for the same set of films, and whilst we know Jaws, Raiders of the Lost Ark, and Jurassic Park are masterpieces, sometimes it’s nice to shine some light on other movies. One of his most recent successes was the 2005 sci-fi film War of the Worlds, based on the iconic novel by H. G. Wells, where Tom Cruise starred as an all-American man trying to escape from an alien invasion.
Several scenes impress in Spielberg’s freaky movie, but the moment when the war begins and the towering aliens begin to obliterate the townsfolk is utter cinematic mania. We loved it.
8. Leap of faith – Indiana Jones and The Last Crusade (1989)
The Indiana Jones series is packed-full of memorable moments, with each movie featuring an opening scene and climax which stick long in one’s memory. One of the finest moments comes at the end of Indiana Jones and The Last Crusade when Harrison Ford’s titular archaeologist must overcome a number of obstacles to reach the Holy Grail. Whilst the whole sequence is breathtaking, we’ve decided to pick out just one magical moment.
Meddling with the realm of fantasy, the moment sees Jones being confronted with a wide canyon with seemingly no way across. Tossing sand into the pit, he discovers an invisible path, creating a gut-wrenching sight for viewers as he walks through thin air to reach the other side.
7. Roy Neary’s UFO encounter – Close Encounters of the Third Kind (1977)
Often forgotten in his filmography, in favour of other alien flicks, War of the Worlds and E.T. The Extra-Terrestrial, Spielberg’s 1977 film Close Encounters of the Third Kind is by far his best representation of the cosmic entities. Starring François Truffaut, Richard Dreyfuss and Melinda Dillon, the film follows an electric lineman who finds his life turned upside down when he comes into close contact with a UFO.
There are some things Spielberg is a master at, and cinematic ‘reveals’ is one of them, with the moment when Roy Neary sees a UFO from the safety of his car being utterly magnificent.
6. The red coat – Schindler’s List (1998)
It’s a testament to Spielberg’s filmography that one of the most iconic moments of 1990s cinema, when we see the girl in the red coat in the monochrome drama Schindler’s List doesn’t even make it into the top five of our list. Standing out in a bleak black and white movie, we consider the startling red coat shot more as a moment of magic rather than an outstanding scene.
Still, let’s not detract from the simple mastery of the moment, with the subtle touch showing Spielberg at his very best, keeping the drama within a small nuanced detail rather than an outburst of melodrama.
5. Opening Scene – Raiders of the Lost Ark (1981)
Many movies have tried, and countless have failed to recreate the magic of Raiders of the Lost Ark’s opening scene. Instantly becoming an iconic scene, beloved by fans and parodied by envious filmmakers, Indiana Jones’ mini adventure at the start of the film tells us almost everything we need to know about the title character whilst treating audiences to a piece of iconic action cinema.
Featuring bobby traps, a massive rolling boulder, a golden statuette and casual deceit, the opening scene is a marvel of late 20th-century cinema.
4. T-Rex – Jurassic Park (1993)
Considering the cinematic promise of dinosaurs, there are remarkably few movies about the prehistoric creatures – maybe they’re just a little too costly to make. Indeed, when you think of dinosaurs, you probably also think of Steven Spielberg’s special adaptation of Michael Crichton’s Jurassic Park, a masterpiece of science fiction that proposes a fateful theme park bound to fail as a result of its own prehistoric attractions.
There are countless classic moments in the 1993 adaptation, but for our money, nothing beats the reveal of the ginormous animatronic T-Rex in the jet-black pouring rain. It’s the perfect piece of palatable cinematic horror.
3. Opening Scene – Jaws (1975)
We congratulate Spielberg on sparking galeophobia (the fear of sharks) in just about every single person that watched his 1975 blockbuster Jaws. There are several disturbing sequences in his iconic film, but nothing beats the beauty and bloodshed of the opening scene for us, where Spielberg introduces us to a group of young teenagers before ripping one of them to pieces in the deadly waters of Amity Island.
Swimming out into the water, the young woman is soon rag-dolled around the water by a shark beneath the water. Still, considering that we don’t see the beast, our imaginations are running wild.
2. Moon fly-past – E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial (1982)
E.T. wouldn’t make it into the top five of our list of the best Spielberg movies, but there’s no denying that the moment when Elliot (Henry Thomas) and his newfound alien friend take to the skies on bicycles and fly past the moon, a piece of cinematic wizardry was created. A brilliant coming-of-age film made to look like a complex piece of science fiction, E.T. bottles everything that makes Spielberg’s movies so great.
Just like the Raiders of the Lost Ark introduction, this E.T. scene has been ripped and copied by countless people and productions, showing just how impactful it has been on the wider world of cinema.
1. Omaha Beach – Saving Private Ryan (1998)
Taking number one on our list is the Omaha Beach scene in Spielberg’s scintillating war drama Saving Private Ryan from 1998, a moment that has been confirmed as being disturbingly realistic by actual WWII veterans. Starring Tom Hanks, Matt Damon, Tom Sizemore, Vin Diesel and Adam Goldberg, the film follows the journey of a group of US soldiers who go behind enemy lines to retrieve a paratrooper whose brothers have been killed in action.
Kicking off with the beach-landing scene, Spielberg immerses the audience in a hellish world of warfare, where bullets whizz over heads and bodies are tossed like tennis balls through the air as a result of landmines. It’s a horrifying watch, but one that is utterly necessary to translate the sheer brutality of war.
