Top 3 scary moments in “Jaws”
“Jaws” turns 50 this summer, and USA Today film critic Brian Truitt celebrates with his favorite bloody moment.
Do you like movies? Live for TV? USA Today’s Watch Party Newsletter has all the best recommendations delivered to your inbox. Sign up now and become one of the cool kids.
For film lovers who grew up in a period of blockbusters, no filmmaker is more iconic than Steven Spielberg.
And there are no more iconic big hits than the ones that started them. Spielberg’s “Jaws” is an infamous shark film that celebrates its 50th anniversary. (Original release: June 20, 1975.
Spielberg, 78, has done it all in his legendary Hollywood career. But it’s easy to forget how deep his films can become.
His resume includes classic films such as “The Third Type of Close Encounter”, “The List of Schindlers” and the first two films in “Jurassic Park,” and the Indiana Jones franchise. And Spielberg is still breaking the fresh ground. His 2022 drama, The Fabelmans, made his own childhood fictional in an age-like way.
To mark “Jaws,” at age 50, we celebrate Spielberg’s vast films by ranking all of his feature films.
34. ‘The Lost World: Jurassic Park’ (1997)
The sequel is a poor genetic clone of the first “Jurassic Park.” There are many giant dinosaurs around, but dinosaurs and humans are made up of weak traits, obscure action scenes, and a lack of original spirit.
33. “Indiana Jones and the Temple of Fate” (1984)
The “Anything Goes” opening on Shanghai Set is fantastic. Unfortunately, everything else in this unfortunate adventure, from annoying love interests to sidekick clogs, is a minicart that’s off the rails.
32. “War of the Worlds” (2005)
Maybe it’s the answer to a more benevolent alien early in his career? Spielberg puts his own spin on the HG Wells invasion classic with Tom Cruise for a ride, bringing mediocre results.
31. “The Kingdom of Indiana Jones and the Crystal Skull” (2008)
Thea LaBeouf, Aliens, and Immortal Fridges aren’t the biggest additions to the indie franchise, but Karen Allen’s franchise return and Cate Blanchett’s debut as an evil Soviet villain make up for them.
30. “Terminal” (2004)
Tom Hanks is pretty best about Eastern European men stuck at JFK airport in New York thanks to a civil war where passports are disabled.
29. ‘The BFG’ (2016)
Spielberg is a little too safe with the oversized story of an orphan girl and her very big best friend. But it is the perfect introduction to his work for the little ones who are entertained by flatulent corgis and illustrious giants.
28. “AI Artificial Intelligence” (2001)
Stanley Kubrick was originally supposed to be directing, but it would have produced a film that was quite different from the warm story of Spielberg, a robotic child with the ability to love.
27. “Sugar Land Express” (1974)
Goldie Horn shines in one of her first dramatic roles in the story of two criminals who lure police officers to the extreme length and get the boy back.
26. “Hook” (1991)
Spielberg’s films tend to be horny at times, and this is the pinnacle of its peak, a sugary good-meaning take from the Peter Pan myth with Robin Williams as a boy who never really grew up.
twenty five. ‘Always’ (1989)
It immerses him in emotionally manipulative romance, but Flick gets the point to have Audrey Hepburn in her final film role as an angel. Spirit greets the fire pilot, which must help the deceased Fireboy.
twenty four. “Amistad” (1997)
It may not be Spielberg’s best “important” film, but it is definitely an effective film to convey the historical significance of the Africans who took over a slave ship headed for America around 1839 and the subsequent legal battle.
twenty three. “Duel” (1971)
Before raiding Spielberg’s film debut (premiered as a TV film but also got a theatrical release), he offered the track as its main antagonist before raiding the Dyno and the hungry shark. And the road rage is obvious and knuckle wrenching, as the travelling salesman escapes the road and prevents him from being killed by the big rig drivers of vengeance.
twenty two. ‘Ready Player One’ (2018)
It’s a bit strange to see Spielberg directing a homage to his entire nerd shoot. Still, youthful rebellion in virtual reality looks great, and the concept of online escape resonates in an increasingly intense real world.
twenty one. “Munich” (2005)
Talks about the Israeli government’s secret revenge against the athlete’s massacre at the 1972 Summer Olympics, and one of the darkest moments in the world of sports is the moving thriller spin.
20. “Warhorse” (2011)
The filmmakers go to all the fuzzies that all fuzzies feel on the epic canvas, this WWI boy and his horse, their parallel stories, and on a long road to finding each other again.
19. ‘The Adventures of Tintin’ (2011)
Animated efforts with Peter Jackson give a serious Indiana Jones vibe with a young French journalist and his loyal dog friends in a hunt for a treasure-filled sunken ship.
18. “If you can, I’ll catch me” (2002)
The real cat and mouse tracking of the 1960s has been done with a teenage con man (Leonardo DiCaprio) and a dog FBI agent (Hanks) with a jazzy John Williams score.
17. “Minority Report” (2002)
The futuristic neo-noir science fiction featuring cruises has grown as much as possible, notable, as technology has made a huge leap around us, about filming Nehru Well about law enforcement before doing anything illegal.
16. “The Bridge of Spies” (2015)
The filmmaker puts you directly into the chilly Spicraft of the Cold War, but it’s the chemistry between Hanks and Mark Rylance (as a serious lawyer and his secret Russian client) that promotes drama.
15. ‘The Fabelmans’ (2022)
This is a portrait of the 1960s youth as an icon, and Gabriel Label plays a talented teen who loves to make films but is facing trouble at home along with his parents (Paul Dano and Michelle Williams) and anti-Semitic bully.
14. ‘1941’ (1979)
Spielberg’s purest comedy didn’t get the best reception, but the World War II flick is a cheerful, star-studded wonder about the paranoid La citizens who plunge into panic after Pearl Harbor, worried about Japan’s attacks.
13. “Empire of the Sun” (1987)
Nearly 20 years before he became Batman, Christian Bale was a gorgeous British youth living in China, separated from his parents and became a Japanese concentration camp in World War II in an emotional epic.
12. ‘Lincoln’ (2012)
Daniel Day Lewis transforms into the 16th President in one of his most memorable roles, with Spielberg astonishingly watching the later period of the Civil War, which makes and destroys a country.
11. “The Post” (2017)
The Pentagon paper drama is a spiritual prequel to “All President’s Men,” a love letter to journalism, and a great cast of convenedness, including Ben Bradley, editor of the Washington Post, where Hanks is hard-charged. In modern landscapes where the media struggles to survive, Spielberg gathers to celebrate what makes it wonderful.
10. “West Side Story” (2021)
It takes several major Chatspas to tackle the screen for the first time at a classic Broadway show since its Oscar-winning adaptation in 1961. But it leaves it to Spielberg to tell the love story of Tony (Ansel Elgort) and Maria (Rachel Zegler) in a fresh and relevant way.
9. “Saving Private Ryan” (1998)
One of the greatest war films of all time, period. Spielberg’s excellent view of Normandy’s invasion was groundbreaking in his graphic depiction of the battlefield, particularly due to the fierce knockout of the opening. The landing at Omaha Beach shows genocide and confusion from the perspective of the Army Ranger Captain (Hanks), stumbling in surprise at the bloody water, causing the audience to feel awful terrifying.
8.
An inventive film for kids in the 80s shoots the heart and jerk tears, shedding tears with the story of a super cute alien and a young man who keeps him safe from the authorities and cares for him when he gets sick. Just as important as ET, his friendship with Elliot (Henry Thomas), a marginalized boy who desperately needs connections after his parents’ divorce. ET wants to go home, but Elliot has to rediscover his own too.
7. “Third Type of Intimate Encounter” (1977)
The more grown complement of ET puts a mysterious and thoughtful spin on the initial contact with the aliens and the idea that we are just a small part of all the big puzzles. When visitors come, it’s not spoken language, but a musical theme that bridges the intergalactic gap between us and them, and Richard Dreyfus’ blue-collar workers are all dreamers who wanted to see the sky and see the stars. Spielberg’s vision is sentimental, but I feel very satisfied.
6. “Jurassic Park” (1993)
The dinosaurs were already cool, but in Spielberg’s hands, they are epic sights and scary antagonists in the film about not messing around with Mother Nature. Filmmakers take on the complex of corporate greed and human gods by imagining a genetically cloned reptile theme park, but at a more popcorn-chewed level, Spielberg creates both a terrifying journey and a breathtaking collection of species.
5. ‘The Color Purple’ (1985)
Exceptional performances (particularly Hoopy Goldberg and Oprah Winfrey) promote this tragic, intimate narrative of this painful, intimate woman of an abused, but strong woman who finds voices and identity in Georgia in the early 20th century. Goldberg’s Cerry is the mean wife of a man she is one of the oppressed men and the mean wife of a nasty farmer (Danny Glover) who has protected her from her family and real life, and she sounds a catharsis that she finds in the end surprisingly meaningful.
4. “Indiana Jones and the Last Crusades” (1989)
Three Quell is rarely as good as the first, but this both of these quests for acquisition of this Holy Grail cums as a surprisingly deep story about fathers, sons and mortality. All the usual fun indie is here – the Nazis, precious artifacts – is the bantelling chemistry between Ford’s Hard Luck hero and Sean Connery, as his slump-like dad is epic. Bogie and Bacall have nothing in these two.
3. “Jaws” (1975)
It really takes something special to influence the American public. They are rethinking their beach trips. With its sinister two notes, John Williams theme and the infamous killer shark, the film was a summer hit, breaking many nerves with water-bound horror. He also exploits the man-stop natural dynamics as a modern-day Moby Dick, along with Robert Shaw’s Quint, as Robert Shaw’s Quint is closely tied to his great white nemesis.
2. “Schindler’s List” (1993)
Spielberg’s dramatic black and white masterpiece is the beautiful and brutal look of the Holocaust, an unlikely hero who cannot find hope and kindness in the face of pure evil. The character arc of German businessman Oskar Schindler (Liam Neeson) is amazing from hiring Jewish workers, as it is cheap to give large sums of money to save hundreds of people from a particular destiny. Through his eyes we see hatred, fear, and innocence that has lost its time in history.
1. “The Raiders of the Lost Ark” (1981)
With a lot of Nazi punches and world-shaking religious meanings, the first Indiana Jones film is the perfect action adventure. In fact, it wraps around your face. It makes smart heroes cool forever (in everything from “X-Files” to “Iron Man”), providing the love interest of someone as good as Indy, and as interesting as it is persuasive – sorry, “Star Wars” gives us a Ford signature movie icon. It’s a film that reminds us all of the reasons why we love films.
