Every 1980s Steven Spielberg Movie, Ranked According To IMDb
Steven Spielberg is so prolific that he has released the best movies of each decade ever since the 70s. He even recently released one of the best movies of the 2020s so far with the remake of West Side Story. But the most interesting and most active decade of Spielberg's career is the 1980s.
The decade saw the director create one of the most iconic movie heroes ever, one of the most celebrated sci-fi films in history, and a terribly overlooked historical epic. Most of any one of these movies would be a career-best if directed by anyone else, but it's just another day in the office by Spielberg's standards.
8 Always (1989) - 6.4
Spielberg is one of the most consistently great filmmakers of this generation, and outside of Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull, he hasn't had many critically hated movies. But Always is one of the very few exceptions. The movie is a romantic fantasy about a pilot who is mentored by the ghost of a dead former pilot.
The film is overly melodramatic, and while it worked in movies like The Terminal, it fell flat in Always. However, the 1989 movie is notable for a couple of reasons. The fantasy drama sees Audrey Hepburn in her final film role, and it's worth viewing just to see how great of an actress she was even at the very end of her career.
7 Twilight Zone: The Movie (1983) - 6.4
Twilight Zone: The Movie was an interesting experiment at the time, as it's an adaptation and partial remake of the television series of the same name. Unfortunately, audiences didn't respond well to the horror movie, and it lacked Spielberg's usual excitement and beloved trademarks.
However, the failure of Twilight Zone: The Movie can't lay with Spielberg alone, as it's an anthology movie that's made up of four completely separate stories. And the four different segments are all directed by different filmmakers, which include John Landis, George Miller, and Joe Dante. While Spielberg's segment certainly isn't the best, it isn't the worst either.
6 Indiana Jones And The Temple Of Doom (1984) - 7.5
If the 1980s in cinema is remembered for anything, it's Indiana Jones. The character is one of the most iconic movie heroes of all time, and the movies are flawless action-adventure flicks that the whole family can enjoy. However, of the original three movies, The Temple of Doom didn't get the greatest reception upon its release.
The film is criticized for the Willie character, being necessarily dark, and all of the goofs that made it into the movie. While audiences have come round to the film and there's so much about it to love, including the darker tone, it still isn't as highly regarded as the first and third movies.
5 Empire Of The Sun (1987) - 7.7
Spielberg has so many classics under his belt and has such a vast, genre-spanning filmography that audiences talk lovingly about so many of them. But one that goes overlooked, even by fans of the director, is Empire of the Sun, as it's rated so highly by people who have seen it.
The 1987 movie is one of the best historical dramas, as the movie follows a young British boy who struggles to survive when the Japanese invade Shanghai during World War II. It's one of Spielberg's most emotionally resonant movies, which is saying a lot, and it's one of his most ambitious too, which is saying even more. The movie also sees Christian Bale in one of his earliest roles, and it shows just how talented that actor was from such a young age.
4 The Color Purple (1985) - 7.7
Spielberg really showed his dramatic side in the 1980s more than any other decade. Along with Always and Empire of the Sun, The Color Purple is an engaging melodrama, as it follows the racial segregation that an African American teenager suffered in Georgia in the 1910s.
The movie was criticized by some for not detailing the lesbian relationship as it was described in the book that The Color Purple is based on. But in an interview with Entertainment Weekly, Spielberg didn't think he could have gotten away with it while still keeping the movie PG-13. And outside of that, it's one of the most important movies made in the 1980s. The film was nominated for an astounding 11 Oscars at The 58th Academy Awards, but it somehow went home empty-handed.
3 E.T. The Extra-Terrestrial (1982) - 7.9
E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial is one of the first movies that helped establish Spielberg as the greatest-ever sci-fi movie director. And while it seems like Denis Villeneuve, director of Arrival, Blade Runner 2049, and Dune, is gunning for the crown, nobody can capture iconic images and whimsical, childlike wonder that Spielberg can. It's all found in the 1982 movie.
Between the iconic shot of E.T. flying past the moon, the magical score from John Williams, and the amazing special effects, the film is held close to millions of 80s kids' hearts. It's one of the best child-friendly alien movies, and it has influenced so many filmmakers that it has been mimicked to death.
2 Indiana Jones And The Last Crusade (1989) - 8.3
Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade is the perfect Indy movie, as it brings the whole team together, introduces Sean Connery as Indy's father, which was perfect casting, and is full of amazing action sequences. The Last Crusade could have been the perfect end to the Indiana Jones series, making it one of the greatest trilogies of all time. But, unfortunately, Crystal Skull followed 20 years later.
However, the series may get redeemed in 2023, as a fifth movie in the works. It isn't being directed by Spielberg, which would ordinarily be a reason to worry, but it's being helmed by James Mangold, director of Logan, and he's the perfect filmmaker to give Indy the swan song he deserves.
1 Raiders Of The Lost Ark (1981) - 8.4
While The Last Crusade might be the most entertaining and thrilling Indy movie, it wouldn't exist without the true original. There was nothing like Raiders of the Lost Ark before it, and though there have been countless attempts to imitate it, including the recently released Uncharted, there has been nothing like it since.
However, fans have hilariously noted that Indy has no effect on the outcome of the movie. The Nazis would have found the Ark of the Covenant with or without him, they would have opened it with or without him, and they would have died with or without him.