Steven Spielberg’s Favorite Movies: 30 Films the Director Wants You to See

‘Dune: Part Two’ (2024)

In an episode of the DGA’s ‘Director’s Cut’ podcast (via Variety), Spielberg told Denis Villeneuve that his sci-fi epic ‘Dune: Part Two’ is ‘one of the most brilliant science-fiction films I have ever seen.’ The film, starring Timothee Chalamet and Zendaya, adapts the second half of Frank Herbert’s seminal sci-fi novel. 

‘There are filmmakers who are the builders of worlds. It’s not a long list and we know who a lot of them are. Starting with [Georges] Méliès and Disney and Kubrick, George Lucas. Ray Harryhausen I include in that list. Fellini built his own worlds. Tim Burton. Obviously Wes Anderson, Peter Jackson, James Cameron, Christopher Nolan, Ridley Scott, Guillermo del Toro. The list goes on but it’s not that long of a list, and I deeply, fervently believe that you are one of its newest members,’ Spielberg said.

‘This is a desert-loving story, but for such a desert-loving film there is such a yearning for water in this movie,’ Spielberg continued. ‘For all the sand you have in this film, it’s really about water. The sacred waters that are yearning for green meadows and the blue water of life. You film the desert to resemble an ocean, a sea. The sandworms were like sea serpents. And that scene surfing the sandworms is one of the greatest things I have ever seen. Ever! But you made the desert look like a liquid.’ 

‘Meet Me in St. Louis’ (1944)

In September 2023, Spielberg selected several personal faves as part of a series for Turner Classic Movies in his role as an advisor for the network. One of his choices was ‘Meet Me in St. Louis,’ Vincente Minnelli’s classic musical starring Judy Garland as a young woman who experiences love and family drama over one year, leading up to the 1904 World’s Fair. The film is most famous for several of Garland’s solos, which have become standards, including ‘The Trolley Song,’ ‘The Boy Next Door,’ and ‘Have Yourself a Merry Little Christmas.’ 

‘I love ‘Meet Me in St. Louis,” Spielberg said. ‘Judy Garland knocks me out.’

‘The Greatest Show on Earth’ (1952)

Leading up to the release of ‘The Fabelmans,’ Spielberg discussed the semi-autobiographical film with CBS Sunday Morning: specifically, a scene in which the movie’s kid Spielberg stand-in Sammy attends a showing of Cecil B. DeMille’s 1952 spectacle ‘The Greatest Show on Earth.’ It was the first movie Spielberg ever saw. 

‘I didn’t know what a movie was,’ Spielberg recalled. ‘My mom and dad took me to a movie in a theater; it was a movie about the circus. And after a while, I got very involved in the story. There’s a train crash in the middle of the movie, and all I remember is it was the scariest thing I’d ever experienced in my entire life.’ Spielberg’s first short films were recreations of this crash, using a Super 8 camera the fledgling auteur’s toy trains. 

‘The Godfather’ (1972)

On a DVD extra for ‘The Godfather: The Coppola Restoration’ (h/t CNN), Spielberg said of the famed Francis Ford Coppola masterwork: ‘I was pulverized by the story and the effect the film had on me…I also felt that I should quit, that there was no reason I should continue directing because I would never achieve that level of confidence and ability to tell a story…In a way, it shattered my confidence.’

‘The Searchers’ (1956)

‘I turn on a John Ford film — one or two — before every movie, simply because he inspires me,’ Spielberg gushed of the late Western director in a 2013 interview with the American Film Institute.

‘I’m very sensitive to the way he uses his camera to paint his pictures and the way he frames things. And the way he stages and blocks his people, often keeping the camera static while people give you the illusion there’s a lot more kinetic movement occurring when there’s not. In that sense, he is like a classic painter. He celebrates the frame, not just what happens inside of it. I have to look at ‘The Searchers.’ I have to — almost every time.’

‘Stagecoach’ (1939)

‘I really admire ‘Stagecoach,” says Spielberg of Ford’s earlier 1939 film, in that same clip from AFI. ‘Because, for one thing, it was John Ford’s first foray into Monument Valley. So he was starting to use landscape art to help tell his story, to create God’s country, and to put little figures in a grand landscape. And he began to bring nature into his films, more than with the silent movies. This is where he would begin to use nature as a character in his picture. And I also like when the guy has the bible open and the arrow goes through the book into his heart. That’s pretty cool.’

‘How Green Was My Valley’ (1941)

Another Ford connection, Spielberg has repeatedly said his six-time Oscar nominee ‘War Horse’ was heavily influenced by Ford’s 1941 picture ‘How Green Was My Valley.’ In a 2012 interview with the Guardian, the director described modeling Ford and contemporary David Lean’s use of the British countryside as a kind of silent character in his drama. ‘This could only have been shot in England,’ he said at press conference (again, per the Guardian). ‘After I heard the reaction last night at the Odeon in Leicester Square, I realized that I’d made my first British film with ‘War Horse.’ Through and through.’

‘Tootsie’ (1982)

Like Wes Anderson, Sofia Coppola, Jon Favreau, and more high-profile filmmakers, Spielberg has five of his favorite films listed on Gwyneth Paltrow’s Goop website (mysteriously under the ‘travel’ section). With the caveat — ‘These are not necessarily my all-time favorite films….but good choices to rent and enjoy!’ — Spielberg reiterated his love for ‘The Searchers’ and ‘The Godfather,’ as well as praising ‘Tootsie,’ the Dustin Hoffman-starring 1982 comedy from Sydney Pollack. The film earned 10 Academy Award nominations, with Jessica Lange winning for Best Supporting Actress.

‘Captains Courageous’ (1937)

In that same list for Goop, Spielberg shouts out ‘Captains Courageous.’ Directed by Victor Fleming, the 1937 adaptation of Rudyard Kipling’s novel of the same name stars Freddie Bartholomew, Spencer Tracy, Lionel Barrymore, and Melvyn Douglas. The film was nominated for four Academy Awards, including Best Picture, Best Film Editing, Best Screenplay, and Best Actor for Tracy, who ultimately won the honor. He’d win again the following year for Norman Taurog’s ‘Boys Town.’

‘The Best Years of Our Lives’ (1946)

Rounding out Spielberg’s top five for Goop is William Wyler’s ‘The Best Years of Our Lives:’ a 1946 Best Picture winner that was also a major box office success. Spielberg has praised Wyler’s style before. A 2018 article from the Herald-Times includes the following from Spielberg: ‘Among my favorite directors is William Wyler, who never came out of the same hole twice. I’ve always admired those directors who were able to so totally reinvent themselves stylistically. To be able to go from ‘Mrs. Miniver’ to ‘Ben-Hur,’ to go from ‘The Big Country’ to ‘Funny Girl’ — those were the directors I admired. I basically lit candles to the directors that I couldn’t pigeonhole. I’ll never be as good a director as William Wyler, but to be eclectic like he was — that was always something I wanted.’

‘Fantasia’ (1940)

Speaking with Rolling Stone to promote ‘E.T.’ in 1982, Spielberg recalled the impact Disney’s ‘Fantasia’ had on him as a child: ‘Remember, in ‘Fantasia,’ Mother Night flying over with her cape, covering a daylight sky? I used to think, when I was a kid, that that’s what night really looked like. The Disney Mother Night was a beautiful woman with flowing, blue-black hair, and arms extended outward, twenty miles in either direction. And behind her was a very inviting cloak. She came from the horizon in an arc and swept over you until everything was a blue-black dome. And then there was an explosion, and the stars were suddenly made in this kind of animated sky. I wanted the opening of ‘E.T.’ to be that kind of Mother Night.’

‘The Shining’ (1980)

Spielberg was famously close with Stanley Kubrick before the legendary filmmaker’s untimely death in 1999, just before the release of his final film ‘Eyes Wide Shut.’ In a conversation remembering his late friend, Spielberg recalled a discussion he had with Kubrick about the ‘The Shining:’ a film the younger director said he hadn’t enjoyed at first — likening Jack Nicholson’s bombastic starring performance to kabuki theater. 

‘I have since seen ‘The Shining’ 25 times,’ Spielberg said. ‘It’s one of my favorite pictures. Kubrick films tend to grow on you, but you have to see them more than once. The wild thing is I defy you to name one Kubrick film that you can turn off once you started. It’s impossible. He’s got the fail-safe button or something. It is impossible to turn off a Kubrick film.’

‘Guardians of the Galaxy’ (2014)

There have been quite a few additions to the superhero subgenre since Spielberg praised James Gunn’s ‘Guardians of the Galaxy’ in 2016. But, at least at the time, the ensemble MCU outing was a major hit with the famed filmmaker, who dubbed it his favorite of the action subgenre.

‘I really like Richard Donner’s ‘Superman,’ Nolan’s ‘Dark Knight,’ and the first ‘Iron Man’ movie, but the superhero movie that impressed me was ‘Guardians of the Galaxy,” Spielberg told the Brazilian outlet Omelete at Cannes (h/t Entertainment Weekly). ‘When it ended, I left the cinema with the feeling that I had just experienced something new, free of cynicism and without concern for being gritty when necessary.’

Christopher Nolan’s ‘Dark Knight’ Trilogy

Speaking about the ‘Dark Knight’ trilogy in a 2015 interview with The New York Times, Spielberg praised ‘everything Chris Nolan has touched in Batman, because of the darkness, of what would motivate a character like that, a very rich character, to do the kind of public service work he does.’

Tim Burton’s ‘Batman’ Duology

In the same breath celebrating the ‘Dark Knight’ trilogy, Spielberg said (again to the New York Times), ‘I love Tim Burton’s ‘Batman’ films.’ Michael Keaton was set to reprise his role as Gotham’s caped crusader in the now-shelved ‘Batgirl’ in 2022. Speaking to the Hollywood Reporter, Spielberg described the Warner Bros. Discovery merger that led to the shocking cancelation as having thrown filmmakers “under the bus.” 

‘The Dark Knight’ (2008)

Another Batman adventure Spielberg loves, ‘The Dark Knight’ appeared on a list of the director’s favorites for Far Out in 2022. The second installment in Christopher Nolan’s trilogy (the first, ‘Batman Begins,’ and the final, ‘The Dark Knight Rises’), the moody superhero film is best remembered for the late Heath Ledger’s Academy Award-winning performance as the Joker, awarded posthumulously.

Speaking to Deadline in January 2023, Spielberg said, ‘That movie would have definitely garnered a Best Picture nomination today’ — noting the Academy’s decision to expand the yearly Best Picture nominees to ten films. 

‘Citizen Kane’ (1941)

‘It means everything to me,’ Spielberg once told AFI of the unparalleled 1941 Orson Welles triumph. ”Citizen Kane’ is if not the icon, it is an icon of courage. I’m talking about the courage of the filmmaker — the audacity. It’s about courage and audacity, and ‘I’m making this my way.’ And ‘I’m going to deepen the focus. I don’t care how many layers of makeup those actors sweat off. We’re going to see from one inch to infinity in every shot. We’re going to see ceilings. We’re going to tell a very convoluted mystery story about a man’s life.’ And it is just one of the great movies ever made. Many people are going to agree. It is one of the great American experiences in the cinema.’

‘Lawrence of Arabia’ (1962)

Spielberg remembered being awestruck by ‘Lawrence of Arabia’ — more specifically, its famous mirage scene — in an essay for Empire in 2021. 

‘When I was in my teens, ‘Lawrence Of Arabia’ opened in Phoenix, Arizona, and I went with my parents,’ he wrote. ‘It was a swanky theatre with 70mm projection and stereophonic sound, and the loge-style seating in the smoking section would rock back and forward as you sat back in your chairs. But ‘Lawrence Of Arabia’ never gave me the chance to test how the chairs worked, as I sat bolt upright for the entire film.’ He’d go on to oversee a restoration of the film. In an interview with AFI, he described David Lean’s 1962 epic as “a major miracle.’

‘It’s A Wonderful Life’ (1946)

As with many directors before him, Spielberg has cited Frank Capra’s ‘It’s a Wonderful Life’ as a major inspiration throughout his career. Reacting to ‘Spielberg’ — a 2017 HBO documentary about the filmmaker’s life — Spielberg shared a personal connection he felt with the film’s protagonist.

‘I found out how much I truly love my sisters, Nancy and Ann and what my mom and dad did for all of us and how my dad continues to give in his life at 100-and-a-half-and my mom, who I lost this year, continues to be with me,’ he told the New York Daily News. ‘I realized, like George Bailey at the end of ‘It’s a Wonderful Life,’ at the end of watching [Susan Lacy’s] documentary, I realized how many friends I truly have in this world.’

‘Star Wars: Episode IV — A New Hope’ (1977)

Brian de Palma famously disagrees with Spielberg’s characterization of the first ‘Star Wars’ screening ever. As Spielberg tells it, George Lucas invited him, de Palma, and some other directors to watch an unfinished cut of the pioneering sci-fi project. While the others were nonplussed, Spielberg claims to have been the franchise’s first vocal fan.

‘Everybody who was involved in that meeting, everyone has a different version of what happened,’ de Palma retorted in a 2021 podcast interview (h/t Collider). ‘I was just watching the biography they did of Steven and he related how he saw it. They always portray me as the guy that says the worst thing that drives everybody crazy, but if you’re gonna show me something I’m gonna tell you what I think about it. Why am I there unless I’m gonna give an honest appraisal of what I’ve seen? And in this case, the fact that Steven says that only he saw the possibilities of Star Wars, that’s not really true.’ Whoever you believe, both say Spielberg has long been a fan and friend to Lucas’ galaxy far, far away.

‘Viva Las Vegas’ (1964)

According to ‘Close Encounters of the Third Kind’ actress Teri Garr, Spielberg loves George Sidney’s ‘Viva Las Vegas:’ a musical romantic comedy starring Elvis Presley and Ann-Margret — for which Garr served as an uncredited dancer. “One day he was talking about his favorite movies,” Garr recalled for an Australian Elvis fan club. ‘His favorite movie was ‘Viva Las Vegas’. And I was in ‘Viva Las Vegas’. He said, ‘You were not’. I said, ‘Oh, yes, yes I was. It was my first movie’. It was very funny.’

‘That Man from Rio’ (1964)

Heaven knows how many times Spielberg has seen ‘That Man from Rio’ by now. The American director was rumored to have once told French filmmaker Philippe de Broca that he’d seen the international caper-turned-box office hit nine times. It has been repeatedly cited as an inspiration for Indiana Jones and ‘Raiders of the Lost Ark.’

‘The Seven Samurai’ (1954)

‘Before I go off and direct a movie, I always look at four films,’ Spielberg has reportedly said (though sourcing that particular quote proves a murky research journey). ‘They tend to be ‘The Seven Samurai,’ ‘Lawrence Of Arabia,’ ‘It’s A Wonderful Life’ and ‘The Searchers.” The famed Akira Kurosawa epic reappeared on Spielberg’s list of favorite films for Far Out in 2022.

‘From Russia with Love’ (1963)

The James Bond franchise missed out on Spielberg’s directorial skills two or three times, depending on who you ask. The late Bond producer Albert. R. ‘Cubby’ Broccoli turned down Spielberg, who was intensely interested in the project, first due to a lack of experience and then again for cloudier reasons later in the filmmaker’s career, per Screen Rant.

Still, Spielberg remained an outspoken fan of 007, having encouraged Daniel Craig to take on the starring role for 2006’s ‘Casino Royale.’ One Bond title that’s directly influenced his work is ‘From Russia with Love,’ which reportedly led to Spielberg casting Robert Shaw as the sea-faring Quint in ‘Jaws.’

‘Touch of Evil’ (1958)

During the course of a 2018 conversation for Empire between Edgar Wright and Spielberg, the ‘Duel’ director discussed one of his inspirations for the 1971 TV movie. He referenced legendary filmmaker Orson Welles’s 1958 ‘Touch of Evil’ when directing the final scene.

‘At the end of that I said to Dennis Weaver, ‘Remember all those scenes in ‘Touch Of Evil’ where you were the night watchman?” Spielberg recalled. ”Can you give me a manic dance when the truck dies? Can you bring that character back to life? How would he react if he had been chased by this truck for an hour and a half?’ Dennis said, ‘Say no more. I know exactly what you’re getting at’. Then he gave me that moment at the end.”

‘Godzilla, King of the Monsters!’ (1956)

Ishirō Honda’s kaiju thriller ‘Godzilla’ released to Japanese audiences in 1954, and continues to have a mammoth impact on monster films of all kinds (pun intended). But for Spielberg, it’s the edited 1956 American version ‘Godzilla, King of the Monsters!’ that most directly influenced his understanding of action and, in turn, much of the ‘Jurassic Park’ franchise: which itself has been cited as an influence for Warner Bros. and Legendary’s modern MonsterVerse. 

‘The only Godzilla I saw was the one with Raymond Burr,’ Spielberg is cited as having told Entertainment Weekly (via author Steve Ryfle’s “Japan’s Favorite Mon-Star: The Unauthorized Biography of ‘The Big G.’“) ‘I purposely stayed away from seeing [TriStar’s] Godzilla because I didn’t want to get anything between me and my memory of my favorite Godzilla movie of all time.’

‘2001: A Space Odyssey’ (1968)

Appearing in the first episode of ‘James Cameron’s Story of Science Fiction’ for AMC, Spielberg sat down with his fellow blockbuster titan for an interview that featured the pair gushing over Kubrick’s ‘2001: A Space Odyssey.’

”2001′ had a profound impact on my life and my daily life,’ Spielberg said of the 1968 film. ‘It was the first time I went to a movie and really felt like I was having a religious experience.’

‘I watched the film 18 times in its first couple years of release, all in theaters,’ Cameron recalled. ‘And I remember at one, a guy ran down the aisle screaming, ‘It’s god! It’s god!’ And he meant it in that moment.’

‘And I had a guy in my theater who actually walked up to the screen with his arms out and he walked through the screen,’ Spielberg said. ‘People were blown out because the person disappeared into the screen, during [the Star Gate sequence] of all times.’

‘The Thing from Another World’ (1951)

Director Christian Nyby’s black-and-white classic from 1951 — ‘The Thing from Another World’ — is at the molten core of science fiction, having impacted generations of cosmically curious filmmakers for more than 70 years. It should come as no surprise to find Spielberg among them.

Also in the first episode from ‘James Cameron’s Story of Science Fiction,’ physicist and science writer Sidney Perkowitz explained: ”Close Encounters of the Third Kind’ had an original title called ‘Watch the Skies,’ and if you’re a real science fiction buff, you know where that comes from.’

The line is said by Douglas Spencer’s journalist character Ned Scott, who warns over radio at the end of the film: ‘Every one of you listening to my voice, tell the world, tell this to everybody wherever they are. Watch the skies. Keep looking. Keep watching the skies.’

‘The 400 Blows’ (1959)

Also on Spielberg’s list for Far Out is François Truffaut’s directorial debut, ‘The 400 Blows.’ The 1959 French New Wave staple tells the troubled coming-of-age story of Jean-Pierre Léaud’s Antoine, and would lead to Spielberg casting Truffaut as a French scientist in ‘Close Encounters.’

‘Psycho’ (1960)

A classic to any true horror fan, ‘Psycho’ also appeared on Spielberg’s Far Out list. As a young filmmaker, Spielberg reportedly tried many times to meet the Master of Susense Alfred Hitchcock, but he reportedly dodged the encounter, having been unimpressed with ‘Jaws.’