Spielberg’s Top 10 Movie Moments

The Master Of Modern Cinema’s Key Scenes

With Spielberg’s Jaws hitting its fiftieth birthday this year, our contributing writer Paul N Neal decided to put together his own top ten of the legendary director’s greatest screen moments…

10. Ready Player One (2018)
The Iron Giant

There is a glorious moment during Ready Player One that stands out. This is not a universally adored film but the second the Iron Giant appeared on screen this special few seconds elevated this less than perfect film into the Top Ten Spot.

9. War Of The Worlds (2005)
The Tripods Emerge

If you were ever fortunate enough to watch War of The Worlds in a packed cinema, this scene was enormous. As the invading Martian tripods appeared there was palpable sense of dread amongst the audience. This sequence was so carefully crafted. It truly is boneshaking in the right cinema.

8. Close Encounters Of The Third Kind (1977)
A Window Shatters

Towards the tail end of this classic film, a window shatters. It is a moment that encapsulates Spielberg’s skill. The timing of this piece of movie making magic just goes to help prove what a truly remarkable director Steven Spielberg really is. The timing is absolute perfection.

7. Schindler’s List (1993)
The Little Girl In Red

Tripwire is a fun magazine. We cover superheroes, comics and movies etc. The Holocaust is a stain on human history. All right-thinking people pray such unforgivable cruelty is never repeated. It is impossible not to mention Schindler’s List. This is a film that should affect every cinema lover. It cannot be ignored. There are many scenes in the movie that are almost soul-destroying and very hard to watch. For this list Tripwire observes the lessons the film teaches us all and respectfully shares the little girl in red scene.

6. Indiana Jones and The Last Crusade (1989)
X Marks The Spot

The Last Crusade represented an odd departure for Steven Spielberg. It told a slightly fonder father and son relationship. It was theme he revisits in different ways in several of his later works. Sean Connery was sublime in his role as Professor Henry Jones, and the comedy timing during this film with Harrison Ford simply does not disappoint. In the first act of the film Indiana Jones states, “X Never marks the spot” and yet it turns out on this occasion it did. Second later the baffled look on the face of the Venetian librarian that stamps books at his desk raises a smile decades later.

5. Saving Private Ryan. (1998)
The Tin Of Dirt

During his lifetime, actor Tom Sizemore was occasionally troubled. He has now very sadly passed away. After the gruelling D-day invasion scenes there are a few seconds during Saving Private Ryan where the actor’s character Sergeant Mike Horvath carefully collects a handful of soil from yet another battlefield he survived. He adds this tin to others he has collected. They represent the battles he survived. This scene is a worthy addition to this top ten.

4. Jurassic Park (1993)
The Dinosaurs Are Real

A whole generation of film fans may remember Jurassic Park as a significant moment in their childhood. Just imagine being a child and believing dinosaurs were extinct. They are by the way. Then imagine finally the mouthwatering opportunity to see a convincing dinosaur on an enormous screen. When Sam Neill’s Dr Alan Grant and Laura Dern as Ellie Slater finally witness an enormous living and breathing Brachiosaurus as it rises up on its hind legs to graze within the surrounding foliage is a scene that is impossible to forget. It is a shared experience that revolutionised cinema in the 1990s.

3. Raiders of The Lost Ark (1981)
“That” Rolling Boulder!

Who can possibly forget the first time they saw this scene? The entire first ten minutes of this magnificent tour de force of filmmaking is simply faultless. The classic John Williams score seems to be forever approaching an inevitable crescendo, and as it does, so a huge rolling boulder hurtles toward Harrison Ford’s Indiana Jones as he runs for dear life to escape clutching a precious golden Peruvian artifact. Eventually after some more shenanigans and last-minute betrayal the score reaches that long awaited, and well earned, climax as Indiana Jones escapes into the sky minus said artefact in a handy seaplane. Instantly a new and endearing hero for all ages was born.

2. E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial (1982)
The Flying Bicycle

The number two spot was a tough call. This classic film was released in the United States on 11 June 1982. It triumphed at number one spot at the US box office with $11 million in ticket sales and stayed there for six weeks.

ET: The Extra-Terrestrial made its cinematic debut in the UK on 10 December 1982, trailing in the wake of enormous US box office success. Spielberg’s film about a small boy meeting a charmingly disarming alien became a cultural phenomenon.

Reports of American moviegoers eagerly waiting around the block to see Spielberg’s new extraordinary film were joined by stories of fans weeping uncontrollably before they rejoined the line for a yet another viewing. The British tabloids went as far as to run numerous headlines describing how Princess Diana shed tears during a movie screening at the Empire Cinema in Leicester Square. The box office profits at the time astonished critics and movie goers alike.

The image of Elliott as he flees with E.T. on his bike silhouetted against a bright blue moonlit sky has become iconic. This image shortly became so vital it was utilised as the logo for Steven Spielberg’s very own production company Amblin Entertainment Inc.

1. Jaws (1975)
“You’re gonna need a bigger boat”

Was the top spot ever in any doubt? Jaws was truly groundbreaking for so many reasons. It has become known as the VERY FIRST summer Blockbuster. This landmark film birthed the very concept of releasing a crowd-pleasing money-making film during the summer months of the year.

The impact of Jaws should never be underestimated. Much has been written about tumultuous production and all the challenges the young director Steven Spielberg faced. He worked with a less than perfect budget and was tasked with the difficult prospect of adapting Peter Benchley’s novel of the same name. This was a make-or-break opportunity for the young director, and like the titular great white shark we are now familiar with, he gobbled up his chance to impress audiences worldwide.

During this incredible film there comes a moment. Upon a humble trawler As bloody chum is thrown out in the waters of the ocean Roy Scheider’s Police Chief Martin Brody suddenly faces the reality of his prey. His words to Robert Shaw’s grizzled, seasoned shark hunter Sam Quint is now so timeless and quintessential it has crossed generations.

Those words “You’re gonna need a bigger boat” may forever define Steven Spielberg’s startling career. His talent and skill is undoubtable, and this seismic instant may have influenced in part every single blockbuster that followed after those heady days back in 1975.

Finally, as a parting gift Jaws never leaves us hungry for more. The film gave the world arguably the greatest ever movie poster.  Roger Kastel’s painting of JAWS as it is about to emerge above the surface of the water to devour an unsuspecting swimmer has evoked more nightmares and shark documentaries than it is possible to count.