Francis Ford Coppola is considered to be one of the best filmmakers of all time. He rose up with the likes of Martin Scorsese, Peter Bogdanovich, Robert Altman, and Paul Schrader in the New Hollywood movement of the 1960s and 1970s. This movement is defined by a turn away from movie studios and toward directors as the creative force behind films, and many of these directors eschewed cinematic traditions in order to construct new pathways for visual storytelling.
Coppola's filmography includes some of the most impressive, epic films ever made, including The Godfather series, The Conversation, and Apocalypse Now. Coppola passed his talent down to his children. His son Roman and his daughter Sofia are both accredited producers and directors. This list assembles Coppola's 10 best films, which are ranked according to their Rotten Tomatoes scores.
10 New York Stories (1989) - 75%
Coppola worked on this trilogy tale about life in New York City with Martin Scorsese and Woody Allen. Coppola's vignette, "Life Without Zoe," is co-written with his daughter Sofia. In it, a 12-year-old named Zoe lives in the Sherry-Netherland hotel. This precocious girl is always looking for new adventures, and life in a luxury hotel proves never to be boring.
In addition to helping a Middle Eastern princess retrieve a lost necklace, Zoe also attempts to reconcile her divorced parents, both of whom are artists.
9 You're A Big Boy Now (1966) - 82%
This film began as Coppola's thesis project at UCLA, eventually garnering a professional cast and a coast-to-coast release. Peter Kastner plays Bernard Chanticleer, a sheltered 19-year-old whose mother dotingly suffocates him and whose father, played by Rip Torn, attempts to control his every move.
Eventually, Bernard's father kicks him out of the house, which compels him to get his own apartment in New York City. Out on his own, Bernard grows up quickly, learning about sex, drugs, and heartbreak. Since its release, You're A Big Boy Now has become a cult classic.
8 Tucker: The Man And His Dream (1988) - 83%
Coppola was born in Motor City, Detroit, but his family moved to Queens, New York when he was two. Tucker is a love letter of sorts to Coppola's technical hometown, a biopic about a mid-century automobile entrepreneur named Preston Tucker, portrayed by Jeff Bridges.
Tucker is a controversial figure, a man who pushed a unique vehicle he coined the Tucker Sedan, what he believed would be the car of the future. Pitted against the big three automakers, GM, Ford, and Fiat Chrysler, Tucker used his investors' money in ways that would come back to bite him, hoping to gain a competitive edge. Coppola attempts to paint a more sincere portrait of Tucker as a family man with a dream.
7 The Rainmaker (1997) - 83%
Coppola's most popular legal drama is an adaption of Josh Grisham's book of the same name. Matt Damon plays recent law school graduate Rudy Baylor, desperate for work and dealing with mounds of student debt. He ends up working for a slimy medical liability lawyer portrayed by Mickey Rourke.
Eventually, Rudy takes on a major case, which revolves around a 22-year-old named Donny Ray who dies from leukemia. He could have been saved, but his insurance company denied coverage for a bone marrow transplant. Soon, Rudy finds himself taking on the large insurance company that rejected Donny's claim in court. Claire Danes, Jon Voight, and Danny DeVito also star in the film.
6 The Rain People (1969) - 83%
This early road trip film from Coppola stars Shirley Knight as a housewife who, upon learning she is pregnant, decides to venture on the open road by herself to figure out what she really wants out of life. Along the way, she meets a hitchhiker played by James Caan and a highway patrolman played by Robert Duvall.
Despite its talented cast, it was many years before The Rain People received attention and respect from filmgoers. Both Caan and Duvall would go on to work with Coppola on The Godfather.
5 Peggy Sue Got Married (1986) - 85%
Peggy Sue Got Married is a departure from the brooding familial dramas Coppola is known for. In this romantic science-fiction venture, Kathleen Turner plays an unhappy middle-aged woman who attends her 25th high school reunion. As Peggy Sue, Turner gets another chance to reevaluate her life choices after been sent back in time to 1960, when she was still a high school student.
Nicolas Cage plays Peggy Sue's husband, Charlie, the high school sweetheart she is on the verge of divorcing as an adult. The film also stars Maureen O'Sullivan, John Carradine, and Jim Carrey.
4 The Godfather: Part II (1974) - 97%
The follow-up to Coppola's 1972 mafia masterpiece is a brilliant film in its own right. Part II focuses on the downfall of Michael Corleone, played by Al Pacino. As Michael makes more and more morally questionable decisions designed to secure his wealth and status, he isolates everyone around him.
Michael's story is broken up by flashbacks that detail the rise of his father Vito, who is portrayed by Robert De Niro, in the early twentieth century. Part II also includes engrossing performances from Robert Duvall, Diane Keaton, and John Cazale. Coppola won the best director Oscar for the film, and De Niro won another for his role.
3 The Godfather (1972) - 98%
Marlon Brando starts in this epic film as the Godfather, Vito Corleone. Coppola's film provides a sweeping examination of the generational effects of organized crime on families. The famous opening wedding scene sets the tone for what's to come. While Vito's daughter Connie celebrates her new union, he retreats to his office to conduct business.
Al Pacino made a name for himself as Vito's son Michael, whose siblings are portrayed by James Caan, James Cazale, and Talia Shire. Michael sets himself up as heir to the family throne, and the film ends with Vito's death and Michael's ascension into his role as the new Don Corleone.
2 The Conversation (1974) - 98%
The Conversation is an art-house gem ahead of its time, a Gene Hackman-led feature about a sound surveillance expert hired to spy on a couple. The film is bathed in paranoid vibes that foreshadow the technological surveillance state to come.
As Harry Caul, Hackman becomes convinced the person who hired him to record the couple intends to kill them. Caul, obsessed with his own privacy, toils over the recordings, playing them over and over again in hopes of gaining insight into his client's motivations. As Caul's focus intensifies, the distinction between reality and fantasy becomes muddled.
1 Apocalypse Now (1979) - 98%
Apocalypse Now is an ominous and mystical saga that uses the Vietnam War as its backdrop. Loosely based on Joseph Conrad's novel Heart of Darkness, Coppola's classic conceives of war as a plunge into madness and chaos.
Robert Duvall, Marlon Brando, and Martin Sheen give career-defining performances as military members in various states of moral and mental decay. Sheen's character Capt. Willard is sent into the jungle to locate the AWOL Col. Kurtz, played by Brando. As he digs deeper and deeper into the lush, war-torn labyrinth, Willard comes face-to-face with the terror brought on by combat.
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