There's no more infamous name in the world of filmmakingꦕ than Francis Ford Coppola, an American icon and visionary best known for The Godfather trilogy and the Vietnam War film Apocalypse Now. The five-time Oscar-winning director has been in the business since the '60s, w♉ith Coppola's work in adapting The Godfather quickly cementing his status as the greatest of all time.

Although some of his movies can also fall into the worst of cinema, like sadly, 2024's Megalopolis, his self-funded passion project of many decades in the making, Coppola has a lot of iconic and underrated films with fantastic ensembles. Here are the best movies written and directed by 💫Francis Ford Coppola.

10 ♌ Tucker: The Man And🥃 His Dream

In the wake of Megalopolis and al💝l that Coppola tried to achieve with his personal passion project, it makes sense why he'd be drawn to making a movie like Tucker: The Man and His Dream. The movie examines the ambitions of real-life figure Preston Tucker, the inventor behind the Tucker 48 model car. And Tucker is played by Jeff Bridges, who comes off as the most optimistic man on the planet.

Tucker felt that he wanted to do something ✱different f♌rom what the major car companies continued churning out on the assembly line by coming up with a revolutionary design that puts the engine in the rear of the car. The Man and His Dream is all about Preston Tucker making his car manufacturing dream come true, and it's one of the most feel-good biopics you can watch. It's also executive-produced by George Lucas and won a Golden Globe.

9 🍸 The Godfather Part 3

Desp๊ite what critics would have you believe, The Godfather Part 3 is actually a decent watch. Sure, it's the weakest of the trilogy, but it's far from the disaster and disꦇappointment Megalopolis was from a story perspective. The movie still keeps some of the elements that made the first two great, starting with a long family gathering party scene where you get acquainted with all the characters.

Even as an aging Michael Corleone, Al Pacino once again proves why he's such a perfect fit to portray the character, even giving the franchise another iconic dialogue moment with "Just when I thoug๊ht I was out, they pull me back in!" (which was referenced by Silvio in The Sopranos). The new enemy, Joey Zasa, played by Joe Mantegna, makes a compelli🌜ng villain, and Andy Garcia's Oscar-nominated performance as Vincent Mancini was a highlight.

Paramount+ offers t🔴he 2020 recut version that improves upon the original film and has a better reception, titled The Godfather Coda: The Death of Michael Corleone (Remastered).

8 𒉰 ౠ The Outsiders

Francis Ford Coppola has adapted many other novels aside from The Godfather, and The Outsiders is another classic one. Written by S.E. Hinton in 1967, The Outsiders is a poignant and important coming-of-age tale about adolescent teens 168澳洲幸运5开奖网:and gang culture. The story centers around Ponyboy and his greaser buddies who are in a rivalry with the more upper-clas𓆉s Socs.

Playing the greasers are now some of the most famous and iconic names in Hollywood, with the late actor Patrick Swayze as the older brother "Darry" to C. Thomas Howell's Ponyboy and Rob Lowe's Sodapop, in one of his earliest major film roles. It's a dramatic narrative as seen through the eyes of P💧onyboy, and features one of the most iconic quotes in literature and film: "Stay gold, Ponyboy. Stay gold."

7 ꧟ Rumble Fish

Rumble Fish can be described as the more mature R-rated version of The Outsiders. Not only does it star Matt Di﷽llon once again and was released the same year back-to-back with The Outsiders, but it's another adaptation by the same author, S.E. Hinton. Rumble Fish's narrative is also centered on gangs, but this time with a protagonist who embraces the culture and aspires to rise to the status of his brother.

Rumble Fish ꦫfocuses on the relationship between Rusty and his older brother, who's known as The Motorcycle Boy and is played by Mickey Rourke. The Motorcycle Boy has grown older and wiser, leaving the gang life behind, and wishes the same for Rusty, which leads to a heartbreaking conclusion tied to actions taken at a fish store.ဣ The film is also shot in black-and-white, another way it differentiates itself from The Outsiders.

The film also stars Nicolas Cage ꦉin one of his earliest acting roles as Rusty's friend, Smokey. Cage ♑is the nephew of Francis Ford Coppola. Coppola's daughter, filmmaker Sofia Coppola, also makes a small appearance in the movie as Patty's sister.

6 T💦he Rainmake🌳r

Francis Ford Coppola, John Grisham, Matt Damon, and Danny DeVito 168澳洲幸运5开奖网:results in an excellent legal thriꦐller and one of the last highest-rate🎐d films of Francis Ford Coppola's career, and some might say his last best film. Based on Grisham's no✱vel, The Rainmaker is about a case that can hit close to home for many. It has to do with litigation against an insurance provider that denied a family's claim for their son who's battling leukemia.

Damon plays the bold young lawyer Rudy S. Baylor, fresh out of law school and already taking on insurance company Great Be𝓡nefit in court on behalf of Donny Ray Black's family, the man who was denied a life-saving bone marrow transplant. It's one of the earliest leading roles for Matt Damon, and the film was released just months before Good Will Hunting in 1997, launching him to fame.

5 Bram Stoker's Dracula

Francis Ford Coppola's unique interpretation of Dracula by Bram Stoker is still one of the best adaptations 168澳洲幸运5开奖网:and best vampire films ever made. The movie is a perfect balance of horror and romance and shows great attention to detail while employing some of Coppola's own creative liberties with the material. It still holds up well to this day and has even better storytelling 168澳洲幸运5开奖网:than Robert Eggers' Nosferatu (which even takes s🦂🍌ome notes from Coppola's version).

Gary Oldman's turn as Dracula is on🧔e of his finest performances, and you get some cool and memorable scenes of him in all ☂his different forms. The entire opening sequence that shows the backstory of Vlad the Impaler is beautifully made and there are some really excellent choices overall with transitions and how certain story elements are conveyed. Keanu Reeves, despite his accent, is still asꦺ charming as ever as Jonathan Harker.

4 Apocalypse Now 🍌 ✱

Apocalypse Now is a historically im🍌portant movie, found very early on the list of AFI'♚s Top 100 Greatest American Films, and also a brilliant adaptation of Joseph Conrad's novella Heart of Darkness. The movie does run a little long and is a tad on the slow side, but it's nonetheless an iconic war movie featuring the rivalry between Martin Sheen's Captain Willard and Marlon Brando's evil villain, Kurtz.

168澳洲幸运5开奖网:It's not your traditional🍰 Vietnam War film since it follows the mold of Heart of Darkness, seeing 💜Sheen's character as an assassin sent to take out a dangerous rogue army colonel named Kurtz, occupying an outpost in Cambodia with his own objectives. Like any major Hollywood war picture, Apocalypse Now assembles a solid cast of some notable actors. Its cinematography and sound also won Oscars.

3 𝕴 The Conversation ▨

The Conversation reunites John Cazale and Francis Ford Coppola and also stars the late 💦great Gene Hackman and Harrison Ford (prior to his fame in Star Wars). Hackman plays a character whose job is to conduct surveillance and listen to conversations on wiretaps until he lands what he believes is a far more treacherous case than usual, as his client might intend to murder the people he's surveilling.

It's a classic Hitchcockian noir setup, a🦂 recorded conversation thriller full of paranoia and with a very c♑ompelling twist to the whole mystery. It was also beaten out of a Best Picture Oscar win in 1975 because The Godfather Part 2 was released the same year, so The Conversation carries a huge legacy for Coppola as well, directing two back-to-back hits.

2 🍸 The Godfather Part 2

With The Godfather Part 2, Francis Ford Coppola achieved what only a rare few filmmakers can, and that is 168澳洲幸运5开奖网:delivering an abs♏olutely phenomenal sequel that can rival the original film. In fact, The Godfather Part 2 was the first universally praised movie sequel ever made, earning more Oscars than the first film, including Robert De Niro's first-ever win for his performance as th🎉e young Vito Corleone.

The sequel explores the early life of Vito Corleone and his rise t𒐪o power as the Godfather of his family, juxtaposed with his son Michael's control of the family empire in the present, now that he's inherited it. It shifts between the two timelines and characters to paint an even more layered portrait of these beloved icons in c𓂃inema, with more shocking betrayals and revelations to come.

1 The Godfather 🌞

It's no exaggeration to say that The Godfather is one of the best and most important movies ever made, . In terms of the depth of the characters, performances, and writing, there's never been a film quite like The Godfather ever since. It won Oscars for Best Picture and Best Adapted Screenplay and Marlon Brando's performance as Don Vito Corleone earned him th▨e Best Actor Oscar.

The Godfather is part family drama, part crime tale filled with so many well-developed and well-acted characters, largely th🔴anks to the casting, which allowed Al Pacino to shine in a breakthrough performance as Michael Corleone. And there are so many memorable moments and quotable lines still being echoed through pop culture; "Leave the gun, take the cannoli" and "I'm gonna make him an offer he can't refuse."