Francis Ford Coppolais one of the greatest directors in Hollywood history. He’s part of the same generation as his friends, Martin Scorsese, Steven Spielberg, and George Lucas, and was the visionary director of some incredible films likeThe Godfather,The Conversation, and Apocalypse Now.And yet, some believethe director is cursed, as his career has had as many ups and downs as a roller coaster.
At his best, Coppola was able to mix box office success with artistic integrity, creating unique pieces of film that have been iconic for generations. At his worst, his films were too costly, never arrived on time, and didn’t have massive audiences. That’s what makes this director and his work an absolute enigma. Although he’s still working, his last two decades have been with films that are only seen in the art scene, and that don’t have any mainstream relevance, but it wasn’t always like this. Here are Francis Ford Coppola’s 10 highest-grossing films, according to Box Office Mojo’s worldwide numbers.
10The Outsiders (1983) - $25.8 Million
The Outsiders
Adapted from S.E. Hinton’s novel,The Outsidersis a coming-of-age film about two gangs in Tulsa, Oklahoma; “the Socs” and the “Greasers”. When a couple of members of the latter gang kill a rival gang member with a knife, they have to leave and hide while wondering if there’s a future for them.
What Makes it Great
Coppola loved James Dean, and at that time in cinema history, this film was his homage to those simpler, romanticized times. What makes this movie one to watch, though, might be its incredible casting, as Coppola and this movie were the breakout roles for many actors in Hollywood, who are still some of the most famous stars, even in their 50s. Tom Cruise, Matt Dillon, Emilio Estevez, Diane Lane, Patrick Swayze, Rob Lowe, C. Thomas Howell, and Ralph Macchio are part of this movie, making it a who’s who of the late ’80s and early ’90s movie stars, while also taking this tale of teenage angst as seriously as possible.
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9The Cotton Club (1984) - $25.9 Million
The Cotton Clubtells the story of the real-life moment where gangsters and jazz met in New York, in a Harlem club of the same name, where most patrons were white and most entertainers were Black. It’s all centered around aspiring jazz musician, “Dixie” Dwyer (Richard Gere), and his dealings with the mafia, from falling in love with Vera (Diane Lane), a woman who works for the mobsters, to staying friendly with the mob-owned club owners, Owney Madden (Bob Hoskins) and Frenchy Demange (Fred Gwynne).
Althoughthe real story during productionmight have shown the chaos behind the scenes, Coppola was still able to create a unique set, with a great ambiance, set dressing, costumes, and photography, that made audiences feel like they were really at the club. The director decided to getThe Godfatherband back together and worked with writer Mario Puzo and producer Robert Evans on the film. Unfortunately, this time, there wasn’t the same magic involved, even if the musical numbers alone were worth the price of admission.
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8Peggy Sue Got Married (1986) - $41.3 Million
Peggy Sue Got Married
Peggy Sue Got Marriedis a teenage story with a surprising twist. Peggy Sue (Kathleen Turner) is a dissatisfied wife, who faints and awakens in her high school days, 25 years earlier, reviving her senior year. She has all her memories, and must decide if she wants to follow her original path of falling in love and marrying her high school sweetheart, Charlie (Nicolas Cage), or try a different life.
Coppola made this movie because he needed money to save his film company, Zoetrope, and yet it became one of his best films of the decade, as he was able to mix ’60s nostalgia, with some sadness and a feeling of reexamining one’s past. Turner is great as the lead, and although there are someBack to the Future-style comedy jokes, what makes the movie great is the heart and soul that the actress and director infuse in this story about second chances, taking roads not traveled, and love.
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7The Rainmaker (1997) - $45.9 Million
Adapted from John Grisham’s novel of the same name,The Rainmakertells the story of a young, idealistic attorney named Rudy Baylor (Matt Damon), who decides to take a case and fight against an insurance company because it is the right thing to do, even if the odds are stacked against him and his partner, Deck Shifflet (Danny DeVito).
Coppola had never shown interest in the legal drama genre, and yet he hit it out of the park. This was at a time when Grisham was the hottest IP out there, and many directors and actors played in his sandbox (including Tom Cruise, Denzel Washington, and Matthew McConaughey). Casting Damon as the naive, idealistic, lawyer who still doesn’t know how that world works was a great idea, as the actor was a naive, idealistic actor who was pretty new to Hollywood, and the rest of the cast, from DeVito, to Jon Voight and Claire Danes, helped him shine, in this David vs. Goliath-themed story.
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6The Godfather Part II (1974) - $47.9 Millio
The Godfather: Part II
The Godfather Part IIcontinues the story of the Corleone family, and tells it in two timelines; one where young Vito (now played by Robert De Niro) has just arrived in America, and the other where Michael (Al Pacino) continues the family (mobster) business, expanding it throughout America and Cuba.
What Makes It Great
For some, this is Coppola’s best film of all time. This movie had one of the biggest challenges ever; to be as good as or better thanThe Godfather, and it delivered. So much so, that it was the first sequel ever to win the Best Picture Academy Award. The director had a blank check, and he decided to create an even more artistic and unique movie than the first one, while talking about the immigrant experience, the creation of the New York Mafia, and how one generation’s sins are the next generation’s traumas. The cast is great; the film looks spectacular, and the movie, both a prequel and sequel to the original, shows us the loss of Michael’s soul and family, all in one incredible spectacle of a film. All those make it even more mind-boggling that it only earned 47 million at the box office. Even adjusted for inflation, that’s a very poor performance, that the film ended up recouping with video and DVD sales, decades later.
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Every Francis Ford Coppola Directed Movie, Ranked by Rotten Tomatoes
Without a doubt one of the most influential directors of all time, here’s how Rotten Tomatoes rank Francis Ford Coppola’s directed movies.
5Jack (1996) - $58.6 Million
Yeah, thatJack, where Robin Williams plays a kid that ages four times quicker than a normal rate, made more money at the box office thanThe Godfather Part II.This is a unique story where a 10-year-old kid looks like a 40-year-old man, but he just wants to make friends his age, and have some fun, while the world around him looks at him as the weirdest thing ever.
Robin Williams is one of the only great things about this movie. Coppola let him cook, and the actor delivered, transforming his material and improvisations into kid-friendly content, and making for a great character with a tragic end in sight. This might be the weirdest film in the director’s filmography, and he couldn’t make the material his own, making a movie that isn’t tailored either for an audience of kids or adults, creating one of his biggest box office successes, but least artistically accomplished pictures.
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4Apocalypse Now (1979) - $104.8 Million
Apocalypse Now
Inspired by Joseph Conrad’sHeart of Darkness,Apocalypse Nowis one of the greatest anti-war movies ever made. The film tells the story of Captain Willard (Martin Sheen) and his adventure to find Colonel Kurtz (Marlon Brando) and kill him, during the Vietnam War.
The shooting of this movie was so crazy that it has its own documentary,Hearts of Darkness: A Filmmaker’s Apocalypse, that is even more surprising and scary than the film itself. Even with all the troubles behind the camera (from Sheen having a heart attack, or having to negotiate with the Philippine army, so they could get the helicopters, to Brando arriving massively overweight and with a shaved head), Coppola was able to direct a unique piece of cinema; one where the whole thing feels like a nightmare that’s getting scarier as it goes along. He did so while crafting some of the most iconic images ever created; like the helicopters shooting enemies while Wagner’s “Ride of the Valkyries” is playing.
3The Godfather Part III (1990) - $136.8 Million
The Godfather: Part III
The Godfather Part IIIends the story of Michael Corleone (Al Pacino) and his family, when he finally thinks he is making them legit. There’s also the idea of who will take his place, looking at the new generation of Corleones, especially Sonny’s illegitimate son, Vincent (Andy Garcia), and Michael’s daughter, Mary (Sofia Coppola).
The movie might not be as great as the two before it, but that was always going to be extremely difficult, as those are masterpieces that have withstood the passing of time. Even then, this film still has action, a scandal at the Vatican, and Coppola’s interest in family, faith, and legacy. This movie might have Al Pacino’s best performance in the whole saga, as he knows the character inside and out, and here, it becomes much more tragic. After Winona Ryder left the project because of exhaustion, Coppola’s daughter, Sofia, stepped in at the last minute so that the film could be shot. It was a bad idea, even if it wasn’t Sofia’s fault, as the role needed someone with more experience to show how one generation’s mistakes and faults affect the next one.
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Why The Godfather Part III Was Actually a Great Movie
Upon looking back on it, The Godfather Part III was an excellent conclusion to the series.
2Bram Stoker’s Dracula (1992) - $215.8 Million
Bram Stoker’s Dracula
Coppola always loved adapting literary stories, so it makes perfect sense he would look at the myth of Count Dracula (Gary Oldman) and tell his story and how he desires Mina Harker (Winona Ryder) inBram Stoker’s Dracula,making their legend, almost one about star-crossed lovers.
This isone of the best films about Dracula, in his most gothic, erotic, and visually stunning way. This was the ’90s, so the director could make the subtext about sex, and carnal desire, into text. Coppola went almost operatic with this one, with one of his bigger budgets, and he’s having fun with the sets, the costumes, old-school camera movements, and with some great casting decisions. Obviously, Oldman and Ryder, but also Tom Waits’ Renfield, Sadie Frost as Lucy Westenra, and all-in in his eccentric performance as Van Helsing, Anthony Hopkins.
1The Godfather (1972) - $250.3 Million
The Godfather
The Godfatheris one of the biggest andbest masterpieces in Hollywood historyand probably the best mafia movie ever made. This is the tale of the Corleone crime family, their patriarch, the mobster Vito (Marlon Brando), and what happens to his family when he needs a successor.
Everything. The movie mixed both box office success and artistic integrity, with a script written by Coppola and the book writer Mario Puzo, Gordon Willis’ photography was like nothing else before it, and great actors that have become some of the greatest to ever do it. The cast mixed the already established, like Marlon Brando, with those still at the beginning of their careers, like James Caan, Robert Duvall, Diane Keaton, John Cazale, and especially Al Pacino. The Italian actor had his doubters, and it was the scene in the restaurant that proved how great of a performer he was. This is a masterpiece, the one that made Coppola one of the greatest directors of his era, so it makes perfect sense that it would also be his highest-grossing movie ever, and one that also was a critical darling, as it was nominated for 11 Oscars, and won three: Best Picture, Best Actor for Marlon Brando, and Best Adapted Screenplay for Puzo and Coppola.
