Filmmaker Francis Ford Coppola is one of the most respected and acclaimed American directors of all time - here's every movie he made, ranked from worst to best. With a career spanning five decades, Coppola has made a number of iconic films. The Italian-American filmmaker is known for his epic, stylistically ambitious projects that often went over budget. Francis Ford Coppola is, without a doubt, one of the most significant filmmakers of the New Hollywood era, also known as the American New Wave. New Hollywood filmmakers include the likes of George Lucas, Brian De Palma, Steven Spielberg, Martin Scorsese, and Stanley Kubrick.

The best New Hollywood directors opened up a whole new way of making movies, emerging out of '60s counter-culture with such films as Easy Rider, Bonnie & Clyde, The Graduate, The Deer Hunter, and Taxi Driver. However, the era would end with the massive commercial failure of films like Michal Cimino's Heaven's Gate, and Coppola's own One From The Heart. Since his peak in the 1970s, Francis Ford Coppola's films have suffered a steady decline in popularity. However, subsequent decades of his filmography are still full of classics. Even his low-budget, experimental films maintain a strong cult following.

23 Jack (1996)

The Robin Williams Movie Doesn't Have A Cohesive Tone

Jack, released in 1996, is certainly one of Francis Ford Coppola's most baffling films. A strange blend of the 1988 film Big (starring Tom Hanks) and The Curious Case Of Benjamin Button, it tells the story of Jack Powell, a boy who ages at four times the rate of normal children. In this Robin Williams movie, the prolific actor plays a ten-year-old in the body of a 40-year-old, and the result is somewhat unsettling.

The film is a tonal mess that never quite overcomes the strangeness of its premise, although Coppola does try to accentuate the absurdity of it all with pathos. Additionally, the movie has a lackluster script that fails to utilize the genius comedic abilities of the late Robin Williams.

22 Dementia 13 (1963)

The Director's First Feature Film Was Thrown Together In A Haphazardous Way

Dementia 13 was Francis Ford Coppola's very first feature film. The Roger Corman-produced thriller was written by Coppola and tells the story of a widow who decides to travel to her husband's family castle in Ireland in order to assure herself a place in his will. Corman instructed Coppola to make a rip-off of Psycho using the leftover funds from one of his recent films.

Dementia 13 is a low-budget production made over nine days, and, for the most part, it shows. The kills are completely forgettable, leading to an uneven ending. On top of the narrative problems, the Coppola movie is riddled with distracting visual continuity errors, and the script can't seem to decide whether the castle's name is "Castle Howard" or "Castle Haloran."

21 Finian's Rainbow (1968)

Coppola's Musical Failed To Utilize Its Biggest Strength

One of Coppola's lesser-known works, Finian's Rainbow, is a 1968 adaptation of a stage musical. The filmmaker reimagines the classical Hollywood musical for a contemporary audience, leaning into the socio-political preoccupations of the '60s. Finian's Rainbow is about an Irishman, played by Fred Astaire, who steals a leprechaun's gold and proceeds to bury it in Rainbow Valley, believing it will multiply due to its proximity to Fort Knox. Finian and his daughter become embroiled in local politics as the racist Senator Billboard Rawkins attempts to buy up the land where the treasure is buried.

Finian's Rainbow is an awkward attempt to combine a Broadway musical with political commentary, but it ultimately falls flat. The movie never quite finds its footing, even in its more enjoyable moments. The framing cuts off Fred Astaire's feet, weakening one of the most enjoyable parts of the movie—the dancing icon.

20 Megalopolis (2024)

The Sci-Fi Movie Has Too Many Ideas To Pack Into 2 Hours and 14 Minutes

Almost four decades after originating the idea, Coppola released Megalopolis, an unreasonably long movie that doesn't live up to expectations. Set in an alternative version of 21st-century New York City, called New Rome, the film follows an architect named Cesar Catilina who tries to rebuild the city after a crisis but faces resistance from Mayor Franklyn Cicero. The sci-fi epic flopped horribly at the box office, which wasn't a financial issue since Francis Ford Coppola funded Megalopolis himself.

Looking at Megalopolis, the lack of oversight is abundantly clear. The narrative feels bloated and unedited because of frequent tangents. The movie focuses so heavily on world-building that it fails to create likable characters. Megalopolis has a pretentious tone that's off-putting in such a deeply flawed movie. Ultimately, Coppola's sci-fi epic is dripping in self-indulgence, which makes it painful to watch.

19 You're A Big Boy Now (1966)

This Rom-Com Is A Fun Watch That Doesn't Move Beyond Genre Conventions

Coppola's second feature film, You're A Big Boy Now, is a comedy that adapts David Benedictus' 1963 eponymous novel. Relocated from London to New York, the film follows the 19-year-old Bernard Chanticleer as he tries to emancipate himself from the grasp of his overbearing parents. The film is an absurdist sex comedy that deals with the romantic entanglements of a young man living in New York.

With its stylish production and solid performances, You're A Big Boy Now is a strong early effort from Coppola. The film leans into romantic comedy genre conventions, making it less adventurous than the director's other movies. However, despite its simplicity, it's still fun to watch, and it's a vital time capsule of early rom-coms.

18 Gardens Of Stone (1987)

Coppola's Military Drama Doesn't Rise To The Level Of Apocolypse Now

Francis Ford Coppola's 1987 military drama, Gardens Of Stones, appears as a spiritual follow-up to the director's classic Vietnam epic, Apocalypse Now. This adaptation of the Nicholas Proffitt novel of the same name, follows a hardened war vet, played by James Caan, who is assigned to "The Old Guard" at Fort Myer, Virginia. This is the U.S. Army's Honor Guard and provides ceremonial guard for the funerals of fallen soldiers.

The film becomes a solemn, heartfelt requiem for a meaningless war and the many who lost their lives. Unfortunately, Gardens Of Stones is weakened due to the shadow of its predecessor. The film lacks the ambition of Coppola's previous war flick and might have fared better if released further from Coppola's magnum opus.

17 Twixt (2011)

Coppola's Surreal Fantasy Borrows Elements From His Previous Films

By far one of Coppola's most bizarre, surreal, and experimental works, Twixt was the great filmmaker's last film before he took a hiatus, waiting 13 years to put out his next movie, Megalopolis. The story follows down-on-his-luck novelist Hall Baltimore (Val Kilmer) as he attempts to solve a murder in a small town where he was doing book gs. What follows is a narrative divided between reality and fantasy.

While it is probably the Coppola work with the least mainstream appeal, it does contain a number of his signature stylings, and references to previous works (his own as well as other classics) and to his own life (notably, the tragic death of his son, Gian-Carlo). It is a strange cinematic experience, but one that is also very rewarding for Coppola completionists.

16 The Godfather Part III (1990)

The Third Instillation Is Much Less Impactful Than The First Two Godfather Movies

While The Godfather Part III is certainly a step down from the previous two installments, the film is not without its merits. Coppola never wanted the film to be the third movie in a trilogy, he saw it more as an epilogue. In fact, his original title for the film (and the title taken up by his latest cut of the film) was The Death of Michael Corleone. Just as Part II linked the Corleone family's business to the Cuban revolution in the 1950s, The Godfather Part III continues this tradition by tying Michael's storyline to the Papal scandals of the late '70s and early '80s.

It's clear that, for Coppola, these films were never just the story of an Italian-American mobster; the filmmaker is much more interested in the point of convergence of numerous themes (morality, religion, family) in the American experience. As such, despite Coppola's regrettable decision to cast his daughter Sofia Coppola as Mary, the film does serve as an adequate conclusion to the Corleone family tragedy.

15 The Rainmaker (1997)

The Rainmaker Fills Viewers With Righteous Indignation

Coppola's 1997 adaptation of The Rainmaker stands out among the plethora of other John Grisham adaptations from the '90s. The movie stars Matt Damon as Rudy Baylor, a young law school grad who comes up against an insurance company in this David vs. Goliath story. Although not necessarily as stylistically or narratively ambitious as other Francis Ford Coppola's movies, The Rainmaker emerges as a surprisingly effective legal drama about America's failing insurance infrastructure.

The script's humor helps balance out the heavier themes, but it never feels like it's making light of the seriousness. The characters are also easy to connect with, deepening their impact on the audience. Ultimately, the power struggle in the movie makes The Rainmaker emotionally resonant.

14 The Cotton Club (1984)

Copolla Reunites With His Godfather Team For A Less-Impressive Movie

After the financial failure of his past few films, The Cotton Club sees Coppola reuniting with his Godfather team, writer Mario Puzo and producer Robert Evans. The film marks the director's return to stylish gang violence as it recounts the story of Michael "Dixie" Dwyer (Richard Gere), a mob-backed musician who becomes a Hollywood star. Dixie soon finds himself caught in the crossfire of a gang war.

Similar to much of Coppola's work in the '80s, he is perhaps more interested in making The Cotton Club a jazz-infused movie than in developing the intricacies of the plot. Consequently, the story is lacking. The narrative flaws could also be attributed to the fact that the production company forced him to cut down his movie so that it would focus on the storylines of White characters instead of Black characters (via Deadline). Still, The Cotton Club still manages to offer an engrossing look at 1930s Harlem, and the director's cut that Coppola released in 2019 fixes many of the issues.