Oliver Stone is a renegade filmmaker and screenwriter. Stone's politics have been informed undoubtedly by his experiences in the Vietnam War and would go on to shape his filmmaking as well. Starting as a writer, Stone helped herald films about the intensity of the drug trade and its effect on Americans with scripts like Midnight Express and the iconic Scarface. Midnight Express, directed by the late Sir Alan Parker, is based somewhat on Stone's own experiences as a drug smuggler and his imprisonment in Mexico—Stone lived a life on the fringes. But, when he eventually got his hold on the film industry as a filmmaker, the breadth of his overture, voice, and talent was undeniable.
Updated: November 2022: To keep this article fresh and relevant by adding more information and entries, this article has been updated by Wishka Tilakaratne.
Crafting stories in his primal, dream-like fashion that would attack his viewer's subconscious with violent poetry, Stone never pulled any punches. His film's visuals are as visceral as his politics, creating a long line of films questioning the American political apparatus and war machine that convinced him to fight in Vietnam. While most likely too dangerous for Hollywood now, Stone’s career is marked by a stacked line of classic, iconic films. Here are the best of Oliver Stone's best movies.
12 Savages (2012)
Savages is a film that is hectic and takes the viewer underground, into a completely different reality. From an open relationship between a trio, to a marijuana business that attracts a drug-cartel and the kidnapping of the main female character, there is so much happening in this film by Stone. With actors like Blake Lively, Taylor Kitsch, and Aaron Taylor-Johnson taking the lead roles, the film easily attracts the viewer.
There are several tropes that Stone uses in the film, like the damsel in distress trope and the Romeo and Juliet trope. However, Stone also attempts to steer the film in a different direction by bringing in the world of smugglers and cartels and the idea of good vs. evil. With the characters of Chon, Ophelia and Ben being caught up in a world which they didn't want to be a part of, Savages allows one to see how complicated things can get when the idea of illegality is brought in.
11 Salvador (1986)
Oliver Stone’s first foray into a realm he would comfortably operate in for the next two decades, Salvador is a deft critique of the US military apparatus, and its meddling in the affairs of foreign governments. Seen through the eyes of a war journalist navigating the street politic of Salvador, James Woods perfectly encapsulates the scumbag charisma it takes to make it out of the war-torn province, while also firmly questioning his home country’s governing decisions. Stone pulled no punches when depicting the cruelties of military dictatorship and the Reagan era policies that helped shape it.
10 Talk Radio (1988)
Adapting Eric Bogosian's stage play of the same name, Talk Radio, Stone and DP Robert Richardson displayed the cinematic tenacity of their camerawork to make a film largely set in one radio studio, totally engrossing, vibrant, and tense. Borrowing a lot from Brian De Palma’s bag of visual tricks, Stone showed his ability to be a cineaste, but mixed in the vibrancy of his aesthetic with the same political gusto he brings to all of his work. While also balancing the karmic virtues and consequences of a radio talk show host who so callously speaks his mind.
9 The Doors (1991)
The perfect muse for Oliver Stone’s dream-like séances of montage and filmmaking, The Doors is a psychedelic trip through the destructive, vision-seeking life of rock icon Jim Morrison. In a transformative performance from Val Kilmer, who went on to do much of his singing, Kilmer and Stone channel the messianic nature of Morrison. The band reportedly hates the portrayal, but it shows the mythmaker Morrison pushing the band to their limits to create everlasting and iconic rock music.
8 Nixon (1995)
Oliver Stone’s zest for exploring troubling figures and myths of American history came to a surprisingly empathetic note in Nixon. In an inspired casting choice that heeded incredible results, Anthony Hopkins transforms as the troubled, paranoid, and corruptible president with relative ease. Stone takes us through the ires of some of America's most skeptical points in history and shows how Nixon was at the center of so much of it. While still critiquing the cowardice and selfishness of Nixon’s reactionary, racist policies, it still manages to paint a nuanced portrait of a man whose name still lives in the vein of infamy.
7 Wall Street: Money Never Sleeps (2010)
With Michael Douglas reprising his role of Gordon Gekko, this sequel to Stone's 1987 infamous film takes place after 23 years of the original. As always, Stone has reflected on the real life economic crisis, with the film bringing in the 2007 - 2008 Global Financial Crisis. However, what is intriguing about this particular film is its focus on Gordon Gekko's attempts at making amends, going back to his devious schemes, and then returning to make amends yet again. The rollercoaster of his character changes is definitely shocking and invokes many emotions in the viewer.
With Shia LaBeouf and Carey Mulligan taking over some crucial roles, the film definitely has some brilliant performances. Of course, following its 2010 Cannes Film Festival opening, the film received mixed reviews from critics. Nonetheless, it is notable how this film is yet another reflection on the malevolent nature of money and the power it has over people.
6 Wall Street (1987)
“Greed is good.” The much-paraphrased quote from Wall Street antagonist Gordon Gekko, played with unbridled financial sleaze by Michael Douglas (his only Oscar win for acting), is only part of the story. Oliver Stone’s film details the lows financial sector gurus will stoop to for their portfolios stake and how dangerous unbridled ambition can be. Shot in the classic '80s sheen with the veneer of capitalist excess, Wall Street critiques America handing the economy to a group of New York insiders.
5 Any Given Sunday (1999)
Prophetic in its detailing and portrayal of football life in regard to young offensive coaches, mobile quarterbacks, and also how awful the football players are treated and how their health is put on the back burner for the team's personal gain, Oliver Stone's Any Given Sunday is a magnificently violent opus. The film is shot in a fervently disorienting, quick panned style to match the nature of the game. Oliver Stone’s film shows how the sport is closer to the nature of gladiators in the ancient coliseums. But, Stone doesn’t let the film slide by without your typical sports movie beats, like the rousing half-time speech from legend Al Pacino as the coach to get his team back on the right track.
4 Natural Born Killers (1994)
Natural Born Killers is an insidious hellscape through the lives of serial killer couple Nicky and Mallory. A scathing critique of the media and their coverage of monsters that elevates violent criminals to celebrity status, Oliver Stone’s film is an iconic, drug-induced depiction of violence that sees the director go full force into his surreal, visceral image board. Adapted from a screenplay that Quentin Tarantino wrote, who, unfortunately, was wholly dissatisfied with the final product, even though it has elevated to cult status over the years.
3 Born On The Fourth of July (1989)
Oliver Stone’s American epic. Born on the Fourth of July is a heartbreaking, endearing tale of the Vietnam War and its brutal effect on the men sent to fight there. It is based on the memoir of Ron Kovic, who was paralyzed from the waist down after being shot in battle. Played in a towering performance by Tom Cruise as the veteran-turned-activist, Cruise is better than he's ever been. Stone shows the war and the American military as propagandists, seeing young men on war and how that destroys their livelihood. It would win another Oscar for Stone as a director for what is rightly one of his strongest indictments of the Military-Industrial Complex.
2 Platoon (1986)
When Oliver Stone was a young man, he volunteered to fight in the Vietnam War. In part, he admits, to breaking away from the cozy life his father had given him. What he saw in the jungles, the violence, the barbarism, the chaos, would change his life forever and shape his filmmaking vision for years to come. Those tours spent in hell would go on to be the pages of his masterwork, Platoon. The film acts as a hard-hitting bite of reality. Platoon depicts what war does to men and how soldiers not only have to battle the enemies of the land they invaded, but those they share the trenches with too.
1 JFK (1991)
JFK is Oliver Stone at the peak of his hallucinatory, paranoid, fever dream powers. Crafting a masterpiece of aesthetics, storytelling, entertainment, and editing with his strongest, most reliable collaborator - cinematographer Robert Richardson, JFK is a three-hour ride packed densely with character and twisty plot corridors. Also backed by a searing score from maestro John Williams, Oliver Stone gave Americans a reason to rethink what had been told to them about the assassination of John F. Kennedy. Looming large over the American psyche, Stone’s opus to questioning America’s power institutions was a box office smash and racked up two Oscars along with eight nominations.