Francis Ford Coppola · Filmography Ranked
Best Francis Ford Coppola Films, Ranked by IQ Score
Five decades of one of American cinema's most-canonical directors. Every Coppola film, ranked by IQ Score.
Francis Ford Coppola's filmography contains some of American cinema's most-canonical films, and some of its most-celebrated commercial failures. The structural seriousness of the 1970s catalog (Godfather I-II, The Conversation, Apocalypse Now) was the medium's standard for what a film auteur's prestige work could be.
Anchor picks: The Godfather Part II (1974) is widely cited as the medium's greatest American film. The Godfather (1972) is the canonical starting point. Apocalypse Now (1979) is the catalog's most-formally-ambitious work. The Conversation (1974) is the catalog's most-disciplined chamber-piece, Cannes Palme d'Or winner, same year Godfather Part II won the Best Picture Oscar.
8 titles · ranked by IQ Score
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Questions about this ranking
What is the best Coppola film?
By IQ Score on TV Intelligentsia, The Godfather Part II anchors the catalog, widely cited as the medium's greatest American film. The Godfather, Apocalypse Now, and The Conversation round out the Masterclass tier from Coppola's canonical 1970s decade.
How does TVI rank Coppola's filmography?
Every Coppola film is scored on the same rubric: Cognitive Stimulation (40%), Educational Value (35%), Craft & Quality (25%). The rubric reads the 1970s catalog as the medium's most-celebrated decade-of-output from any single American director.
Why is The Conversation ranked so high?
TV Intelligentsia scores The Conversation at Masterclass tier because the 1974 surveillance-paranoia film (the year Coppola won Cannes Palme d'Or AND the Best Picture Oscar for Godfather Part II) is the catalog's most-formally-disciplined chamber-piece. Gene Hackman's Harry Caul is among the most-carefully-rendered solo-protagonist characters in 1970s American cinema.
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