10 Greatest Films of Warren Beatty
Henry Warren Beaty was born in Virginia in 1937. His older sister, actress Shirley MacLaine, was his inspiration to enter acting. He studied acting at the Stella Adler Studio of Acting.
He started his professional career in acting doing episodic television roles. His first film Splendor in the Grass with Natalie Wood, in 1961. Fifty-five years later, he is currently appearing in the film Rules Don’t Apply, playing Howard Hughes.
He has been nominated for fourteen Academy Awards. Four of those nominations were for acting, four were for writing, four were for producing, and two were for directing. His one win was for directing Reds. He has eleven Golden Globes nominations. He won Most Promising Newcomer for Splendor in the Grass, Best Actor in a Motion Picture — Comedy or Musical, for Heaven Can Wait, and Best Director — Motion Picture, for Reds. He also has the Cecil B. Demille Award and the Irving G. Thalberg Memorial Award.
10. Lilith (1964) — Beatty plays a therapist that starts to fall in love with a mentally ill patient. Don’t watch this if you need a pick-me-up — it’s depressing. I saw it maybe 20 years ago and am not in a rush to see it again. The acting, directing, and writing is strong, however.
“You must love your God a lot to kill for him and still go on loving him. I’d never ask that of a lover. I’d only ask his joy.” — Lilith
9. Heaven Can Wait (1978) — On the other end of the spectrum is this light romantic-comedy. It is a remake of the 1941 film, Here Comes Mr. Jordan. Beatty plays a football player accidentally taken to Heaven too early. He’s sent back in the form of someone else with problems to solve, during which he falls in love with Julie Christie, as one does.
“The likelihood of one individual being right increases in direct proportion to the intensity with which others are trying to prove him wrong.” — Mr. Jordan
8. Bulworth (1998) — Beatty plays a California senator sick to death of the constant lying required of his profession. When he thinks he will shortly die, he decides to stop lying and say exactly what he is thinking.
“Ooh, what we’ll do, the nation we’ll do. It’s up to you, what’ll we do / What we’ll do, well, it’s up to you” — Senator Bulworth
7. Dick Tracy (1990) — Beatty brings the Chester Gould comic strip to four color life in this fun movie about a police detective in a yellow coat using technology and his fists to take down criminals with cartoonishly crazy facial features.
“Tess, there’s about as much chance of me getting behind a desk as there is of me getting a new girlfriend.” — Dick Tracy
6. Splendor in the Grass (1961) — Natalie Wood stars as a teenage girl, coming of age in 1928 Kansas. Beatty plays her boyfriend, tired of waiting for their relationship to become more physical.
“Oh, Deanie I don’t know the matter with me lately. I always lose my temper. You’re the only girl in the world for me, don’t you know that, Deanie?” — Bud
5. The Parallax View (1974) — Beatty plays a newspaper reporter investigating the assassination of a senator.
“Look, why don’t you go out and bust up a keno game. Do something worthwhile for chrissakes, you two bit vice squad, you’re not only dumb, you’re dirty.” — Joseph Frady
4. Bugsy (1991) — Beatty plays the mobster who built Las Vegas. Beatty went on to marry his co-star, Annette Bening, the following year.
“Excuse me, but arent’ we in a public place? Maybe we’d both be better off if you just toned down your rhetoric one notch.” — Bugsy Siegel
3. Reds (1981) — Based upon the true story of an American journalist named John Reed, whom embedded himself into the Russian Revolution and wrote a book about his experiences.
“You don’t get to rewrite what I write! You don’t get to rewrite what I write!” — John Reed
2. Bonnie and Clyde (1967) — Beatty and Faye Dunaway star as the legendary bank robbers.
“This here’s Miss Bonnie Parker. I’m Clyde Barrow. We rob banks.” — Clyde Barrow
1. McCabe & Mrs. Miller (1971) — Long before Clint Eastwood received acclaim for perfectly deconstructing the western in Unforgiven, Altman perfectly deconstructed the western in this film. Warren Beatty and Julie Christie star in this bleak and immersive film
“If a frog had wings, he wouldn’t bump his ass so much, follow me?” — John McCabe
What would make your list?
