Three-time Oscar winner Oliver Stone has courted controversy with a series of technically ambitious, rabble rousing political dramas, chronicling the highs and lows of American history. But how many of his titles remain classics? In honor of his birthday, let’s take a look back at all 20 of his films, ranked worst to best.
Born in 1946, Stone served in the Vietnam War before enrolling in NYU film school. He first came to prominence as a screenwriter, winning an Oscar for penning “Midnight Express” (Best Original Screenplay in 1978) before writing “Conan the Barbarian” (1982), “Scarface” (1983) and “Year of the Dragon” (1985). During this same period, he directed the low-budget horror films “Seizure” (1974) and “The Hand” (1981).
He emerged as a an A-list director when he was 40 years old with a pair of acclaimed war dramas released in 1986: “Salvador” and “Platoon.” Both earned him Best Original Screenplay nominations, while “Platoon,” which was based on his own experiences as a soldier in Vietnam, earned him his first Best Director prize (it won three additional awards, including Best Picture). He took home his second directing award just three years later for another Vietnam War drama, “Born on the Fourth of July” (1989), for which he also reaped bids in Best Picture and Best Adapted Screenplay.
Stone returned to the Oscar race with “JFK” (1991), an ambitious and controversial examination of the conspiracy theories surrounding the Kennedy assassination. Despite receiving criticism for its dubious handling of facts, the film still reaped Best Picture, Best Director and Best Adapted Screenplay bids for Stone. He earned his last nomination in Best Original Screenplay for “Nixon” (1995), a biographical drama of disgraced former President Richard Nixon (Anthony Hopkins).
In addition to his Oscar success, Stone won Golden Globes for directing “Platoon,” “Born on the Fourth of July” and “JFK” and for writing “Midnight Express” and “Born on the Fourth of July,” earning additional bids for penning “Platoon” and “JFK” and for directing “Natural Born Killers” (1994). He took home DGA Awards for “Platoon” and “Born on the Fourth of July,” reaping a third nomination for “JFK.” He won a BAFTA for directing “Platoon” and competed for writing “Born on the Fourth of July,” “JFK” and “Evita” (1996), directed by “Midnight Express” helmer Alan Parker. On the TV side, he received an Emmy for producing “Indictment: The McMartin Trial” (1995).
Stone has also worked on a number of expansive and controversial documentaries, most notably the multi-part series “The Untold History of the United States.” He made three nonfiction films about Fidel Castro (2003’s “Comandante,” 2004’s “Looking for Fidel” and 2012’s “Castro in Winter) and one series on Vladimir Putin (2017’s “The Putin Interviews”).
Tour our photo gallery of Stone’s 20 films as a director, including the titles listed above, as well as “Wall Street” (1987), “The Doors” (1991), “W.” (2008) and more.
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20. SEIZURE (1974)
Image Credit: Cinerama/Aip/Kobal/Shutterstock Directed by Oliver Stone. Written by Oliver Stone and Edward Mann. Starring Jonathan Frid, Martine Beswick, Herve Villechaize, Henry Judd Baker, Christina Pickles, Troy Donahue, Mary Woronov, Richard Cox, Alexis Kirk.
Not all directors start off with a bang, and Stone’s debut was something of a whimper. “Seizure” centers on a horror writer (Jonathan Frid) suffering from recurring nightmares about three of his most sinister characters: the Queen of Evil (Martine Beswick), the dwarf Spider (Herve Villechaize) and the giant strongman Jackal (Henry Judd Baker). His dreams become reality during a weekend when the three come to life and start knocking off his friends and family. A cheapie thriller that does nothing to hint at the talent Stone would display in his later works. Luckily for him, a successful screenwriting career awaited.
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19. THE HAND (1981)
Image Credit: Ixtlan/Pressman/Kobal/Shutterstock Written and directed by Oliver Stone. Starring Michael Caine, Andrea Marcovicci, Annie McEnroe, Bruce McGill, Viveca Lindfors, Rosemary Murphy, Mara Hobel, Pat Corley, Charles Fleischer.
After winning an Oscar for writing “Midnight Express,” Stone got another crack at directing by returning to the horror genre, proving once again that his filmmaking strengths lay elsewhere. Michael Caine stars as a comic book artist who loses his drawing hand in a gruesome auto accident. As he painfully adjusts to his new life, the severed limb takes on a life of its own, killing anyone who angers its former owner. Though produced on a slightly bigger budget than his feature debut, “The Hand” suffers from the same schlocky storytelling flaws that marred his early work. Thankfully, his best work was still ahead.
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18. WORLD TRADE CENTER (2006)
Image Credit: Francois Duhamel/Paramount/Kobal/Shutterstock Directed by Oliver Stone. Written by Andrea Berloff. Starring Nicolas Cage, Michael Pena, Maria Bello, Maggie Gyllenhaal, Stephen Dorff, Jon Bernthal, Jay Hernandez, Michael Shannon.
Stone tamps down his usual filmmaking excesses for this reverential 9/11 drama, and his restraint is admirable if not entirely exciting. “World Trade Center” tells the true story of two New York City Port Authority officers (Nicolas Cage and Michael Pena) trapped beneath the rubble of the Twin Towers. As their fellow officers search for survivors, the two do their best to keep each other alive. Considering Stone’s reputation as a liberal firebrand, it’s surprising how right wing this effort feels, with the rah rah patriotism cranked all the way up to 11. Ultimately, it feels like little more than a Disaster Movie of the Week with a powerful subject matter, and pales in comparison to the more immediate “United 93” released the same year.
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17. SAVAGES (2012)
Image Credit: Moviestore/Shutterstock Directed by Oliver Stone. Screenplay by Shane Salerno, Oliver Stone and Don Winslow, based on the novel by Winslow. Starring Taylor Kitsch, Blake Lively, Aaron Taylor-Johnson, John Travolta, Benicio del Toro, Salma Hayek, Demian Bichir, Emile Hirsch.
“Savages” finds Stone returning to a more visceral mode of filmmaking, though the results are all flash and little substance. Part of the problem comes from the performances by Taylor Kitsch and Aaron Taylor-Johnson, who sleepwalk their way through the film as a pair of L.A. pot dealers trying to rescue their shared girlfriend (Blake Lively) from a violent Mexican drug cartel. There’s a lot of fun from the supporting players, though, including Salma Hayek as the cartel leader, Benicio del Toro as her henchman and John Travolta as a shady DEA agent. It’s all very violent, ugly and nihilistic, which fans of Stone’s darker side may appreciate. Others, however, might be turned off by the unrelenting gore and excess.
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16. WALL STREET: MONEY NEVER SLEEPS (2010)
Image Credit: 20th Century Fox/Kobal/Shutterstock Directed by Oliver Stone. Screenplay by Allan Loeb and Stephen Schiff, based on characters created by Stanley Weiser and Oliver Stone. Starring Michael Douglas, Shia LaBeouf, Josh Brolin, Carey Mulligan, Eli Wallach, Susan Sarandon, Frank Langella.
Made in the wake of the 2008 financial collapse, “Wall Street: Money Never Sleeps” finds Stone trying to make another prescient statement about American greed. But whereas the first film was made with outrage, this sequel takes a more gentle tone, right up to its cringe-inducing finale. Michael Douglas returns to his Oscar-winning role as Gordon Gecko (and earned a supporting Golden Globe bid), fresh out of prison and trying to reconnect with his daughter (Carey Mulligan). He links up with her boyfriend (Shia LaBeouf), an ambitious young stock broker, to take down one of his Wall Street enemies (Josh Brolin) and make a comeback. Though it lacks the bite of its predecessor, it’s still entertaining enough in its own right.
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15. ALEXANDER (2004)
Image Credit: Jaap Buitendijk/Warner Bros/Kobal/Shutterstock Directed by Oliver Stone. Screenplay by Oliver Stone, Christopher Kyle and Laeta Kalogridis, based on the book ‘Alexander the Great’ by Robin Lane Fox. Starring Colin Farrell, Angelina Jolie, Val Kilmer, Jared Leto, Rosario Dawson, Anthony Hopkins, Christopher Plummer.
An ambitious yet misguided biopic about the Greek general and king Alexander the Great (a frost-tipped Colin Farrell), Stone’s lumbering historical epic alternates between viscerally-thrilling battle sequences and snore-inducing character drama. There’s also a great amount of camp value here too, especially whenever Angelina Jolie is onscreen as Alexander’s slithering, sinister mother. Rosario Dawson and Jared Leto also ham it up as the ruler’s wife and secret lover, respectively. Stone has spent years trying to shape this movie into something resembling a masterpiece (there’s at least four different cuts floating around on home video), and while it’ll never be that, it’s still a lot more entertaining than it’s reputation would have you believe.
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14. SNOWDEN (2016)
Image Credit: Open Road Films Directed by Oliver Stone. Screenplay by Kieran Fitzgerald and Oliver Stone, based on ‘The Snowden Files’ by Luke Harding and ‘Time of the Octopus’ by Anatoly Kucherena. Starring Joseph Gordon-Levitt, Shailene Woodley, Melissa Leo, Zachary Quinto, Tom Wilkinson, Scott Eastwood, Logan Marshall-Green, Timothy Olyphant, Ben Schnetzer, Lakeith Stanfield, Rhys Ifans, Nicolas Cage.
“Snowden” finds Stone returning to one of his favorite narrative tropes: the rabble rouser fighting against a corrupt system to uncover governmental deception. The result is one of his strongest efforts this century, albeit a surprisingly subdued and conventional one. Joseph Gordon-Levitt gives a commanding performance as Edward Snowden, who blew the whistle on the NSA’s illegal surveillance techniques by leaking thousands of classified documents to the press. There’s not much here that wasn’t already covered in Laura Poitras’s Oscar-winning documentary “Citizenfour” (Poitras is played here by Melissa Leo), but it’s nevertheless an engaging effort from a filmmaker who proves he’s still got a lot left to say.
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13. U-TURN (1997)
Image Credit: Zade Rosenthal/Columbia/Tristar/Kobal/Shutterstock Directed by Oliver Stone. Screenplay by John Ridley and Oliver Stone, based on the book ‘Stray Dogs’ by Ridley. Starring Sean Penn, Jennifer Lopez, Nick Nolte, Powers Boothe, Claire Danes, Joaquin Phoenix, Billy Bob Thornton, Jon Voight.
After nearly a decade of crafting technically ambitious, Oscar-winning efforts, Stone decided to have some fun with this violent noir thriller. Maligned by critics who had heaped praise on his previous efforts, “U-Turn” holds up a lot better than you’d expect, thanks in large part to the director’s trademark energy and zeal. Sean Penn stars as a hapless drifter en route to Las Vegas so he can repay a debt to the Russian mafia. His car breaks down in the sleepy town of Superior, AZ, where he meets a grizzled local (Nick Nolte) and his beautiful wife (Jennifer Lopez). Both want to pay him to murder the other, although he’s not sure which one he should trust, since pretty much everybody in town seems to be rotten to the core.
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12. HEAVEN & EARTH (1993)
Image Credit: Warner Bros/Kobal/Shutterstock Directed by Oliver Stone. Screenplay by Oliver stone, based on the books ‘When Heaven and Earth Changed Places’ and ‘Child of War, Women of Peace’ by Le Ly Hayslip and Jay Wurts. Starring Tommy Lee Jones, Joan Chen, Haing S. Ngor, Hiep Thi Le, Debbie Reynolds.
The third film in Stone’s unofficial Vietnam War trilogy, “Heaven & Earth” is unique in that it views the conflict from the perspective of a young Vietnamese woman instead of American soldiers, as he did in “Platoon” and “Born on the Fourth of July.” Adapted from two memoirs by Le Ly Hayslip (played here by Hiep Thi Le), it shows in shattering detail how the war disrupted her life, displacing her from her village home and forcing her into a life of hustling and prostitution on the streets. Into her life comes an American G.I. (Tommy Lee Jones) who marries her and takes her to the US, but the psychological scars of battle take a toll on their union. An uncharacteristically sensitive film from Stone, and one of his most powerful.
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11. TALK RADIO (1988)
Image Credit: Cineplex Odeon/Kobal/Shutterstock Directed by Oliver Stone. Screenplay by Eric Bogosian and Oliver Stone, based on the play by Bogosian and Ted Savinar and the book ‘Talked to Death: The Life and Murder of Alan Berg’ by Stephen Singular. Starring Eric Bogosian, Alec Baldwin, Ellen Greene, Leslie Hope, John C. McGinley, John Pankow, Michael Wincott.
In adapting Eric Bogosian’s Pulitzer Prize-nominated play, Stone tied in elements from the 1984 assassination of radio host Alan Berg, creating a still-prescient look at the perils of free speech. Bogosian recreates his stage role as Barry Chaplain, a Dallas radio personality who alienates his listeners with his caustic delivery and radical politics. On the eve of his show going nationwide, his personal demons come to bear, exposing a level of self-hatred that far exceeds the animosity shown towards his audience. As Chaplain is targeted with multiple death threats from unstable right-wing callers, Stone and Bogosian expose a disturbing truth about society’s need to quash anyone who goes against the grain, to sometimes tragic results.
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10. THE DOORS (1991)
Image Credit: Moviestore/Shutterstock Directed by Oliver Stone. Written by J. Randal Johnson and Oliver Stone. Starring Val Kilmer, Meg Ryan, Kevin Dillon, Kyle MacLachlan, Frank Whaley, Michael Madsen, Billy Idol, Kathleen Quinlan.
“The Doors” succeeds thanks to Val Kilmer’s mesmerizing performance as Jim Morrison, the rock legend whose career was cut tragically short by his untimely death in 1971 at the age of 27. The film itself is a depressing dirge into the realities of addiction and excess, with Morrison indulging in drugs and alcohol to the detriment of his bandmates and fans who watch him stumble incoherently during his later performances. Yet Stone also offers brief glimpses of the musician’s talent in exhilarating concert scenes that lift the audience out of the doom and gloom of his life. While it might not be a lot of fun to watch, it’s an always engaging portrait of a self-destructive man whose star burned brightly and briefly, leaving behind some great music.
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9. ANY GIVEN SUNDAY (1999)
Image Credit: Robert Zuckerman/Warner Bros/Kobal/REX/Shutterstock Directed by Oliver Stone. Screenplay by John Logan and Oliver Stone, story by Daniel Pyne and Logan, based on the book “On Any Given Sunday” by Pat Toomay. Starring Al Pacino Cameron Diaz, Dennis Quaid, James Woods, Jamie Foxx, LL Cool J, Matthew Modine, Lauren Holly, Charlton Heston, Ann-Margret, Aaron Eckhart, John C. McGinley.
In mounting a behind-the-scenes expose of professional football, Stone creates an epic saga of modern day gladiators whose life-and-death struggles are played out on the field every Sunday. Al Pacino gives one of his best performances as the head coach of the Miami Sharks, who loves his players like a father and butts heads with the new team owner (Cameron Diaz) after she takes over from her father. Stone uses an all-star cast to fill out the supporting players, including Dennis Quaid as an aging quarterback, James Woods as the shady team doctor and Jamie Foxx as a superstar new player whose arrogance creates friction. The results, like the game itself, are overlong, overblown and utterly mesmerizing.
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8. W. (2008)
Image Credit: Snap Stills/REX/Shutterstock Directed by Oliver Stone. Written by Stanley Weiser. Starring John Brolin, Elizabeth Banks, James Cromwell, Ellen Burstyn, Richard Dreyfuss, Toby Jones, Thandie Newton, Jeffrey Wright, Scott Glenn, Bruce McGill, Jennifer Sipes, Noah Wyle, Ioan Gruffudd.
As he did with “Nixon,” Stone creates a sympathetic portrait of a man with whom he had significant political disagreements. “W.” burrows deep into the life of George W. Bush (Josh Brolin), examining how the drunken black sheep of a prominent family could rise to the presidency, much to our country’s detriment. According to Stone, the specter of W.’s father, former President George H.W. Bush (James Cromwell), looms large throughout his life, instilling an inferiority complex that leads him to politics and the disastrous Iraq War. What could’ve been an extended “Saturday Night Live” sketch is instead an enthralling, Shakespearean tragedy about an unremarkable man’s misguided reach for the stars, one we’re all worse off for.
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7. SALVADOR (1986)
Image Credit: Hemdale/Kobal/Shutterstock Directed by Oliver Stone. Written by Oliver Stone and Richard Boyle. Starring James Woods, Jim Belushi, Michael Murphy, John Savage, Elpidia Carrillo, Cindy Gibb, Tony Plana.
The third time was the charm for Stone, who finally hit one out of the park after two unsuccessful attempts behind the camera. What sets “Salvador” apart from those earlier efforts is its focus on politics, a subject that would animate the director’s greatest works. James Woods stars as Richard Boyle (who cowrote the script with Stone), an American photojournalist covering the Salvadorian Civil War who becomes ensnared in the warring factions while trying to get his girlfriend (Elpidia Carrillo) and her children out of the country. The film earned Oscar nominations for Woods and for Stone and Boyle’s screenplay (Stone, in fact, competed against himself in that category for “Platoon,” for which he won Best Director).
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6. WALL STREET (1987)
Image Credit: SNAP/REX/Shutterstock Directed by Oliver Stone. Written by Oliver Stone and Stanley Weiser. Starring Michael Douglas, Charlie Sheen, Daryl Hannah, Martin Sheen, Hal Holbrook, Terence Stamp, John C. McGinley, James Karen, Sean Young, James Spader.
Michael Douglas’s Oscar-winning performance dominates “Wall Street,” Stone’s fist-shaking indictment of financial misdeeds. As Gordon Gekko, a ruthless corporate raider with slicked-back hair, expensive suits and a slithering voice, Douglas makes greed look really good, especially to an ambitious young stockbroker (Charlie Sheen) he takes under his wing. Torn between Gekko and his union leader father (played by Sheen’s real life dad, Martin Sheen), he continues rising to the top before a setback forces him to reevaluate his choices. Now, more than ever, the film’s rallying cry against American avarice feels prescient and important. Stone and Douglas returned for a 2010 sequel, “Wall Street: Money Never Sleeps.”
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5. NATURAL BORN KILLERS (1994)
Image Credit: Sidney Baldwin/Warner Bros/Kobal/REX/Shutterstock Directed by Oliver Stone. Screenplay by Richard Rutowski, Oliver Stone and David Veloz, story by Quentin Tarantino. Starring Woody Harrelson, Juliette Lewis, Robert Downey, Jr., Tommy Lee Jones, Tom Sizemore.
Perhaps the most controversial title in Stone’s oeuvre (and that’s saying a lot), “Natural Born Killers” is an aggressive satire of the media’s — and by extension our own — fascination with carnage. Loosely based on an original script by Quentin Tarantino, it follows Mickey (Woody Harrelson) and Mallory Knox (Juliette Lewis), two deeply damaged people who fall in love and paint the country red in a countrywide killing spree. Shot in Stone’s characteristically jagged style and featuring extreme, almost cartoonish violence, this isn’t for everybody. Still, it remains a powerful indictment of our national bloodlust, especially in the age of mass shootings. Though the Academy overlooked the film, it did earn Stone a Golden Globe bid for directing.
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4. BORN ON THE FOURTH OF JULY (1989)
Image Credit: Snap Stills/REX/Shutterstock Directed by Oliver Stone. Screenplay by Oliver Stone and Ron Kovic, based on the book by Ron Kovic. Starring Tom Cruise, Kyra Sedgwick, Raymond J. Barry, Jerry Levine, Frank Whaley, Willem Dafoe.
Three years after striking Oscar gold with “Platoon,” Stone returned to the trenches of Vietnam to create another stirring anti-war epic. “Born on the Fourth of July” tells the true story of Ron Kovic (Tom Cruise), a young man who eagerly signed up for combat and returned paralyzed from the chest down. Bound to a wheelchair, he turns his rage against the country that betrayed him into activism. Cruise anchors this sweeping drama with a towering performance filled with a rage, passion and power that matches the filmmaking. The movie brought Stone his second Oscar for Best Director and earned him nominations in Best Picture and Best Adapted Screenplay (shared with Kovic), plus Golden Globe wins in all three categories.
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3. NIXON (1995)
Image Credit: Moviestore/REX/Shutterstock Directed by Oliver Stone. Written by Stephen J. Rivele, Christopher Wilkinson, Stone. Starring Anthony Hopkins, Joan Allen, Powers Boothe, Ed Harris, Bob Hoskins, E.G. Marshall, David Paymer, David Hyde Pierce, Paul Sorvino, Mary Steenburgen, J.T. Walsh, James Woods.
Though he may not exactly look like Tricky Dick, Anthony Hopkins is eerily uncanny as the disgraced former President in this massive biopic. The film follows Richard Nixon’s life from childhood to his scandal-ridden Presidency, which ended in resignation during the Watergate investigation. Given Stone’s reputation as a liberal rabble-rouser, it’s surprising how much empathy he engenders for this deeply flawed, controversial figure, thanks in no small part to Hopkins’s towering performance as a man driven to power and ultimately undone by his envy, paranoia and rage. The film brought him a Best Actor Oscar bid, while Joan Allen contended in supporting for playing his long-suffering wife. Stone also competed for his original screenplay.
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2. PLATOON (1986)
Image Credit: Moviestore Collection/REX/Shutterstock Written and directed by Oliver Stone. Starring Tom Berenger, Willem Dafoe, Charlie Sheen, Keith David, Forest Whitaker, Francesco Quinn, Kevin Dillon, John C. McGinley, Johnny Depp.
Stone tapped into his own memories of serving as a private in Vietnam for “Platoon,” creating perhaps the most personal vision of warfare yet seen. Charlie Sheen stars as a young soldier who finds himself pushed and pulled between two domineering forces: the scarred and cynical Sergeant Barnes (Tom Berenger) and the idealistic Sergeant Elias (Willem Dafoe). Rather than indulge in anti-war speechifying, Stone conveys his message with harrowing combat sequences seen from the grunt’s eye view, portraying war as the hell it truly is. The powerful film hit the Oscar jackpot, winning four prizes including Best Picture and Best Director for Stone, who also competed for his original screenplay (against himself for “Salvador,” no less).
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1. JFK (1991)
Image Credit: Warner Bros/Kobal/Shutterstock Directed by Oliver Stone. Screenplay by Oliver Stone and Zachary Sklar, based on the books ‘On the Trail of the Assassins’ by Jim Garrison and ‘Crossfire: The Plot That Killed Kennedy’ by Jim Marrs. Starring Kevin Costner, Kevin Bacon, Tommy Lee Jones, Laurie Metcalf, Gary Oldman, Michael Rooker, Jay O. Sanders, Sissy Spacek, Edward Asner, Donald Sutherland, Joe Pesci, Jack Lemmon, Walter Matthau, Vincent D’Onofrio, John Candy, Wayne Knight, Sally Kirkland.
Though its facts are dubious at best, the filmmaking in Stone’s paranoia-laced political thriller is ambitious, enthralling and exciting. “JFK” brilliantly taps into our suspicions surrounding the Kennedy assassination, and while you won’t be any closer to an answer by the end, you’ll be thoroughly entertained nevertheless. At its center is Kevin Costner as New Orleans DA Jim Garrison, who sifts through tons of evidence and people to uncover a vast conspiracy and coverup. Stone utilizes an A-list cast, a variety of film stocks and fast-paced editing to help us assemble all the puzzle pieces ourselves. It’s a feat of filmmaking that brought him a Golden Globe win for directing and Oscar nominations in Best Picture, Best Director and Best Adapted Screenplay.
