The 50+ Best Alan Bates Movies
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1Julie Christie, Alan Bates, Dominic GuardIn this period drama, British teenager Leo Colston (Dominic Guard) spends a summer in the countryside, where he develops a crush on the beautiful young aristocrat Marian (Julie Christie). Eager to impress her, Leo becomes the "go-between" for Marian, delivering secret romantic letters to Ted Burgess (Alan Bates), a handsome neighboring farmer. However, when Marian becomes engaged to Hugh Trimingham (Edward Fox), a local viscount, all their lives are altered.More The Go-Between
- #46 of 63 onThe Best Movies That Won the Palme d'Or at Cannes
- #37 of 39 onThe Best British Romance Movies
- #49 of 66 onThe Best Romance Movies of the 1970s
2Julie Christie, Peter Finch, Alan BatesBased on Thomas Hardy's renowned novel, this British drama focuses on Bathsheba Everdene (Julie Christie), a beautiful young woman who inherits a picturesque farm from her uncle and is determined to run it herself. Three very different suitors -- Francis Troy (Terence Stamp), an intense soldier; William Boldwood (Peter Finch), a middle-aged farmer; and Gabriel Oak (Alan Bates), a shepherd of modest means -- all contend for Bathsheba's hand, and conflict is inevitable.
3Anthony Quinn, Alan Bates, Irene PapasTraveling to inspect an abandoned mine his father owns in Crete, English author Basil (Alan Bates) meets the exuberant peasant Zorba (Anthony Quinn) and invites him along when the older man claims he has mining experience. In Basil's father's old village, he finds himself attracted to a young widow (Irene Papas), and Zorba takes up with the woman who runs their hotel (Lila Kedrova). When things go wrong, Zorba teaches Basil how to enjoy life even under the most trying circumstances.More Zorba the Greek- #131 of 167 onThe Greatest '60s Movies, Ranked
- #196 of 425 onThe Greatest Movies in World Cinema History
- #40 of 50 onThe Best Oscar-Nominated Movies of the 1960s
4Alan Bates, June Ritchie, Thora HirdManchester draftsman Vic Brown (Alan Bates) becomes involved with secretary Ingrid Rothwell (June Ritchie), who works at his firm. After they sleep together, she gets pregnant. Vic feels a sense of responsibility -- although he's not really in love with her -- and proposes marriage. The couple is forced to live with Ingrid's mother (Thora Hird), who treats Vic with contempt because of his working-class background. But, when tragedy strikes, Vic must decide what his new wife means to him.
5Hayley Mills, Alan Bates, Bernard LeeAfter a confusing exchange with a strange man (Alan Bates) they find hiding in their family barn, Kathy Bostock (Hayley Mills) and her young siblings jump to the conclusion that the man -- in reality an escaped killer -- is none other than Jesus Christ. Excitement erupts as word spreads among the children in their small farming community in northwest England. Adult skepticism abounds, until their father (Bernard Lee) catches wind of the tale and begins to investigate.
6Alan Bates, Donald Pleasence, Robert ShawNaive and lonely Aston (Robert Shaw) rescues the homeless and manipulative Davies (Donald Pleasence), inviting him to stay at his rundown family home. Aston's brother and guardian, Mick (Alan Bates), dislikes the shiftless Davies, but comes to see him as someone to unload the house onto when Aston proposes that Davies become its caretaker. Mick, fed up with his responsibilities, hopes Davies' duties as caretaker will extend to caring for his brother as well.
7Alan Bates, James Bolam, Brian CoxThree successful adult sons return home to celebrate the 40th wedding anniversary of their working-class father (Bill Owen) and mother (Constance Chapman). However, tensions and unresolved issues soon arise. Colin (James Bolam) lives a comfortable life as a businessman but feels lonely. Andrew (Alan Bates) shocks everyone when he declares his intention to become an artist. The youngest son, Steven (Brian Cox), pines for his youth now that he has a large family and adult responsibilities.
8Gerard Butler, Charlotte Rampling, Melanie LynskeyThe Cherry Orchard is a 1999 drama film directed by Mihalis Kakogiannis and starring Charlotte Rampling, Alan Bates and Owen Teale. It was based on the 1904 play The Cherry Orchard by Anton Chekhov. It was an English-language co-production between Cyprus, France and Germany.
9Alan Bates, Gary Oldman, Max WallFrank (Alan Bates) is a middle-aged, upper-class Londoner who has long nurtured a romantic relationship with Johnny (Gary Oldman). When his young lover is imprisoned for burglary, Frank attempts to gain custody of Johnny's German shepherd, Evie. The dog is in the care of Johnny's wife (Frances Barber), stepfather (Max Wall) and mother (Liz Smith). When they realize the truth about Frank, Johnny's family does whatever it can to prevent Frank from seeing Evie.
10Jill Clayburgh, Alan Bates, Michael MurphyAn attractive and well-to-do New Yorker, Erica Benton (Jill Clayburgh), finds her comfortable existence upended when her husband, Martin (Michael Murphy), ends their marriage and takes up with a younger woman. Hurt and angered by her husband's betrayal, Erica slowly begins to reevaluate her life and explore her newfound freedom. Eventually, she starts a relationship with an English artist named Saul (Alan Bates), but is wary of repeating past mistakes.
11Julie Christie, Alan Bates, Glenda JacksonThe horrors of World War I have robbed returning veteran Chris Baldry (Alan Bates) of his memory. The traumatized soldier doesn't even recognize his own wife, Kitty (Julie Christie), or remember their years together. While Baldry attempts to cope with the unfamiliar surroundings of his own home, he seeks out the company of an old flame from his childhood, Margaret Grey (Glenda Jackson). His amnesia also makes him a ready target for the affections of his older cousin, Jenny (Ann-Margret).
12James Mason, Lynn Redgrave, Alan BatesGeorgina (Lynn Redgrave) is a carefree and childlike 22-year-old who finds more joy in her relationships with children than with the adults in her life. Her parents' employer, James Leamington (James Mason), proposes marriage, but Georgy avoids giving him an answer, as the idea of romance confuses her. When Georgy finds herself the caretaker of a baby girl, she seeks to find a way to shoulder the new responsibility while maintaining her childlike innocence.
13Alan Bates, Dirk Bogarde, Georgia BrownBased on the acclaimed Bernard Malamud novel of the same name, this drama finds Yakov Bok (Alan Bates), a Jewish handyman, wrongly imprisoned and accused of murder by the Russian Empire. As Bok struggles to deal with life in jail, his unsympathetic captors only make his existence harder as they cruelly press him for a confession to a crime that he did not commit. With nothing but time on his hands, Bok contemplates his existence and tries to come to terms with his bleak situation.
14Alan Bates, Susannah York, John HurtWhen a wandering man named Crossley (Alan Bates) insinuates himself into the lives of British composer Anthony Fielding (John Hurt) and his wife, Rachel (Susannah York), the couple is cautiously hospitable. Isolated out in rural Devon, where Anthony works on his music, the Fieldings find that their enigmatic guest has some strange preoccupations, most notably an obsession with dark Aboriginal magic. Crossley claims that he can kill a person with a mystical shout, but is he telling the truth?
15Julie Andrews, Alan Bates, Max von SydowStephanie Anderson (Julie Andrews) is a gifted concert violinist whose musical dreams are shattered when she's diagnosed with multiple sclerosis. But at least she has her conductor husband, David (Alan Bates), to lean on -- or she would if he weren't cheating on her. In time, Stephanie has to suffer another betrayal, this time from her up-and-coming student Constantine Kassanis (Rupert Everett). Assisting the woman in dealing with the drama is psychiatrist Dr. Louis Feldman (Max von Sydow).
16Alan Bates, Geneviève Bujold, Pierre BrasseurThis quirky comedic war film focuses on Scottish soldier Charles Plumpick (Alan Bates), who is sent to a French town on a mission to disarm a bomb left behind by the retreating German army. Plumpick discovers that the area is deserted except for the inmates of the local asylum. The mental patients playfully take over the town and pronounce the soldier their king. While Plumpick is intrigued by the antics of the former inmates, he must stay on task and find the bomb before it detonates.
17Eileen Atkins, Bob Balaban, Alan BatesGosford Park, a mystery drama directed by Robert Altman, is a tale of class, murder, and intrigue. Set in 1932 England, the story unfurls at an opulent countryside estate where Sir William McCordle (Michael Gambon) and his wife Lady Sylvia (Kristin Scott Thomas) play host to a motley group of affluent guests. Amongst them are Constance, Countess of Trentham (Maggie Smith) and film producer Morris Weissman (Bob Balaban). When Sir William is found murdered, everyone becomes a suspect. The movie's richly woven narrative won it an Academy Award for Best Original Screenplay.More Gosford Park- #230 of 675 onThe Best Movies Roger Ebert Gave Four Stars
- #34 of 55 onThe Best Oscar-Nominated Movies of the 2000s
- #44 of 79 onThe Best Oscar-Winning Screenplays
18Sting, Lena Headey, Alan BatesThe Grotesque is a 1995 British film by John-Paul Davidson, adapted from the 1989 novel of the same name by Patrick McGrath. It stars Alan Bates, Lena Headey, Theresa Russell and Sting. Academy Award-winning Costume Designer Colleen Atwood worked on the film, and McGrath's wife, actress Maria Aitken, performed in a supporting role.
19Laurence Olivier, Brenda De Banzie, Albert FinneyLondon schoolteacher Jean Rice (Joan Plowright) returns to her seaside resort hometown at a time of personal crisis. Her father, Archie (Laurence Olivier), is a star on the music hall circuit, but, in the television age, that old-fashioned entertainment is dying out. His second wife, Phoebe (Brenda De Banzie), is openly contemptuous of her husband's many affairs, and his son, Mick (Albert Finney), is a soldier fighting in the Suez. Despite Archie's unflagging optimism, tragic events unfold.
20Alan Bates, Charles GrayIn 1958, a British Shakespearean troupe travels to Moscow to perform a production of "Hamlet." Actress Coral Browne (Coral Browne) is in her dressing room during intermission when a drunken Englishman bursts in and vomits in her sink. The next day, she discovers he's Guy Burgess (Alan Bates), an English defector who had been a spy for the Russians. After she goes to his apartment for lunch, Burgess gives Browne a proposition -- that she visit his tailor in London and have a suit made for him.
21Bette Midler, Alan Bates, Frederic ForrestRose (Bette Midler) is a passionate 1960s rock star who pours herself into every performance despite her demanding manager, Rudge (Alan Bates), who encourages her to tour excessively. While singing is her greatest love, the rock 'n' roll lifestyle takes its toll as Rose succumbs to drug and alcohol abuse. Only Rose's kind-hearted boyfriend, Dyer (Frederic Forrest), tries to save her from falling victim to her own success in this drama loosely based on the life of Janis Joplin.More The Rose- #56 of 99 onThe Greatest Movie Soundtracks Of All Time
- #134 of 199 onThe Best Movies Of The '70s, Ranked
- #47 of 172 onThe Best Movies About Music
22Laurence Harvey, Lee Remick, Alan BatesWhen pilot Rex Black (Laurence Harvey) destroys his plane in a crash the day after his insurance policy expires, the insurance company refuses to give him any money. To strike back at the agency, Rex fakes his death, changes his identity and escapes to Spain, with 50,000 pounds in life insurance money. His wife (Lee Remick) joins him in Spain, but when an insurance investigator (Alan Bates) arrives unexpectedly, Rex's paranoia causes him to flee again.
23Laurence Olivier, Joan Plowright, Alan BatesBased on the play by Anton Chekhov, this drama focuses on the three Prozorov sisters -- Olga (Jeanne Watts), Masha (Joan Plowright), and Irina (Louise Purnell) -- who long to escape their small Russian town and return to Moscow, where they grew up. Entering the women's melancholy orbit are military men such as Dr. Chebutikin (Laurence Olivier) and Colonel Vershinin (Alan Bates), who serve mostly to complicate the sisters' lives, particularly when Vershinin and Masha begin an ill-advised affair.
24Alan Bates, Janet Suzman, Peter BowlesMarried couple Bri (Alan Bates) and Sheila (Janet Suzman) have a daughter named Josephine (Elizabeth Robillard) who was born with severe cerebral palsy. Although the wheelchair-bound Jo is unable to move or speak, Sheila insists there is some possibility her daughter could get better. Bri, who deals with his emotional suffering through vicious black humor, has no such hopes and grows increasingly preoccupied with horrific fantasies about ending the family's suffering once and for all.
25Alan Bates, Dominique SandaStory of a Love Story, also known as Impossible Object, is a 1973 drama film starring Alan Bates and Dominique Sanda. It was directed by John Frankenheimer and based on a novel by Nicholas Mosley. It was screened at the 1973 Cannes Film Festival, but wasn't entered into the main competition.
26Ellen Burstyn, Teri Garr, Alan BatesCanadian expatriate housewife Barbara Jackson (Ellen Burstyn) and her husband, Bob (Ronald Hines), are shocked out of their 1960s suburban malaise when British intelligence agent Stewart (Alan Bates) shows up at their door and wants to use their house for a stakeout. Stewart reveals that their neighbor Helen Schaefer (Teri Garr) and her husband, Peter (Daniel Benzali), are undercover KGB spies, and Barbara must choose between friendship and patriotism. The film is based on real events.
27Dr. M
Jennifer Beals, Alan Bates, Hanns ZischlerDr. M. is a 1990 film co-written and directed by Claude Chabrol. The film is a remake of 1922's Fritz Lang's Dr. Mabuse the Gambler, which was in turn based on Mabuse der Spieler by Norbert Jacques.
28Jeremy Irons, Alan Bates, June BrownNijinsky is a 1980 American biographical film directed by Herbert Ross. Hugh Wheeler wrote a screenplay that explores the later life and career of Vaslav Nijinsky; it was based largely on the premier danseur's personal diaries, and her 1934 biography of Nijinsky, largely ghostwritten by Lincoln Kirstein, who later co-founded the New York City Ballet.
29Mel Gibson, Glenn Close, Alan BatesFranco Zeffirelli's adaptation of Shakespeare's tragedy about the young prince of Denmark who is plagued by indecision when he vows to avenge his father's murder. Filmed on location around the UK, including Stonehaven in Scotland, the film boasts an impressive ensemble cast.More Hamlet- #54 of 90 onThe Best Movies of 1990
- #42 of 120 onThe Best Movies Based On Plays
- #42 of 120 onThe 100+ Best Medieval Movies
30Alan Bates, Denholm Elliott, Millicent MartinJimmy Brewster (Alan Bates) is a ruthlessly ambitious real estate agent who'll do anything to transcend his working-class roots. When he meets his boss's broke and desperate son, Charlie (Denholm Elliott), he can't believe his luck, and offers to pay him for lessons on all things upper crust. Charlie proves a willing and capable teacher, and Jimmy is able to use what he learns to rise quickly in the world. But when Charlie comes into some real money and loses interest in his pupil, Jimmy panics.
