Megalopolis Was A Mess, But Here Are Some Great Movies By Late Career Directors

• There are many examples of great, big-budget epics made by directors at the end of their careers.
• Some directorial farewells feature the director’s close friends and family in the cast.
• Masters like Kurosawa and Scorsese top the list.
• Also: 2 Dividend Legends to Hold Forever

The reviews are in: Megalopolis stunk. In its opening weekend, Francis Ford Coppola’s much-hyped, largely self-funded epic was met with negative reaction from critics and general bewilderment from audiences. Lofty dialogue, ambitious visuals, and heavy-handed messaging seemed to contrast with what many moviegoers perceived to be a lazy, messy production that included flubbed lines in the final cut and clearly recognizable furniture brands like Herman Miller meant to pass as futuristic set design. Megalopolis made $4 million domestically, finishing sixth in the weekend box office. While most of the director’s filmography has aged like his wine, it is unclear whether Megalopolis will be ever considered among Coppola’s best.

But part of the attraction of Megalopolis is the swing-for-the-fences attitude of a director at the end of his career. Coppola reportedly spent $120 million self-financing the project, imbuing the movie with an urgency and sincerity that may appeal to some viewers. In that regard, Megalopolis is the latest entry in a long list of big, go-for-broke movies made by late career directors with one last thing to say.

Akira Kurosawa, for example, was 75 and in ailing health when he made Ran, his historical epic about an elderly warlord in medieval Japan. John Huston reportedly directed his James Joyce adaptation The Dead from a wheelchair, while Cecil B. DeMille suffered heart attacks and other health issues while directing The Ten Commandments and died several years after its release. A deeper dive into IMDb and Rotten Tomatoes ratings data reveals some of the best movies made by directors in the final stages of their careers.

To determine the best movies made by late career directors, 24/7 Wall St reviewed data on audience and critical reception from IMDb and Rotten Tomatoes. Movies were ranked based on an index consisting of average IMDb user rating, Rotten Tomatoes audience score, and Rotten Tomatoes Tomatometer score, all components weighted equally. Only movies made by directors who were at least 70 years old at the time of production and movies made by late directors in the last five years of their lives were considered. Data is current as of September 2024.

40. Dreams (1990)

• IMDb score: 7.8/10 (25,255 votes)
• Rotten Tomatoes audience score: 86% (15,850 votes)
• Rotten Tomatoes Tomatometer score: 65% (26 reviews)
• Directed by: Akira Kurosawa (at 80 years old)
• Starring: Akira Terao, Mitsuko Baishí´, Toshie Negishi, Mieko Harada

39. Certified Copy (2011)

• IMDb score: 7.2/10 (25,847 votes)
• Rotten Tomatoes audience score: 70% (6,656 votes)
• Rotten Tomatoes Tomatometer score: 89% (136 reviews)
• Directed by: Abbas Kiarostami (at 71 years old)
• Starring: Juliette Binoche, William Shimell, Jean-Claude Carrière, Agathe Natanson

38. First Reformed (2017)

• IMDb score: 7.1/10 (52,073 votes)
• Rotten Tomatoes audience score: 68% (3,543 votes)
• Rotten Tomatoes Tomatometer score: 93% (245 reviews)
• Directed by: Paul Schrader (at 71 years old)
• Starring: Ethan Hawke, Amanda Seyfried, Cedric the Entertainer, Victoria Hill

37. Before the Devil Knows You’re Dead (2007)

• IMDb score: 7.3/10 (100,426 votes)
• Rotten Tomatoes audience score: 71% (86,616 votes)
• Rotten Tomatoes Tomatometer score: 88% (178 reviews)
• Directed by: Sidney Lumet (at 83 years old)
• Starring: Philip Seymour Hoffman, Ethan Hawke, Albert Finney, Marisa Tomei

36. The Post (2017)

• IMDb score: 7.2/10 (153,285 votes)
• Rotten Tomatoes audience score: 73% (12,473 votes)
• Rotten Tomatoes Tomatometer score: 88% (404 reviews)
• Directed by: Steven Spielberg (at 71 years old)
• Starring: Meryl Streep, Tom Hanks, Sarah Paulson, Bob Odenkirk

35. Roman de Gare (2008)

• IMDb score: 7.1/10 (2,549 votes)
• Rotten Tomatoes audience score: 76% (2,757 votes)
• Rotten Tomatoes Tomatometer score: 87% (75 reviews)
• Directed by: Claude Lelouch (at 71 years old)
• Starring: Fanny Ardant, Dominique Pinon, Audrey Dana, Michèle Bernier

34. Elle (2016)

• IMDb score: 7.1/10 (69,484 votes)
• Rotten Tomatoes audience score: 73% (12,016 votes)
• Rotten Tomatoes Tomatometer score: 91% (247 reviews)
• Directed by: Paul Verhoeven (at 78 years old)
• Starring: Isabelle Huppert, Laurent Lafitte, Anne Consigny, Charles Berling

33. Gosford Park (2001)

• IMDb score: 7.2/10 (83,856 votes)
• Rotten Tomatoes audience score: 78% (48,560 votes)
• Rotten Tomatoes Tomatometer score: 86% (160 reviews)
• Directed by: Robert Altman (at 76 years old)
• Starring: Maggie Smith, Ryan Phillippe, Michael Gambon, Kristin Scott Thomas

32. The Last Metro (1981)

• IMDb score: 7.3/10 (15,193 votes)
• Rotten Tomatoes audience score: 80% (4,545 votes)
• Rotten Tomatoes Tomatometer score: 88% (24 reviews)
• Directed by: Francois Truffaut (at 49 years old)
• Starring: Catherine Deneuve, Gérard Depardieu, Jean Poiret, Andréa Ferréol

31. Blue Jasmine (2013)

• IMDb score: 7.3/10 (196,995 votes)
• Rotten Tomatoes audience score: 77% (49,179 votes)
• Rotten Tomatoes Tomatometer score: 91% (232 reviews)
• Directed by: Woody Allen (at 78 years old)
• Starring: Cate Blanchett, Alec Baldwin, Peter Sarsgaard, Sally Hawkins

30. The Dead (1987)

• IMDb score: 7.2/10 (8,153 votes)
• Rotten Tomatoes audience score: 77% (2,500 votes)
• Rotten Tomatoes Tomatometer score: 93% (29 reviews)
• Directed by: John Huston (at 81 years old)
• Starring: Anjelica Huston, Donal McCann, Helena Carroll, Cathleen Delany

29. Frenzy (1972)

• IMDb score: 7.4/10 (47,827 votes)
• Rotten Tomatoes audience score: 78% (12,706 votes)
• Rotten Tomatoes Tomatometer score: 90% (42 reviews)
• Directed by: Alfred Hitchcock (at 73 years old)
• Starring: Jon Finch, Barry Foster, Barbara Leigh-Hunt, Anna Massey

28. The Comancheros (1961)

• IMDb score: 6.9/10 (8,715 votes)
• Rotten Tomatoes audience score: 75% (8,210 votes)
• Rotten Tomatoes Tomatometer score: 100% (6 reviews)
• Directed by: Michael Curtiz (at 75 years old)
• Starring: John Wayne, Stuart Whitman, Ina Balin, Nehemiah Persoff

27. Sully (2016)

• IMDb score: 7.4/10 (276,137 votes)
• Rotten Tomatoes audience score: 84% (48,677 votes)
• Rotten Tomatoes Tomatometer score: 85% (347 reviews)
• Directed by: Clint Eastwood (at 86 years old)
• Starring: Tom Hanks, Aaron Eckhart, Laura Linney, Valerie Mahaffey

26. Still Alice (2014)

• IMDb score: 7.5/10 (130,354 votes)
• Rotten Tomatoes audience score: 85% (37,255 votes)
• Rotten Tomatoes Tomatometer score: 85% (205 reviews)
• Directed by: Richard Glatzer (at 62 years old)
• Starring: Julianne Moore, Alec Baldwin, Kristen Stewart, Kate Bosworth

25. The Wolf of Wall Street (2013)

• IMDb score: 8.2/10 (1,418,467 votes)
• Rotten Tomatoes audience score: 83% (181,234 votes)
• Rotten Tomatoes Tomatometer score: 79% (286 reviews)
• Directed by: Martin Scorsese (at 71 years old)
• Starring: Leonardo DiCaprio, Jonah Hill, Margot Robbie, Matthew McConaughey

24. The Hurricane (1999)

• IMDb score: 7.6/10 (98,363 votes)
• Rotten Tomatoes audience score: 87% (55,668 votes)
• Rotten Tomatoes Tomatometer score: 83% (114 reviews)
• Directed by: Norman Jewison (at 73 years old)
• Starring: Denzel Washington, Vicellous Shannon, Deborah Kara Unger, Liev Schreiber

23. True Grit (1969)

• IMDb score: 7.4/10 (45,503 votes)
• Rotten Tomatoes audience score: 84% (26,192 votes)
• Rotten Tomatoes Tomatometer score: 89% (55 reviews)
• Directed by: Henry Hathaway (at 71 years old)
• Starring: John Wayne, Kim Darby, Glen Campbell, Jeremy Slate

22. Richard Jewell (2019)

• IMDb score: 7.5/10 (89,300 votes)
• Rotten Tomatoes audience score: 96% (6,121 votes)
• Rotten Tomatoes Tomatometer score: 77% (292 reviews)
• Directed by: Clint Eastwood (at 89 years old)
• Starring: Paul Walter Hauser, Sam Rockwell, Brandon Stanley, Ryan Boz

21. The Wind Rises (2013)

• IMDb score: 7.7/10 (87,731 votes)
• Rotten Tomatoes audience score: 85% (23,004 votes)
• Rotten Tomatoes Tomatometer score: 88% (178 reviews)
• Directed by: Hayao Miyazaki (at 72 years old)
• Starring: Hideaki Anno, Hidetoshi Nishijima, Miori Takimoto, Masahiko Nishimura

20. The Fabelmans (2022)

• IMDb score: 7.7/10 (29,228 votes)
• Rotten Tomatoes audience score: 82% (1,000 votes)
• Rotten Tomatoes Tomatometer score: 92% (296 reviews)
• Directed by: Steven Spielberg (at 76 years old)
• Starring: Michelle Williams, Gabriel LaBelle, Paul Dano, Judd Hirsch

19. The Wind That Shakes the Barley (2006)

• IMDb score: 7.5/10 (50,362 votes)
• Rotten Tomatoes audience score: 87% (25,000 votes)
• Rotten Tomatoes Tomatometer score: 90% (117 reviews)
• Directed by: Ken Loach (at 70 years old)
• Starring: Cillian Murphy, Pádraic Delaney, Liam Cunningham, Orla Fitzgerald

18. Midnight in Paris (2011)

• IMDb score: 7.7/10 (402,967 votes)
• Rotten Tomatoes audience score: 83% (82,703 votes)
• Rotten Tomatoes Tomatometer score: 93% (224 reviews)
• Directed by: Woody Allen (at 76 years old)
• Starring: Owen Wilson, Rachel McAdams, Kathy Bates, Kurt Fuller

17. Gran Torino (2008)

• IMDb score: 8.1/10 (742,002 votes)
• Rotten Tomatoes audience score: 90% (332,645 votes)
• Rotten Tomatoes Tomatometer score: 81% (238 reviews)
• Directed by: Clint Eastwood (at 78 years old)
• Starring: Clint Eastwood, Bee Vang, Christopher Carley, Ahney Her

16. Amour (2012)

• IMDb score: 7.9/10 (103,481 votes)
• Rotten Tomatoes audience score: 82% (20,991 votes)
• Rotten Tomatoes Tomatometer score: 93% (227 reviews)
• Directed by: Michael Haneke (at 70 years old)
• Starring: Jean-Louis Trintignant, Emmanuelle Riva, Isabelle Huppert, Alexandre Tharaud

15. The Ten Commandments (1956)

• IMDb score: 7.9/10 (67,181 votes)
• Rotten Tomatoes audience score: 87% (60,282 votes)
• Rotten Tomatoes Tomatometer score: 88% (41 reviews)
• Directed by: Cecil B. DeMille (at 75 years old)
• Starring: Charlton Heston, Yul Brynner, Anne Baxter, Edward G. Robinson

14. West Side Story (2021)

• IMDb score: 7.2/10 (84,516 votes)
• Rotten Tomatoes audience score: 93% (2,500 votes)
• Rotten Tomatoes Tomatometer score: 91% (383 reviews)
• Directed by: Steven Spielberg (at 75 years old)
• Starring: Ansel Elgort, Rachel Zegler, Ariana DeBose, David Alvarez

13. Killers of the Flower Moon (2023)

• IMDb score: 7.8/10 (155,013 votes)
• Rotten Tomatoes audience score: 84% (2,500 votes)
• Rotten Tomatoes Tomatometer score: 93% (449 reviews)
• Directed by: Martin Scorsese (at 81 years old)
• Starring: Leonardo DiCaprio, Robert De Niro, Lily Gladstone, Jesse Plemons

12. Philomena (2013)

• IMDb score: 7.6/10 (101,025 votes)
• Rotten Tomatoes audience score: 89% (52,457 votes)
• Rotten Tomatoes Tomatometer score: 91% (200 reviews)
• Directed by: Stephen Frears (at 72 years old)
• Starring: Judi Dench, Steve Coogan, Sophie Kennedy Clark, Mare Winningham

11. Mystic River (2003)

• IMDb score: 7.9/10 (436,927 votes)
• Rotten Tomatoes audience score: 89% (203,679 votes)
• Rotten Tomatoes Tomatometer score: 88% (206 reviews)
• Directed by: Clint Eastwood (at 73 years old)
• Starring: Sean Penn, Tim Robbins, Kevin Bacon, Emmy Rossum

10. Letters from Iwo Jima (2006)

• IMDb score: 7.9/10 (158,118 votes)
• Rotten Tomatoes audience score: 86% (341,132 votes)
• Rotten Tomatoes Tomatometer score: 91% (204 reviews)
• Directed by: Clint Eastwood (at 76 years old)
• Starring: Ken Watanabe, Kazunari Ninomiya, Tsuyoshi Ihara, Ryô Kase

9. The Irishman (2019)

• IMDb score: 7.8/10 (392,363 votes)
• Rotten Tomatoes audience score: 86% (1,057 votes)
• Rotten Tomatoes Tomatometer score: 95% (453 reviews)
• Directed by: Martin Scorsese (at 77 years old)
• Starring: Robert De Niro, Al Pacino, Joe Pesci, Harvey Keitel

8. Kagemusha (1980)

• IMDb score: 8.0/10 (34,189 votes)
• Rotten Tomatoes audience score: 92% (12,421 votes)
• Rotten Tomatoes Tomatometer score: 88% (26 reviews)
• Directed by: Akira Kurosawa (at 70 years old)
• Starring: Tatsuya Nakadai, Tsutomu Yamazaki, Ken’ichi Hagiwara, Jinpachi Nezu

7. Million Dollar Baby (2004)

• IMDb score: 8.1/10 (657,818 votes)
• Rotten Tomatoes audience score: 90% (405,182 votes)
• Rotten Tomatoes Tomatometer score: 90% (271 reviews)
• Directed by: Clint Eastwood (at 74 years old)
• Starring: Hilary Swank, Clint Eastwood, Morgan Freeman, Jay Baruchel

6. El Dorado (1966)

• IMDb score: 7.6/10 (25,687 votes)
• Rotten Tomatoes audience score: 87% (12,709 votes)
• Rotten Tomatoes Tomatometer score: 100% (23 reviews)
• Directed by: Howard Hawks (at 70 years old)
• Starring: John Wayne, Robert Mitchum, James Caan, Charlene Holt

5. Mad Max: Fury Road (2015)

• IMDb score: 8.1/10 (1,042,131 votes)
• Rotten Tomatoes audience score: 86% (129,988 votes)
• Rotten Tomatoes Tomatometer score: 97% (439 reviews)
• Directed by: George Miller (at 70 years old)
• Starring: Tom Hardy, Charlize Theron, Nicholas Hoult, Zoë Kravitz

4. Once Upon a Time in America (1984)

• IMDb score: 8.4/10 (329,016 votes)
• Rotten Tomatoes audience score: 93% (75,039 votes)
• Rotten Tomatoes Tomatometer score: 87% (54 reviews)
• Directed by: Sergio Leone (at 55 years old)
• Starring: Robert De Niro, James Woods, Elizabeth McGovern, Treat Williams

3. Love Streams (1984)

• IMDb score: 7.7/10 (5,642 votes)
• Rotten Tomatoes audience score: 89% (1,761 votes)
• Rotten Tomatoes Tomatometer score: 100% (17 reviews)
• Directed by: John Cassavetes (at 55 years old)
• Starring: Gena Rowlands, John Cassavetes, Diahnne Abbott, Seymour Cassel

2. The Tale of The Princess Kaguya (2013)

• IMDb score: 8.0/10 (42,434 votes)
• Rotten Tomatoes audience score: 90% (14,047 votes)
• Rotten Tomatoes Tomatometer score: 100% (96 reviews)
• Directed by: Isao Takahata (at 78 years old)
• Starring: Chloë Grace Moretz, James Caan, Mary Steenburgen, James Marsden

1. Ran (1985)

• IMDb score: 8.2/10 (130,962 votes)
• Rotten Tomatoes audience score: 95% (38,465 votes)
• Rotten Tomatoes Tomatometer score: 96% (89 reviews)
• Directed by: Akira Kurosawa (at 75 years old)
• Starring: Tatsuya Nakadai, Akira Terao, Jinpachi Nezu, Daisuke Ryû