There’s no easy way to say it, but it’s the truth, so it should be said: the biopic is probably the weakest of all the broad film genres. Sometimes, films about real-life people – particularly the incredibly famous ones – play things safe while recycling tropes and plot beats that are regrettably familiar. Couple the formula with the fact that there’s sometimes predictability when it comes to how a true-life story will play out, and the average biopic might well end up a little less interesting than say the average thriller, for example.
However, there’s some hope to be had, because not all biopics play it safe and make for boring watches. The following movies all represent the genre at its best, and succeed because they tell interesting stories, lesser-known ones, or find unique ways to cinematically present real-life events viewers may already be familiar with. Regardless of one’s view on the biopic as a genre, the following are all worth watching and are ranked below, beginning with the great and ending with the all-time greatest.
15 ‘Walk the Line’ (2005)
Though the music biopic might’ve gone temporarily out of fashion shortly after its release, Walk the Line still holds up as one of the better ones to come out in the 21st century so far. It succeeds in being both a Johnny Cash biopic and a June Carter biopic, given both were acclaimed country music artists who were also romantically involved, and eventually even got married.
The two leads here – Joaquin Phoenix as Cash and Reese Witherspoon as Carter – are both excellent, with the former getting an Oscar nomination for Best Actor and the latter winning for Best Actress. It may hit some familiar music biopic beats, but it hits them pretty well throughout, making for a very watchable and continually interesting movie about two historically significant country music artists.
14 ‘Gandhi’ (1982)
.jpg?q=50&fit=crop&w=1500&dpr=1.5)
10 years before he directed Chaplin, filmmaker Richard Attenborough also directed another ambitious biopic, this one about Mahatma Gandhi (appropriately titled Gandhi). It stars Ben Kingsley in the lead role, and focuses on Gandhi’s life during the first decades of the 20th century, when he became an activist who stood up to the British government’s rule in India in a uniquely peaceful manner.
Gandhi is an incredibly long movie, doing its best to capture a truly eventful life by including as much of it as possible in one film, which gives it a runtime of 191 minutes. Nevertheless, it’s a long film worth sticking with, and was a particularly large success at the Academy Awards, winning a total of eight Oscars, including Best Picture.
13 ‘Oppenheimer’ (2023)
A recent release, but an incredible movie nonetheless, Oppenheimer is a remarkable achievement and a film that feels both epic and intimate in its scope. It’s about the life of J. Robert Oppenheimer, particularly focusing on how he developed the first atomic bomb during World War II, and how it impacted his life after his creation was used to end the war, causing thousands upon thousands of casualties when dropped on the Japanese cities of Hiroshima and Nagasaki.
It’s a change of pace for filmmaker Christopher Nolan, who otherwise made fictional films before the release of Oppenheimer, but he absolutely nails it here (as do all the members of its gigantic cast, especially Cillian Murphy in the titular role). It was also notably released the same day as another highly-anticipated movie that certainly wasn’t a downbeat biopic (Barbie), leading to plenty of memes and enthusiasm for both films.
12 ‘The Last Emperor’ (1987)
The Last Emperor won the Oscar for Best Picture of 1987—and Best Picture was just one of the Academy Awards it was nominated for, with the widely acclaimed film notably winning the awards for the eight other nominations it received, including Best Director for Italian filmmaker Bernardo Bertolucci.
The story told in The Last Emperor is a particularly fascinating one, focusing on the life of Puyi, who was the last ever Emperor of China (as the title of the film implies). Its ambitious narrative spans more than half a century, capturing Puyi’s life from his childhood until his death in 1967, and is an overall beautifully shot and extremely well-made historical/biographical epic that’s well worth devoting 163 minutes to.
11 ‘Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid’ (1969)
It’s safe to assume that Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid isn’t completely historically accurate, and it’s not exactly the first movie most people would think of when they hear the term “biopic.” But the titular figures were real-life people who robbed trains in the Old West, and spent a great deal of time on the run from the law as a result.
It’s broadly based on the legends of these two figures from the history of the Wild West, but the expert screenplay by William Goldman moves at such a great pace that historical accuracy probably won’t be on the minds of most viewers. Paul Newman and Robert Redford are also amazing in the title roles, with their immense chemistry making Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid one of the best buddy movies of all time.
10 ‘Lincoln’ (2012)
Daniel Day-Lewis chews scenery better than just about any other actor out there, but in Lincoln, he gives a much quieter performance than usual. He’s still captivating in his portrayal of American President Abraham Lincoln, with this epic Steven Spielberg movie focusing on Lincoln’s final months in office before he was assassinated in 1865.
Due to how long ago the real Abraham Lincoln lived, it’s hard to say for sure whether Day-Lewis perfectly portrayed him on-screen, but he brings a gravitas to one of America’s most famous leaders that feels remarkably authentic. The film’s greatest attribute is the Oscar-winning performance Day-Lewis gives, but everything else here is still very good, with Spielberg once again showing how efficiently he can keep pumping out compelling movies.
9 ‘Coal Miner’s Daughter’ (1980)
Loretta Lynn was a country music artist most prevalent throughout the 1960s and 70s, with a film about her life, Coal Miner’s Daughter, capturing much of what she’d done up until that point. The film focuses most on how Lynn effectively came from nothing to become a big star, ensuring Coal Miner’s Daughter succeeds as a well-told underdog story.
It was a movie that helped define many tropes that now seem familiar in music biopics, and is also celebrated for featuring one of Sissy Spacek’s best performances. She won an Oscar for her role, with this acclaimed film getting an additional six nominations the same year, including one for Best Picture.
8 ’12 Years a Slave’ (2013)
12 Years a Slave is a brutal and hard-to-watch film, and is based on the memoir of a man who experienced life as a slave in Louisiana between the years 1841 and 1853. That man was Solomon Northup, with the film showing how he ended up being kidnapped and then sold into slavery by two conmen.
Because of the intensely personal nature of its source material, it’s a film that feels remarkably authentic and unwilling to pull punches in its depiction of a horrific time in American history. It succeeds as both a biopic of Northup and a historical drama that more broadly unpacks slavery and the toll it took on those who were made to be slaves, making it a difficult yet important watch.
7 ‘Amadeus’ (1984)
Though the theatrical cut of Amadeus was acclaimed and widely celebrated, the director’s cut – which is about 20 minutes longer – is even better, and easily accessible nowadays. It makes the film feel like a true epic, with the story revolving around the rivalry between two composers: the well-known Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart and the lesser-known (and continually bitter) Antonio Salieri.
The fact its plot revolves around classical music might make it sound unappealing to some, but that’s like ignoring Citizen Kane just because you don’t find newspapers interesting. Amadeus is about so much more than just music, telling a compelling, sometimes funny, and oftentimes tragic story about human nature, jealousy, and ambition, with the classical music-heavy soundtrack just being icing on the cake, really.
6 ‘Malcolm X’ (1992)
Spike Lee became one of the most exciting filmmakers of his generation by the late 1980s, largely thanks to the excellent 1989 film Do the Right Thing. Malcolm X didn’t immediately follow after that film, but was released just three years later, and has generated a similar level of acclaim and adoration, being up there with Lee’s very best.
It’s a huge film about a larger-than-life person, Malcolm X, a bold and sometimes controversial Black activist who fought for the civil rights movement throughout the 1950s and 60s. The film runs for well over three hours, but stays compelling and well-paced throughout, and also features one of Denzel Washington’s very best lead performances, with his portrayal of the film’s title character.
5 ‘Goodfellas’ (1990)
Goodfellas is an influential crime movie that also serves as a biopic of sorts for its lead character, Henry Hill (played expertly by Ray Liotta). Hill was a real-life member of the mafia, and Goodfellas depicts his time spent within the mob, though other characters (like Joe Pesci’s Tommy DeVito) are inspired by real people less directly.
It still manages to feel authentic, thanks to its lack of glamorizing the mafia lifestyle, presenting a balanced look at a life of crime by showing why it entices people, and then making clear some of the downsides that can come from living that way. It’s also fairly accurate to Henry Hill’s personal experience, meaning it does ultimately have the right to qualify as a biopic.
4 ‘Schindler’s List’ (1993)
Undoubtedly one of the greatest war movies of all time, Schindler’s List works as a powerful Holocaust drama and a biopic about its title character, Oskar Schindler. It’s an ambitious epic movie that shows how Schindler saved more than 1000 Jewish people during the Holocaust through his personal fortune and employing them in his factory, which kept them out of the concentration camps where so many other lives were tragically lost.
It’s a heavy watch, but few films can claim to be quite as impactful or as well-made. It’s undeniably one of Steven Spielberg’s greatest achievements as a director, and much of the cast – including Liam Neeson,Ben Kingsley, and especially Ralph Fiennes – give career-best performances.
3 ‘Napoleon’ (1927)
While Ridley Scott has directed a 2023 Napoleon movie, one could argue he’s about 100 years late to the Napoleon Bonaparte party, because in 1927, one of the greatest silent films of all time came out, and was an exhaustive epic that documented much of the titular character’s dramatic life.
Though it runs for approximately five and a half hours, 1927’s Napoleon is notable for not even capturing everything in Napoleon’s life, as director Abel Gance originally intended for it to be the first of several films that would cover the life and times of Napoleon. Though that plan never came to fruition, this single epic is still a monumental achievement, and one that holds up well almost an entire century on from its release.
2 ‘Raging Bull’ (1980)
Few Martin Scorsese movies are quite as good as Raging Bull, which represents both the acclaimed filmmaker and his frequent leading man Robert De Niro at the height of their powers. You could call Raging Bull a sports movie, but it’s more than just that, depicting brutal boxing scenes while also being one of the most intense character studies of all time.
It centers on real-life boxer Jake LaMotta, and shows how his strengths in the ring (namely, his aggression and strength) ultimately led to the collapse of his life outside the ring. It takes a brutally honest look at aggression and anti-social behavior, presenting LaMotta as someone who’s often monstrous in his actions, even though the filmmaking and acting work to make him feel like a painfully believable – and uncomfortably real – human being.
1 ‘Lawrence of Arabia’ (1962)
It’s been more than 60 years since Lawrence of Arabia came out, and in that time, it’s lost none of its power or capacity to blow the minds of those who watch it. It’s arguably the quintessential epic movie, following the eventful life story of T.E. Lawrence, memorably beginning with his sudden death before flashing back to show what he managed to achieve in a single lifetime.
It’s one of the most beautiful-looking movies of all time, and Peter O’Toole’s lead performance as Lawrence is also one of the most impressive in cinema history. The movie’s nearly four hours long yet flies by, succeeding as a historical drama, a war movie, and an adventure film, all the while telling the true story of one man’s wild life, in the process making it arguably the greatest biographical film of all time.
