What is the greatest three-movie run by an actor? Well, first, let me define what I mean by greatest, and what I mean by three-movie run. For my purposes, “greatest” is measured by an equal consideration of movie quality, performance quality, box office, and pop culture relevance. In other words, the films/performances have to be good and well-known.
Now, a three-movie run just means three consecutive films in an actor’s filmography. I’m going based on release date, so sometimes having multiple films in a year removes an actor from contention. (i.e, Morgan Freeman’s run of “Unforgiven” – “The Shawshank Redemption” – “Se7en” is actually broken up by a movie called “Outbreak,” which was released before “Se7en” in 1995.)
So, a good three-movie run is not easy to pull off.. There are a lot of well-known actors who don’t even sniff this list. Here are a few actors you won’t see in the Top 10: Matt Damon, Ethan Hawke, Nicolas Cage, Matthew McConaughey Bradley Cooper. I tried to get a Jack Nicholson 1970’s run on the list, but it wasn’t meant to be. While movies from a franchise/series/trilogy are eligible, the run cannot include two films from the same IP. (Tom Cruise’s recent string of “M: I” films being the most obvious one here.) Ok, here are the 10 “greatest” three-movie runs.
10. Brad Pitt
Troy (2004) – Ocean’s Twelve (2004) – Mr. and Mrs. Smith (2005)
From an artistic standpoint, this is not Brad Pitt’s best period, but the combined box office, upwards of $1.3 billion, cannot be ignored, and neither can the “Brangelina” moment that accompanied “Mr. and Mrs. Smith.” Pitt has a few other note-worthy runs. “Legends of the Fall” is unfortunately sandwiched between “Interview with a Vampire” and “Se7en,” and if “The Mexican” had been a good film, then the run of “Fight Club” – “Snatch” – “The Mexican” might have featured here.
Related Read: The 10 Best Brad Pitt Performances
In 2008-09, Pitt worked with the Coen brothers, David Fincher, and Quentin Tarantino, but only “Inglourious Basterds” rises to the level required for this list. (“Burn After Reading” and “The Curious Case of Benjamin Button” being the other two films.) Forever referred to as a “character actor with the face of a lead man”, Pitt’s finest hour may have come as Cliff Booth in “Once Upon a Time in Hollywood,” but this string of three is still pretty great. He really shines in “Twelve,” a movie about movie stars more so than about a heist, after playing second fiddle to George Clooney in “Eleven.”
9. Denzel Washington
Inside Man (2006) – Deja Vu (2006) – American Gangster (2007)
Though it doesn’t feature Denzel’s most iconic, best, or award-winning performances (“Malcom X,” “Training Day,” “Glory”), this is still his strongest consecutive three. Firstly, he worked with three excellent directors: Spike Lee, Tony Scott, and Ridley Scott. Secondly, these three films rank first, sixth, and seventh by box office performance. This ended up being a pretty easy choice for the Denzel-run, but “The Pelican Brief,” “Philadelphia,” and “Crimson Tide” aren’t bad either. The phenomenal back-to-back of “Remember the Titans” – “Training Day” is stifled by “The Hurricane” on one side, and “John Q” on the other.
Also Read: 10 Best Denzel Washington Performances
Denzel is perfect as the central character in “Inside Man.” “Deja Vu” marked his third collaboration with director Tony Scott. (They would end up making five films together. “Crimson Tide,” “Man on Fire,” “Deja Vu,” “The Taking of Pelham 123,” “Unstoppable.”) Finally, as noted previously, “American Gangster” is Denzel’s highest-grossing box office film of all time at $270 million worldwide. Not a bad way to cap an impressive three-movie run for one of the most beloved and enduring movie stars of the last forty years.
8. Tom Cruise
Cocktail (1988) – Rain Man (1988) – Born on the 4th of July (1989)
I went with “Cocktail” over “Days of Thunder” (1990) because the former made $15 million more at the box office. (Although Cruise did meet Nicole Kidman on “Days of Thunder,” so maybe that is the proper choice.) Look, Tom Cruise’s entire career has been a great run. His first entry on this list comprises two films highly-awarded by The Academy (“Rain Man” won four Oscars, “Born on the Fourth of July” won two) and an early Cruise vehicle that demonstrates his star appeal.
Also Read: All 45 Tom Cruise Movies Ranked
Though Dustin Hoffman won the Oscar for “Rain Man,” Cruise’s performance has come to be just as celebrated in the years since. Similarly, Cruise’s performance in “Born on the Fourth of July” is considered one of the best of his career, despite not landing him an Oscar. “Cocktail” isn’t really the kind of film that lends itself to “good” performances, but Cruise’s energy and swagger are evident, much like in “Top Gun” and “Risky Business” earlier in the decade. Still, Cruise had yet to reach his peak, and this era was really just the preamble for the Tom Cruise 90s. (See #3)
7. Leonardo DiCaprio
Django Unchained (2012) – The Great Gatsby (2013) – The Wolf of Wall Street (2013)
Leo has always been picky about which directors he decides to work with, a fact that was never more apparent than during this early-2010s run when he worked with three iconic directors back-to-back-to-back. First, his terrifying turn as Calvin Candie in Quentin Tarantino’s “Django Unchained,” then the title role in Baz Luhrmann’s “The Great Gatsby,” and finally his transformation into Jordan Belfort for Martin Scorsese’s “The Wolf of Wall Street.” Leo is the youngest actor on this list. (Youngest currently, not youngest at the time of performance.)
Must-Read: 20 Best Characters Written by Quentin Tarantino
It’s not as easy to judge where this run comes in Leo’s career as it is for some others on the list, but I feel pretty comfortable calling this mid-career DiCaprio. Though he would have to wait a few more years for that elusive Oscar (“The Revenant” in 2016), this is a wicked three-movie run from Leo. It is not by any means his greatest three-movie run ever, though. More to come on that later. (See #4.)
6. Al Pacino
Serpico (1973) – The Godfather Part II (1974) – Dog Day Afternoon (1975)
Al Pacino’s 1990s comeback, which netted him his only (what?!?) Best Actor win (“Scent of a Woman”) is awesome, but it’s in his early period that we find our great three-movie run. Two of the three are Sidney Lumet films, and then, of course, Francis Ford Coppola’s follow-up to the epic gangster saga.. Though this run is in the #6 spot, I believe these performances demonstrate the best “Acting” on the list. Pacino’s work in “The Godfather Part II” and “Dog Day Afternoon” constitutes some of the finest acting ever put to film.
Also Read: The 10 Best Al Pacino Performances, Ranked
Watch the scene from “The Godfather Part II” where Kay (Diane Keaton) tells Michael that she got an abortion. It’s harder for me to nail down one scene from “Dog Day Afternoon” that exemplifies Pacino’s best work because the film feels like one long scene. (Of course, the film all takes place in one day.) Perhaps, the telephone scene between Pacino and his lover (Chris Sarandon). Honestly, just watch the whole movie and try not to cry while taking in possibly the most wonderful screen-acting of all time.
5. Robert De Niro
Mean Streets (1973) – The Godfather Part II (1974) – Taxi Driver (1976)
Due to his outrageous amount of credits, De Niro’s batting average is a little lower than that of some of the other all-time greats. For example, “The Deer Hunter” – “Raging Bull” – “The King of Comedy” would be an all-time run, but there’s a little-seen movie called “True Confessions” between “Raging Bull” and “King of Comedy.” De Niro’s only truly great three-movie run came in his first three major movies.
He had been in some movies for Brian De Palma in the late ’60s and early ’70s, but “Mean Streets” was his “big break”. His talent and energy are undeniable in “Mean Streets,” a fact that Coppola certainly took note of when casting De Niro as Young Vito for ”The Godfather Part II,” a part for which he learned a Sicilian dialect of Italian. Then, De Niro cemented his legendary partnership with Scorsese with “Taxi Driver,” a role that remains his most culturally relevant to this day.
4. Leonardo DiCaprio
Catch Me If You Can (2002) – The Aviator (2004) – The Departed (2006)
Leo’s mid-2000s run will slot in here at #4. Though none of these three are in the top 5 box office hits for Leo (#6,#10,#11), they represent the time in his career when his star shone the brightest. It was in this era that Scorsese tapped Leo as his next great partner, reminiscent of the director’s work with Robert De Niro. Though the least “successful” film of the three (“The Departed” won Best Picture for 2006, and “Catch Me If You Can” grossed $350 million worldwide), “The Aviator” features perhaps the best Leo performance of the three.
Also Read: 15 Best Steven Spielberg Movies
DiCaprio disappears into the eccentric Howard Hughes, carrying an unnecessarily bloated film with his masterful acting work. The unfortunate “Don’t Look Up” killed what could have been another legendary run for Leo, starting with his award-winning performance in “The Revenant,” then his magnificent work in both Tarantino’s “Once Upon a Time in Hollywood” and Scorsese’s “Killers of the Flower Moon.” Perhaps we are in the midst of Leo’s next great run with Paul Thomas Anderson’s “One Battle After Another” set to be released later this year.
3. Tom Cruise
Mission: Impossible (1996) – Jerry Maguire (1996) – Eyes Wide Shut (1999)
TC’s greatest run makes the Top 3. First, he launched Ethan Hunt and “M: I” with Brian De Palma to almost $500 million worldwide. Then, he delivered perhaps his most quintessential movie star performance for Cameron Crowe’s “Jerry Maguire.” Finally, he locked himself away with Nicole Kidman and Stanley Kubrick for more than a year for “Eyes Wide Shut,” one of the most extensively analyzed films, both artistically and culturally, of all time.
Related: All Mission: Impossible Movies Ranked
Kidman and Cruise split only a year and a half after the release of “EWS.” Also in 1999, Cruise delivered one of his finest performances ever in Paul Thomas Anderson’s “Magnolia.” Though not eligible for this list, Cruise’s current run of “Top Gun: Maverick,” “M: I – Dead Reckoning,” “M: I – The Final Reckoning” is further evidence of a simple fact: there will never be another Tom Cruise. (Honestly, the run could start with “M: I – Fallout” in 2018.)
2. Tom Hanks
Philadelphia (1993) – Forrest Gump (1994) – Apollo 13 (1995)
Tom Hanks built some great momentum at the start of the ’90s with “A League of Their Own” in 1992 and “Sleepless in Seattle” in 1993. What he did next, only one other actor has ever done. (Spencer Tracy) Hanks won back-to-back Best Actor Oscars for “Philadelphia” and “Forrest Gump” in 1993 and 1994. I went with “Apollo 13” instead of “Sleepless in Seattle” because the former made $150 million more at the box office.
Related List: 10 Movies to Watch If You Liked “Forrest Gump”
Either way, what a stretch. In fact, I can say pretty confidently that Tom Hanks’s ‘92-’02 is the most impressive ten-year stretch ever by an actor. Hank’s portrayal of Forrest Gump is one of the most iconic in the history of Hollywood, and his work in “Philadelphia” may be even better. Both of his acceptance speeches are worth checking out, especially the one he gave for “Philadelphia.” It is by far the most powerful Oscar acceptance speech I’ve ever seen. Here’s hoping one of the all-time greats has another run left in him. (Insert “Forrest Gump” joke here.)
1. Harrison Ford
The Empire Strikes Back (1980) – Raiders of the Lost Ark (1981) – Blade Runner (1982)
If you polled one hundred people, asking them what is Harrison Ford’s most iconic role, I would expect about a 50-50 split between Han Solo and Indian Jones. (Han Solo is more important to me) Well, Ford played both characters in back-to-back years in 1980 and 1981. Oh, and then he originated Deckard in Ridley Scott’s “Blade Runner” the next year. This is, undoubtedly, the greatest three-movie run ever by an actor. Even with “Blade Runner” only making $34 million in 1982, the box office for these three films combined was almost $1 billion. Ford’s performance in “Empire” is perhaps even better than his performance in “A New Hope” (1977).
In the late 70s and into the 80s, the Spielberg-Lucas creative and business partnership was redefining what movies could be, both artistically and culturally. Harrison Ford and his characters were the avatar for this paradigm shift in American cinema. Finally, before coming back to Solo in 1983 for “Return of the Jedi,” and reprising Indy for “Temple of Doom” in 1984, Ford teamed with Ridley Scott on “Blade Runner, a film that has only grown in the public’s estimation since it was released almost forty-five years ago. Harrison Ford is the GOAT of the three-movie run.
