Oliver Stone has become known as a master of controversial subjects and a legendary filmmaker. He is known to push his actors to give Oscar-worthy performances, and despite his failures, he has always bounced back to success.
Stone won an Academy Award for Best Adapted Screenplay as the writer of Midnight Express (1978), and he also wrote the gangster movie Scarface (1983). Stone achieved prominence as writer and director of the war drama Platoon (1986), which won Academy Awards for Best Director and Best Picture. Platoon was the first in a trilogy of films based on the Vietnam War, in which Stone served as an infantry soldier. He continued the series with Born on the Fourth of July (1989)—for which Stone won his second Best Director Oscar—and Heaven & Earth (1993).
Many of Stone’s films focus on controversial American political issues during the late 20th century, and as such, were considered contentious at the times of their releases.
20 – Seizure (1974)
HORROR
3.3 /10
Jonathan Frid portrays a horror novelist who has a recurring nightmare about three figures out of his book who terrorize him and his family and friends during a weekend of fun. Then the dream becomes reality and it never ends.
19 – The Hand (1981)
Nothing Will Prepare You For THE HAND.
HORROR | THRILLER
4.5 /10
Jon Lansdale (Michael Caine) is a comic book artist who loses his right hand in a car accident. The hand was not found at the scene of the accident, but it soon returns by itself to follow Jon around, and murder those who anger him.
The greatest legend of all was real
War | History | Adventure | Drama | Romance
4.7 /10
Alexander, the King of Macedonia, leads his legions against the giant Persian Empire. After defeating the Persians, he leads his army across the then known world, venturing farther than any westerner had ever gone, all the way to India.
The Alexander: The Ultimate Cut is a much better version and would be quite a bit higher on this list and is recconemded.
Gordon never gives up.
Drama | Crime
5.3 /10
As the global economy teeters on the brink of disaster, a young Wall Street trader partners with disgraced former Wall Street corporate raider Gordon Gekko on a two tiered mission: To alert the financial community to the coming doom, and to find out who was responsible for the death of the young trader’s mentor.
History | Drama
5.4 /10
Growing up in his congressman father’s considerable shadow, Texan boy George W Bush struggles to make his mark in the world. Fond of a good time and a drink or ten, he is dismissed by George Bush Sr as a waster and a drunk. Seemingly incapable of holding down a job and prone to brushes with the law, he flubs his attempts at running an oil company and then a baseball team before settling on politics.
5.7 /10
After the terrorist attack on the World Trade Center on September 11, 2001, the building collapses over the rescue team from the Port Authority Police Department. Will Jimeno and his sergeant John McLoughlin are found alive trapped under the wreckage while the rescue teams fight to save them.
14 – Savages (2012)
Crime | Drama | Thriller
5.8 /10
California entrepreneurs Ben (Aaron Johnson) and Chon (Taylor Kitsch) run a lucrative business raising marijuana and share a one-of-a-kind love with beautiful O (Blake Lively). Life in Laguna Beach is idyllic for them, until Elena (Salma Hayek), the merciless leader of the Mexican Baja Cartel, moves in and demands a piece of the action. However, Elena underestimates the trio’s unbreakable bond, and with the help of a shady DEA agent (John Travolta), Ben, Chon and O go to war.
13 – U Turn (1997)
Thriller
6.4 /10
When Bobby’s car breaks down in the desert while on the run from some of the bookies who have already taken two of his fingers, he becomes trapped in the nearby small town where the people are stranger than anyone he’s encountered. After becoming involved with a young married woman, her husband hires Bobby to kill her. Later, she hires Bobby to kill the husband.
12 – Heaven & Earth (1993)
History | War | Action | Drama
6.7 /10
Le Ly lives in a small Vietnamese village whose serenity is shattered when war breaks out. Caught between the Viet Cong and the South Vietnamese army, the village is all but destroyed. After being both brutalized and raped, Le Ly resolves to flee. She leaves for the city, surviving desperate situations, but surviving nonetheless. Eventually she meets a U.S. Marine named Steve Butler who treats her kindly and tells her he would like to be married — maybe to her.
11 – Any Given Sunday (1999)
Drama
6.9 /10
A star quarterback gets knocked out of the game, and an unknown third-stringer is called in to replace him. The unknown gives a stunning performance and forces the ageing coach to reevaluate his game plans and life. A new co-owner/president adds to the pressure of winning. The new owner must prove herself in a male-dominated world.
10 – Snowden (2016)
Drama | History | Crime | Thriller
6.9 /10
Disillusioned with the intelligence community, top contractor Edward Snowden (Joseph Gordon-Levitt) leaves his job at the National Security Agency. He now knows that a virtual mountain of data is being assembled to track all forms of digital communication — not just from foreign governments and terrorist groups, but from ordinary Americans. When Snowden decides to leak this classified information, he becomes a traitor to some, a hero to others and a fugitive from the law.
9 – Nixon (1995)
Drama | History
7.1 /10
This film is a biographical examination of former U.S. President Richard Nixon (Anthony Hopkins). The non-chronological narrative explores Nixon’s personal and professional life, touching on his youth, college years, and political triumphs and failures. Nixon is seen as a child born to austere Quaker parents, as a young attorney wooing his future wife, Pat (Joan Allen), and as an astute but dour politician. After finally becoming president, Nixon is embroiled in the infamous Watergate scandal.
8 – The Doors (1991)
Drama | Music
7.2 /10
After a psychedelic experience in the California desert, Jim Morrison (Val Kilmer), lead singer of The Doors, and his bandmates begin performing in Los Angeles and quickly become a sensation. However, when Jim begins ditching his musical responsibilities and his girlfriend, Pamela (Meg Ryan), in favor of his dangerous addictions and the affections of the seductive, occult-obsessed Patricia (Kathleen Quinlan), the band starts to worry about their leader.
7 – Born on the Fourth of July (1989)
Drama | War
7.3 /10
In the mid 1960s, suburban New York teenager Ron Kovic (Tom Cruise) enlists in the Marines, fulfilling what he sees as his patriotic duty. During his second tour in Vietnam, he accidentally kills a fellow soldier during a retreat and later becomes permanently paralyzed in battle. Returning home to an uncaring Veterans Administration bureaucracy and to people on both sides of the political divide who don’t understand what he went through, Kovic becomes an impassioned critic of the war.
6 – Natural Born Killers (1994)
Crime | Thriller | Drama
7.5 /10
Woody Harrelson and Juliette Lewis are two young, attractive serial killers who become tabloid-TV darlings, thanks to a sensationalistic press led by Robert Downey Jr. The press reports the pair as they go on a 52 people killing spree. A controversial look at the way the media portrays criminals.
5 – Wall Street (1987)
7.5 /10
On the Wall Street of the 1980s, Bud Fox (Charlie Sheen) is a stockbroker full of ambition, doing whatever he can to make his way to the top. Admiring the power of the unsparing corporate raider Gordon Gekko (Michael Douglas), Fox entices Gekko into mentoring him by providing insider trading. As Fox becomes embroiled in greed and underhanded schemes, his decisions eventually threaten the livelihood of his scrupulous father (Martin Sheen). Faced with this dilemma, Fox questions his loyalties.
4 – Talk Radio (1988)
7.6 /10
On-air radio personality Barry Champlain (Eric Bogosian) likes to push buttons — and the envelope. The talk show host has gained popularity by being controversial, and now his show is going national. But as Barry enjoys his professional success, his personal life is unravelling. He is still battling with his ex-wife (Ellen Greene), and also receiving sizable amounts of hate mail. When Barry hits the airwaves for a lengthy session, he gets a deranged caller who just may prove to be his match.
3 – Salvador (1986)
Drama | History | Thriller |War
Stars: James Woods, Jim Belushi, Michael Murphy, John Savage, Tony Plana
7.7 /10
Unable to find work in America because of his penchant for booze and drugs, photojournalist Richard Boyle (James Woods) heads to El Salvador with his DJ friend Doctor Rock (James Belushi) to see if he can get a gig covering the country’s ongoing civil war. Boyle decides it’s time to flee the country when the violence escalates to a level that even he is uncomfortable with, but his relationship with an El Salvadorian woman (Elpidia Carrillo) complicates matters.
2 – JFK (1991)
Drama | Thriller | History
8.1 /10
This acclaimed Oliver Stone drama presents the investigation into the assassination of President John F. Kennedy led by New Orleans district attorney Jim Garrison (Kevin Costner). When Garrison begins to doubt conventional thinking on the murder, he faces government resistance, and, after the killing of suspected assassin Lee Harvey Oswald (Gary Oldman), he closes the case. Later, however, Garrison reopens the investigation, finding evidence of an extensive conspiracy behind Kennedy’s death.
1 – Platoon (1986)
Drama | War | Action
8.4 /10
Chris Taylor (Charlie Sheen) leaves his university studies to enlist in combat duty in Vietnam in 1967. Once he’s on the ground in the middle of battle, his idealism fades. Infighting in his unit between Staff Sergeant Barnes (Tom Berenger), who believes nearby villagers are harboring Viet Cong soldiers, and Sergeant Elias (Willem Dafoe), who has a more sympathetic view of the locals, ends up pitting the soldiers against each other as well as against the enemy.
Oliver Stone Academy Award Wins:
He won Best Adapted Screenplay for Midnight Express (1978)
He won Best Picture and Best Director for Platoon (1986)
He won Best Director for Born on the Fourth of July (1990)
His films have been nominated 42 times in total, with 12 overall wins.
