Milos Forman - All His FIlms Ranked and Rated

Short Biography:

Milos Forman (18 February 1932 – 13 April 2018) was a Czech and American film director, screenwriter, actor, and professor who rose to fame in his native Czechoslovakia before emigrating to the United States in 1968. Forman was an important figure in the Czechoslovak New Wave. Film scholars and Czechoslovak authorities saw his 1967 film The Firemen’s Ball as a biting satire on Eastern European Communism. The film was initially shown in theatres in his home country in the more reformist atmosphere of the Prague Spring. However, it was later banned by the Communist government after the invasion by the Warsaw Pact countries in 1968.[3] Forman was subsequently forced to leave Czechoslovakia for the United States, where he continued making films, gaining wider critical and financial success. In 1975, he directed One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest (1975) starring Jack Nicholson as a patient in a mental institution. The film received widespread acclaim and was the second in history to win all five major Academy Awards: Best Picture, Director, Screenplay, Actor in Leading Role, and Actress in Leading Role.

In 1978, he directed the anti-war musical Hair which premiered at the 1979 Cannes Film Festival. In 1981, he directed the turn of the century drama film, Ragtime, which was known for its large ensemble cast. The film went on to receive eight Academy Award nominations. His next feature was a period biographical film, Amadeus (1984), based on the life of famed classical musician Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart starring Tom Hulce, and F. Murray Abraham. The film was both a critical and financial success earning eleven nominations with eight wins including for Best Picture, and another win for Forman as Best Director. In 1996, Forman received another Academy Award nomination for Best Director for The People vs. Larry Flynt (1996).

Throughout Forman’s career he won two Academy Awards, three Golden Globe Awards, Grand Prix at the Cannes Film Festival, Golden Bear at the Berlin Film Festival, a British Academy Film Award, a César Award, David di Donatello Award, and the Czech Lion.

Here is a rundown of his movies, with the score based on the average from IMDb, Rotten Tomatoes (public votes only) and Letterboxd, from lowest ranked to highest:

12 – Goya’s Ghosts (2006)

IMDb:

6.9

RT Users:

5.7

Letterboxd:

6.18

6.26

Drama

Top Billed Cast:

Javier Bardem, Natalie Portman, Stellan Skarsgård, Randy Quaid, José Luis Gómez

SYNOPSIS:

Brother Lorenzo (Javier Bardem), a member of the Spanish Inquisition, seeks to curry favor with the Inquisitor General by arresting the muse (Natalie Portman) of artist Francisco Goya (Stellan Skarsgard). Lorenzo’s plan backfires when the woman’s father, a wealthy merchant, captures and tortures Lorenzo, and he must flee the wrath of his fellow Inquisitors.

11 – Valmont (1989)

IMDb:

7.0

RT Users:

6.9

Letterboxd:

6.62

6.84

Drama, Romance

Top Billed Cast:

Colin Firth, Annette Bening, Meg Tilly, Fairuza Balk, Siân Phillips

SYNOPSIS:

Set in Baroque France, a scheming widow and her lover make a bet regarding the corruption of a recently married woman. The lover, Valmont, bets that he can seduce her, even though she is an honorable woman. If he wins, he can have his lover to do as he will. However, in the process of seducing the married woman, Valmont falls in love. Based on the same novel as “Dangerous Liaisons.”

10 – Black Peter (1964)

IMDb:

7.1

RT Users:

7.3

Letterboxd:

7.02

7.14

Comedy, Drama

Top Billed Cast:

Ladislav Jakim, Pavla Martínková, Jan Vostrčil, Vladimír Pucholt, Pavel Sedláček

SYNOPSIS:

In Czechoslovakia in 1963, an aimless youth named Petr (Ladislav Jakim) begins his first job as a security guard in a busy self-service supermarket; unfortunately, he’s so shy that even when he sees shoplifters, he can’t bring himself to confront them. He’s similarly tongue-tied around the lovely Asa (Pavla Martinkova), and during the lectures about personal responsibility and the dignity of labor that his blustery father (Jan Vostrcil) regularly delivers at home.

9 – Ragtime (1981)

IMDb:

7.3

RT Users:

7.7

Letterboxd:

7.12

7.37

Drama

Top Billed Cast:

Brad Dourif, Howard Rollins, Elizabeth McGovern, Mary Steenburgen, James Cagney

SYNOPSIS:

A kaleidoscope of tales from E.L. Doctorow’s eponymous novel evokes life in pre-World War I New York City. A white family find a black baby in their yard and takes on the mother as a maid. A black pianist, Coalhouse Walker Jr. (Howard E. Rollins Jr.), returns for his woman and child after finding success in a Harlem jazz band. Firefighters, dismayed to see a black man own a Model-T Ford, deface it, and Walker demands retribution. The white family becomes involved in Evelyn Nesbit’s trial.

8 – The People vs. Larry Flynt (1996)

IMDb:

7.3

RT Users:

8.0

Letterboxd:

6.98

7.43

Drama

Top Billed Cast:

Woody Harrelson, Courtney Love, Edward Norton, Brett Harrelson, Donna Hanover, James Cromwell

SYNOPSIS:

Pursued by opponents who say his “Hustler” magazine breaks decency laws, pornographer Larry Flynt (Woody Harrelson) hires lawyer Alan Isaacman (Edward Norton) to help fight his legal battles. A zealot shoots the men near a Georgia courthouse, and though Flynt discovers he’ll never walk again, his fighting spirit — like his love for stripper Althea Leasure (Courtney Love) — stays strong. Ultimately, the unlikely free speech warrior takes his biggest case to a showdown at the Supreme Court.

7 – Loves of a Blonde (1965)

IMDb:

7.5

RT Users:

NO SCORE

Letterboxd:

7.52

7.51

Comedy, Drama

Top Billed Cast:

Hana Brejchová, Vladimír Pucholt, Vladimír Menšík, Ivan Kheil, Jiří Hrubý

SYNOPSIS:

A young woman in a small town sleeps with a band member from Prague, and after he does not contact her, she goes to his home and causes upheaval for him and his parents.

6 – Man on the Moon (1999)

IMDb:

7.4

RT Users:

7.9

Letterboxd:

7.38

7.56

Biography, Comedy, Drama

Top Billed Cast:

Jim Carrey, Danny DeVito, Courtney Love, Paul Giamatti, Gerry Becker

SYNOPSIS:

Jim Carrey stars as the late Andy Kaufman, who was considered one of the most innovative, eccentric and enigmatic performers of his time. A master at manipulating audiences, Kaufman could generate belly laughs, stony silence, tears or brawls. Whether inviting the audience out for milk and cookies or challenging women to inter-gender wrestling matches, he specialized in creating performances so real that even his close friends were never sure where the truth lay.

5 – The Firemen’s Ball (1967)

IMDb:

7.4

RT Users:

8.3

Letterboxd:

7.38

7.69

Comedy, Drama

Top Billed Cast:

Jan Vostrčil, Josef Šebánek, František Debelka, Josef Valnoha, Ladislav Adam

SYNOPSIS:

In Milos Forman’s satire on Communism set in a small Czechoslovakian town in the 1960s, the local firemen decide to organize a ball, however the proceedings are dogged by difficulty at every step. They plan to organize a beauty pageant at the ball, yet struggle tremendously to find enough pretty contestants. A lottery is planned for later in the evening, but the guests begin stealing the prizes. Then, inevitably, there is a fire in the town… It seems that whatever can go wrong, does go wrong.

4 – Hair (1979)

IMDb:

7.5

RT Users:

8.7

Letterboxd:

7.26

7.82

Comedy, Drama, Romance

Top Billed Cast:

John Savage, Treat Williams, Beverly D’Angelo, Annie Golden, Dorsey Wright

SYNOPSIS:

In New York City for the first time while on his way to enlist in the U.S. Army during the Vietnam War, Oklahoma farm hand Claude Hooper Bukowski (John Savage) meets up with a freewheeling group of Central Park hippies led by the irrepressible George Berger (Treat Williams). When the unlikely friends meet upper-middle-class debutante Sheila Franklin (Beverly D’Angelo), sparks fly between the country boy and the city girl, and Berger’s troupe attempts to keep the young lovers together.

3 – Taking Off (1971)

IMDb:

7.4

RT Users:

8.4

Letterboxd:

7.70

7.83

Comedy, Drama

Top Billed Cast:

Lynn Carlin, Buck Henry, Georgia Engel, Tony Harvey, Audra Lindley, Paul Benedict

SYNOPSIS:

Director Milos Foreman made his American debut with this comedy about 1960s-style parenting. Jeannie Tyne (Linnea Heacock) has fled her parents and her suburban home to wander around New York City. Sick with worry, Jeannie’s mom, Lynn (Lynn Carlin), and dad, Larry (Buck Henry), meet other parents of runaways in a support group. When Jeannie finally returns home, however, it appears that her parents have been having quite a bit of fun with their new friends in her absence.

2 – Amadeus (1984)

IMDb:

8.4

RT Users:

9.5

Letterboxd:

8.44

8.78

Biography, Drama

Top Billed Cast:

F. Murray Abraham, Tom Hulce, Tom Hulce, Roy Dotrice, Simon Callow

SYNOPSIS:

Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart is a remarkably talented young Viennese composer who unwittingly finds a fierce rival in the disciplined and determined Antonio Salieri. Resenting Mozart for both his hedonistic lifestyle and his undeniable talent, the highly religious Salieri is gradually consumed by his jealousy and becomes obsessed with Mozart’s downfall, leading to a devious scheme that has dire consequences for both men.

1 – One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest (1975)

IMDb:

8.7

RT Users:

9.6

Letterboxd:

8.56

8.95

Drama

Top Billed Cast:

Jack Nicholson, Louise Fletcher, Danny DeVito, William Redfield, Scatman Crothers

SYNOPSIS:

When Randle Patrick McMurphy (Jack Nicholson) gets transferred for evaluation from a prison farm to a mental institution, he assumes it will be a less restrictive environment. But the martinet Nurse Ratched (Louise Fletcher) runs the psychiatric ward with an iron fist, keeping her patients cowed through abuse, medication and sessions of electroconvulsive therapy. The battle of wills between the rebellious McMurphy and the inflexible Ratched soon affects all the ward’s patients.

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Milos Forman - All His FIlms Ranked and Rated

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