Francis Ford Coppola. Gangster movie fans will always thank him for The Godfather trilogy. War movie fans will always thank him for Apocalypse Now, and Neo-noir fans will always thank him for The Conversation. It would have been great for him to make many more films in these particular genres, but the filmmaker has always valued experimentation above everything else. Audiences have thus been treated to all kinds of pictures from him, ranging from musicals to fantasy dramas.
With experimentation comes great risk, so many of Coppola’s movies never came close to being his chef-d’œuvre, especially when analyzed from the eyes of film critics and accountants. Some of his projects failed to tick both the critical and commercial boxes, while some ticked only one. Consequently, these movies are rarely brought up in discussions.
Whether his latest $120 million film, Megalopolis, will reach the same height as Coppola’s best works remains to be seen, but fans will be hoping it does. For now, here are the movies he presumably regrets making.
10 Gardens of Stone (1987)
Rotten Tomatoes: 44%
Gardens of Stone is the kind of film many military veterans would appreciate, yet it might have come off as dull for the average viewer. Coppola once again enlisted the services of James Caan (best known as Fredo Corleone from The Godfather) in the story about a demoralized war hero.
Having served in both the Vietnam and Korean wars, Sgt. Clell Hazard hopes to be hired as an instructor at a military boot camp, but he is instead tasked with guarding Arlington National Cemetery. Thankfully, he soon gets a reason to be cheerful when the young and ambitious Pvt. Jackie Willow (D.B. Sweeney) is placed under his wing.
Dull Subject
Gardens of Stone was made on a $13 million budget, yet it didn’t make even half of that. This was a new low for Coppola, considering he had just made a classic war film less than a decade earlier. A movie about graves and employee dissatisfaction was unlikely to appeal to the masses, so the outcome wasn’t surprising.
Critics weren’t too kind either. The great Roger Ebert noted that “every moment is right, and yet the film as a whole is incomplete,” while The New York Times suggested that “the most important missing ingredient is Mr. Coppola.” The latter review is spot-on since it seems like the director only did the bare minimum here, depriving fans of his usual visual and narrative trademarks.
Rent it on Apple TV+ or stream it on Tubi TV
9 Twixt (2011)
Rotten Tomatoes: 30%
twixt
- Release Date
- September 10, 2011
- Runtime
- 88
Writers’ block is an author’s worst nightmare. At least that’s what Hall Baltimore (Val Kilmer) — a novelist specializing in witch-hunting stories — thinks before heading to a small town for a book signing event in Twixt. Hall desperately needs some inspiration, and he soon gets it when a Sheriff asks him to look at the body of a man who died under bizarre circumstances. Within no time, Hall gets sucked into a wild fever dream with all kinds of bizarre characters.
Adapted from a Dream
Coppola’s best works are adaptations, so it was understandable for him to mine a story from another source again. This time it was his own dream.
The director told The New York Times that 80% of the film’s plot came from a nightmare he experienced one night. Judging by the outcome, he didn’t make the right move. THR called it the director’s “silliest work ever,” adding that “a young Coppola” could have done more with the scenes while “the present-day Coppola produces only tepid and tired imagery that would not earn high marks in any film school.” Many other critics had a similar opinion.
Despite being released in the Halloween season, the financial figures weren’t good either. The film only made $1.3 million out of a $7 million budget. A re-edited version was released in 2023, but fans still snubbed it.
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8 Youth Without Youth (2007)
Rotten Tomatoes: 33%
Set during World War II, Youth Without Youth is a story about Professor Dominic Matei (Ti Roth), who has spent most of his life searching for the origin of the human language, but hasn’t made many strides. As he is thinking about committing suicide, he gets struck by lightning, a development that not only makes him younger but also gives him psychic powers. Soon, he finds himself in bed with Nazis.
An Amalgamation of Genres, Torpified by a Confusing Plot
Youth Without Youth is a wonderful coalescence of genres. There is some spy spice, war mayhem, and fantasy weirdness. It’s also visually pleasing, so much so that it won Best Cinematography at the Independent Spirit Awards. Regrettably, the plot is confusing.
Critics conducted a lynching on the film. Roger Ebert felt that it was possible to make a complex but fun film, yet Copolla failed to do that. He described the entire experience as “a confusing slog through metaphysical murkiness.” Rex Reed was harsher, stating, “The only way to survive Youth Without Youth is dead drunk.”
Once again, there was no money to be made here. The director had produced the movie himself, only to take a loss once again, but it seems he hardly felt the pinch, since his self-funding streak has continued to this day.
Rent it on Apple TV+ or stream it on Tubi TV
7 One from the Heart (1981)
Rotten Tomatoes: 51%
Events in One from the Heart kick off on Independence Day. Everyone is celebrating, but for Hank, a mechanic, and Frannie, a travel agent, there is no reason to celebrate. Frannie wants a life of fun and adventure, yet Hank isn’t willing to give it to her. They thus break up and go out with new people, only to end up missing each other. Still, Frannie opts to go on a trip abroad alone, forcing Hank to try and find ways to stop her.
Surprising Banality from a Master Auteur
One From the Heart’s plot can be found in many other popular romance movies and therein lies the problem. There are many different ways the director could have chosen to go with the story, yet he opted for the simplest.
Consequently, most critics were disappointed, with the Rotten Tomatoes critic consensus reading: “One from the Heart belies its reputation as a flop with Francis Ford Coppola’s earnest intentions and technical virtuosity, but not even the director’s ardor for the genre is enough to make audiences feel much for its characters.” Even so, the film has been praised for being visually arresting.
What’s more unfortunate is the film’s low box office return. Ordinarily, romance musicals tend to do well, yet One from the Heart made less than a million globally. However, there was a reason for the low numbers. An unfinished version had leaked earlier, forcing many exhibitors to refrain from showing the complete project.
Rent it on Apple TV+
6 Finian’s Rainbow (1968)
Rotten Tomatoes: 53%
Based on the 1947 Broadway production of the same name, Finian’s Rainbow follows the Irishman, Finian (Fred Astaire), and his daughter, Sharon (Petula Clark), who immigrate to America after stealing a leprechaun’s magic pot of gold. They believe the move will make them prosperous, but they soon find themselves caught up in a web of corruption and deceit, stemming from the activities of a prejudiced U.S. senator.
Varying Opinions
Musicals have always been popular, and in Finian’s Rainbow, Copolla did enough to keep audiences interested. The song choices are all very fitting, and the story flows smoothly from start to finish. Consequently, many critics gave it positive reviews, and the box office gross was triple that of the budget.
Still, many other publications felt that the film was dull. For example, The New York Times described it as a “cheesy, joyless thing.” This explains why the final Rotten Tomatoes score was slightly above the 50% mark.
Rent it on Apple TV+
5 The Outsiders (1983)
Rotten Tomatoes: 69%
Like Coppola’s The Godfather trilogy, The Outsiders is a tale of gang warfare, only on a lower scale. In the coming-of-age crime drama, rising tensions between the teen criminal factions — the Greasers and the Socials — culminate in the death of a Social member. Fearing the consequences, several Greaser members go into hiding, but fate eventually catches up with most of them.
A Decent Effort, Yet Still Below Coppola’s High Bar
Critics unanimously agreed that The Outsiders was a good film. It was hoisted by great performances, thanks to the casting of up-and-coming stars that included Tom Cruise, Patrick Swayze, Thomas Howell (who won a Young Artist Award), Rob Lowe (in his Hollywood debut), Emilio Estevez, Ralph Macchio, Matt Dillon, and Diane Lane. In addition to that, the film is credited with triggering the Brat Pack boom of the ‘80s.
Unfortunately, the crime drama wasn’t a huge financial success. Its $3.7 million gross was decent, but it was still low considering the expectations everyone had for Coppola at the time. Just three years earlier, Apocalypse Now had made $104 million.
Stream it on Paramount+ or Tubi TV
4 Dementia 13 (1963)
Rotten Tomatoes: 69%
Funded by the great Roger Corman, Dementia 13 revolves around the widow Louise Haloran (Luana Anders), who schemes to get her name into her husband’s will. To do so, she hides the fact that he died. She tells his family that he is simply on a business trip. One day, she goes to visit her mother-in-law, to prevent any suspicion, but while at the estate, a mysterious person kills her with an axe. Shortly after, the family physician, Dr. Caleb, arrives and vows to solve the mystery.
A Decent Psycho Knockoff
According to Fred Orlen’s 1991 book, The New Poverty Row: Independent Filmmakers as Distributors, Dementia 13 only made $43,000 at the box office, which is surprising, considering that the majority of critics had given it a thumbs up. Roger Corman. Though it is a Psycho knock-off, it charts its own brilliant path when it comes to gore and tension. On top of that, most of the characters are well-developed. Regrettably, audiences just didn’t buy whatever was being sold here.
It’s worth noting that what fans got to see was more of Corman’s vision than Coppola’s. According to Collider, the two men sparred over the final edit, and Coppola eventually compromised. Years later, he would release a director’s cut.
Stream it on Fubo TV, Kanopy, VUDU, and Pluto TV
3 Tetro (2009)
Rotten Tomatoes: 70%
Tetro
- Release Date
- June 11, 2009
- Runtime
- 127
In Tetro, teenager Bennie (Alden Ehrenreich) runs away from his abusive father and gets a job as a conductor on a ship. When the cruise line breaks down in Argentina, he decides to search for his estranged brother, Tetro (Vincent Gallo), who left home years earlier to pursue his dream of being a playwright. The version of Tetro he meets is argumentative and lazy, so Bennie vows to help him rediscover his talent.
Great Performances and Relevant Themes
Thanks to a wonderful performance by Vincent Gallo and a thorough exploration of the themes of family and career, Tetro was generally well-received. In a way, Gallo’s character mirrored that of Jack in Titanic. Even so, audiences weren’t inspired enough to splash cash on the Coppola film the same way they did on the James Cameron film. According to Box Office Mojo, it made less than half of its $5 million budget, marking another miss for the legendary filmmaker.
Rent it on Apple TV+
2 New York Stories (1989)
Rotten Tomatoes: 76%
New York Stories is an anthology film made by three of the greatest New Hollywood filmmakers, Francis Ford Coppola, Woody Allen, and Martin Scorsese. Allen’s segment is about an attorney having problems with his condescending mother, Scorsese’s segment — based on Fyodor Dostoyevsky’s novel, `The Gambler’ — is about an abstract artist’s love story, and Coppola’s segment is about a 12-year-girl from a wealthy family, who lives in a luxury New York hotel.
The Anthology Curse
The film has a strong Rotten Tomatoes score, though most critics acknowledge Scorsese’s segment as the strongest, followed by Coppola’s, and Allen’s. Still, any cineaste will easily notice that all three filmmakers put their best forward. What ultimately worked against them was the anthology cinema curse.
Even though the multi-story format tends to do well on television, it rarely works on cinema. Box Office Mojo reveals that the highest-grossing anthology film of all time (Twilight Zone: The Movie), only made $29 million. Given these statistics, New York Stories never really stood a chance of breaking the $100 million mark.
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1 Rumble Fish (1983)
Rotten Tomatoes: 42%
Based on S. E. Hinton’s novel of the same name, Rumble Fish revolves around the complicated relationship between the brothers, “The Motorcycle Boy” (Mickey Rourke) and Rusty James (Matt Dillon). The latter looks up to the former, and dreams of being as tough as him, but the former isn’t keen on offering any guidance because he no longer wishes to live a gang life. The film marks the first on-screen collaboration between Coppola and his nephew, Nicolas Cage.
Artsy and Thought-Provoking
Thanks to its avant-garde elements, film noir tone, and curvilinear cinematography with touches of German Expressionism and French New Wave cinema. Rumble Fish received favorable reviews. Besides that, the score by Stewart Copeland — chief drummer of the band, The Police — is perfect.
Sadly, it only made about a quarter of its $10 million budget. Thankfully, Coppola has never been one to cry about failure. He took the hits and kept going.
Stream it on TCM or rent it on Apple TV+
