There’s no doubt about it: Stanley Kubrick is one of the greatest filmmaking pioneers of all time. Stanley Kubrick was, in many ways, a perfectionist. As such, his filmography isn’t as expansive as those of his contemporaries. But for what Kubrick lacked in quantity he made up for in quality: Each film he directed was a product of detailed planning and masterful execution. Here, we’re going to rank the best Stanley Kubrick films based on these four criteria: acting, filmmaking, and story.
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Stanley Kubrick’s directorial feature debut is mighty rough around the edges. In fact, it’s rumored that Kubrick was so disappointed in the final cut of the film that he fought against its circulation.
Fear and Desire is an anti-war film that was made in the midst of the Korean conflict, although it is worth noting that the picture has no explicit connection to that war or any other.
Fear and Desire is the weakest film made by Stanley Kubrick, but still contains kernels of the singular vision he would refine in future works, such as his keen eye for visual detail.
Although markedly better than his first, Kubrick’s second feature, Killer’s Kiss, still suffered from tonal inconsistencies. Killer’s Kiss is a drama/thriller about the relationship between a boxer and a “taxi” dancer. Both characters deal with different kinds of abuse and later fall in love when they discover safety in one another.
Killer’s Kiss is by no means a bad film… it just struggles to live up to the lofty standards of Kubrick’s later works.
Eyes Wide Shut is a near-three hour movie, but it should have been cut to under two. Unfortunately, that was impossible because Nicole Kidman and Tom Cruise deliver most of their lines in this exact manner: The camera draws into focus, the character draws a deep breath, the drama intensifies, and then, just as we wait to hear what profound words are about to be said, they proceed to verbalize their lines in slow-motion.
Seriously, the scene with Kidman in the ballroom is unbelievable. You could run a half-marathon in between words.
Dialogue pacing aside, there are very few films quite like Eyes Wide Shut. Narratively, it’s a mix between Federico Fellini’s City of Women and the Tom Cruise thriller The Firm, yet made visually fresh by Kubrick’s uncanny attention to detail.
Stanley Kubrick’s excellent direction can’t save Eyes Wide Shut from being bogged down by poor performances and a story that doesn’t know when to end.
Stanley Kubrick’s Lolita is based on the highly controversial novel of the same name by Vladimir Nabokov. The story follows a middle-aged man named Humbert (James Mason) who becomes fatally attracted to a teenage girl.
For all of Lolita’s difficult subject matter, the film really is an engrossing look at a taboo obsession. In the end, Kubrick deftly balances comedy and drama and creates a complete picture of Nabokov’s novel.
Kubrick struggled to make the picture he wanted to with Lolita, since much of the film was censored due to its subject matter. But its excellent performances and soundtrack make it a worthwhile watch.
The Killing is a foundational piece of American cinema. It’s not quite in the same vein as the James Cagney gangster pictures of the 1930s, nor the Humphrey Bogart film noirs of the 1940s: Instead, The Killing takes inspiration from both and creates something new.
Stanley Kubrick’s The Killing was a quantum leap forward in quality for the director, and went on to inspire such films as Reservoir Dogs, Ocean’s Eleven, and Logan Lucky.
There are few films that are more gut-punching than Full Metal Jacket. Stanley Kubrick’s famous reconstruction of the Vietnam war is psychologically haunting and emotionally exhausting. Yet, through the violence and bloodshed, the film emerges with a simple indictment on the nature of war.
Full Metal Jacket is widely regarded as the last of Hollywood’s Vietnam films —a string of movies made about the war by some of the world’s premiere directors, including Francis Ford Coppola’s Apocalypse Now, Oliver Stone’s Platoon, and Michael Cimino’s The Deer Hunter.
Full Metal Jacket is an essential anti-war film, told through the singular vision of Stanley Kubrick.
Much like its maze-like setting, The Overlook Hotel, The Shining is a labyrinth in and of itself. Stanley Kubrick’s film, adapted from the Stephen King novel of the same name, is one of the most visually haunting and emotionally unsettling pictures ever made.
The most notable aspect of The Shining is Kubrick’s unabashed vision of Jack Torrance’s (Jack Nicholson) descent into madness. Sure, the story doesn’t make much sense (What even is “the shining?”). But Kubrick replaces narrative clarity with mood and tension, ultimately adding up to a horror story that’s filled with unforgettable moments.
For better or worse, there’s no horror film quite like Stanley Kubrick’s The Shining.
Barry Lyndon is a historical epic about an opportunist that waywardly travels from place to place looking for wealth and fame. The film stars Ryan O’Neal in the title role and hosts an ensemble cast with dozens of other actors.
Many critics have argued that Barry Lyndon is slow and plodding, a perspective that I’d largely agree with. But ultimately, the ends do justify the means, amounting to a beautiful recreation of Europe in the 18th century.
Stanley Kubrick’s first collaboration with Hollywood star Kirk Douglas, Paths of Glory, served as the jumping off point for the budding auteur.
Paths of Glory is a beautifully realized anti-war picture that falters only due to issues with its pace. But there’s no doubting how ahead of his time Kubrick was in 1957 with his use of advanced filmmaking techniques, such as long shots and audio design.
Paths of Glory is an under-appreciated gem of the Hollywood Golden Age and has aged like a fine wine.
The great Hollywood epic Spartacus is one of Kubrick’s most fun pictures, and also one of the most critically and financially successful films of the 1960s.
Spartacus during the Hollywood Blacklist period, in which communist sympathizers were left without work. One such sympathizer was Dalton Trumbo, who worked around the Blacklist under pseudonyms.
Trumbo was the screenwriter of Spartacus, and star Kirk Douglas wanted to make sure that he was given proper credit.
When President-elect John F. Kennedy publicly attended a screening of Spartacus, the Blacklist effectively ended.
Although Kubrick wasn’t the first director to work on Spartacus, he ended up seeing the project through to its end.
The first time you watch 2001: A Space Odyssey, you might not know what to make of it. For those unfamiliar with Kubrick, the film may seem narratively obtuse, especially since it relies heavily on its visuals to tell the story of humanity across the cosmos.
But narrative density aside, 2001: A Space Odyssey is a colossal technical achievement. Stanley Kubrick truly pioneered the scope of cinema with the film’s elaborate sets and imposing props. Further, Kubrick’s signature approach to shot compositions has never been as refined as it is with 2001: A Space Odyssey.
Many argue that 2001: A Space Odyssey is one of the greatest films ever made, and even if you don’t agree with that assessment, it’s easy to see why it’s so widely made. 2001: A Space Odyssey is attuned to a director’s sensibilities more than it is a screenwriter’s, and that ultimately makes its allure subjective. Still, it’s impossible to deny its artistry and that it’s one of the top three pictures of Kubrick’s career.
At the end of the day, 2001: A Space Odyssey is one of the best sci-fi movies of all time and one of the most influential pieces of worldwide cinema ever made.
Every so often, a film comes along that ends up becoming a symbol for a period of time. One such film is Stanley Kubrick’s Cold-War satire about war, hubris and the tenuous nature of nuclear weapons — Dr. Strangelove or: How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Love the Bomb.
Released amidst rising global tension over nuclear proliferation, Dr. Stangelove sought to expose the danger and ludicrousy of the time’s worsening world politics. To do this, Kubrick used structural irony as a satirical device. This allowed him to create an otherworldly version of 1964 in which one small mistake could be the undoing of all life on Earth.
Actor Peter Sellers gives it his all in three different roles in the film, including the eponymous Dr. Strangelove.
Is A Clockwork Orange a movie I’d recommend to my mother? Absolutely not. If I were alive in 1971, I probably wouldn’t have dared to ask anybody to go with me to see it. But is it the best movie that Stanley Kubrick ever made? Undoubtedly.
A Clockwork Orange is a nightmarish vision of a dystopia in which everything is dysfunctionally functional. Buildings are torn to rubble, the government is totalitarian, and gangs go around causing reckless violence with little fear of repercussions. But there are still schools, stores, and well-furnished clubs and houses. This dichotomy creates an unsettling feeling that this horrid future could one day become real.
It’s because of this groundedness that A Clockwork Orange works so well. Kubrick imbues this cynical world with comedic touches, and the violence perpetrated by its characters is dealt indiscriminately. The film presents a world that lost all its good and been reduced to its primal and carnal nature.
A Clockwork Orange is an undeniably tough film to watch, but one that shows us the evil of our world with searing satire.
Now that we’ve ranked the best Stanley Kubrick films, let’s examine his style to understand why his films are so momentous. Kubrick is one of the world’s most influential directors and he’s made some of the most acclaimed films for each genre. Let’s dive into Kubrick’s extraordinary filmography to understand the precision and techniques behind these cinematic icons.
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