Brad Pitt. When his name is heard, it’s hard not to think of his chiseled abs, effortless charm, and distinctively beautiful face. Many may even immediately think of all the media surrounding his romantic entanglements between Angelina Jolie and Jennifer Aniston, but we’re definitely not here to talk about that. Today we are here to talk about the great many strides Brad Pitt has made in his film career; taking his stepping stone of physical attractiveness and making the most of it. Outside of being a beautiful face and a noteworthy actor, Pitt has had a hand in the production process with 60 credits to his name. This shows us that there is much more to him than just what meets the eye, which is why we are here to praise him specifically for his acting talents.
Despite having a shocking 84 acting credits on IMDB, I’ve narrowed it down to just 10 of the top films that make Pitt one of my absolute favorites. Nobody is going to agree 100% with my rankings nor my choices, so please remember that these are subjective and up for debate, just don’t debate it with me. So now we begin the list of the 10 best Brad Pitt movies and why they are as great as they are.
True Romance (1993)
Starting the list from a bit of a strange and unexpected place, this movie doesn’t exactly star our beloved hero but it’s definitely an underrated role. A pleasantly unique story from writer Quentin Tarantino brimming with familiar faces, we witness glimpses of a Pitt overwhelmed by a lack of burden and concern. In the face of danger, nothing threatens the unshakeable indifference of our Audioslave stoner hero. “Don’t condescend me, man…” Floyd warns as he somewhat comprehends the situation at hand. Pitt takes the back seat for this ride and unintentionally steals the spotlight, despite noteworthy performances from Christopher Walken, Gary Oldman, and Dennis Hopper. Besides being a hilarious and possibly defining character of the story, True Romance is definitely worth the watch, but not the best film on our list today.
Moneyball (2011)
In one of the best baseball movies of all time, Moneyball tells the true story of General Manager Billy Beane and his crazy plan that changed baseball forever. The Oakland A’s are in dire financial straits and just lost their best players because of it, Billy Beane (Brad Pitt) enlists the help of Yale Economics graduate Peter Brand (Jonah Hill) and uses batting averages to recruit new players. Other than being a momentous and sincere telling of a true event in baseball history, writers Aaron Sorkin and Steven Zaillian make the dialogue crisp and genuine. Differing from just about any role he’s ever played, Brad Pitt’s performance is the icing on the cake. His ability to portray the real stress of balancing a seemingly insurmountable task with the difficulties of being a father is impressive, carrying a power that can only be explained by life experience. Pitt has some incredible moments from films throughout his career, but his performance in this film is so consistently impressive that it quickly jumped up into my list upon viewing.
Legends of the Fall (1994)
Legends of the Fall is a dramatic film with a reasonable runtime that feels like a lifetime. Brad Pitt plays Tristan, one of three brothers to a single father living in the Montana wilderness in the early 1900’s. We watch these brothers live through heavy losses, deep love, true betrayal, and war. With his flowing golden locks, mathematically symmetrical face, bright blue eyes, and seemingly effortless physical shape, this film falls in the top three of movies that would make any unprepared viewer fall victim to his beauty and charm. Pitt gives a wonderful performance of a brother in pain, further confirming that it sure helps to be attractive but you gotta work for it, too. Being the main character of the film, it seems this role was written especially for Pitt given how easily he fits into this part, making it a natural choice for our list today.
Snatch (2000)
“D’ya like dags?” Snatch is a movie you might expect to see from writer/director Guy Ritchie, especially if you’ve seen his catalog of gun-toting crime movies that always feature some thick accents and a few broken teeth. Speaking of and due to the accents, our guy Pitt is — yet again — a huge highlight of this movie and main source of comedy despite being a side character. Pitt plays a bare-knuckle boxing gypsy named Mickey, a name you only know because Turkish (Jason Statham) mentions it a lot. Mickey’s gypsy accent is hysterically over the top and impossible to understand, and that is used in the film to help con others out of their belongings due to inevitable misunderstandings. Maintaining his wiry and chiseled physical shape from Fight Club the year before, Pitt is definitely used for eye candy but is hands down my favorite part of the movie.
Troy (2004)
Bringing the story of the Trojan War to the screen is not an easy task, but it sure helps to enlist the talents of director Wolfgang Petersen to see it through. A staple tale of love, war, gods, and men, Troy is an epic that should be watched at least once. What’s a great highlight of this movie? Brad Pitt playing apex warrior slash demigod Achilles is among the best. His dedication to the role was helpful in securing it, dieting, and exercising religiously for six to eight months before filming began. After getting into god-like shape, Pitt reportedly lived in a centuries-old hut in Mexico for a time to understand the loneliness of the character. Since he was a perfect fit for the role, it’s only natural to see him as the Greek warrior to this day. One of the more impressive things about this performance is that he and co-star Eric Bana declined stunt doubles for their epic face-off, but instead agreed to pay each other money for each accidental hit.
Once Upon a Time… in Hollywood (2019)
In what is definitely not the best Quentin Tarantino movie, Brad Pitt finally gets the chance to team up with Leonardo DiCaprio in a comedic fashion. In the land where history meets fantasy, two characters, Rick Dalton (DiCaprio) and Cliff Booth (Pitt) are plopped down into 1969 to accidentally deflect a terribly tragic incident in Hollywood. Cliff is Rick’s stuntman in the film and is also his driver/housesitter/handyman when they’re not working on a film together. Cliff gets into all kinds of situations where he witnesses glimpses of real history in motion, except for a certain fairly disrespectful and unnecessary portrayal of the late great Bruce Lee. While this film has some not-so-great moments, Cliff is an incredible character with some great and humorous dialogue that really carries the film along. For his performance, Pitt received an Oscar for his supporting role, apparently still charming the socks off of Hollywood elites.
Fight Club (1999)
Likely the most culturally defining role for Pitt, Fight Club was a short-lived “woop!” for critics upon release but later gained a huge cult following and not in a great way. Based on Chuck Palahniuk’s novel, some young and aggravated men decide the best way to solve their problems is to kick the crap out of each other and reject social standards. Other than causing social unrest in the frustrated young men of society (despite the story’s moral resolution in the end), the movie has some great writing and an awesome twist ending. Pitt’s performance in the film is somehow charming, disgusting, sexy, and terrifying all at once, commenting on the social expectations and outlooks of young men in a sometimes very meta way. Whether you love or hate this film, it’s guaranteed to be continually referenced for a long time yet.
Se7en (1995)
A classic young buck is partnered with a veteran on his way out, but put David Fincher at the helm of this well-worn tale and you get a much bleaker version. Brad Pitt plays Mills, the aforementioned hardheaded rookie who is new to the homicide detective game. Tracking a serial killer obsessed with the seven deadly sins, he and Somerset (Morgan Freeman) encounter horrors even the days-from-retirement detective has never seen. As one of the best David Fincher films, it is, of course, very dark — also in a literal sense. Pitt’s performance is one of his best, giving a genuinely flawed and rough nature to the character, especially in the popularly referenced climax. Without getting into spoilers, the end scene is without a doubt some of Pitt’s best dramatic acting from his whole career, masterfully emoting what you might expect one to feel in such a situation.
Inglourious Basterds (2009)
Taking a high rank among the best Quentin Tarantino movies, Inglorious Basterds is another film where he plays with history in a different way. In this “war movie” it’s World War II and a group of Jewish-American soldiers infiltrates Nazi-occupied France to eliminate well-known leaders. The leader of this squad is the bold and brazen Lt. Aldo Raine (Brad Pitt) or “Aldo the Apache,” who instructs his men to be “…cruel to the Germans…” in an Apache fashion by collecting scalps. With Tarantino’s writing at work, the film’s entertaining dialogue and scene choices complement Pitt’s swagger in a way never before seen. Provided with a false scar across his throat — and never an explanation as to why — Pitt outstandingly employs the rough and tough former Tennessee moonshiner wit and scraggly voice to the best of his potential. Like the film or not, Pitt’s performance is as impressive as it is darkly hilarious, assuming you’re a fan of Tarantino’s style of filmmaking.
Twelve Monkeys (1995)
Maybe it’s a coincidence, but Pitt yet again features in (subjectively his best) mind-bender film with a twist. A sci-fi mystery from Terry Gilliam, convict James Cole (Bruce Willis) is sent to the past to discover what caused a virus to destroy the majority of human life. One of the greats from the vast list of timeless sci-fi flicks, Brad Pitt’s character Jeffrey Goines is instrumental to the film’s greatness. Playing a scheming rambler in a mental ward, we get an indelible image of Pitt that you can’t shake, which says a lot about how well he performed the role. Determined to show an authentic reality to his character, Pitt trained with a psychiatric coach, trying to make a distinction between patients who are mentally ill and those who are suffering from mood disorders. Either way, the film does a good job making the audience question what is real, simply boosted in success by Pitt’s commitment to a more artistic role. Pitt received an Oscar nomination and a Golden Globe win for his performance.
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