10 Best Director/Actor Partnerships

One simple caveat:  they must have done five or more films together.  Let’s go!

10. Ridley Scott & Russell Crowe

Gladiator (2000), A Good Year (2006), American Gangster (2007), Body of Lies (2008), Robin Hood (2010) 

A good start, of course – but then they made A Good Year.  Not sure who thought that putting one of Hollywood’s most intense leading men together with one of its most heavy-handed helmers to make a lightweight knockabout comedy was a wise move.  American Gangster doesn’t do much wrong, but is completely forgettable, which is the best thing you could say about… what was it called? Body of Evidence, or something?  A return to the sort of film they did best was welcome, but Crowe does make a distractingly mature Robin Hood.

9. Richard Donner & Mel Gibson

Lethal Weapon (1987), Lethal Weapon 2 (1989), Lethal Weapon 3 (1992), Maverick (1994), Conspiracy Theory (1997), Lethal Weapon 4 (1998)

Not sure which is harder to believe – that Gibson used to be an A-list leading man, or that he was once known as a strictly Catholic family man.  Either way, it was Donner who got the most out of the Australian to make audiences flock to see those blue eyes and that peerless mullet; and in Lethal Weapon’s Martin Riggs they took a superb Shane Black script and created an action hero who was a lot more complex and unpredictable than his contemporaries.  After peaking with charm-fest Maverick, things tapered off, and neither star nor director has been the same since.

8. Tim Burton & Johnny Depp

Edward Scissorhands (1990), Ed Wood (1994), Sleepy Hollow (1999), Corpse Bride (2005), Charlie and the Chocolate Factory (2005), Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street (2007), Alice in Wonderland (2010), Dark Shadows (2012)

I admire and respect, rather than relish and enjoy, the output of these two.  As a director, Burton preferences visuals and quirkiness over story and character too much for my likings; as a star, Johnny is always just Johnny despite (and despite how much people like to go on about) how eclectic his oeuvre is.  But there’s no denying that as a team they have been responsible for some of the most memorable off-centre cinema of the last two decades, peaking with the hilarious and affecting Ed Wood.

7. Woody Allen & Diane Keaton

Play It Again, Sam (1972), Sleeper (1973), Love and Death (1975), Annie Hall (1977), Manhattan (1979), Interiors (1978), Radio Days (1987), Manhattan Murder Mystery (1993),

A big part of the ‘early funny ones’ (with the exception of the dour Interiors), Keaton’s breezy charm was a counterpoint to Allen’s neurosis – never better than in Oscar-magnet Annie Hall, of course.  But her influence in early farces Sleeper and Love and Death, when Allen was still finding his feet as a writer/director, cannot be underestimated either.  In later times Woody turned to Mia Farrow and a succession of other leading ladies to carry his films (Mira Sorvino, Jennifer Tilly, Radha Mitchell, Scarlett Johansson…) but none have proved as mutually beneficial as the original Miss Hall.

6. John Woo & Chow Yun-Fat

A Better Tomorrow (1986), A Better Tomorrow II (1987), The Killer (1989), Once a Thief (1991), Hard Boiled (1992)

A toothpick chewing Yun-Fat brandishing two pistols and blasting through hoards of triads without breaking a sweat is one of the truly iconic images of modern cinema.  It took the outrageous direction of Woo to take Chow out of cheesy Hong Kong comedy thrillers and into pure iconography via the first two A Better Tomorrow movies and the peak of both their careers, The Killer.  Simply put, when they work together it is pure action alchemy.

5. Tony Scott & Denzil Washington

Crimson Tide (1995), Man on Fire (2004), Déjà Vu (2006), The Taking of Pelham 1 2 3 (2009), Unstoppable (2010)

After a decade’s gap between first working together on superior Simpson/Bruckheimer thriller Crimson Tide, it’s seemed in the noughties that these two can’t make a movie without each other.  All the technical riffs and gimmicks of Scott’s less-than-subtle direction need a strong figure to ground the movie that’s buried somewhere underneath, and few have as steady a presence as Denzil.  After peaking with the brilliantly over-the-top Man on Fire, the duo produced a couple of duds, but were back on form with Washington now playing the grizzled veteran to a new young hot shot, Chris ‘Captain Kirk’ Pine in Speed rip-off (in a good way) Unstoppable.

4. Joel/Ethan Coen & Frances McDormand

Blood Simple (1984), Raising Arizona (1987), Miller’s Crossing (1990), Fargo (1996), The Man Who Wasn’t There (2001) Burn After Reading (2008),

The Coen boys have re-used a number of actors in their flicks:  John Goodman, Steve Buscemi, John Tuturro, Jon Plito.  McDormand (Mrs. Joel Coen) is their most frequent collaborator, ranging from a breakout performance in neo-noir Blood Simple to her hilarious turn as cosmetic surgery-coveting gym bunny Linda Litzke in the farcical Burn After Reading.  But it’s her Oscar-winning turn as Marge Gunderson in Fargo that really stands out, acting as the warm centre of a story inhabited by distinctly cold characters in icy climes.

3. John Carpenter & KurtRussell

Elvis (1979), Escape from New York (1981), The Thing (1982), Big Trouble in Little China (1986), Escape from L.A. (1996)

Carpenter chaperoned ex-Disney child star Russell through four iconic, wildly varied roles.  He gives one of the best screen portrayals of the King (returned to in a bit of stunt casing twenty years later for 3000 Miles to Graceland) and channels Clint Eastwood for Escape from New York and John Wayne for Big Trouble in Little China, with surly pilot R.J. MacReady sandwiched in the middle.  And then the pair went and made Escape from L.A.  Pity.

2. Steven Soderbergh & George Clooney

Out of Sight (1998), Ocean's Eleven (2001), Solaris (2002), Ocean's Twelve (2004), The Good German (2006), Ocean's Thirteen (2007)                 

Cary Grant had Alfred Hitchcock, and George Clooney has Steven Soderbergh.  Both did a lot of good for each other with their first collaboration, the fantastic Out of Sight, which gave Soderbergh the hit that his Palme d’Or-winning debut Sex, Lies and Videotape had promised nearly a decade earlier and rescued Clooney from the crash and burn of (shudder) Batman & Robin.  Solaris was George’s first attempt to stretch himself in a fully ‘serious’ role, and the Oceans films gave them both a franchise strong enough to recover from the disappointment of The Good German.

1. Martin Scorsese & Robert De Niro

Mean Streets (1973), Taxi Driver (1976), New York, New York (1977), Raging Bull (1980), The King of Comedy (1983), Goodfellas (1990), Cape Fear (1991), Casino (1995)

I do so hate to be predictable, but really it couldn’t have been anyone else, could it?  Never before or since has there been such a holy matrimony of star and director working together in tandem at the top of their respective games.  The movies are as iconic as the lead characters (or show-off support in the case of Mean Streets’ Johnny), and that many of their films regularly make best-ever lists is a testament to duo's combined prowess.  As a footnote, Marty seems to have dumped Bobby for his new favourite, Leo – one more film together would have made them eligible for this list.