Morgan Freeman’s 10 best movies ranked

Morgan Freeman turns 85 today. The legendary actor has earned widespread critical acclaim and box office success to become one of the most beloved movie stars of all time.

To wish the Tennessee-born Oscar-winner (and 5-time nominee) a happy birthday, we’re sharing our 10 favorite movies from his impressive career, plus a few honorable mentions.

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10) The Lego Movie (2014)

You need something that showcases his vocal talents alone, and why not this surprisingly charming and hilarious animated hit from Phil Lord and Chris Miller, wherein Freeman also unloads his sharp sense of humor as Vitruvius, a blind and elderly wizard-like Master Builder who seeks to guide Chris Pratt’s sweet but dimwitted hero he thinks he might mistake for “the Special.”

9) Robin Hood: Prince of Thieves (1991)

This wildly entertaining retelling of the classic Robin Hood story boasts a fun cast led by Kevin Costner in the lead role, along with Morgan Freeman as the wise and loyal Azeem Edin Bashir Al Bakir, who wields a giant sword. Freeman lends needed gravitas to this otherwise somewhat corny but amusing early ‘90s blockbuster, in which he and Costner share impressive chemistry.

8) Batman Begins (2005)

If you can land Freeman in your big action spectacle, you do it. The prestige points shoot it up the board. You could pick any film from the Christopher Nolan’s Dark Knight trilogy, in which Freeman plays Lucius Fox, the high-ranking Wayne Enterprises employee experimenting in the company’s Applied Science Division to create a few supplies that help Bruce in his late night endeavors. But we’ll go with the first outing, wherein they establish their working relationship and Fox hands over the Tumbler.

7) Driving Miss Daisy (1989)

Freeman earned an Oscar nomination here playing the chauffeur to Jessica Tandy’s elderly Jewish woman in the 1940s American South. The film won best picture among other awards, thanks in large part to the interplay of its two stars. One-third of Freeman’s immaculate run in 1989.

6) Glory

Edward Zwick’s powerful Civil War drama follows one of the first military units of the Union Army to consist entirely of Black men (except for its officers), as told from the point of view of Colonel Shaw (Matthew Broderick), its white commanding officer. Slightly underrated now, it explores how racial and other fundamental differences fall by the wayside once men enter the field of combat together in honor of something much greater. Filled with rousing performances, namely from Oscar-winner Denzel Washington, plus James Horner’s note-perfect musical score. An elder among the recruits, Freeman’s John Rawlins is soon promoted to the rank of sergeant major.

5) Million Dollar Baby (2004)

Clint Eastwood’s second best picture win in 12 years tells the touching story of a grizzled and tortured boxing trainer who seeks atonement by helping an underdog amateur boxer achieve her dream of becoming a professional. This underdog tale goes down a road few might expect, but it delivers on Eastwood’s brand of quiet sentiment and features a lovely musical score by the director. Freeman finally won an Oscar as Eddie “Scrap-Iron” Dupris, Eastwood’s gym assistant and a former boxer who teaches Anthony Mackie’s bully a much-needed lesson late in the movie.

4) Lean on Me (1989)

The dedicated but tyrannical Joe Clark is appointed the principal of a decaying inner-city school he is determined to improve by any and all means. Freeman delivers a towering performance as Clark, oozing charisma and integrity at very turn of this true story drama directed by “Rocky” and “The Karate Kid” filmmaker John G. Avildsen.

3) Unforgiven (1992)

Clint Eastwood’s dreary Western (or as many call it, an “anti-western”) about a retired killer who takes on one more job years after he had turned to farming. Arguably Eastwood’s finest work as a director and actor, in which he plays the conflicted and aged outlaw William Munny, who thought he’d left behind a life of murder before it found him in his later years. Beautifully shot, it features terrific supporting performances from Gene Hackman (who also won an Oscar), and Freeman as Ned Logan, Munny’s friend and fellow retired outlaw who joins him on his fateful journey.

2) Seven (1995)

Two detectives, a rookie and a veteran, hunt a serial killer who uses the seven deadly sins as his motives in David Fincher’s masterpiece starring Brad Pitt and Freeman, the latter of whom as the world-weary detective whose looming retirement can’t come soon enough. As exciting as it is unsettling, Fincher’s thriller remains the best of its kind, largely thanks to a career-best performance from one of the finest actors we’ve ever seen.

1) The Shawshank Redemption

Freeman earned another Oscar nomination starring opposite Tim Robbins, the two of them playing two imprisoned men who bond over a number of years, finding solace and eventual redemption through acts of common decency in this American classic from director Frank Darabont. As Ellis Boyd “Red” Redding, the only guilty man in Shawshank State Prison, Freeman squeezes every last drop of integrity and wisdom into a man who gave up on home until a new friendship found him and renewed his sense of optimism. There are narrations, and then there is this Morgan Freeman narration. As satisfying a film experience as you’ll ever enjoy.

Honorable mentions: Street Smart (1987), Outbreak (1995), Amistad (1997), Bruce Almighty (2003), Gone Baby Gone (2007), Invictus (2009)