Alan Rickman feels as though he’s one of those actors just about everyone likes. It’s hard to dislike someone who always brought their A-game to every movie they appeared in, and also starred in various popular movies. More often than not, Rickman was one of the best parts of any movie he was featured in, regardless of the size of the role he played (and he was almost always relegated to supporting performances).
He had a legendary debut performance, and then remained active – and acclaimed – until his passing in 2016, not long before he would’ve turned 70. His legacy is likely eternal, though, as are some of the truly great films he ever appeared in, with the best of the best ranked below, starting with the good and ending with the great.
10 ‘Eye in the Sky’ (2015)
Director: Gavin Hood
The title “Eye in the Sky” is associated with two Alans, now, as the Alan Parsons Project had a famous song/album called “Eye in the Sky,” and 2015’s Eye in the Sky ended up having the last live-action role Alan Rickman played. Narratively, it concerns a certain kind of modern warfare – that involving drones – with various characters impacted by certain ethical issues such fighting provokes.
It’s a somewhat flawed movie, as far as the screenplay and technical qualities go, but the acting kind of elevates things, transforming Eye in the Sky into a pretty good war/thriller film. Rickman’s strong, with other cast members – like Helen Mirren, Aaron Paul, and Barkhad Abdi – also turning in fine performances, making the whole thing more than watchable, and worth checking out for anyone intrigued.
- Release Date
- March 11, 2016
- Runtime
- 102 minutes
Rent on Apple TV
9 ‘Robin Hood: Prince of Thieves’ (1991)
Director: Kevin Reynolds
Okay, so Robin Hood: Prince of Thieves is no masterpiece, and was a worthy target for Mel Brooks to satirize, but the film isn’t devoid of positive qualities. As far as Robin Hood-centered movies go, it’s neither the best nor the worst, but if the topic of conversation relates to Alan Rickman, it’s a movie worth mentioning, because he’s the best part of the entire thing.
Portraying the Sheriff of Nottingham and having fun with chewing scenery as a deliciously evil individual, Rickman’s scenes can continually be relied on here to inject the film with a good bit of energy, which is certainly needed, in parts. Relating to Kevin Costner specifically, it might not be one of his finest hours, but as far as iconic Rickman performances go, Robin Hood: Prince of Thieves deserves a mention.
Robin Hood: Prince of Thieves
- Release Date
- June 14, 1991
- Director
- Kevin Reynolds
- Runtime
- 143
8 ‘Love Actually’ (2003)
Director: Richard Curtis
Though it’s not a consistent film (a seeming inevitability, when you’ve got a movie made up of a bunch of short stories that only sometimes interconnect), Love Actually does actually work a good deal of the time. It’s a movie that’s best enjoyed around Christmas, feeling breezy, sometimes funny, occasionally a little cringe-worthy, and also admirably honest at points, by rom-com standards, too.
One couple focused on throughout Love Actually are played by Alan Rickman and Emma Thompson, and both have some of the best material to work with here. Their story stands out for being pretty raw and downbeat, contrasting nicely with the fluffier and/or raunchier stories being told within this film. Also, it’s far from the only film the two actors both happened to star in.
Love Actually
- Release Date
- November 14, 2003
- Director
- Richard Curtis
- Runtime
- 135 minutes
7 ‘Truly Madly Deeply’ (1990)
Director: Anthony Minghella
Taking a strange premise and making it work surprisingly well, Truly Madly Deeply can best be summarized as a romantic dramedy with some supernatural elements attached, for good measure. It’s about a relationship between a man and a woman that continues after the man has died, because he comes back as a ghost and the two keep sharing their lives/afterlives together.
There’s a zaniness to parts of Truly Madly Deeply, because there’s inevitable humor to be found in a movie like this. At other times, it can be a fairly moving exploration of death and the struggles of moving on, bouncing back and forth quite a bit tonally. Rickman, as the ghost, is as good as you’d expect, and Juliet Stevenson, as his still-living partner, also turns in a strong performance.
Truly Madly Deeply
- Director
- Anthony Minghella
- Cast
- Alan Rickman , Juliet Stevenson , Michael Maloney , Bill Paterson , Christopher Rozycki , David Ryall , Deborah Findlay , Jenny Howe , Carolyn Choa , Keith Bartlett , Stella Maris , Ian Hawkes , Vania Vilers , Arturo Venegas , Richard Syms , Mark Long , Teddy Kempner , Graeme Du Fresne , Frank Baker , Tony Bluto , Awam Amkpa , Hamilton Baillie , Nick Burge , Steven Deproost , Nitin Ganatra
- Runtime
- 106 minutes
Buy on Amazon
6 ‘Sense and Sensibility’ (1995)
Director: Ang Lee
Sense and Sensibility is a well-made Jane Austen film adaptation, satisfying as an expectedly restrained – not to mention prim and proper – romance flick. It centers on a pair of sisters who struggle with the possibility that their family might lose its fortune, which, in turn, is the sort of thing that could then lead to them not being able to find a marriage.
It’s familiar territory for a period drama revolving around romance, but it’s all filmed very well, and it’s also a movie that further shows there might well not be any kind of genre Ang Lee is incapable of tackling. And, like Love Actually, both Emma Thompson and Alan Rickman star in this one, also being joined by a capable cast that includes the likes of Kate Winslet, Hugh Grant, Imelda Staunton, and Hugh Laurie.
Sense and Sensibility
- Release Date
- December 13, 1995
- Runtime
- 136 minutes
5 ‘Dogma’ (1999)
Director: Kevin Smith
Back in the 90s, Kevin Smith wasn’t in a very famous TV show, but he was generally on fire as an independent filmmaker, dropping off more than a little with some less-than-great movies by the 2010s… but, to stay positive, 1999’s Dogma is one of his good ones. It also probably has the wildest premise of any Kevin Smith movie, and that’s saying something, when another one of his films involves a man being turned into a walrus.
In Dogma, two fallen angels try to return to Heaven, and also get wrapped up in a wild plot that involves the potential destruction of life on Earth. Alan Rickman is one of many actors who get to have fun here in a rather goofy/out-there role, and of course he delivers immensely every chance he’s given here, matching the wildness of the film’s overall energy perfectly.
Dogma
- Release Date
- November 12, 1999
- Cast
- Bud Cort , Barret Hackney , Jared Pfennigwerth , Kitao Sakurai , George Carlin , Brian O’Halloran
- Runtime
- 130
Buy on Amazon
4 ‘Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street’ (2007)
Director: Tim Burton
Even those who don’t love musicals might find something to like in Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street, given how refreshingly bloodthirsty and strange it is by musical standards. There is, of course, a ton of singing here, but it’s also a work of gothic horror, following the exploits of two twisted murderers during the Victorian era as they slash their way through a bunch of victims and cook them into pies.
Naturally, Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street also has a good deal of dark comedy throughout, and Alan Rickman – as a corrupt judge whom the title character wants revenge against – is at his best here. For his performance, those given by the rest of the cast, and the style/gloriously twisted energy on offer here, this film’s surprisingly great, by modern musical standards.
- Release Date
- December 20, 2007
- Runtime
- 116 Minutes
3 The ‘Harry Potter’ Series (2001-2011)
Directors: Chris Columbus, Alfonso Cuarón, Mike Newell, David Yates
Alan Rickman is easily one of the best parts of the whole Harry Potter series, and his performance across all eight movies, as Severus Snape, is the one for which he’s probably most well-recognized (the same could probably be said about Michael Gambon). The quantity (again, eight movies released between 2001 and 2011) contributes to this, because Rickman was afforded the opportunity to do a lot with a complex and oftentimes mysterious character.
Snape is one of the best characters, too, and Rickman more than did him justice. Just as it’s hard to single out one Harry Potter movie when acknowledging how great Maggie Smith was as Professor McGonagall, consider this a celebration of every movie that had Rickman playing Snape. Otherwise, this whole ranking would be twice as long, given each movie in the Harry Potter series contains a great Alan Rickman performance.
- Release Date
- November 16, 2001
- Cast
- Daniel Radcliffe , Rupert Grint , Emma Watson , John Cleese , Robbie Coltrane , Warwick Davis , Richard Griffiths , Ian Hart , John Hurt , Alan Rickman , Fiona Shaw , Maggie Smith
- Runtime
- 152 Minutes
2 ‘Galaxy Quest’ (1999)
Director: Dean Parisot
Not content with just doing a quirky fantasy/comedy movie in 1999 (Dogma), Alan Rickman also starred in an iconic sci-fi/comedy that same year: Galaxy Quest. He’s one part of an impressive ensemble here, playing a lofty actor who feels like his role on a Star Trek-like show is beneath him, continually resenting the fact it’s what he’s best known for. Things are made worse when he, and his co-stars, end up getting mistaken for real-life adventurers, and are asked by an alien race to help them in an interplanetary conflict.
It’s a very funny movie, and almost a parody, though it has a certain amount of love for dated science fiction, so the humor never feels mean-spirited. It’s also a technically impressive film for its age, and tells a simple story really well, containing some of the best performances in the respective careers of most actors here (Rickman, Sigourney Weaver, Tim Allen, and Sam Rockwell are all particularly great).
Galaxy Quest
- Release Date
- December 25, 1999
- Runtime
- 102 minutes
1 ‘Die Hard’ (1988)
Director: John McTiernan
You probably knew it was coming. What else could the best Alan Rickman movie be, besides Die Hard? Somehow, this was Rickman’s first-ever performance on film, and it made him a screen legend almost instantly. Hans Gruber is an all-time great movie bad guy, executing a daring robbery while pretending to oversee a group of terrorists, shutting down an entire building on Christmas Eve and almost getting away with his scheme… if not for an equally iconic hero, John McClane.
No matter how many times you watch Die Hard, it’s always exciting, funny, and an overall delight to watch Bruce Willis and Alan Rickman square off against each other, both at the absolute heights of their respective powers. Acting aside, Die Hard is also brilliant and influential as an action/thriller movie; an essential and timeless classic that can count itself as one of the best movies of all time, regardless of genre.
- Release Date
- July 15, 1988
- Runtime
- 132 minutes
