The 10 Best Harvey Keitel Movies, Ranked (According to IMDB)

Award-winning actor and producer Harvey Keitel has starred in some of the most recognizable and influential films of all time. Keitel has been a pinnacle for excellence in acting for over fifty years and has since gone on to work with some of the most renowned filmmakers in cinema such as Martin Scorsese, Quentin Tarantino, or Ridley Scott.

He is unique in that, though he has numerous starring roles, some of his best work is as a supporting actor, taking a seemingly smaller role and elevating it to one of the best in a film, despite limited screen time. Here are the ten best Harvey Keitel movies.

10 Smoke (1995): 7.4

Smoke is a film that exemplifies, as the tagline would have you know, that “The most precious things are lighter than air”. The independent film follows the lives of a series of characters who are linked together through their visitation of a Brooklyn tobacco shop.

The shop manager Augustus “Augie” Wren is portrayed by Harvey Keitel and was modeled after the owner of Augie’s Jazz Bar, a New York club frequented by writer Paul Auster. The film was met with critical acclaim and would be followed by a sequel titled Blue in the Face, with Keitel reprising his role as Augie.

9 The Duelists (1977): 7.4

Based on the short story entitled “The Duel” by Joseph Conrad, The Duelists is an epic historical drama. The film is the directorial debut of famed filmmaker Ridley Scott and portrays the interconnected lives of two French officers and their numerous passionate duels during the Napoleonic era.

Harvey Keitel portrays the fervent Gabriel Feraud, the antithesis to Armand d’Hubert, played by Keith Carradine. The film was a critical and commercial success with specific praise for its incredible visual elements and authenticity regarding Napoleonic uniform and conduct, as well as period fencing technique.

8 Blue Collar (1978): 7.5

The directorial debut of famed screenwriter and filmmaker Paul Schrader, Blue Collar is a biting crime drama that examines working-class life and unionization. Harvey Keitel stars, alongside Yaphet Kotto and legendary comedian Richard Pryor, as Jerry Bartowski, a white autoworker in Detroit.

The auto working trio becomes fed up with management and the union and resort to robbery to stick it to their higher-ups. The film was a critical success, despite severe onset fighting between the cast and Schrader (who suffered a nervous breakdown during production). It is a favorite movie of filmmaker Spike Lee and musician Bruce Springsteen.

7 The Last Temptation of Christ (1988): 7.6

The Last Temptation of Christ is an epic religious drama written by Paul Schrader and directed by Martin Scorsese based on the novel by Nikos Kazantzakis. Both epic and controversial in every sense, the film depicts the life of Jesus Christ and his struggles against the sins of temptation.

Harvey Keitel plays Judas Iscariot, friend, and disciple of Jesus who tasks him with leading a liberation war against the Romans. The film was a commercial failure but a critical success despite its notorious reputation from Christian religious groups for its fictional exploration of spiritual themes.

6 The Piano (1993): 7.6

An international co-production between Australia and France, The Piano is the only film to win the Palme d’Or (the highest prize awarded at the Cannes Film Festival) that was directed by a woman, Jane Campion, who also wrote the film.

The film is a period drama set in New Zealand during the 1800s about a young mute woman and her rambunctious daughter and their habitation on the New Zealand frontier following the mute woman’s arranged marriage. Harvey Keitel costars as George Baines, forester and former sailor who has adopted many of the local Maori customs and becomes infatuated with the young woman. The film was a critical and commercial blockbuster earning several Academy Awards including Best Original Screenplay.

5 The Irishman (2019): 8.0

The most recent epic crime film by the legendary Martin Scorsese, The Irishman is a semibiographical account of hitman Frank Sheeran and his involvement with the Bufalino crime family and the disappearance of the teamster Jimmy Hoffa in the 1970s.

Keitel costars, among a star-studded cast that includes Robert De Niro, Al Pacino, and Joe Pesci, as Angelo Bruno, the Sicilian mob boss of the Philadelphia crime family. The Irishman has received critical acclaim for its cast, direction, and cinematography, and it earned an impressive ten nominations at the 92nd Academy Awards.

4 The Grand Budapest Hotel (2014): 8.1

Written, produced, and directed by Wes Anderson, The Grand Budapest Hotel is a quaint, star-studded dramatic comedy about a concierge and lobby boy who must come together in order to prove the innocence of the meticulous concierge who has been framed for the murder of one of his hotel guests.

Keitel shines amongst the incredible cast as Ludwig, the leader of a group of inmates where the hotel concierge M. Gustave is imprisoned. The Grand Budapest Hotel was a critical and commercial smash hit, earning more than six times its budget and nine Academy Award nominations, winning four. This April the film is scheduled for a special edition release by the Criterion Collection.

3 Reservoir Dogs (1992): 8.3

The full-length feature debut of legendary filmmaker Quentin Tarantino, Reservoir Dogs is one of the greatest independent films of all time. The film depicts six criminals known to each other only by their colorful aliases and their attempt to commit a jewelry store heist, which goes horribly amiss.

Harvey Keitel costars as Mr. White, an older more practical member of the team of thieves. The film was a modest success initially but has since become regarded as a milestone of independent cinema, especially in the wake of Tarantino’s continued success as a film auteur. The violent crime depicted in the film spurned numerous walkouts from audiences at initial screenings of which Tarantino has said, “It happens at every single screening…That’s OK. It’s not their cup of tea. But I am affecting them”.

2 Taxi Driver (1976): 8.3

The neo-noir psychological thriller Taxi Driver can be called one of the most culturally significant films of all time. The film, set in the depraved world of politics and crime in 1975, depicts the descent into madness of a lonely Vietnam veteran turned New York City cab driver named Travis Bickle. Keitel’s role as Sport, a pimp for underage prostitutes, is both disturbing and enthralling, a description that can be used for the entirety of the film.

Taxi Driver is another collaboration between writer Paul Schrader and director Martin Scorsese and was a critical and commercial success, often lauded as one of the greatest films of all time. It was nominated for four Academy Awards and won the prestigious Palme d’Or at the 1976 Cannes Film Festival.

1 Pulp Fiction (1994): 8.9

Written and directed as the second film by Quentin Tarantino, Pulp Fiction has been called, due to its development, huge marketing and profitability, and distribution, the greatest independent film of all time. The film now famous for its nonlinear storyline recounts the exploits of two hired killers Jules and Vincent, prizefighter Butch, and diner holdups Pumpkin and Honey Bunny.

Harvey Keitel portrays Winston Wolfe, a cool as ice cleaner who helps Jules and Vincent out of a predicament. Keitel, who was instrumental in the production for Reservoir Dogs had his part written specifically for him. Tarantino has called Keitel, “my favorite actor since I was 16 years old”. Pulp Fiction was a critical and commercial blockbuster and has since been lauded as one of the best films in modern cinematic history.

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