The Best Donald Sutherland Movies (And How To Watch Them)
On Thursday, June 20, 2024, the world lost Donald Sutherland, who passed away following a long, unspecified illness at the age of 88. The award-winning veteran actor, and father of Kiefer Sutherland, lent his talents to a wide, eclectic variety of titles — including some acclaimed dramas, some uproarious comedies, and even some of the best horror movies of all time. For this list, however, we wanted to pay tribute to the actor’s legacy by focusing primarily on his most revered and memorable contributions to cinema with our picks for the best Donald Sutherland movies, below.
The Dirty Dozen (1967)
A unruly Army major (played by Lee Marvin) is tasked with turning a group of violent convicts into soldiers for an operation involving the assassination of multiple Nazi officers during World War II.
Why it is one of the best Donald Sutherland movies: One of Sutherland’s first major roles in a motion picture was Vernon L. Pinkley in one of the all-time best war movies, The Dirty Dozen — a highly influential, action-packed blast that also stars legends like Ernest Borgnine, Charles Bronson, and Telly Savalas, to name a few.
Rent or buy The Dirty Dozen on Amazon.
Buy The Dirty Dozen on Blu-ray on Amazon.
M*A*S*H (1970)
The staff members from a military field hospital turn to humor and immature behaviors in their downtime to keep their spirits up during the Korean War.
Why it is one of the best Donald Sutherland movies: Just a few years after The Dirty Dozen, Sutherland led a film that depicted wartime from a considerably lighter perspective — director Robert Altman’s Oscar-winning satire, M*A*S*H — as Hawkeye Pierce, before Alan Alda succeeded the role in the hit TV series adaptation.
Rent or buy M*A*S*H on Amazon.
Buy M*A*S*H on DVD on Amazon.
Kelly's Heroes (1970)
A U.S. Army lieutenant (played by Clint Eastwood) puts together a ragtag team of soldiers to steal millions of dollars of gold bullion from the Nazis.
Why it is one of the best Donald Sutherland movies: In the same year as M*A*S*H, Sutherland starred in another funny wartime flick (that also starred The Dirty Dozen’s Telly Savalas) called Kelly’s Heroes, in which he lets his silly comedic sensibilities run wild as an absent-minded tank commander aptly nicknamed “Oddball.”
Rent or buy Kelly's Heroes on Amazon.
Buy Kelly's Heroes on Blu-ray on Amazon.
Don't Look Now (1973)
Hoping to heal from their young daughter’s fatal drowning, a married couple (played by Sutherland and Julie Christie) spends a holiday in Venice, only to see their painful memories continue to haunt them in the form of strange, unexplainable occurrences.
Why it is one of the best Donald Sutherland movies: The first film to solidify Sutherland as a horror movie icon for his time was director Nicolas Roeg’s adaptation of Daphne Du Maurier’s novel, Don’t Look Now, which is remembered as one of the best horror movies of the 1970s for its captivating, suspenseful build-up to its wicked twist ending.
Stream Don't Look Now on Pluto TV.
Rent or buy Don't Look Now on Amazon.
Buy Don't Look Now on Blu-ray on Amazon.
National Lampoon's Animal House (1978)
The members of the rowdy, underachieving Delta Tau Chi retaliate against the authority figures and rival fraternities from Faber College who look down on them in the early 1960s.
Why it is one of the best Donald Sutherland movies: While Sutherland does not play a member of Delta House, he does have a memorable supporting role as a rule-breaking English professor named Dave Jennings in National Lampoon’s Animal House, which is not only considered to be the Citizen Kane of college movies, but one of the best movies of the 1970s, period.
Stream National Lampoon's Animal House on Netflix.
Rent or buy National Lampoon's Animal House on Amazon.
Buy National Lampoon's Animal House on Blu-ray on Amazon.
Invasion Of The Body Snatchers (1978)
A San Francisco health inspector (played by Sutherland) and others begin to suspect that humans are being replaced with emotionless duplicates.
Why it is one of the best Donald Sutherland movies: Sutherland’s Scream King status was even further cemented by his brilliant lead performance in director Philip Kaufman’s thoroughly eerie and expertly paced alien invasion movie classic, Invasion of the Body Snatchers, which some believe is the absolute best adaptation of Jack Finney’s novel out of the many to choose from.
Stream Invasion of the Body Snatchers on Amazon Prime.
Buy Invasion of the Body Snatchers on Blu-ray on Amazon.
Ordinary People (1980)
A married couple (played by Sutherland and Mary Tyler Moore) struggle to keep their family from falling apart in the wake of their older son’s death and their younger son’s (played by Academy Award winner Timothy Hutton) attempt to take his own life.
Why it is one of the best Donald Sutherland movies: Sutherland gives a riveting, devastating performance amongst a cast of performers at the top of their game in the Best Picture Oscar winner, Ordinary People — director Robert Redford’s adaptation of Judith Guest’s heartbreaking novel.
Stream Ordinary People on Max.
Rent or buy Ordinary People on Amazon.
Buy Ordinary People on Blu-ray on Amazon.
JFK (1991)
A New Orleans district attorney (played by Kevin Costner) investigates evidence that potentially links the U.S. Government to the assassination of President John F. Kennedy.
Why it is one of the best Donald Sutherland movies: In director Oliver Stone’s controversial political drama, JFK — Jim Garrison’s search for the truth leads him to have an eye-opening conversation with a high-ranking Washington D.C. insider (played by Sutherland) referring to himself only as “X,” who was inspired by Kennedy’s Chief of Special Operations, L. Fletcher Prouty, according to Publisher’s Weekly.
Rent or buy JFK on Amazon.
Buy JFK on Blu-ray on Amazon.
A Time To Kill (1996)
A Mississippi attorney (played by Matthew McConaughey) and his legal team’s definition of justice is challenged when they agree to defend a Black man (played by Samuel L. Jackson) on trial for killing two white men who violently assaulted his young daughter.
Why it is one of the best Donald Sutherland movies: As renowned civil rights lawyer Lucien Wilbanks, Donald starred alongside his son, Kiefer, for the first time in A Time to Kill — an intense, classic courtroom drama from director Joel Schumacher and based on the book by John Grisham.
Rent or buy A Time to Kill on Amazon.
Buy A Time to Kill on Blu-ray on Amazon.
Cold Mountain (2003)
An injured, North Carolina-based soldier (played by Jude Law) stops at nothing to return home to his lover (played by Nicole Kidman) during the Civil War.
Why it is one of the best Donald Sutherland movies: Sutherland stars in Anthony Minghella’s Oscar-winning adaptation of Charles Frazier’s romantic period novel, Cold Mountain, as Reverend Monroe — the father of Kidman’s character and the local preacher.
Stream Cold Mountain on Amazon Prime.
Stream Cold Mountain on Paramount+.
Buy Cold Mountain on Blu-ray on Amazon.
The Hunger Games Movies (2012-2015)
After participating in annual, deadly competitions, a young woman (played by Academy Award winner Jennifer Lawrence) reluctantly becomes a leading figure in a rebellion against her oppressive, dystopian society.
Why it is one of the best Donald Sutherland movies: Sutherland’s cold and stoic portrayal of Panem president Coriolanus Snow made him a perfect choice to play the main antagonist of the Hunger Games movies — a thrilling, four-part blockbuster franchise based on Suzanne Collins’ popular YA novel series.
Rent or buy the Hunger Games Movies on Amazon.
Buy the Hunger Games Movies on Blu-ray on Amazon.
This the merely the tip of the iceberg of what a profound legacy of cinematic favorites Donald Sutherland leaves behind. He will be greatly missed.
