Andy Garcia's 10 Best Movies, Ranked

Since Andy Garcia has been acting since the late 1970s, chances are that you've seen him in a number of projects over this time. A hard-working man who tends to turn up in multiple projects per year, Garcia has explored just about every genre you can name, and found success in many of them. Because of this, he's a guy who can just as believably appear in "The Pink Panther 2" opposite Steve Martin as he can join the musclebound nostalgia train of "Exp4ndables" — all while also acting in prestige dramas, goofy blockbusters, and ambitious indie projects, no less.

In other words, there's no telling where Garcia will turn up, and with over 100 movies and TV shows in his résumé, finding a collection of his best work can be quite an ordeal. For fans who are looking for the ultimate Andy Garcia experience, here's a look at his 10 best movies.

Objectively speaking, there are many movies out there that are better than "Things to Do in Denver When You're Dead." However, when you judge it by its Andy Garcia-related merits alone, there's no question that it belongs on a list of the actor's finest work. Gary Fleder's 1995 film is one of the many ensemble crime dramas that emerged in the wake of Quentin Tarantino's one-two punch of "Reservoir Dogs" and "Pulp Fiction." However, despite its stellar cast, the movie relegates people like Christopher Walken, William Forsythe, Steve Buscemi, Christopher Lloyd, Treat Williams, Steve Buscemi, and Bill Nunn to supporting roles while keeping the spotlight staunchly on Garcia's Jimmy "The Saint" Tosnia.

Jimmy is a suave former gangster who's forced back into the mob life for a particularly unsavory mission by a nasty crime boss (Walken). Things go spectacularly awry, and while Jimmy's life is spared as long as he leaves Denver for good, the crime lord condemns his criminal friends to violent deaths at the hands of a deadly assassin, Mr. Shhh (Buscemi). The name of the movie is a pretty good hint as to how Jimmy takes this news, and capers and shenanigans follow.

"Things to Do in Denver When You're Dead" is a peculiar combination of colorful, Tarantino-style characters and a moody march toward the inevitable, with Garcia's performance as Jimmy as the glue. This isn't the actor's only time working with an ensemble cast, but it's arguably the finest example of his solemn charisma being such a crucial component of the whole.

As many movies on this list show, Andy Garcia often plays suave criminals and other shady characters. The 2009 comedy-drama "City Island," however, has him playing almost the exact opposite type of role. Garcia is Vince Rizzo, a mild-mannered prison guard and aspiring actor who finds to his shock that he has a secret son ... who just so happens to be one of the prisoners he's supposed to guard. Combine this with the series of other secrets his family members are juggling, and the movie becomes a hilarious, complex web of stunning lies and shocking revelations.

Raymond de Felitta's critic-approved film may have a small scale, but it also has heart to spare. Garcia himself certainly believed in the film; apart from starring in "City Island," he also produced the movie and helped secure its stellar cast of names, like Alan Arkin and Julianna Margulies. Incidentally, the film is also an opportunity to see Garcia act with his real-life daughter, Dominik Garcia-Lorido, who plays his character's daughter Vivian.

A relatively recent addition to Andy Garcia's filmography, Michelle Danner's 2023 movie "Miranda's Victim" is a crime drama biopic about the Miranda v. Arizona case that led to the creation of the Miranda warning. Garcia plays Alvin Moore in a cast that seems almost too star-studded for such a relatively low-key legal drama, including the likes of Donald Sutherland, Abigail Breslin, Kyle MacLahlan, Emily VanCamp, and Luke Wilson. 

Viewers and critics have both enjoyed "Miranda's Victim," and while the heavy-hitting movie is just one of the many examples of Garcia's ensemble cast work, this particular team of thespians was custom-designed to portray this important story. "It was one of those things where the casting fell in place beautifully," director Danner said in an interview with MovieWeb. "I certainly had a vision for it. I wanted those actors because it's an important story. So it had to be played by these actors."

In 2018, Andy Garcia joined forces with Peter Dinklage and Jamie Dornan for Sacha Gervasi's HBO drama film, "My Dinner with Hervé." The movie is inspired by the life of actor Hervé Villechaize (Dinklage), who ends up having a wild night out with journalist Danny Tate (Dornan) after their interview meeting goes terribly awry.

Garcia plays a major supporting role as Villechaize's "Fantasy Island" co-star, Ricardo Montalbán. The movie's present day is set during Villechaize's post-"Fantasy Island" era, so Garcia's Montalbán only appears during flashbacks. Since the real "Fantasy Island" involved Villechaize getting fired and Dinklage's take on the actor is fond of tall tales, this could potentially turn Garcia's character into the viciously scheming antagonist of the movie. However, "My Dinner with Hervé" defuses the fictional Villechaize's attempts to give Montalbán a historical villain upgrade, so audiences are free to enjoy Garcia's characteristically convincing take on the actor and his mannerisms.

In terms of pure recognition, it's hard to point to a better-known Andy Garcia role than casino owner Terry Benedict in "Ocean's Eleven." Since the movie revolves around a gang of thieves, it's important to give them a target who's so villainous and unlikeable that the audience can't help but root for the crooks. Garcia fully understands the assignment. As a suave, dead-eyed control machine, Benedict is the perfect antithesis to the roguish charm of Danny Ocean (George Clooney) and Rusty Ryan (Brad Pitt), and the fact that the Bellagio owner is in a relationship with Danny's ex-wife Tess (Julia Roberts) adds a deeply personal element to their animosity.

The ending of "Ocean's Eleven" hinges entirely on Danny's elaborately designed, star-studded heist, and Garcia more than lives up to the task of portraying Benedict as an intelligent, extremely prepared antagonist who poses a genuine danger to everyone involved. His impact is so large that, despite being soundly defeated in the first film, he returns for both sequels — even joining the heist crew in "Ocean's Thirteen."

Brian De Palma's acclaimed 1987 crime drama "The Untouchables" once again finds Andy Garcia in a movie that's filled to the brim with famous faces. This time, he plays expert marksman George Stone, who joins Eliot Ness (Kevin Costner), Jim Malone (Sean Connery), and Oscar Wallace (Charles Martin Smith) on the titular special police team. Their mission: to battle Al Capone's (Robert De Niro) prohibition-era reign of terror.

A fresh-faced rookie cop who turns out to be the team's biggest asset in physically fighting Chicago's infamous gangsters, Garcia's character is a key figure in many of the movie's most important moments. He's particularly significant to the film's pivotal Union Station shootout scene, where he single-handedly saves the situation more than once — and even gets to catch that famous baby pram rolling down the stairs.

The 1988 biopic "Stand and Deliver" is an award-winning drama about inspirational Los Angeles high school teacher Jaime Escalante (an Academy Award-nominated Edward James Olmos) and the way he clashes with and ultimately inspires his underperforming students. The critically acclaimed film focuses on the difficult early days of Escalante's successful methods and programs before they became famous, and as such, it's only fitting that the Educational Testing Service — which is wary of the school because of its consistently low test performance — acts as the film's final "villain." The organization is represented by Andy Garcia's Dr. Ramirez, who's decidedly not a fan of Escalante and his methods. 

"Stand and Deliver" is easily one of the better movies on our list, and if we judged films purely by their objective merits alone, it would probably rank higher than this. However, the strictly Andy Garcia-centric nature of this list prevents the movie from soaring into a higher spot since, at the end of the day, his role is fairly small. 

Is "The Godfather Part III" the best movie in the mafia-themed series? Not even close. But is the ending of "The Godfather" trilogy just about the best possible film to watch Andy Garcia give the performance of a lifetime? Absolutely.

The third installment of Francis Ford Coppola's iconic mafia movie series sees Michael Corleone (Al Pacino) seated firmly on the Corleone family's patriarchal throne, meddling with the Vatican's business, and clashing with fellow mobster Ozzie Altobello (Eli Wallach). It also heavily focuses on Garcia's Vincent Mancini, Sonny Corleone's (James Caan) illegitimate son who becomes Michael's protégé and ultimately takes over the family as Vincent Corleone.

Garcia was already in Paramount Pictures' good graces when he landed the highly sought-after role by winning over Coppola in his last-minute screen test. In a 2020 interview with Entertainment Weekly, the actor reflected on the connection he felt to "The Godfather" universe, which made him feel the role of Vincent truly belonged to him. "I had prepared for that part all my life, just reading the novel and watching the other two movies hundreds and hundreds of times, so I just felt a connection," he said. "I knew who this family was, I knew this world. I felt that I was ready to play him. I felt confident, and once I got the opportunity I just jumped in." Considering that Garcia received an Academy Award nomination for his performance, it's safe to say he was right to be confident.

2020's "The Godfather, Coda: The Death of Michael Corleone" is effectively Francis Ford Coppola's comparatively streamlined director's cut of "The Godfather Part III." If you ask critics and audiences, it's also vastly superior to the original version and thus gets its own nod on this list. As far as Andy Garcia's Vincent goes, the story remains much the same. However, there are several differences; most notoriously, "The Godfather, Coda" doesn't show the most important moment in "The Godfather Part III" — Michael Corleone's death.

In the aforementioned Entertainment Weekly interview, Garcia gave his own thoughts about the way he feels the new version compares to the original "Part III" and noted that, as far as he's concerned, the newer cut very much justifies its existence. "There's a clarity to this narrative now that has helped the movie be seen and enjoyed in a different way and gives it a whole 'nother power," he said.

2020 was a very good year for Andy Garcia. In addition to the release of "The Godfather, Coda: The Death of Michael Corleone," which revisited his Oscar-nominated performance as the next Corleone family godfather in line, he also appeared in what may very well be his finest, most nuanced film yet: "Words on Bathroom Walls." The coming-of-age movie tells the story of high school student Adam Petrazelli (Charlie Plummer), who has to learn to cope with his newly diagnosed schizophrenia and its symptoms — as well as the many other things a teen of his age has to figure out, including relationships and future career plans. Garcia plays Adam's closest adult confidant, Father Patrick, though the star is rendered nearly unrecognizable by a pair of glasses, a thick grey beard, and a priest's collar.

The movie's compassionate tone and its ability to combine classic teen rom-com elements with an inclusive depiction of mental health were instrumental in Garcia's decision to take the role. "I enjoyed the script, it was very well done," he said in an interview with Forbes. "It sheds light onto the issue of mental illness and is aimed at a younger generation. I thought if we can execute this right, we might be able to help — not just the people who have it, but also the people trying to understand them. That's something I could get behind. Also, I've never played a priest before, so that was attractive."

If you or someone you know needs help with mental health, please contact the Crisis Text Line by texting HOME to 741741, call the National Alliance on Mental Illness helpline at 1-800-950-NAMI (6264), or visit the National Institute of Mental Health website.