The Apostle — rent or buy from Apple TV+
Robert Duvall wrote, directed and starred in this small but powerful film about Sonny, a Texas preacher whose life is ruined after his angry response to his wife’s infidelity. He changes his name to “the Apostle EF” and escapes to Louisiana, where he seeks to reinvent himself, rededicate himself to the Lord and find some peace.
The long-gestating passion project was inspired by a visit to a Pentecostal chapel in Arkansas in the 1960s. After trying for more than a decade to get financial backing, he decided to finance and direct the film himself.
Carried by a performance that brought all Duvall’s experience to the complex and layered creation of “the Apostle EF”, the film was critically acclaimed and earned the star a best actor Oscar nomination in 1998, which he lost to Jack Nicholson for As Good as it Gets.
Colors — Prime Video
Duvall enjoyed many performances in partnership with actors. This 1988 police procedural, directed by Dennis Hopper, stars Duvall and a young Sean Penn as a veteran Los Angeles Police Department (LAPD) officer and his rookie partner.
The film relaunched Hopper’s directorial career and offered a nuanced perspective on gang violence through its focus on the contrasting approaches of the central pair. Noted for its sympathetic, research-heavy examination of the social factors that contributed to the growth of gang culture, it remains a superior film of the genre.
True Confessions — rent or buy from Apple TV+
Duvall returned to the Godfather franchise as consigliere Tom Hagen for The Godfather Part II in 1974, which featured an Oscar-winning performance from Robert De Niro, but the actors did not share screentime due to its flashback narrative in which De Niro played the younger version of Vito Corleone.
Belgian-born director Ulu Grosbard chose Duvall and De Niro as the leads for 1981 crime thriller True Confessions. Written partly by John Gregory Dunne and his wife, Joan Didion, the film centres on the conflict between two brothers in the 1940s: Duvall’s LAPD detective and De Niro’s ambitious priest. The murder of a young prostitute and the investigation into the murder of a young priest place them on a collision course.
The Killer Elite — rent or buy from Apple TV+
This 1975 action drama, which got a lukewarm reception from critics, reunites Duvall with another Godfather co-star, James Caan, under the direction of Sam Peckinpah. Duvall and Caan star as old friends who make their living as hitmen for a secretive outfit that contracts for the CIA. When one accepts a more lucrative offer from a rival organisation, the former colleagues become deadly rivals in a race against the clock.
Lonesome Dove — YouTube
Arguably the other crowning achievement in Duvall’s storied career was his performance in the critically acclaimed 1989 TV miniseries adaptation of the bestselling western novel by Larry McMurtry. Duvall stars as former Texas Ranger Capt Augustus “Gus” McCrae, the life-loving, womanising half of a partnership with the more stoic, workaholic Capt Woodrow F Call (Tommy Lee Jones), who find themselves on an epic adventure across the American West. It earned record per-episode viewer figures and two 1990 Golden Globes for best miniseries and best actor for Duvall.
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