While I was trying to save money to go to the National Institute of Dramatic Art in Australia I ended up getting all of this experience which meant that by the time I had enough money in the bank to go to school I didn’t really need to go to school anymore.”

“I’m sick to death of famous people standing up and using their celebrity to promote a cause. If I see a particular need, I do try to help. But there’s a lot that can be achieved by putting a check in the right place and shutting up about it.”

“War isn’t just about bravery and courage and jingoism and patriotism. It’s also fundamentally about grief. And the people that go and do the fighting and the dying are never the people who actually benefit from the fighting and the dying.”

Russell Crowe grew up in Australia. He possesses outstanding acting talents which is proven by many prestigious awards and critical acclaims. for the film He was nominated for the Best Actor Award of the Australian Film Institute for The Crossing; this was followed by Proof, which was rewarded with awards for Best Supporting Actor. In 1992, he received another Best Actor Award for this production in Romper Stomper, which work was also awarded the prestigious recognition of the 1993 Seattle International Film Festival.

He debuted in America in 1995 with the western The Quick and the Dead, in which he appeared on the screen in the company of celebrities such as Sharon Stone and Gene Hackman. This was followed by Virtuosity, in which the audience could see him as the partner of Denzel Washington.

Michael Mann shaping for his performance in the production of The Insider – which was based on a true story – he won the Best Actor award of the Los Angeles Film Critics, the Broadcast Film Critics Award, the award of the National Society of Film Critics and the National Board of Review, moreover, he was nominated for Golden Globe and BAFTA.

The real breakthrough in the 2000 super-production, was the Gladiator movie. His outstanding acting ability in this ambitious creation brought him world fame.

Let’s now have a look at the top six movies of this robust Gladiator, who is always ready to surprise us with particular roles:

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6. A Beautiful Mind (Ron Howard, 2001)

Russell Crowe did not get any of the four Oscar awards, but the nomination proves the fact that the Academy appreciates his outstanding performance in this movie. He played the role of a Mathematics genius, John Nash, who gets a  task in the field of decoding, which means a huge challenge for him. But as we know, a brilliant mind is not only a blessing.

It can also be a curse. Nash has to learn how to live together with his inner monsters. Ron Howard acquitted himself well in this movie, it deserves well to watch again a few times! Many people did not understand, how could Russell Crowe turn into a crazy, bearish mathematician from the exuberant Gladiator.

But he plays his role undoubtedly authentically. It turns out at the two third of the movie that the active persons in the movie are just the illusions of the mind and they do not exist in reality. That gives an interesting twist to the story and reminds us of The Sixth Sense a little bit.

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5. American Gangster (Ridley Scott, 2007)

Probably this is one of Ridley Scott’s best movies, the Denzel Washington-Russell Crowe duo provides us a great performance, and the director was also in form. It is a good movie, a powerful drama, with excellent actors’ performance.

Frank Lucas was noticed by nobody until the city was the chauffeur of one of the main black gangsters of the inner city. But when his boss suddenly dies, Frank exploits the rising gap in the power structure and builds his own empire. He creates his personalized version of the American Dream.

Due to his genius and strict business ethic he will be the master of the inner-city drug trade, flooding the streets with cleaner and cheaper stuff. Lucas overreaches the leading syndicates and dominates the city, not just by the well-established network of bribery, but he becomes one of the coolest persons in legal social life as well.

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4. Cinderella Man (Ron Howard, Cliff Hollingsworth, 2005)

Russell Crowe has a bopping movie too, but this is not surprising since he is a real macho.This movie is among the better ones. The story is set in the thirties, during the Great Depression. Braddock’s (Crowe) career is already over – due to a regrettable hand fracture -, but in favor of the support of his family, he has to undertake another match, where in principle he does not have any chance of winning.

But he wins, his career gets a new impulse, and one day he encounters an opponent who he already killed in the ring. This movie among others is about respect, perseverance, pride, and accomplishment. Russell Crowe was able to perfectly identify himself with the role as if it had been invented for him. This sport-film shows another side of the brutality of the fights.

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3. L.A. Confidential (Curtis Hanson, 1997)

Actress Kim Basinger received an Oscar award for this performance, but the young Guy Pearce and Russell Crowe’s play is also nameable and interesting. Kevin Spacey is also impressive. Somebody wants to take over the power in the city of angels, so the two inspectors – who got used to totally different methods – have to learn to cooperate with each other.

This is a strong drama and a really good crime story that was laid in the seventies with a lot of lessons, but we do not lose our sense of reality while we watch this movie.

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2. State of Play (Kevin MacDonald, 2009)

As Ben Affleck is not my favorite character, I also missed to watch the movie, but due to Russell Crowe I was curious enough about it. This thriller is another work among those which depict the dirty, filthy world of politics, that makes some of us so sick and disappointed.

The assistant woman of Stephen Collins, – the representative who is considered probable to win the position of the American president – becomes a victim of a murder.

A reporter, Cal McAffrey (Crowe) is also investigating in a murder case and the strands come together. It was not a huge financial success, even though the movie is quite appraisable. It is really interesting, and certainly is worth a watch!

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1. Master and Commander: The Far Side of the World (Peter Weir, 2003)

The movie begins quite slowly, but in half an hour, we start to get in the flow of the story. The time begins to pass more quickly, we can root for the heroic captain and the crew. We find many spectacular battle scenes, we see Crowe as he fights the bad guys and tenaciously travels. The captain resists the  corrupting effect of power.

His counterpoint is Dr. Stephen Maturin (Paul Bettany), their different temperament is the basis of the conflict. Besides the action, there is also a big emphasis on feelings, sentiments, and human relationships. We become anxious by the successfully created atmosphere of closeness. This movie is a subjective vision of a bygone world, where everyday heroes fight for their survival.

The sound effects of the movie are phenomenal, the squeaking of the drop-kneels, the flapping of the vexils are matchless. It is really scary but  confronts us with the faintness of our life.

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Russel Crowe’s filmography:

YEAR	TITLE	ROLE
2016	The Nice Guys	Jackson Healy
2015	Fathers and Daughters	Jake Davis
2014	The Water Diviner	Connor
2014	Noah	Noah
2014	Winter’s Tale	Pearly Soames
2013	Red Obsession	Narrator
2013	Man of Steel	Jor-El
2013	Broken City	Mayor Nicolas Hostetler
2012	Les Miserables (2012)	Javert
2012	The Man With the Iron Fists	Jack Knife
2010	The Next Three Days	John Brennan
2010	Robin Hood (2010)	Robin Longstride
2009	State of Play	Cal McAffrey
2008	Body of Lies	Ed Hoffman
2007	Tenderness	Lt. Cristofuoro
2007	Bra Boys	Narrator
2007	American Gangster	Richie Roberts
2007	3:10 to Yuma (2007)	Ben Wade
2006	A Good Year	Max Skinner
2005	Cinderella Man	Jim Braddock
2003	Master and Commander: The Far Side of the World	Captain Jack Aubrey
2001	A Beautiful Mind	John Forbes Nash, Jr.
2000	Proof of Life	Terry Thorne
2000	Gladiator	Maximus
1999	The Insider	Jeffrey Wigand
1999	Mystery, Alaska	John Biebe
1997	L.A. Confidential	Bud White
1997	Breaking Up	Steve
1995	The Quick And The Dead	Cort
1994	The Sum Of Us	Jeff Mitchell
1993	Romper Stomper	Hando
1991	Proof (1992)	Andy

Thank you for reading our article about the top six movies of this handsome and strong man. We would be happy if you read our next article too, which will investigate the top six movies of Liam Neeson, the Irish hero.