Robert Duvall Reveals His Two Most Overlooked Films

When Robert Duvall sat down with AV Club in 2022, he was asked to name a couple of movies from his long career that he thought people overlooked. Without hesitation, one title came to mind because he had just caught it on TV that same week.

“I saw a film two nights ago that I had forgotten about called Convicts,” Duvall said. “It’s one of the best performances I’ve ever given.”

Convicts came out in 1991 and was directed by Peter Masterson. It was based on a Horton Foote play from 1977 called Convicts, part of The Orphans’ Home Cycle. The story takes place in Texas in 1902 and follows a boy working with prisoners on a sugarcane plantation that belongs to an aging and confused Civil War veteran.

Duvall played Soll Gautier, the old plantation owner, and starred alongside Lukas Haas, James Earl Jones, Starletta DuPois, and Carlin Glynn.

The other movie Duvall mentioned had more success than Convicts. In fact, it even brought him an Oscar nomination for Best Actor. That film was The Apostle, released in 1997. This project meant a lot to him because he had written the script back in the 1980s but had to fight for years to get it made. Not only did he star in it, but he also directed it.

The Apostle tells the story of a troubled preacher and explores themes of faith, sin, and redemption. Critics loved it.

Roger Ebert gave it four out of four stars, calling it “a lesson in how movies can escape from convention and penetrate the hearts of rare characters.” Entertainment Weekly praised it as well, saying it was “a seamless match of strong artistic vision and physical performance.”

The movie won the Independent Spirit Award for Best Film in 1997 and was even screened at the Cannes Film Festival the following year. It currently holds a very strong score on Rotten Tomatoes and Metacritic.

The film also struck a chord with religious voices. Theologian Harvey Cox said it was “the most explicit treatment of evangelical religious sensibility I’ve seen.” Evangelist Billy Graham even sent Duvall a personal note thanking him for what he had done with the story.

Duvall remembered another special reaction. “I got a terrific letter from Marlon Brando,” he said with a smile. “I showed him that and he really appreciated it.”

So when the legendary actor was asked to reflect on his career, he didn’t point to his most famous films. Instead, he chose two very different ones: the quiet 1991 drama Convicts, which he calls one of his best performances, and his longtime passion project The Apostle, which earned him an Academy Award nomination and the respect of both Hollywood and religious leaders alike.

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