# Best movie duology? **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [December 2, 2015, 1:20am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-movie-duology/739177 "2015-12-02T01:20:54Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![DCnDC](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dcndc/32/2842_2.png) [@DCnDC](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DCnDC)\ **Post date:** [December 2, 2015, 1:20am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-movie-duology/739177/1 "2015-12-02T01:20:54Z")
There are tons of “best movie trilogy” threads and lists, but what about series with only 2 movies? For reference, [here’s a handy list](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_film_series_with_two_entries) (wikipedia). There’s a whole lot of “major release flop, low-budget straight-to-video/made for TV sequel” in this category, but there are still some standouts, i.e. _28 Days/Weeks Later_ and _48/Another 48 Hours_ stick out just on the first page. ---
**Author:** ![Thudlow\_Boink](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/thudlow_boink/32/320_2.png) [@Thudlow\_Boink](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Thudlow_Boink)\ **Post date:** [December 2, 2015, 1:28am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-movie-duology/739177/2 "2015-12-02T01:28:12Z")
Unless I’m missing a better one, I’m going to have to vote for _Bill & Ted_. ---
**Author:** ![DCnDC](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dcndc/32/2842_2.png) [@DCnDC](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DCnDC)\ **Post date:** [December 2, 2015, 1:29am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-movie-duology/739177/3 "2015-12-02T01:29:10Z")
> [@Thudlow\_Boink](#): > > Unless I’m missing a better one, I’m going to have to vote for _Bill & Ted_. Good one! ---
**Author:** ![Little\_Nemo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/little_nemo/32/3120_2.png) [@Little\_Nemo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Little_Nemo)\ **Post date:** [December 2, 2015, 1:32am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-movie-duology/739177/4 "2015-12-02T01:32:44Z")
I give _Jean de Florette_ and _Manon of the Spring_ credit. They were two good films that worked well together but was each able to stand up its own. And while they were critical and popular successes, they didn’t go to the well again (no pun intended) to try to make a third film. ---
**Author:** ![Wendell\_Wagner](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/8491ac/32.png) [@Wendell\_Wagner](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Wendell_Wagner)\ **Post date:** [December 2, 2015, 1:37am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-movie-duology/739177/5 "2015-12-02T01:37:41Z")
I don’t know if this counts, but _The Godfather_ and _The Godfather Part II_ are generally considered among the greatest films ever made. Unfortunately, there’s also _The Godfather Part III_. This is not generally considered to be as good. Frances Ford Coppola has said that he thinks that _The Godfather_ and _The Godfather Part II_ should be consider the only two films in the series. He has said that _The Godfather Part III_ should be considered just an epilogue to the series. ---
**Author:** ![Mahaloth](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mahaloth/32/1079_2.png) [@Mahaloth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mahaloth)\ **Post date:** [December 2, 2015, 1:40am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-movie-duology/739177/6 "2015-12-02T01:40:11Z")
> [@Wendell\_Wagner](#): > > I don’t know if this counts, but _The Godfather_ and _The Godfather Part II_ are generally considered among the greatest films ever made. Unfortunately, there’s also _The Godfather Part III_. This is not generally considered to be as good. Frances Ford Coppola has said that he thinks that _The Godfather_ and _The Godfather Part II_ should be consider the only two films in the series. He has said that _The Godfather Part III_ should be considered just an epilogue to the series. When did Francis Ford Coppola say that? ---
**Author:** ![silenus](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/silenus/32/166_2.png) [@silenus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/silenus)\ **Post date:** [December 2, 2015, 1:56am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-movie-duology/739177/7 "2015-12-02T01:56:35Z")
I have a personal weakness for _American Graffiti/More American Graffiti_. Great soundtracks, and the second movie gave a lot more depth to the epilog of the first. Richard Dreyfuss was too big to come back, but everybody else did. ---
**Author:** ![The\_Other\_Waldo\_Pepper](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/the_other_waldo_pepper/32/12370_2.png) [@The\_Other\_Waldo\_Pepper](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/The_Other_Waldo_Pepper)\ **Post date:** [December 2, 2015, 2:02am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-movie-duology/739177/8 "2015-12-02T02:02:18Z")
Airplane/Airplane II. ---
**Author:** ![snowthx](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/snowthx/32/10660_2.png) [@snowthx](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/snowthx)\ **Post date:** [December 2, 2015, 2:02am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-movie-duology/739177/9 "2015-12-02T02:02:38Z")
What, no _Ace Ventura: Pet Detective_, and _Ace Ventura: When Nature Calls_? Oh, I see there is a 3rd one without Jim Carrey not worth mentioning. ---
**Author:** ![The\_Tooth](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/c67d28/32.png) [@The\_Tooth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/The_Tooth)\ **Post date:** [December 2, 2015, 2:04am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-movie-duology/739177/10 "2015-12-02T02:04:12Z")
Kill Bill. ---
**Author:** ![Defensive\_Indifference](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/defensive_indifference/32/6502_2.png) [@Defensive\_Indifference](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Defensive_Indifference)\ **Post date:** [December 2, 2015, 2:42am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-movie-duology/739177/11 "2015-12-02T02:42:18Z")
It’s been years since I saw it, but I remember thinking “The Color of Money” was not great, but not bad. “The Hustler”, though, was a masterpiece. The greatness of the first spills over and fills in the deficiencies of the second. Cumulatively, its a great duology. ---
**Author:** ![Rhiannon8404](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/rhiannon8404/32/17929_2.png) [@Rhiannon8404](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rhiannon8404)\ **Post date:** [December 2, 2015, 3:08am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-movie-duology/739177/12 "2015-12-02T03:08:32Z")
> [@The\_Tooth](#): > > Kill Bill. This is the first one I thought of. Definitely one of the best. ---
**Author:** ![Trinopus](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/2bfe46/32.png) [@Trinopus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Trinopus)\ **Post date:** [December 2, 2015, 3:09am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-movie-duology/739177/13 "2015-12-02T03:09:59Z")
This only sorta counts, because the two movies aren’t formally related, just tonally similar, both written by Neil Simon, and with Peter Falk in similar roles: [Murder by Death](http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0074937/) and [The Cheap Detective](http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0077321/?ref_=fn_al_tt_1). Murder by Death is my favorite movie, ever, and The Cheap Detective is very nearly as good. Peter Falk was a bloomin’ genius. ---
**Author:** ![Horatio\_Hellpop](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/e5b9ba/32.png) [@Horatio\_Hellpop](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Horatio_Hellpop)\ **Post date:** [December 2, 2015, 3:10am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-movie-duology/739177/14 "2015-12-02T03:10:00Z")
**The Mark of Zorro** and **Don Q Son of Zorro** , Douglas Fairbanks’ two shots at the character. Also, Richard Lester’s **The Three Musketeers** and **The Four Musketeers** , though admittedly they adapted halves of the same novel. This was my favorite cast for these characters, Michael York and Oliver Reed _et al_. The first duology was **The Birth of a Nation** and **The Fall of a Nation**. They don’t get my nomination, not only because I never saw the second part. ---
**Author:** ![Wendell\_Wagner](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/8491ac/32.png) [@Wendell\_Wagner](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Wendell_Wagner)\ **Post date:** [December 2, 2015, 7:37am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-movie-duology/739177/15 "2015-12-02T07:37:19Z")
Mahaloth writes: \> When did Francis Ford Coppola say that? If you Google on the terms “Coppola”, “_The Godfather III_”, and “epilogue”, you’ll get a slew of references to how Coppola has said that the first two films should be considered a series and the third one just an epilogue. Some of those references says specifically that Coppola said this in the director’s commentary to the DVD’s of the films. I’ve never listened to that commentary, so I can’t attest to it. The references to what Coppola supposedly said claim that Coppola says that he and Puzo wanted to title the third film _The Death of Michael Corleone_, but Paramount refused to allow them to do so. Some references say that the TV re-editing of the first two films, usually referred to as _The Godfather Saga_ or _The Godfather: The Complete Novel for Television_, which has some additions of scenes cut from those films, ought to be considered the definitive version of those two films and that _The Godfather Part III_ is just a later afterthought. And that’s the limit of my knowledge of the subject. There’s a lot of material published on those movies, little of which have I read. If you want to know more, you’ll have to do that reading yourself. ---
**Author:** ![Terminus\_Est](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/terminus_est/32/3087_2.png) [@Terminus\_Est](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Terminus_Est)\ **Post date:** [December 2, 2015, 7:42am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-movie-duology/739177/16 "2015-12-02T07:42:22Z")
The correct answer is _Breakin’_ and _Breakin’ 2: Electric Boogaloo_. ---
**Author:** ![Derleth](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/b9e5f3/32.png) [@Derleth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Derleth)\ **Post date:** [December 2, 2015, 7:59am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-movie-duology/739177/17 "2015-12-02T07:59:08Z")
> [@Terminus\_Est](#): > > The correct answer is _Breakin’_ and _Breakin’ 2: Electric Boogaloo_. Perhaps followed by _Blacula_ and _Scream Blacula Scream_. ---
**Author:** ![Les\_Espaces\_Du\_Sommeil](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/les_espaces_du_sommeil/32/308_2.png) [@Les\_Espaces\_Du\_Sommeil](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Les_Espaces_Du_Sommeil)\ **Post date:** [December 2, 2015, 8:27am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-movie-duology/739177/18 "2015-12-02T08:27:15Z")
> [@Little\_Nemo](#): > > I give _Jean de Florette_ and _Manon of the Spring_ credit. They were two good films that worked well together but was each able to stand up its own. And while they were critical and popular successes, they didn’t go to the well again (no pun intended) to try to make a third film. Which makes sense since they’re based on a [two-novel series](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Water_of_the_Hills) by **Marcel Pagnol**. ---
**Author:** ![GuanoLad](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/guanolad/32/42_2.png) [@GuanoLad](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GuanoLad)\ **Post date:** [December 2, 2015, 8:53am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-movie-duology/739177/19 "2015-12-02T08:53:49Z")
_Gremlins_ and _Gremlins: The New Batch_ are both great, neither one a dud. ---
**Author:** ![Dave\_Hartwick](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/7feea3/32.png) [@Dave\_Hartwick](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dave_Hartwick)\ **Post date:** [December 2, 2015, 9:20am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-movie-duology/739177/20 "2015-12-02T09:20:13Z")
I’m not a fan of the second one but Kick Ass and Kick Ass 2 are notable. The Godfather and Part II was the first thing that came to mind, though. [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-movie-duology/739177.md?page=2)