Beyond Springsteen — The 5 Best Music Biopics Ever Made, Ranked

This weekend, the Boss himself, Bruce Springsteen, gets his own music biopic with Springsteen: Deliver Me from Nowhere.

The Bear‘s Jeremy Allen White plays Springsteen at a pivotal point in the musician’s career, and this film is already generating awards buzz.

In honor of Springsteen: Deliver Me from Nowhere‘s theatrical debut, Watch With Us has selected the five best music biopics ever made.

Surprisingly, all but one of our picks were made in the 21st century, even though music biopics have been around for decades. But each of these films rightly earned its place on this list.

5. ‘Elvis’ (2022)

Director and cowriter Baz Luhrmann spared no expense with Elvis, a lavish retelling of the life of Elvis Presley. Austin Butler was Oscar-nominated for his transformative performance as the King, and the film tracks his life from the beginning of his career all the way to the end. Butler is so good in the role that it’s hard to picture anyone else playing Elvis afterwards.

Tom Hanks also has a large role in the film as Colonel Tom Parker, the man who guided Elvis on the path to stardom. Parker doesn’t always have Elvis’ best interests at heart, but nothing could stop Presley from marrying the love of his life, Priscilla Presley (Olivia DeJonge), even though she was underage when they first met. The drama of his life is intriguing, but it’s the music of Elvis that remains timeless.

Elvis is available to rent or buy on Prime Video.

4. ‘A Complete Unknown’ (2024)

Like Butler, Timothée Chalamet is overdue for an Oscar after only securing a Best Actor nomination for playing Bob Dylan in A Complete Unknown. This film had eight nominations from the Academy Awards, and it didn’t win a single one. But it’s still one of the best music biopics we’ve ever seen.

The story only follows Dylan through his earliest years as a recording artist, as he chaffed against the expectations of the industry and his fans. Dylan also becomes close to music icons Joan Baez (Monica Barbaro) and Johnny Cash (Boyd Holbrook) while neglecting his bond with his girlfriend, Sylvie Russo (Elle Fanning). Dylan’s not a perfect guy, and he makes some bad choices, but the music he made in this period shaped his legend for decades to come.

A Complete Unknown is streaming on Hulu.

3. ‘La Bamba’ (1987)

Have you ever heard of the day the music died? Don McLean coined the phrase in his song, “American Pie,” in reference to the 1959 plane crash that claimed the lives of Ritchie Valens, Buddy Holly and J. P. Richardson, aka “The Big Bopper.”

La Bamba touches on that incident, but it’s also a joyous account of the life of Valens (Lou Diamond Phillips), who was only 17 when he died. The film revisits Valens’ rise to fame as well as his occasionally complex relationship with his half-brother, Roberto “Bob” Morales (Esai Morales). It also tells the story of Valens and the great love of his life, Donna Ludwig (Danielle von Zerneck), whose first name was immortalized in one of his hit songs.

La Bamba is streaming on Tubi.

2. ‘Walk the Line’ (2005)

Director James Mangold helmed two of the films on this list: A Complete Unknown and Walk the Line. Both are great movies, but the latter is elevated by the Oscar-nominated performance of Joaquin Phoenix as Johnny Cash and the Oscar-winning performance of Reese Witherspoon as June Carter. More impressively, both Phoenix and Witherspoon actually sang the songs featured in the film.

Cash’s legend unfolds in front of the audience as the film revisits the tragedies of his life, his rise to fame and his debilitating addictions that destroyed his first marriage to Vivian Cash (Ginnifer Goodwin). Carter was Cash’s second wife, and arguably the one who saved him from his demons.

Walk the Line is available to rent or buy on Prime Video.

1. ‘Straight Outta Compton’ (2015)

Straight Outta Compton is one of the rare contemporary music biopics to become a massive box office hit. Director F. Gary Gray cast O’Shea Jackson Jr. — the son of Ice Cube — to play his father in the story of the N.W.A.’s rise and fall as one of the most important hip-hop groups in the history of the genre.

In the ’90s, Ice Cube, Dr. Dre (Corey Hawkins) and Eazy-E (Jason Mitchell) defy all expectations when the N.W.A becomes incredibly popular. However, the group is splintered by betrayals and hurt feelings that lead to heated rivalries even as their collective star power continues to increase. Without the N.W.A. to pave the way, many of the biggest names in hip-hop and rap may never have had the chance to shine.

Straight Outta Compton is available to rent or buy on Prime Video.

Led by Senior Editor and experienced critic Jason Struss, Watch With Us’ team of writers and editors sees almost every movie and TV show from the distant past to the present to determine what’s worth your time and money. Our countless hours of multimedia consumption — combined with years of experience in the entertainment industry — help us determine the best movies and TV shows you should be streaming right now. 
 
To be considered “the best,” these films and series can be visually engaging, intellectually stimulating or simply just fun to watch, but the one trait they must have is that they are all, in some way, entertaining. We then check which platform they are streaming on and how you can access them as a subscriber. No algorithm nonsense or paid endorsements here — our recommendations are based purely on our love and interest for the films and shows we love.