10 Great Movie Duos Who Only Worked Together Once

While some movie partnerships last for decades, other great acting duos have only appeared in a single film together. Some pairs of actors have such amazing chemistry that they work together on multiple projects, like Meg Ryan and Tom Hanks. In other cases, a movie duo can be so inherently watchable that they spark an entire franchise, like Mel Gibson and Danny Glover in Lethal Weapon. Whether there’s romantic chemistry, comedic chemistry, or something less tangible, the dynamic between two leads can often make a good movie into a great one.

Unfortunately, not every great duo gets an appropriate amount of time together. There are a ton of fascinating movie duos who deserved more of a chance to show off their chemistry. Sometimes, the roles that they create are so iconic that seeing the actors together in a different project would only draw comparisons to the first. Walking out on top may be the right call in these cases, but it’s not hard to imagine how many potential masterpieces are left unmade. If these actors spent just a little more time working together, they could have spent years making hit after hit.

RELATED: 10 Dynamic Acting Duos That Have Starred In Multiple Movies Together

10 Adam Driver & John David Washington

BlacKkKlansman (2018)

Adam Driver and John David Washington have plenty of time for another project, but Spike Lee’s BlacKkKlansman is their only shared movie so far. Driver and Washington play police officers who adopt a joint persona and go undercover to infiltrate the Ku Klux Klan. The movie balances scathing political commentary with the pair’s considerable comedic nous. The scenes with Washington on the phone with the leaders of the Klan are particularly joyous, and they’re effective at deconstructing the childish absurdity of racism. Driver and Washington are busy with other projects, but their buddy cop partnership could easily spawn a whole series of movies if they’re interested.

9 Bill Murray & Andie MacDowell

Groundhog Day (1993)

Groundhog day is more than just an ingenious premise. The movie’s success sparked the sci-fi time loop subgenre, but Bill Murray’s performance elevates Groundhog Day far above any of its imitators. Murray plays self-centered weather forecaster Phil, but he would probably never break free from his incessant purgatory if it weren’t for his romantic pursuit of Andie MacDowell’s Rita. Murray and MacDowell both manage to navigate the movie’s oscillations between sci-fi comedy shenanigans to tragic romance with supreme skill. Groundhog Day may be remembered for Murray at his best, but it simply wouldn’t work without MacDowell’s effortless warmth.

8 Warren Beatty & Faye Dunaway

Bonnie and Clyde (1967)

Bonnie Parker and Clyde Barrow have held a place in the American cultural imagination for nearly a century. Warren Beatty and Faye Dunaway’s performances in Bonnie and Clyde only enhance their reputation. The movie feeds off of the chemistry between Beatty and Dunaway, creating a potent cocktail of romance and crime. The young lovers on the run from the law quickly found a place as one of the greatest movie couples of all time, becoming a key addition to the mythos surrounding the Barrow Gang. The actors were both nominated for Academy Awards for their roles, but they never worked together again.

7 Russell Crowe & Ryan Gosling

The Nice Guys (2016)

Set in the 1970s, The Nice Guys proudly sports the facade of an old-school action B-movie. Ryan Gosling turns on his trademark charm, but it’s Russell Crowe who provides the biggest surprise of the movie with his impressive comedy chops. They’re a classic straight man, funny man comedy duo, and The Nice Guys throws high-stakes action sequences thrown into the mix. Calls for a sequel to The Nice Guys have been growing ever since the movie gained traction on streaming services. Gosling and Crowe have all the ingredients for a franchise-worthy partnership, but the poor box office performance of The Nice Guys could mean they’ll never get the chance.

6 Brad Pitt & Leonardo DiCaprio

Once Upon a Time… In Hollywood (2019)

Quentin Tarantino’s love letter to old Hollywood needed two appropriately massive stars in the lead roles. Brad Pitt and Leonardo DiCaprio are two of a dwindling number of modern actors with the glamor and prestige befitting of Hollywood’s golden age. It’s surprising that they never collaborated before Tarantino paired them together as washed-up actor Rick Dalton and his stunt double Cliff Booth. Tarantino is casting his final film The Movie Critic, so Pitt and DiCaprio could rekindle their unforgettable on-screen chemistry. If they don’t, then the image of the two stars driving slowly around a sun-soaked 1960s Los Angeles will mark their only shared movie.

5 Winona Ryder & Angelina Jolie

Girl, Interrupted (1999)

Angelina Jolie’s performance as a charismatic and manipulative sociopath helped establish her as a true powerhouse, but Winona Ryder’s work should not go unnoticed. Jolie plays Lisa in Girl, Interrupted, whose rebellious nature captivates Ryder’s timid Susanna. While Susanna is quiet and reserved, Lisa is open about everything, from her body to her selfish misanthropy. Jolie conveys a deep level of malignant dominance, aided by Ryder’s nervous energy. Even in the movie’s most confronting moments, the pair remains compulsively watchable. For two such contradictory characters, they share the screen perfectly. Jolie and Ryder manage to bring out the best of each other.

4 Matt Damon & Robin Williams

Good Will Hunting (1997)

Good Will Hunting stakes its entire worth on the ability of Robin Williams and Matt Damon to immediately form a strong rapport, and the pair manages to do so with apparent ease. The script is fantastic, but the movie could have been a dud if not for one of the most immersive relationships in American cinema. The dialogue allows the duo to engage in a psychological tango, with Williams’ character slowly chipping away at his young counterpart’s rough exterior. Good Will Hunting shows an unlikely relationship, but its stars make it seem like the most natural friendship imaginable.

3 Susan Sarandon & Geena Davis

Thelma and Louise (1991)

Susan Sarandon takes on a nurturing role opposite Geena Davis’ more naive character as they lead the police on a chase that eventually leads to the Grand Canyon. For a movie that spends so much time with both main characters seated side-by-side in a car, Thelma and Louise manages to infuse the plot with incredible dynamism, even when the helicopters and squad cars are hundreds of miles away. Davis’ kind-hearted innocence should have landed her more main roles than she ended up with. Even if she never teams up with Sarandon again, the pair’s feminist crime romp ensures they will forever be associated.

2 Meg Ryan & Billy Crystal

When Harry Met Sally (1989)

When Harry Met Sally begins with the two leads sharing a long drive and having nothing else to do but talk. This is the kind of scene that most scripts would cut, but Nora Ephron crams When Harry Met Sally so full of great quotes that every page of dialogue feels vital. Meg Ryan and Billy Crystal bounce off each other perfectly. Whether the couple are singing karaoke or staging the greatest finale to any romantic comedy ever, the relationship feels utterly genuine. Inevitably, the movie raises the hypothetical question of what could have been if Ryan were paired with Crystal as often as she was with Tom Hanks.

1 Humphrey Bogart & Katherine Hepburn

The African Queen (1951)

Humphrey Bogart and Katherine Hepburn were the biggest movie stars of their generation, but The African Queen was their only movie together. Naturally, they were both nominated for Academy Awards for their work. Hepburn’s notoriously meticulous preparation allows her to slot in next to Bogart as if the pair are old lovers. She even rivals Ingrid Bergman’s famous chemistry with Bogart in Casablanca, often considered one of the greatest romances in film history. Bogart sadly passed away just six years after filming The African Queen. At least for a brief moment, audiences got to witness the two titanic talents of the era sharing the screen together.