Burt Reynolds (1936-2018) was an Oscar®-nominated American actor, director and producer. According to Quigley Publishing, from 1978 to 1982 Burt Reynolds was the number one movie star working. Reynolds’ 5 year run tied Bing Crosby (1944-1948) for the longest stay at the top spot when it comes to money making stars. I am not sure how many young people realize just how popular Burt Reynolds was back in the late 1970s and early 1980s. Pretty much everything he touched turned into box office gold back then. This movie page comes from a request from my mother.
Burt Reynolds’ IMDb page shows 187 acting credits from 1958-2019. This page will rank Burt Reynolds movies from Best to Worst in six different sortable columns of information. His television roles, cameos, shorts, and straight to DVD movies were not included in the rankings. Burt Reynolds in 1977’s Smokey and the Bandit….easily his biggest box office hit
Burt Reynolds Movies Ranked In Chronological Order With Ultimate Movie Rankings Score (1 to 5 UMR Tickets) *Best combo of box office, reviews and awards.
Burt Reynolds Movies Can Be Ranked 6 Ways In This Table
The really cool thing about this table is that it is “user-sortable”. Rank the movies anyway you want.
Sort by Burt Reynolds’ co-stars of his movies.
Sort Burt Reynolds movies by adjusted domestic box office grosses using current movie ticket cost (in millions)
Sort Burt Reynolds movies by yearly domestic box office rank
Sort Burt Reynolds movies how they were received by critics and audiences. 60% rating or higher should indicate a good movie.
Sort by how many Oscar® nominations and how many Oscar® wins each Burt Reynolds movie received.
Sort Burt Reynolds movies by Ultimate Movie Rankings (UMR) Score. UMR Score puts box office, reviews and awards into a mathematical equation and gives each movie a score.
1. Burton Leon “Burt” Reynolds Jr. was born February 11th, 1936 in Waycross, Georgia. 2. Burt Reynolds path to stardom…Cliff Notes style. Reynolds appeared in a college play called Outward Bound. His performance in that play helped him win a scholarship that got him into the Hyde Park Playhouse in New York. Here he met Joanne Woodward who helped him find an agent. While in a production of Mister Roberts he was spotted and signed to a television contract for the television show Gunsmoke for three years. From here he did the Clint Eastwood….”go overseas and star in low budget movies”. In 1969 he had his first box office success with 1969’s 100 Rifles. 3 years later he became a superstar with his performance in 1972’s Deliverance. 3. Burt Reynolds earned a football scholarship to Florida State. His college career ended after suffering a knee injury. He played halfback…which explains why he looked so comfortable in his The Longest Yard role. 4. Burt Reynolds was a Quigley Publishing Top Ten Box Office Star from 1973 through 1984. That consecutive 12 year run is one of the longest streaks ever in the 80 plus years that Quigley Publishing has released their annual list. 5. Burt Reynolds has been married two times. He was married to Judy Carne from 1963-1965. He was married to Loni Anderson from 1988-1994. Reynolds and Anderson have one child together…Quenton Anderson Reynolds. 6. Burt Reynolds’ Smokey and the Bandit (1977) is the 67th biggest box office hit of all time when looking at adjusted box office grosses. 7. Burt Reynolds has been nominated for one acting Oscar®….Best Supporting Actor in 1997’s Boogie Nights. He has been nominated for three movie acting Golden Globes®….Best Actor in 1974’s The Longest Yard, Best Actor in 1979’s Starting Over and he won the Golden Globe® for Best Supporting Actor in 1997’s Boogie Nights. 8. Roles turned down by Burt Reynolds or he was seriously considered for: Rosemary’s Baby (John Cassevetes part) Soapdish (Kevin Kline part), Terms of Endearment (Jack Nicholson part), Die Hard (Bruce Willis part), Star Wars (Harrison Ford part), One Flew Over The Cuckoo’s Nest (Jack Nicholson part) and Taxi Driver (Robert DeNiro part). On the flip side of this….Reynolds got his star making role in Deliverance only after Henry Fonda, James Stewart and Marlon Brando. 9. Burt Reynolds the singer? Yep. He hit number 88 on the Billboard Hot 100 singles chart in 1980 with the song “Let’s Do Something Cheap and Superficial” from Smokey and the Bandit II.
Academy Award® and Oscar® are the registered trademarks of the Academy of Motion Arts and Sciences. Golden Globes® are the registered trademark and service mark of the Hollywood Foreign Press.
Hey Delores….thanks for stopping by and commenting. White Lightning is on the list….it sits at number 19 in my rankings. The Maddening…according to Box Office Mojo and other sources did not earn any money at theaters ……so a score could not be calculated so it was not included. Looking at its IMDb it looks like it could be interesting. Thanks for checking out my Burt Reynolds page.
I have not seen this film and I am not sure when or if I will be able to handle seeing it. I have not tried to see it unlike some other difficult films to watch.
I think of him in terms of TV since I watch a lot of Gunsmoke. So my list of overall films is low. He is an actors whose I have seen I see over and over again.
I am more familiar with his films from the 1970s than recently although I have seen Boogie Nights.
My favourite of Burt’s films is Silent Movie in which he plays himself. 2nd is Hooper, 3rd is Smokey and the Bandit, 4th is The Man Who Loved Cat Dancing, and 5th The Best Little Whorehouse in Texas.
The lowest ranked film I have seen is 56: Heat.
Back to being in last place guess?
Flora
I have seen the first version of The Longest Yard, but not the remake.
Since it stars Myrna loy, the film I haven’t seen which isat the top of my list of to-see films is The End.
Among the rankings, I have seen:
4 of the top 5, 6 of the top 10, 7 of the top 15, and 16 overall.
Hey Flora…..let’s see…..tally count…Steve 29 Bruce 24 (I watched Sam Whiskey since my comment) and Flora 16…that is about what I would have thought when it comes to watching Burt Reynolds movies.
Deliverance almost seems tame compared to how gritty it used to be…..although there are still some disturbing scenes in this one. As for your Top 5….The Man Who Loved Cat Dancing is one of my mom’s favorites….although I have never seen the movie from beginning to end. Hooper is just a fun movie as is the first Smokey movie. I recently rewatched both Cannonball Run movies….both have aged horrible…so now part 1 which I used to think was very funny seems very very weak….and part 2 which I used to think was bad…has moved so far beyond bad that I do not think any word describes just bad a movie it is.
The End was pretty good….although it has been so long since I saw that…..I know who Myrna Loy is…..when I watched it years ago….I did not pay her role any attention at all. Thanks for continuing your catch up work. You are doing a fine job.
I am huge fan of Burt Reynolds. He is funny, charming and always entertaining. Maybe he should taken on some more serious roles earlier in his career…
I think he would have been awesome.
As always, good work, Bruce.
Hey Soren….glad my latest movie page is on one of your favorites. Overall I think he has had a pretty wonderful career. I think only his lack of Oscar love is the only thing he does not have. Overall his movies have grossed over 4.4 billion in domestic adjusted box office gross….not many people reach that level of success. Thanks for stopping by and checking out my Reynolds page.
Hi
Burt’s huge popularity didn’t so much wane but just disappear over night. I remember him in the late 70s/ early 80s being a huge star, films like Smokey and The Cannonball Run and comedies like The End and Starting Over were a huge success. And then it all just seemed to go wrong. I think the turning point was City Heat in 1984, co starring Clint Eastwood. During filming, he broke his jaw and was seriously injured and forced to live on liquids. He lost over 30lbs and the tabloids were making out that he had AIDS. Although not true, I still think it done him a lot of damage and his career never really recovered.
He had a successful sitcom in the 90s for 4 seasons, but he never really returned to the glory days of his movies in the 80s, which was a pity because I think he was very talented. One of his best films was The Hustle, where he played a detective with a heart of gold but was prepared to bend the rules to ensure he caught the bad guy. It’s well worth a watch.
Hey Chris. You are right about City Heat….but I think he was already coming down the mountain by then….after his City Heat issues he came tumbling down that mountain. By the time he reached television again his career as a leading man was over. Since then he has been a supporting actor.
I have not seen Hustle but it is on my list of movies to watch. Hustle did pretty well at the box office….plus he has some of his better reviews….so I am thinking you are not alone in your thinking that Hustle is worth checking out. Thanks for stopping by and checking out my latest page.
Happy 80th birthday!
Flora
Hey Flora…yep Mr. Reynolds was 80 yesterday….hard to believe that his peak career wise started almost 40 years ago. Thanks for the visit and comment.
Hi. You left out 2 of Burt Reynolds movies. White Lightning with Bo Hopkins,, and The Maddening with Angie Dickinson. May I ask why?
Hey Delores….thanks for stopping by and commenting. White Lightning is on the list….it sits at number 19 in my rankings. The Maddening…according to Box Office Mojo and other sources did not earn any money at theaters ……so a score could not be calculated so it was not included. Looking at its IMDb it looks like it could be interesting. Thanks for checking out my Burt Reynolds page.
Hi, Bruce.
Regarding Deliverance:
I have not seen this film and I am not sure when or if I will be able to handle seeing it. I have not tried to see it unlike some other difficult films to watch.
I think of him in terms of TV since I watch a lot of Gunsmoke. So my list of overall films is low. He is an actors whose I have seen I see over and over again.
I am more familiar with his films from the 1970s than recently although I have seen Boogie Nights.
My favourite of Burt’s films is Silent Movie in which he plays himself. 2nd is Hooper, 3rd is Smokey and the Bandit, 4th is The Man Who Loved Cat Dancing, and 5th The Best Little Whorehouse in Texas.
The lowest ranked film I have seen is 56: Heat.
Back to being in last place guess?
Flora
I have seen the first version of The Longest Yard, but not the remake.
Since it stars Myrna loy, the film I haven’t seen which isat the top of my list of to-see films is The End.
Among the rankings, I have seen:
4 of the top 5, 6 of the top 10, 7 of the top 15, and 16 overall.
Hey Flora…..let’s see…..tally count…Steve 29 Bruce 24 (I watched Sam Whiskey since my comment) and Flora 16…that is about what I would have thought when it comes to watching Burt Reynolds movies.
Deliverance almost seems tame compared to how gritty it used to be…..although there are still some disturbing scenes in this one. As for your Top 5….The Man Who Loved Cat Dancing is one of my mom’s favorites….although I have never seen the movie from beginning to end. Hooper is just a fun movie as is the first Smokey movie. I recently rewatched both Cannonball Run movies….both have aged horrible…so now part 1 which I used to think was very funny seems very very weak….and part 2 which I used to think was bad…has moved so far beyond bad that I do not think any word describes just bad a movie it is.
The End was pretty good….although it has been so long since I saw that…..I know who Myrna Loy is…..when I watched it years ago….I did not pay her role any attention at all. Thanks for continuing your catch up work. You are doing a fine job.
I am huge fan of Burt Reynolds. He is funny, charming and always entertaining. Maybe he should taken on some more serious roles earlier in his career…
I think he would have been awesome.
As always, good work, Bruce.
Hey Soren….glad my latest movie page is on one of your favorites. Overall I think he has had a pretty wonderful career. I think only his lack of Oscar love is the only thing he does not have. Overall his movies have grossed over 4.4 billion in domestic adjusted box office gross….not many people reach that level of success. Thanks for stopping by and checking out my Reynolds page.
Hi
Burt’s huge popularity didn’t so much wane but just disappear over night. I remember him in the late 70s/ early 80s being a huge star, films like Smokey and The Cannonball Run and comedies like The End and Starting Over were a huge success. And then it all just seemed to go wrong. I think the turning point was City Heat in 1984, co starring Clint Eastwood. During filming, he broke his jaw and was seriously injured and forced to live on liquids. He lost over 30lbs and the tabloids were making out that he had AIDS. Although not true, I still think it done him a lot of damage and his career never really recovered.
He had a successful sitcom in the 90s for 4 seasons, but he never really returned to the glory days of his movies in the 80s, which was a pity because I think he was very talented. One of his best films was The Hustle, where he played a detective with a heart of gold but was prepared to bend the rules to ensure he caught the bad guy. It’s well worth a watch.
Hey Chris. You are right about City Heat….but I think he was already coming down the mountain by then….after his City Heat issues he came tumbling down that mountain. By the time he reached television again his career as a leading man was over. Since then he has been a supporting actor.
I have not seen Hustle but it is on my list of movies to watch. Hustle did pretty well at the box office….plus he has some of his better reviews….so I am thinking you are not alone in your thinking that Hustle is worth checking out. Thanks for stopping by and checking out my latest page.