Want to know the best Blake Edwards movies? How about the worst Blake Edwards movies? Curious about Blake Edwards box office grosses or which Blake Edwards movie picked up the most Oscar® nominations? Need to know which Blake Edwards movie got the best reviews from critics and audiences? Well you have come to the right place….because we have all of that information.
Blake Edwards (1922-2010) was an Oscar® nominated director, writer and producer. Edwards was actually an actor in the 1940s before turning to writing. This would eventually lead him to directing and producing movies. His career spanned 7 decades. Edwards was best known for the Pink Panther series starring Peter Sellers.
His IMDb page shows 128 directing and writing credits. This page will rank 42 Blake Edwards movies from Best to Worst in six different sortable columns of information. Television roles, cameos, shorts and straight to DVD movies were not included in the rankings. There are 5 screen play only credits on the following table: City Heat, Soldier in the Rain, The Notorious Landlady, Operation Madball and My Sister Eileen. He directed the rest of the movies.
Blake Edwards Movies Ranked In Chronological Order With Ultimate Movie Rankings Score (1 to 5 UMR Tickets) *Best combo of box office, reviews and awards.
Blake Edwards 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 Blake Edwards movies by movie titles or trailers
- Sort Blake Edwards movies by adjusted domestic box office grosses using current movie ticket cost (in millions)
- Sort Blake Edwards movies by yearly domestic box office rank (in millions)
- Sort Blake Edwards movies by 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 Blake Edwards movie received.
- Sort Blake Edwards movies by Ultimate Movie Rankings (UMR) Score. UMR puts box office, reviews and awards into a mathematical equation and gives each movie a score.
| R | Movie (Year) | UMR Co-Star Links | Adj. B.O. Worldwide (mil) | Review | Oscar Nom / Win | UMR Score | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| R | Movie (Year) | UMR Co-Star Links | Actual B.O. Domestic (mil) | Adj. B.O. Domestic (mil) | Adj. B.O. Worldwide (mil) | B.O. Rank by Year | Review | Oscar Nom / Win | UMR Score | S |
| 1 | Breakfast at Tiffany's (1961) | Audrey Hepburn & Mickey Rooney |
12.00 | 202.7 | 202.70 | 17 | 84 | 05 / 02 | 98.8 | |
| 3 | Days of Wine and Roses (1962) | Jack Lemmon & Lee Remick |
12.30 | 204.4 | 242.50 | 17 | 83 | 05 / 01 | 98.6 | |
| 4 | Days of Wine and Roses (1962) | Jack Lemmon & Lee Remick |
12.30 | 204.4 | 242.50 | 17 | 83 | 05 / 01 | 98.6 | |
| 2 | A Shot in the Dark (1964) | Peter Sellers & George Sanders |
19.30 | 256.4 | 256.40 | 5 | 80 | 00 / 00 | 97.2 | |
| 5 | The Great Race (1965) | Tony Curtis & Jack Lemmon |
30.80 | 377.6 | 377.60 | 5 | 74 | 05 / 01 | 96.9 | |
| 7 | Operation Petticoat (1959) | Cary Grant & Tony Curtis |
26.60 | 554.8 | 554.80 | 3 | 77 | 01 / 00 | 96.7 | |
| 6 | Operation Petticoat (1959) | Cary Grant & Tony Curtis |
26.60 | 554.8 | 554.80 | 3 | 77 | 01 / 00 | 96.7 | |
| 8 | The Pink Panther (1963) | David Niven & Peter Sellers |
16.80 | 244.0 | 244.00 | 12 | 76 | 01 / 00 | 96.4 | |
| 9 | The Pink Panther Strikes Again (1976) | Peter Sellers & Lesley-Anne Down |
60.30 | 353.6 | 353.60 | 8 | 75 | 01 / 00 | 96.3 | |
| 9 | The Return of the Pink Panther (1975) | Peter Sellers & Christopher Plummer |
41.80 | 255.1 | 255.10 | 13 | 75 | 00 / 00 | 96.0 | |
| 11 | Revenge of the Pink Panther (1978) | Peter Sellers & Dyan Cannon |
56.50 | 301.6 | 301.60 | 8 | 70 | 00 / 00 | 94.5 | |
| 10 | 10 (1979) | Dudley Moore & Julie Andrews |
74.90 | 372.8 | 372.80 | 8 | 65 | 02 / 00 | 93.6 | |
| 13 | Victor Victoria (1982) | Julie Andrews & James Garner |
28.20 | 120.0 | 120.00 | 26 | 84 | 07 / 01 | 92.9 | |
| 15 | The Notorious Landlady (1962) | Fred Astaire & Jack Lemmon |
7.50 | 125.0 | 125.00 | 34 | 66 | 00 / 00 | 84.7 | |
| 16 | My Sister Eileen (1955) | Jack Lemmon & Janet Leigh |
5.10 | 123.6 | 123.60 | 64 | 65 | 00 / 00 | 83.8 | |
| 14 | The Party (1968) | Peter Sellers | 8.30 | 79.1 | 79.10 | 47 | 79 | 00 / 00 | 83.8 | |
| 19 | Operation Mad Ball (1957) | Jack Lemmon | 5.30 | 118.0 | 118.00 | 43 | 64 | 00 / 00 | 82.7 | |
| 17 | Experiment in Terror (1962) | Glenn Ford & Lee Remick |
4.00 | 66.7 | 66.70 | 61 | 78 | 00 / 00 | 81.7 | |
| 18 | Experiment in Terror (1962) | Glenn Ford & Lee Remick |
4.00 | 66.7 | 66.70 | 61 | 78 | 00 / 00 | 81.7 | |
| 20 | The Perfect Furlough (1958) | Tony Curtis & Janet Leigh |
6.60 | 136.9 | 136.90 | 38 | 55 | 00 / 00 | 81.3 | |
| 23 | High Time (1960) | Bing Crosby | 7.10 | 129.4 | 129.40 | 41 | 51 | 01 / 00 | 77.7 | |
| 24 | Micki + Maude (1984) | Dudley Moore | 26.10 | 97.0 | 97.00 | 38 | 61 | 00 / 00 | 77.3 | |
| 22 | Darling Lili (1970) | Rock Hudson & Julie Andrews |
9.80 | 79.4 | 79.40 | 35 | 64 | 03 / 00 | 77.3 | |
| 23 | Darling Lili (1970) | Julie Andrews & Rock Hudson |
9.80 | 79.4 | 79.40 | 35 | 64 | 03 / 00 | 77.3 | |
| 25 | S.O.B. (1981) | Julie Andrews & William Holden |
14.90 | 66.8 | 66.80 | 58 | 70 | 00 / 00 | 76.9 | |
| 28 | Blind Date (1987) | Bruce Willis | 39.30 | 125.7 | 207.10 | 29 | 50 | 00 / 00 | 76.5 | |
| 25 | The Tamarind Seed (1974) | Julie Andrews & Omar Sharif |
8.00 | 53.5 | 53.50 | 51 | 70 | 00 / 00 | 73.4 | |
| 26 | The Tamarind Seed (1974) Director |
Julie Andrews & Omar Sharif |
8.00 | 53.5 | 53.50 | 51 | 70 | 00 / 00 | 73.4 | |
| 29 | Soldier in the Rain (1963) | Steve McQueen & Jackie Gleason |
2.70 | 39.5 | 39.50 | 73 | 68 | 00 / 00 | 66.7 | |
| 30 | This Happy Feeling (1958) | Debbie Reynolds | 2.30 | 47.6 | 47.60 | 100 | 65 | 00 / 00 | 65.3 | |
| 31 | City Heat (1984) | Clint Eastwood & Burt Reynolds |
38.30 | 142.7 | 142.70 | 23 | 35 | 00 / 00 | 64.8 | |
| 31 | What Did You Do in the War, Daddy? (1966) | James Coburn | 6.50 | 73.9 | 73.90 | 42 | 53 | 00 / 00 | 61.2 | |
| 33 | Skin Deep (1989) | John Ritter | 19.70 | 61.9 | 61.90 | 52 | 56 | 00 / 00 | 59.2 | |
| 33 | Mister Cory (1957) | Tony Curtis | 2.90 | 63.8 | 63.80 | 83 | 54 | 00 / 00 | 58.0 | |
| 36 | He Laughed Last (1956) | Frankie Laine | 1.80 | 41.0 | 41.00 | 146 | 57 | 00 / 00 | 50.8 | |
| 36 | The Carey Treatment (1972) | James Coburn & Jennifer O'Neill |
3.00 | 22.3 | 22.30 | 89 | 62 | 00 / 00 | 48.1 | |
| 37 | Switch (1991) | Ellen Barkin | 15.50 | 46.2 | 46.20 | 72 | 51 | 00 / 00 | 41.2 | |
| 39 | Wild Rovers (1971) | William Holden & Ryan O'Neal |
5.50 | 41.3 | 41.30 | 58 | 50 | 00 / 00 | 36.0 | |
| 38 | That's Life! (1986) | Jack Lemmon & Julie Andrews |
4.10 | 13.7 | 13.70 | 117 | 57 | 01 / 00 | 32.6 | |
| 41 | Bring Your Smile Along (1955) | Frankie Laine | 0.90 | 22.4 | 22.40 | 174 | 53 | 00 / 00 | 29.9 | |
| 42 | Trail of the Pink Panther (1982) | David Niven & Peter Sellers |
9.10 | 38.5 | 38.50 | 65 | 45 | 00 / 00 | 24.8 | |
| 42 | Gunn (1967) | Craig Stevens | 1.70 | 17.1 | 17.10 | 108 | 52 | 00 / 00 | 24.1 | |
| 43 | The Man Who Loved Women (1983) | Burt Reynolds & Julie Andrews |
11.00 | 43.5 | 43.50 | 59 | 43 | 00 / 00 | 23.1 | |
| 44 | Sunset (1988) | Bruce Willis & James Garner |
4.60 | 14.0 | 17.00 | 128 | 45 | 01 / 00 | 13.4 | |
| 45 | Curse of the Pink Panther (1983) | David Niven & Roger Moore |
4.80 | 19.0 | 19.00 | 92 | 45 | 00 / 00 | 13.4 | |
| 46 | Son of the Pink Panther (1993) | Roberto Benigni | 3.40 | 10.4 | 10.40 | 148 | 46 | 00 / 00 | 11.9 |
Stats and Possibly Interesting Things From The Above Blake Edwards Table
- Eleven Blake Edwards movies crossed the magical $100 million domestic gross mark. That is a percentage of 26.19% of his movies listed. Operation Petticoat (1959) was his biggest hit.
- An average Blake Edwards movie earned $89.16 million in adjusted box office gross.
- Using RottenTomatoes.com’s 60% fresh meter. 23 Blake Edwards movies are rated as good movies…or 54.76% of his movies. Breakfast at Tiffany’s (1961) was his highest rated movie while Son of the Pink Panther (1993) was his lowest rated movie.
- Eleven Blake Edwards movies received at least one Oscar® nomination in any category…..or 26.19% of his movies.
- Four Blake Edwards movies won at least one Oscar® in any category…..or 9.52% of his movies.
- A “good movie” Ultimate Movie Rankings (UMR) Score is 60.00. 30 Blake Edwards movies scored higher that average….or 54.76% of his movies. The Great Race (1965) got the the highest UMR Score while Son of the Pink Panther (1993) got the lowest UMR Score.
Possibly Interesting Facts About Blake Edwards
1. William Blake Crump was born in Tulsa, Oklahoma in 1922.
2. Blake Edwards’ step grandfather was J. Gordon Edwards, a director of silent movies. Edwards used his middle name and his granddad’s last name to come up with his Blake Edwards Hollywood name.
3. Blake Edwards appeared in 31 movies from 1942 to 1949. Most of the roles were either uncredited or bit parts…..but he got a chance to work with and learn from legendary directors John Ford, Otto Preminger and William Wyler.
4. S.O.B. (1981) is based on Blake Edwards’ experiences making 1970’s Darling Lili and 1971’s Wild Rovers (1971). S.O.B. was the last movie of William Holden. When Blake Edwards had his name removed from the writing credits of the 1984 movie City Heat , he got himself billed under the pseudonym of “Sam O. Brown”, whose initials are S.O.B.
5. Henry Mancini scored 31 films Blake Edwards directed.
6. Blake Edwards was one of the first directors to employ video playback of shot film footage on set. He did this with 1968’s The Party.
7. Blake Edwards was married two times in his life. He had 4 children. He was married to Julie Andrews from 1969 until his death in 2010. He met wife-to-be Andrews after she’d heard that he once described her as being, “…so sweet she probably has violets between her legs.” Andrews was so entertained by the remark she sent Edwards a bunch of violets accompanied by a note. They began dating and later married.
8. Blake Edwards is one of the few directors to direct their spouse to a Best Actress Oscar® nomination. This occurred when Julie Andrews got a nomination for 1982’s Victor/Victoria.
9. In 2004, Blake Edwards received an Honorary Academy Award® in recognition of his writing, directing, and producing an extraordinary body of work for the screen.
10. Check out Blake Edwards’ career compared to current and classic actors. Most 100 Million Dollar Movies of All-Time.
Steve’s Blake Edwards You Tube Video
If you do a comment….please ignore the email address and website section.
Added Steve’s Blake Edward Video To This Page. Our thoughts found on that You Tube Channel.
Growing up I was well aware of the name Blake Edwards. Why? My dad and I loved the Pink Panther movies…and for some reason I always thought the name Blake Edwards was cool. Seen lots of his movies. Seen: #30 The Man Who Loved Women……more depressing than funny. #29 Sunset…one of the worst Bruce Willis movies. #28 BlindDate..Bruce’s first leading man movie…it’s ok. #25 Skin Deep…..condom scene is funny. #22 Micki and Maude…fun movie #19 10….loved this a pre-teen….not as enjoyable to watch these days. #17 That’s Life…well done…but pretty forgettable #16 Revenge P.P….franchise was running out steam #12 Return P.P. one of the better Panther movies. #11 Darling Lili…huge flop back then..enjoyable today #10 .P.P. Strikes Back..saw in theaters with my dad…good memory. #8 The Great Race…huge hit…fun movie…but dumb in many spots #7 Experiment in Terror….not like other Blake movies but really well done. #6 Pink Panther…considered classic…but I like Strikes Back and Return of P.P. more #5 OperationPetticoat…the Blake Edwards movie I watch the most…love the Grant/Curtis chemistry. #4 A Shot In The Dark…early classic P.P. movie. #3 Victor/Victoria….good movie but not a favorite #2 Days of Wine and Roses…like #7…not typical Edwards movie…but what great performances. and #1 Breakfast At Tiffanys….classic…but a one and done movie for me. So that is 19 seen. Kept looking for S.O.B. did I miss that one? Voted up and shared
Hi Bruce, I like your mini-reviews. 19 out of 30 is very good, I’ve seen 12 and Flora’s tally 20. Your favorite, Operation Petticoat, is higher on my chart than your own UMR chart, oh the irony! 🙂 My favorite? Probably the Pink Panther films, A Shot in the Dark just ahead of the rest.
Thanks for the epic comment, vote and share, always appreciated.
Hey Steve….glad you like our mini-reviews…I do not always have time to do them….but I did this time. Always glad to share your video links.
HI STEVE: I am now trying to get this Part Two through in an adjusted tabulated form. I rated the video 97.5%
BEST POSTERS
1/first one for High Time
2/Mr Corey
3/10
4/Carey Treatment
5/FL for ‘—–War Daddy’
6/Wild Rovers
7/FL for Return of Pink Panther
8/FL for The Party
9/Experiment in Terror
10/Victor Victoria
11/set for Days of Wine and Roses
12/first and foreign language ones for Breakfast at Tiffany’s
13/two FL ones for The Great Race.
BEST STILLS/LOBBY CARDS
1/Omar & Julie
2/Debbie
3/Revenge of Pink Panther
4/’—–War Daddy.’
5/Wild Rover
6/Return of Pink Panther
7/Darling Lili
8/Pink Panther Strikes Again
9/The Party
10/two for The Great Race
11/Lee Remick
12/original Pink Panther cast
13/Archie & Bernie
14/Victor Victoria
15/the evergreen Holly!
Although I wouldn’t have known who he was or have been aware of his name I was familiar with the work of Blake Edwards from almost the day I started watching films at the age of 8 in the late 1940s. Early films that I saw where he performed one or more of the functions of writer/producer/director are
1/3 musical comedies and a crime comedy starring singer Frankie Laine: respectively Rainbow Round my Shoulder, Bring Your Smile Along and He Laughed Last.
2/two Rod Cameron B westerns, Panhandle and Stampede.
3/a film noir, Mister Cory starring Tony Curtis and a musical comedy, Sound Off, starring Joe Yule Junior.
I have seen 12 of Blake’s later films and among them are all of his classics. My favourites from the 12 are: Pink Panther, Shot in the Dark, Operation Petticoat, Operation Mad Ball, Days of Wine and Roses, Experiment in Terror [aka The Grip of Fear], The Great Race and Breakfast at Tiffanys. Whilst the latter with its beautiful and haunting Henry Mancini composition Moon River is my out and out favourite and holds much nostalgia for me I will always remember The Great Race too with particular affection because of its catchy song Sweetheart Tree also by Mancini and played over the titles-
They say there’s a tree in the forest
A tree that will give you a sigh.
Come along with me to the Sweetheart Tree,
Come and carve your name next to mine.
They say if you kiss the right sweetheart
The one you’ve been waiting for,
Big blossoms of white will burst into sight
And your love will be true ever more.
“Moon river….” Hi Bob, sorry to read you’re having problems uploading part two of your review, thanks for the info and generous rating, much appreciated.
Glad you liked the posters, stills and lobby cards.
Your favorite film on my newest video is at no.1, that doesn’t happen often (a few times your favorite didn’t appear at all.)
While I type this I’m sort of watching one of your faves, Jeff Chandler, mixing it up with Sioux indians in The Great Sioux Uprising. Tivo’d off Channel 4 recently.
A week ago Jeff, with only one good arm, saved a quiet town from some troublesome youths in The Plunderers. Who needs Statham with Jeff around? 😉
Two films scored 10 out of 10 from Blake Edwards filmography – A Shot in the Dark and Breakfast at Tiffanys. Two more scored 9 out of 10 – Victory/Victoria and Days of Wine and Roses.
Top film at IMDB is Days of Wine and Roses, no.1 at Rotten Tomatoes is Victor/Victoria.
Bruce’s top 5 (critics chart) –
Breakfast at Tiffany’s 8.4
Victor Victoria 8.4
Days of Wine and Roses 8.3
A Shot in the Dark 8.0
The Party 7.9
My video top 5 –
Breakfast at Tiffany’s 8.3
Days of Wine and Roses 8.2
Victor Victoria 8.1
A Shot in the Dark 8.0
Operation Petticoat 7.8
Blake Edwards on Peter Sellers – “Sellers became a monster. He just got bored with Inspector Clouseau and became angry, sullen and unprofessional. He wouldn’t show up for work and he began looking for anyone and everyone to blame, never for a moment stopping to see whether or not he should blame himself for his own madness, his own craziness.”
HI STEVE: Thanks for the detailed feedback. It has been 59 and 66 years since I saw The Plunderers and Great Sioux Uprising respectively so let’s see how my memory holds up.
1/Great Sioux Uprising. At the start of the movie did Jeff trade Biblical quotes with a religious character?
2/In The Plunderers did the townsfolk refer to Jeff as “Captain Sam”?
The Plunderers was made by Chandler’s own film production company, August Productions. Jeff said that it was “not a western but a movie in a western locale.” Sounds like an almost perfect description for Dire Hard: “not a Christmas movie but a movie in a Christmas setting.”
Success certainly went to Sellers’ head; but I think he had always been a conceited andunpleasant character to others – unless you were a VIP type. For example he was part of Princess Margaret’s circle for a time and fawned over her a lot. Anyway take care – and by the way Breakfast at Tiffany’s should be EVERYBODY’s No 1 on ANY list!
Hi Bob, to answer your questions I honestly can’t remember. I had these movies on in the background when I was working on the computer so I missed a lot of the dialogue.
I wonder if the writer had Bad Day at Black Rock in mind when he gave Jeff just one arm with which to fight the murderous hooligans in The Plunderers. It made the film more memorable.
I record a lot of old films off TCM and other channels and play them while I’m working on my videos, sadly I do miss some important dialogue. A couple days ago I had The Man from the Alamo on, but again all I remember is the people of the town were not happy with Glenn Ford for surviving the Alamo, he left early to go and see his wife and kids. It had plenty of action and nice technicolor, the director was Budd Boetticher.
HI STEVE
Thanks for your further comments.
As usual when making Bad Day at Black Rock, Tracy was his normal pleasant self: he told lee Marvin, then just a supporting actor, that Marvin’s methods of preparing for a role were “bull”