Want to know the best Charlton Heston movies? How about the worst Charlton Heston movies? Curious about Charlton Heston’s box office grosses or which Charlton Heston movie picked up the most Oscar® nominations? Need to know which Charlton Heston movie got the best reviews from critics and audiences? Well you have come to the right place….because we have all of that information.
Charlton Heston (October 4, 1923 – April 5, 2008) is known for his heroic roles in films such as 1961’s El Cid, 1956’s The Ten Commandments, 1968’s Planet of the Apes and 1959’s Ben-Hur, for which he won the Oscar® for Best Actor. At one point, Heston had starred in three of the top eight movies of all-time. Those movies were Ten Commandments, Ben-Hur and The Greatest Show on Earth. Heston remained a leading man from 1950 until the early 1980s. After that he started appearing in supporting roles in such movies as True Lies, Any Given Sunday and Tombstone.
His IMDb page shows 131 acting credits from 1941-2010. This page will rank Charlton Heston movies from Best to Worst in six different sortable columns of information. Television shows, shorts, cameos and movies that were not released in theaters were not included in the rankings.
Charlton Heston Movies Ranked In Chronological Order With Ultimate Movie Rankings Score (1 to 5 UMR Tickets) *Best combo of box office, reviews and awards.
Charlton Heston 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 Charlton Heston movies by his co-stars
- Sort Charlton Heston movies by adjusted domestic box office grosses using current movie ticket cost.
- Sort Charlton Heston movies by yearly box office rank
- Sort Charlton Heston 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 Charlton Heston movie received.
- Sort Charlton Heston 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.
Possibly Interesting Facts About Charlton Heston
1. Charlton Heston was born John Charles Carter….Charlton’s name comes from his mom’s maiden name, Charlton, and his stepfather’s last name, Heston.
2. Charlton Heston turned down the role of “Police Chief Brody” in Jaws. Other movies he turned down over the years….John Wayne’s The Alamo, A Man For All Seasons, The Wild Bunch, The Omen, Deliverance and Stalag 17
3. Charlton Heston only received one Oscar® nomination in his acting career but he made it count as won the Oscar® for Ben-Hur…..luckily Burt Lancaster turned down the role.
4. Charlton Heston had two parts in The Ten Commandments……Moses and he provided the voice of God……years later he was hired by the F.B.I during the April 1993 Waco stand-off with cult leader David Koresh, to play the voice of God while communicating with him. However the plan was never used.
5. Charlton Heston played President Andrew Jackson twice in two separate unrelated films: The President’s Lady in 1953 and The Buccaneer in 1958.
6. Charlton Heston was also known for his political activism. In the 1950s and 1960s he was one of a handful of Hollywood actors to speak openly against racism and was an active supporter of the Civil Rights Movement. He was also president of the NRA from 1998 to 2003.
7. Charlton Heston was married to Lydia Clarke from 1944 until his death in 2008…they had two children.
8. In his 1985 autobiography “In The Arena” Charlton Heston wrote that 1972’s The Call of the Wild was easily his worst film, and hoped the public would never have to watch the film.
9. His line “Get your stinking paws off me, you damned dirty ape!” from Planet of the Apes, is ranked by the American Film Institute as the 66th best movie quote of all-time.
10. Two links from SteveLensman are highly recommended. One is all about Ben-Hur and the other about all Charlton Heston movies. Charlton Heston Movies
Steve’s Charlton Heston You Tube Video
If you do a comment….please ignore the email address and website section.
Added Steve’s Updated Chuck You Tube Video.
“I used to have a friend in London who really liked Chuck Heston…..sadly he moved and we lost touch….I wonder where he is these days? #50 The Awakening…saw this one with my father in cinemas. #49 Airport 75…seen it but barely remember it. #45 The Far Horizons…pretty average movie #41 Beneath The Planet of the Apes…what a happy ending. #33 Gray Lady Down…..seen it but like #49 barely remember it #29 Ruby Gentry…..good soap opera #27 Earthquake….epic average movie #26 Mary Deare…decent mystery #25 Mountain Men….pretty gritty movie…his last good leading man role #22 The Hawaiians….sequel to a blockbuster…nobody remember this one #21 Greatest Story Ever Told…his part his one of the better ones in movie
#19 The Omega Man….love this one….except for the spikey ending #18 Midway….another movie seen with my dad in cinemas #12 Soylent Green….sadly Soylent Green is not on the market yet…lol. #11 Four Musketeers…fun movie
#10 Agony and the Heston….better than I thought it was going to be. #9 Greastest Show On Earth….my dad love this one #8 Will Penny…good western #7 Three Musketeers….seen many times #6 El Cid….epic blockbuster #5 Planet of the Apes….the granddaddy of Ape movies #4 Ten Commandments….one of biggest hits ever #3 The Big Country….probably my favorite Heston movie #2 Touch of Evil….Chuck as a Mexican…love it #1 Ben-Hur…..well…Chuck is no Jack Huston….but he does well too…lol. So that is 25 of the 50….sad that True Lies and Tombstone did not make the countdown. Voted up and shared on our Heston UMR page.”
Epic post Bruce, thanks, appreciate the detailed comment, vote and share. 25 out of 50 is good considering you’re not really a fan. You beat Flora’s 21, my tally was 33, but it should have been more.
Lots of favorites here, you mentioned most of them in your post. Sorry for leaving out Tombstone and True Lies. Wayne’s World and Hamlet too, but I wanted to concentrate on the more Heston-centric films.
HESTON VIDEO 1-25. Most pleasing posters for me are – Both for Dark City, The President’s Lady, foreign language one for Omega Man [remade in 2007 as I am Legend starring Will Smith], a very original one for Midway, two crackers from Major Dundee, Khartoum [in which as I recall it critics at the time were unanimous that Chuck had outacted Larry] MARABUNTA! Foreign language one for El Cid. A couple of crackers from Planet of the Apes, The Ten Commandments and Ben Hur. Also your pictorial from Soylent Green was I think another of your magnified cut-outs from a poster but anyway I admire it.
STILLS that I must especially praise (1) Omega Man (2) Chuck as Major Dundee (3)black and white one from 55 Days at Peking with Ava, a film that was actually in colour (4) Chuck ideally cast as the fearsome War Lord with the lovely Canadian actress Rosemary Forsyth (5) “When will you make an end to it, Buonarroti?” (6) in The Greatest Show on Earth, with I think my Jimmy [or at least a stand-in for him] in clown’s outfit (7) as the Cid (8) a captive in Planet of the Apes.
The run of posters stills and lobby cards in your video reflect some of my most nostalgic memories of a great screen hero of mine (ours) in his 1950s prime and beyond. Your selections well illustrate how big a stand-alone contribution to the Hollywood of his heyday Chuck was. For those considerations and overall quality I rate the entire Heston presentation 98.5%. You and WH agree on all Top 5 of Chuck’s critically acclaimed movies albeit in a different order.
Marabunta! Hi Bob, thanks for the review, generous rating, info and comparison, much appreciated. Glad you liked the posters, stills and lobby cards.
Before Ben-Hur, The Omega Man was my favorite Charlton Heston movie, watched it a number of times at the cinema when I was a wee lad (and bunking off school).
Funny thing about James Stewart in Greatest Show on Earth is that he never takes off his clown make up, which is unusual for such a big star. I wonder if some moviegoers at the time didn’t realise that was Stewart under the make up. But his voice would be unmistakable.
I’m trying to remember I think there was a police photo of Jimmy in the film, without the clown make up of course, and that was the only time we see his real face. It’s been a few years since I last saw that film.
Looking at my files 5 Heston films scored 10 out of 10 – El Cid, Ten Commandments, Big Country, Touch of Evil and Ben-Hur.
Four more scored 9 out of 10 – Greatest Show on Earth (Maltin is a big fan), Three Musketeers (1974), Planet of the Apes (1968) and Will Penny.
Highest scorer at IMDB is a tie between Touch of Evil and Ben-Hur, Touch of Evil tops Rotten Tomatoes with Ben-Hur at no.2.
Bruce’s critics top 5 matches mine but in different order, we have the same no.1. Ben-Hur also tops the UMR chart. Ten Commandments is no.1 on the box office chart.
Heston on Gary Cooper (following his death) – “He was a wonderful, forthright and honorable man.”
Heston on Gregory Peck – “Gregory Peck was one of those few great actors of generosity, humor, toughness and spirit. From our fight scene in The Big Country (1958) to his willingness to stand up for what he believed personally, Gregory Peck faced life’s challenges with great vigor and courage.”
“Somebody once approached Kirk Douglas and said they had enjoyed his performance in Ben-Hur (1959). So he said, ‘That wasn’t me, that was another fellow.’ And the man said, ‘Well, if you aren’t Burt Lancaster, who the hell are you?'”
HI STEVE
Thanks for additional information and delicious quotes.
Although at the peak of his box office power in 1952 Jimmy Stewart was given special last billing in Greatest Show on Earth because his was just a supporting role. If I recall correctly Chuck had the main role but was billed 3rd because he hadn’t yet become a truly established major star. Betty Hutton was top billed but though we didn’t know it at the time she was on the way out having just one more modest hit after that film and in the same year, which Was Somebody Loves Me after which – cinematic oblivion.
Chuck though began his collaboration with Cecil in that movie and as we know moved from strength to strength thereafter
Cheers Bob, just to let you know I saw the other comments you sent today. I’ll post a reply tomorrow.
Three legendary Hollywood directors will get expanded videos this week. One of them was British. 🙂
HI STEVE I meant to say that Omega Man was never one of my Chuck faves [nor did I like its Will Smith remake]. Apart from Chuck’s biggies like Ten Commandments, Ben Hur and El Cid, and his partnership with Greg in The Big Country I generally much preferred Chuck’s very early lower key action films and westerns such as Arrowhead, Pony Express, Secret of the Incas, The Savage, Marabunta! and Dark City
Indeed of all Chuck’s movies Naked Jungle is probably my most liked above even his epics. I’m really a bit of a Philistine, am I not? “I never knew the old Vienna of Liszt and Strauss. I knew it in the classic days of The Black Market.” [The Third Man].
However IMDB is on your side over Omega Man and indeed for what it is worth to you here are IMDB’s pick of the 15 best Heston films in ranked order from a list of 25
1 Ten Commandments
2 Ben Hur
3 Big Country
4 The Buccaneer
5 Soylent Green
6 Greatest Show on Earth
7 Omega Man
8 Planet of the Apes
9 Will Penny
10 El Cid
11 Greatest Story Ever Told
12 The Wreck of the Mary Deare.
13 Touch of Evil
14 The Far Horizons
15 Major Dundee.
One of my own early lesser-scale Heston favourites, Pony Express, is ranked No 25 so IMDB at least partially vindicates my taste in loving many of Chuck’s movies of lower importance.
HI STEVE This one simply had to come! In my opinion few if any performers deserve your extended play 50 entry treatment more than Chuck Heston because he had a massive screen presence, was in BIG movies and made plenty of them. Also he was as Bruce said about Dean Martin “A beast at the box office.” Chuck’s current overall adjusted domestic gross in the Cogerson table above is a whopping $7.8 billion, which is not far short of Myrna Loy’s total and as you know she has long been heralded on this site as the “bees knees” at the box office!
Even more impressive in my view is that Bruce’s Annual Review figures for 1956, 1959 and 1961 suggest that just 3 of Chuck’s films -10 Commandments, Ben Hur and El Cid in all of which he had the unqualified lead- have a staggering adjusted WORLDWIDE gross of around $5.5 billion. Top that if you can Myrna!
By the way I take it I’m allowed to call him Chuck as everybody seemed to do that. For example Anne Baxter in an interview after completion of 10 Commandments when she was asked what her next movie would be – “Another with Chuck,” which turned out to be the 1956/7 Three Violent People, rated a so-so 63% by you. Also “I’ll phone CHUCK and ask him. He should be able to help us.” [Brando to another friend in the Civil Rights Movement].
For me the best POSTERS in 50-26 of your video are The Awakening, the 1st one for Marlon and Cleopatra, the 2 highly original posters for one of my own favourite lesser Heston movies with audiences and critics Arrowhead, a stunning one for Pony Express [Forrest Tucker was Wild Bill Hickok to Chuck’s Buffalo Bill Cody in that one] foreign language one for Beneath Planet of Apes, Julius Caesar, Secret of the Incas, 2 Minute Warning. Gray Lady Down, the aforementioned Three Violent People, The Last Hard Man and Wreck of the Mary Deare [showcasing two legendary screen icons Heston and Cooper].
My notes record just one STILL and 2 lobby cards but they are well worth mentioning – a beautiful coloured opening solo shot of Chuck and the lobby cards are for Far Horizons and 1974’s Earthquake [despite it s late date a massive disaster hit for Chuck and in fact his 5th ranked highest box office hit in the table above] To be continued———–
Hi Bob, thanks for the review and trivia on the first half of my Mr. Epicus extended play video, it is appreciated. Happy you enjoyed the slideshow presentation.
One still only in the first half? Wow that’s stingy of me, they must all be piled up in the second half. I know Ten Commandments has 2 stills and Ben-Hur 3. Wait… actually Moses has three stills too, there’s a bonus still at the very end of the video.
I still haven’t watched The Secret of the Incas, I most probably saw it when I was a kid with my parents on our three channel TV set (BBC 1, BBC 2 and ITV – and we were quite happy with those, aah memories…) but I can’t remember for sure.
Doesn’t Chuck look a bit like Indiana Jones in the 2nd poster for Incas? It’s uncanny I tell ya! I wonder if Lucas saw that film. He wanted to name his hero ‘Indiana Smith’, it was Spielberg that suggested ‘Jones’ sounded better than ‘Smith’.
HI STEVE
I agree with you about Chuck and Indie but there would be no crossover as Harrison could not have done even a passable Cid, Moses or Judah Ben in my opinion.
Also of course as he got older Chuck acted his age for the most part. For example in True Lies at the age of 71 he was content to play the desk-bound Spencer Trilby and let his subordinate spy Arnie be the action hero.
It was one of my own fave Arnie movies and Chuck’s Trilby was apparently based on Marvel Comics character Nick Fury, who like Chuck in the movie wore an eye patch as he dispensed commands and assignments.
I think the tag line on posters for True Lies is one of the most impressive I’ve ever seen If you recall the plot line you will know that Arnie played a “Spook” whose own wife didn’t even know he was a US Government spy and the tagline brilliantly summed that up. “When he said I do he didn’t say what he did!”
True Lies is apparently Jamie Lee Curtis’ fave among all her own films and it was a reworking of a 1991 French comedy movie La Totale. Anyway Part 2 Chuck tomorrow and meanwhile enjoy your weekend.
Bob, yeah as much as I enjoyed True Lies I didn’t include it in the video wanting to concentrate on his beefier earlier roles.
Director James Cameron explained that Charlton Heston was the only actor who could believably intimidate and order Arnold around in the movie, as his boss.
Chuck was also briefly in Tombstone, another favorite of mine. Heston played the part of Henry Hooker, another real life person to add to his amazing roll call of characters.
MO – I thought that the following passages from my post conveying a fresh, combined list of the perceived 100 greatest actors/actresses of all time merited copying to Chuck’s own page on this site.
The historians and journalists who offered comments are unknown to me but I think that we can safely assume that one of them was not Joel operating under a pseudonym in view of the generous praise of Mr M.
By the way it seems that Hirsch also fancied himself as an operatic critic and I have just read an actually quite good review that he did of Verdi’s La Traviata [Italian for The Fallen Woman]. This is one of my own fave operas as John McCormack recorded several arias from it. At one part of his review Joel brings in an analogy with Brando as The Wild One so it seems possible that one way or another Hirsch may have had a degree of fixation with The Great Mumbler. Ah if only Joel had confined his career as a critic to the world of opera!
“Charlton Heston is not included in the 100, most likely because he did not have the versatility of a Brando or a Newman or most of the others mentioned who could play almost anybody. However that was more to do with physique than a lack of talent in Heston’s case as his was such a massive screen presence that it was impossible for him to play just ANYBODY.
Timing also comes into it because if Heston had had the advantages of the Studio System of the 30s and 40s he was such an iconic figure that his Legend as a star would today probably equate alongside that of John Wayne and other recognised Hollywood great male artists of yesteryear.
Certainly Mr Heston’s massive box office record** supports such a contention and as it is some devout Christians who are also keen moviegoers have said that if they had the privilege to see God manifest Himself in mortal form among us they have always thought that He might well look something like Heston.” [Though none of them have probably seen what YOU look like!]
**Nearly $8 billion adjusted domestic in the table above.
Yours THE BIG GUY
Interesting about Joel and the opera review. My current Rating the Movie Stars book is about done. The duct tape that holds that book together is no longer working and pages are starting to fall out of the book. But don’t worry….we have another copy of the book ready to go. I was thinking of mailing my latest old book to you…..I can think of many creative ways you can get rid of it…..lol.
Thanks for including this comment on Steve’s Chuck page….it is greatly appreciated.
Bob, so you and Joel do have something in common, a love for opera, especially Verdi’s La Traviata. Does this mean he’s forgiven for ‘dissing’ Brando and the Duke? And he did like ‘your Joan’ remember. [Bob meditates on this]
Heston… Moses and the voice of God in The Ten Commandments. I don’t think Newman or even Brando would have been as effective. But wait… Brando did play the Father of God… aka The God Father. [wink]
Correction: “The Four Muskateers” should be spelled “The Four Musketeers”.