George Roy Hill Movies

George Roy Hill won a Best Director Oscar for 1973's The Sting.
George Roy Hill won a Best Director Oscar for 1973’s The Sting.

Want to know the best George Roy Hill movies?  How about the worst George Roy Hill movies?  Curious about George Roy Hill’s box office grosses or which George Roy Hill movie picked up the most Oscar® nominations? Need to know which George Roy Hill movie got the best reviews from critics and audiences? Well you have come to the right place….because we have all of that information.

When I was growing up we did not have cable, VHS, DVDs or Clouds.  The only movies we saw at home were the ones that came on television. On Sunday nights you could always look forward to seeing a popular movie on network television.  Three movies The Sting, Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid, and Slap Shot along with James Bond movies always seemed to be on one of the networks.  I eventually came to realize that those three films were directed by one man. That man was George Roy Hill (1921-2002).  

During his 26 year directing career….George Roy Hill only directed 14 movies. Although the amount of movies that he directed is small compared to other directors….his catalogue is still pretty impressive.  He directed blockbusters (Butch Cassidy & Sundance Kid, The Sting & Hawaii), a popular musical (Throughly Modern Millie) one of the best sports movies (Slap Shot), popular books turned into movies (Slaughterhouse-Five, World According to Garp), plays turned into movies (Period of Adjustment), a good Chevy Chase movie (Funny Farm) and a great romantic movie (A Little Romance).

His IMDb page shows 19 directing credits from 1954-1988. This page will rank 14 George Roy Hill movies from Best to Worst in five different sortable columns of information. His television work are not included in the rankings.

Robert Redford and Paul Newman in 1969's Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid. George Roy Hill's 2nd biggest box office in his directing career.
Robert Redford and Paul Newman in 1969’s Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid. George Roy Hill’s 2nd biggest box office in his directing career.

George Roy Hill Movies Can Be Ranked 5 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 George Roy Hill’s co-stars of his movies.
  • Sort George Roy Hill movies by adjusted domestic box office grosses using current movie ticket cost.
  • Sort George Roy Hill movies by their yearly box office rank
  • Sort George Roy Hill 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 George Roy Hill movie received.
  • Sort George Roy Hill 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.

Stats and Possibly Interesting Things From The Above George Roy Hill Table

  1. Six George Roy Hill movies crossed the magical $100 million domestic gross mark.  That is a percentage of 42.85% of his movies listed. The Sting (1973) was his biggest hit.
  2. An average George Roy Hill movie grossed $222.10 million in adjusted box office gross.
  3. Using RottenTomatoes.com’s 60% fresh meter.  13 of George Roy Hill’s movies are rated as good movies…or 92.85% of his movies.  The Sting (1973) is his highest rated movie while Toys In The Attic (1963) was his lowest rated movie.
  4. Eight George Roy Hill movies received at least one Oscar® nomination in any category…..or 57.14% of his movies.
  5. Four George Roy Hill movies won at least one Oscar® in any category…..or 28.57% of his movies.
  6. An average Ultimate Movie Rankings (UMR) Score is 40.00.  11 George Roy Hill movies scored higher that average….or 78.57% of his movies.  The Sting (1973) got the the highest UMR Score while Toys In The Attic (1963) got the lowest UMR Score.
Paul Newman and Robert Redford in 1973's The Sting...ranked as George Roy Hill's best movie according to critics and audiences.
Paul Newman and Robert Redford in 1973’s The Sting…ranked as George Roy Hill’s best movie according to critics and audiences.

 Possibly Interesting Facts About George Roy Hill

1.  George Roy Hill was born in 1921 in Minneapolis, Minnesota….his family owned the Minneapolis Tribute newspaper.

2.  George Roy Hill served in the United States Marine Corp.  He was on active duty during World War II and the Korean War.

3.  George Roy Hill was married once….had 4 children and 12 grandchildren.

4.  After directing the Tennesse Williams’ play Period of Adjustment on Broadway, George Roy Hill was chosen to bring the play to the big screen.  Period of Adjustment was not only the first movie Hill directed but also starred a very young Jane Fonda.

5.  George Roy Hill was nominated for two Oscars®.  He won the Oscar® for Best Director for The Sting.  His other nomination was for Best Director for Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid.

6.  George Roy Hill directed 3 movies that were the number one box office hits for entire year.  Hawaii in 1966, Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid in 1969 and The Sting in 1973.

7.  George Roy Hill directed 5 different performers in Oscar®-nominated performances: Jocelyn LaGarde in Hawaii, Carol Channing in Throughly Modern Millie, Robert Redford in The Sting and Glenn Close and John Lithgow in The World According to Garp.

8.  George Roy Hill directed Robert Redford and Paul Newman three times.  The third Redford movie is The Great Waldo Pepper and the third Newman movie is Slap Shot. For years there were rumors of a third Hill/Newman/Redford movie…but sadly that never happened.

9.  An excellent book on George Roy Hill is The Films of George Hill by Andrew Horton.

10.  After Funny Farm failed at the box office….George Roy Hill retired….he then taught drama at Yale.

Check out George Roy Hill‘s career compared to current and classic actors.  Most 100 Million Dollar Movies of All-Time.

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14 thoughts on “George Roy Hill Movies

  1. Hi, Bruce.

    This is one of the names of the directors which interested me since the films of his I have enjoyed multiple times. And since he didn’t make a large number of films, I thought I’d write about George Roy Hill now as I am leaving names with large tallies (eg. Hope) for when I have more time to spend online. I also am trying to put off Loren and Hayward until I see two films I’ve recorded but not seen.

    I believe Hawaii is airing this Monday. It is the highest ranking film which I have not yet seen.

    The most recent film I have seen for the first time is A Little Romance which I quite enjoyed.

    Some of his films I love, while others were either too long (eg. Thoroughly Modern Millie) or seen for the actor but not a subject which interested me (eg. Slap Shot), so my top 5 are all over the place on your list.

    I have seen 4 of the top 5
    I have seen 7 of the top 10 and that is my total overall.

    Therefore I’ve list a top 3 instead of a top 5:

    The Sting
    Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid
    A Little Romance

    Flora Breen Robison

    1. Hey Flora….the tally count….me 9, you 7 and Steve 5….I was surprised Steve had only seen 5…especially since GRH did so many great movies.

      I look forward to your Loren, Hayward and Hope comments. Hawaii is not a very good movie….but it was a smash hit. I enjoyed A Little Romance as well…though it has been years since I saw that one.

      Your Top 3 is stellar….Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid is one of my favorite movies of all-time. Slap Shot is pretty funny…though it has not aged well at all. As always….thanks for the visit.

  2. Interesting page Bruce. Only 14 films? I expected more. Have to admit I’ve only watched 5 of Hills films, Butch Cassidy, The Sting, Slap Shot, Hawaii and Slaughterhouse Five. I must have seen Funny Farm back in the 80’s, just can’t remember it.
    My favourite from here is Butch Cassidy, I have it on blu-ray along with The Sting.
    Excellent work as usual.

    1. Yep he surprisingly only directed 14 films….I have seen 9 of his movies. 6 I really really like. Butch, Sting, SlapShot, Garp, Funny Farm, and Slaugherhouse-five. Thanks as always for the visit.

  3. I never understood why he did not have a stronger following. I think most directors would be happy with one iconic movie. He has 2. I liked this tribute to him.

    1. Hey WT Simmons. I know exactly what you mean. When I was checking out his IMDB profile…it even has some pretty negative comments on HIS VERY OWN profile. I have always liked him…before writing this page I did not even realize that he had only directed 14 movies….thanks for stopping by.

  4. My whole family would watch Sunday Night Movies. Very fond memories. Butch Cassidy And The Sundance Kid is one of my favorite movies ever. I wish the team of Newman, Redford and Hill would have made a third movie.

    1. Hey Karl Shaw…I have the same memories….it used to be called The Million Dollar Movie. A distant memory that is fading fast.

  5. I have to admit I was not familiar with Mr. Hill. But I am familiar with many of his movies. My favorites would be A Little Romance and Throughley Modern Millie. Thanks for the education.

    1. Hey Amy. I liked A Little Romance as well. I have yet to see Throughly Modern Millie but after writing this page…it is now on my list of movies to watch.

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