Want to know the best James Stewart movies? How about the worst James Stewart movies? Curious about James Stewart’s box office grosses or which James Stewart movie picked up the most Oscar® nominations? Need to know which James Stewart movie got the best reviews from critics and audiences and which got the worst reviews? Well you have come to the right place….because we have all of that information. James “Jimmy” Stewart (1908-1997) is considered one of the greatest actors to ever exist. He was named the third Greatest Male Star of All-Time by the American Film Institute. He made almost 80 movies in his acting career that lasted over seven decades. Stewart received five Academy Award® nominations for Best Actor. He won an Oscar® for The Philadelphia Story.
Shortly after winning his Academy Award®, James Stewart enlisted in the Air Force. His accomplishments in World War II outshine his movie career in my opinion. Stewart started as a private, but moved up the ranks rapidly. Stewart was assigned to the 445th Bombardment Group and flew combat missions. He flew as command pilot in the lead B-24 on numerous missions deep into Germany. At the end of the war, Stewart had earned the rank of Colonel.
James Stewart’s first movie after the war was one of the great all time classics…. It’s A Wonderful Life. From 1946 until 1971 Stewart starred in 45 movies, including classic movies like Alfred Hitchcock’s Rope, Rear Window and Vertigo. His last starring role was Fools’ Parade with a very young Kurt Russell.
His IMDb page shows 98 acting credits from 1934-1991. This page will rank James Stewart movies from Best to Worst in six different sortable columns of information. Television appearances, cameos and some of his very early 1930s movies were not included in the rankings.
James Stewart Movies Ranked In Chronological Order With Ultimate Movie Rankings Score (1 to 5 UMR Tickets) *Best combo of box office, reviews and awards.
James Stewart 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 James Stewart movies by co-stars of his movies
- Sort James Stewart movies by adjusted domestic box office grosses using current movie ticket cost (in millions)
- Sort James Stewart movies by yearly box office rank
- Sort James Stewart 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 James Stewart movie received.
- Sort James Stewart 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 James Stewart
1. James Stewart’s father ran a hardware store. Three generations of his family had run the store. Stewart was supposed to take over for his father….it did not work out that way. When Stewart won his Oscar® in 1941, he gave the Oscar® to his dad who place the Oscar® in the hardware store front window….I am sure many people went to that hardware store just see that Oscar® statue.
2. James Stewart got married for the first and only time in 1949. He was married to Gloria McClean from 1949 to 1994. Stewart adopted McClean’s two sons, Ronald and Michael, from her previous marriage and in 1951 they had twin girls, Judy and Kelly.
3. During Stewart’s long career he worked with many directors numerous times. His two most famous collaborations were with Alfred Hitchcock and Anthony Mann. Stewart appeared in 4 Hitchcock movies and 8 Anthony Mann movies.
4. Speaking of Alfred Hitchcock….James Stewart really wanted to play Roger Thornhill in 1959’s North by Northwest. Hitchcock felt that Cary Grant would be better for the role and delayed making North by Northwest until Stewart had started filming Bell, Book and Candle.
5. James Stewart was nominated 5 times for a Best Actor Oscar®. Those movies were Mr. Smith Goes To Washington, The Philadelphia Story, It’s A Wonderful Life, Harvey and Anatomy of a Murder. He won for The Philadlephia Story in 1941.
6. James Stewart was the first major star to negotiate a percentage of the his movies grosses. Stewart decided it was worth the gamble to lower his salary and get a percentage. The first two movies he tried this approach on were 1950’s Winchester 73 and Broken Arrow. Both movies became very big hits and Stewart changed the way stars negotiated their contracts.
7. James Stewart’s best friend was Henry Fonda. Henry Fonda arrived in Hollywood first and convinced Stewart to follow his footsteps. One time the two friends got into a fist fight over politics. They decided to never discuss politics ever again amongst themselves.
8. In 1985 James Stewart was presented an Honorary Oscar®. During his acceptance speech he said “This was the greatest award I received, to know that, after all these years, I haven’t been forgotten.”…..26 years later and he is still not forgotten.
9. Famous roles James Stewart turned down or was seriously considered for: The Wild Bunch, The Seven Year Itch, On Golden Pond, North by Northwest, My Darling Clementine, The Last Picture Show, and I Confess.
10. Check out James Stewart‘ career compared to current and classic actors. Most 100 Million Dollar Movies of All-Time.
Still searching for box office grosses for 3 James Stewart movies. 1936’s Speed, 1936’s Born To Dance and 1938’s Of Human Hearts.
AFI’s Top 25 Screen Legend Actors….with links to my movie pages on the Screen Legend
Our comment on Steve’s James Stewart You Tube Video….which we can not get on this page for some unknown reason….yet another issue with our website…..goodness…..between spammers and gremlins!
“Another AFI Legend. So I have seen 35 of these 52 movies. Favorites most of the Top 6…Sorry Vertigo…I like you….but do not love you like I love Rear Window, Wonderful Life, Philadelphia Story and Liberty V. Other tidbits….fun to see Kurt Russell’s name on the poster for #47 Fool’s Parade. Fool”s Parade was Stewart’s last leading role (at least in movies that got released in theaters). Ones I want to see…#51 Bandolero and #43 Two Rode Together….you would think Stewart, Widmark and John Ford would have a higher rated movie. Another great video….which I voted up and shared.”
Hi Bruce, thanks again for the vote, share and comment, always appreciated. Your tally of 35 just beats my 34, Flora has seen an astounding 48 movies from this list. Just 4 films out. We have the same no.1 on our charts – It’s a Wonderful Life – Frank Capra beats Hitchcock, how does that happen?
Hey Cogerson. I would not share any tears if you get rid of the comments. There are entertaining but far from the reason I come here so often. Hope the situation clears up soon.
JIMMY STEWART VIDEO 1-25
BEST POSTERS Shenandoah, foreign language one for Broken Arrow, The Man from Laramie, The Naked Spur [Stewart’s hero cried in that one when he was told he was loved – I wonder what The Duke thought of that!] Rope, Call Northside 777 [which I used to confuse with Cagney’s 13 Rue Madeline] Winchester 73 [with Rock’s Young Bull a large menacing background figure] The Philadelphia Story, Rear Window and a very original foreign language one for The Man who Shot Liberty Valance which was breathtaking.
STEVE
I have sent you my two posts on Jimmy 1-25 but they keep appearing and disappearing.at the site. It reminds me of an episode of a Dick Van Dyke detective story where a body keeps disappearing and turning up again at Community General Hospital and nodbody believes Dick when he says he saw it!
BRUCE
Flora’s name with a suggested E Mail address for her has again appeared on my Cogerson pages in the Name and E Mail Boxes where my own usually are. Similar references for Steve has also appeared and did so yesterday several times. As said I just keep wiping them.
Hey Bob…..been seeing that too. Currently we have not been able to unlock the comment issues….getting pretty close to pulling the plug on comments all together…..the spammers are jamming up the page….regular comments getting lost…..and now e-mail addresses showing up…just not sure what to do. Thanks for the heads up.
Hey Bruce, have you tried changing the email or comments ‘address’ to UMR and see if that works. Not sure how forums work round the problem of spamming. I know my movie forum still gets spam with links to illegal downlaods.
Bob and Bruce:
I had no idea that was happening with regard to my and Steve’s name and suggested email addresses. That has never happened before. Bruce I hope you are able to fix the issues. I hope you don’t have to forgo comments altogether, but this issue is getting way out of hand.
FLORA
Glad that I could tip you off.
BOB
Hey Flora….hopefully something called “Spam Blockers” is going to fix this issue….at least that is what we are hoping. One of these “widgets” is supposed to only allow only people that have approved comments…..that widget gives you credit for 1200 comments…but for Bob and Steve it gives them credit for 0 comments…..it is just so confusing.
Thanks for letting me know, Bob. I had no idea that was happening. Shocking. Maybe Steve’s idea will work. I would be sorry for Bruce to have to stop the comments, but he may not have any choice.
HI MO
JIMMY STEWART VIDEO 1-25 STILLS
(1) Bend of the River [possibly my fave Stewart movie] (2) the Rope ensemble with Hitch sitting with his cast] (3) How the West Was One, in beautiful color (4) Harvey – which I have always detested (5) with The Duke in The Shootist [really just 2 old men with whom time had caught up] (6) solo from Winchester 73 [Stewart broke the studio system mould here by demanding and getting a profits%] (7) Destry (8)the lobby card for Philadelphia Story and (9) the very clever arrangement of Jimmy with the “two” Novaks in Vertigo.
You and Bruce agree on 6 of Jimmy’s Top 10 Best Reviewed but you are really miles apart with You Can’t Take it With You which you have at No 7 [85%] and he has astonishingly at no 52. [63% HAVE I got that right? I haven’t seen the film but IMDB gives it 80%. Just one criticism – you’re wasting everybody’s time again with another Myrna Loy poster but that simply reduces the overall rating of mine from 98.8 to 98.6% for your first-class Stewart video which I love ! Best Wishes RAM
Hi Bob, you probably won’t see this comment for a while but thanks for reviewing and rating my James Stewart video, very much appreciated, glad you liked the posters and stills. I’ve read all four of your posts on this video. Cheers!
Bob, nine Jimmy Stewart films scored 10 out of 10 from my sources
It’s a Wonderful Life
Rear Window
Vertigo
Philadelphia Story ,The
Mr. Smith Goes to Washington
Man Who Shot Liberty Valance ,The
You Can’t take it with you
Anatomy of a Murder
Destry Rides Again
It’s a Wonderful Life tops all the charts including Bruce’s critics chart, Mr. Smith goes to Washington tops the UMR chart.
I included After the Thin Man because James Stewart had an important role to play in that movie if you remember the plot, an unusual role for young Jimmy.
After The Thin Man was one of the movies that got Stewart’s career moving….so I think it is a vital movie to include in your video. Plus it stars…the greatest female box office star of all-time.