Richard Dreyfuss Movies

Want to know the best Richard Dreyfuss movies?  How about the worst Richard Dreyfuss movies?  Curious about Richard Dreyfuss box office grosses or which Richard Dreyfuss movie picked up the most Oscar® nominations? Need to know which Richard Dreyfuss 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.

Richard Dreyfuss (1947-) is an Oscar® winning American actor….who has been appearing in motion pictures for over 50 years!   His IMDb page shows over 120 acting credits since 1964. This page ranks  Richard Dreyfuss movies from Best to Worst in six different sortable columns of information. Television shows, bit parts and his movies not released in North America theaters are not included in the rankings.

Drivel part of the page:  I have not met too many Oscar® winners in my lifetime…..but I did get to meet Mr. Richard Dreyfuss.  The place:  Old Dominion University ….Norfolk, Va.  The time:  March 25th, 2009. The situation:  Dreyfuss was the opening speaker at the 2009 ONFilm Festival of Independent Film.  After his talk….he took questions from the audience….and after that part was over… the audience was given the opportunity to meet Mr. Dreyfuss.  I of course took advantage of that opportunity….which is how I was lucky enough to get him to sign the Tin Men DVD cover shown in the first picture on this page.

Richard Dreyfuss starred in one of the biggest hits of all-time….1975’s Jaws

Richard Dreyfuss Movies Ranked In Chronological Order With Ultimate Movie Rankings Score (1 to 5 UMR Tickets) *Best combo of box office, reviews and awards.

Richard Dreyfuss 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 Richard Dreyfuss movies by co-stars of his movies.
  • Sort Richard Dreyfuss movies by adjusted domestic box office grosses using current movie ticket cost (in millions)
  • Sort Richard Dreyfuss movies by yearly domestic box office rank
  • Sort Richard Dreyfuss movies how they were received by critics and audiences.  60% rating or higher should indicate a good movie.
  • Sort by how many Oscar® nominations each Richard Dreyfuss movie received and how many Oscar® wins each Richard Dreyfuss movie won.
  • Sort Richard Dreyfuss 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.
  • Use the search and sort button to make this page very interactive.
Richard Dreyfuss in 1977’s Close Encounters of the Third Kind

Possibly Interesting Facts About Richard Dreyfuss

1. Richard Steven Dreyfuss was born in Brooklyn, New York in 1947.

2. Richard Dreyfuss auditioned for the role as one of the Von Trapp children in 1965’s The Sound of Music.  The fact that he cannot dance really hurt his chances of getting that role.

3. One of Richard Dreyfuss’ first IMDb credits is his brief appearance in 1967’s The Graduate.

4. Richard Dreyfuss starred in 4 of the Top 100 Adjusted Box Office Hits of All-Time.  Even more amazing is the fact that he did it during a 4 year period….1973 to 1977.  Those 4 movies:  1973’s American Graffiti, 1975’s Jaws, 1977’s Close Encounters of the Third Kind and 1977’s The Goodbye Girl.

5. During the filming of 1975’s Jaws…. Robert Shaw could not stand Richard Dreyfuss and the two argued all the time, which resulted in some good tension between Hooper and Quint.

6. Richard Drefuss got his role as Roy Neary in 1977’s Close Encounters of the Third Kind after Al Pacino and Gene Hackman turned down the role.

7.  Richard Dreyfuss has appeared in three films that were nominated for the Best Picture Oscar®: 1973’s American Graffiti, 1975’s Jaws and 1977’s The Goodbye Girl.

8. Richard Dreyfuss won the Best Actor Oscar® for 1977’s The Goodbye Girl.  At the time of his win…he was the youngest actor (he was 30) to win this award. That record has since been beaten.

9. Richard Dreyfuss is one of five actors to appear in films directed by both George Lucas and Steven Spielberg.  The other 4? Harrison Ford, Liam Neeson, Christopher Lee and Samuel L. Jackson.

10. Richard Dreyfuss has  been married three times and has three children.

Check out Richard Dreyfuss’ career compared to current and classic actors.  Most 100 Million Dollar Movies of All-Time.

Despite in taking over 5 years to write a Richard Dreyfuss UMR page….he is actually one of my favorite actors (I have seen 40 of the 46 movies listed here)….so I felt I should list my personal Top 10 Richard Dreyfuss movies in alphabetical order.

  • American Graffiti (1973)….what a cast….and what a fun movie to watch….the success of this movie helped the Star Wars universe get launched
  • The American President (1995)….this is one of my wife’s favorite all-time movies…so I watch it a lot….but it is always entertaining
  • Close Encounters of the Third Kind (1977)….saw this in theaters with my dad a few times….still a fun movie to watch
  • Jaws (1975)…simply one of the best movies ever made!
  • Let It Ride (1989)….this was a huge flop for Dreyfuss….but I love the movie…it is funny and Dreyfuss is great in the lead role…plus you get Dreyfuss and Teri Garr as a married couple….which is a Close Encounters reunion
  • Lost in Yonkers (1993)….Dreyfuss’ return to the world of Neil Simon was not nearly as successful as their The Goodbye Girl….but Dreyfuss is a blast to watch in this one
  • Stakeout (1987)….great chemistry between Dreyfuss and Emilio Estevez….this was a hit…..and yet somehow it seems forgotten in time
  • Stand By Me (1986)…Dreyfuss did this small part as a favor to his childhood friend, Rob Reiner.  This is one entertaining movie.
  • Tin Men (1987)….loved this movie when I saw in theaters….and I still love it all of these years later….DeVito and Dreyfuss are awesome in this movie
  • Who Is Cletis Tout? (2002)….actually the reason I like this movie so much has nothing to do with Dreyfuss…..but all to do with Tim Allen’s movie loving hitman Critical Jim…..a movie all movie buffs will like

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36 thoughts on “Richard Dreyfuss Movies”

  1. HI BRUCE

    1 Thanks for your additional Dreyfuss comments.

    2 We talk about the “curse of 39” but what about the curse of Spencer Tracy?. Always was a remake of A Guy Named Joe and Richard, normally the mildest and most modest of stars seems to have been bitten by the Tracy billing bug. If you look at the Wikipedia/IMDB posters you will see that Richard and Holly Hunter seem to have come to the McQueen/Newman Towering Inferno billing arrangement.in that Holly is mentioned first on the posters and Richard comes second but his name is raised above Holly’s

    3 Have just watched Steve’s Audie Murphy video and it is an excellent companion piece for your own informative page.

    Reply

    1. Hey Bob…..I think you need more examples of the Curse of Spencer Tracy……lol. I had not noticed that about the billing in Always. Looking at the DVD cover…..Dreyfuss is the second name when reading left to right….but his name and picture are in the center and higher than Goodman and Hunter…..to me it looks like he is the star and Hunter and Goodman are the supporting roles. IMDb lists Dreyfuss first as well. Glad you enjoyed Steve’s Audie Murphy…I checked it out this morning myself….thanks for the re-visit.

      Reply

      1. 1 If you look closely at the Wikipedia poster you will see that most of Holly’s photograph comes before Richard’s but his picture is raised above hers. Back in 1989 that would have been regarded as compromise billing on the posters and De Niro and Pacino used it for Righteous Kill in 2008.

        2 Often part of the compromise can be a different from elsewhere order of mention on the cast lists. For example Clint Eastwood had billing over Burt Reynolds on the posters, cast lists and screen for City Heat [1984] but Burt had asked for his name to come first on just the cast lists and Clint refused to agree to even that. For the film Boeing Boeing so fiercely was top billing contested between Jerry Lewis and Tony Curtis that part of the compromise was that the cast lists in the trade papers had to change each day so as to alternate top billing between the two stars.

        1 According to Wikipedia however TODAY whoever comes first on the side of the poster to the viewer’s left is deemed to have first billing so that In the case of Always if Wiki is correct Holly would be regarded as billed first on the posters and Richard first in the cast lists. I can’t recall what the arrangement was for the actual on-screen prints of the movie but as John would point out these issues would be of interest if at all to just the stars at the time when the movie was made and billing buffs like me today.

        2 However I thank you for your own attention to the matter and any others who wish to read up on the issues further if they google something like Billing Disagreements over Movies Wikipedia gives additional examples and goes into the matter in more detail than I have done here.

        Reply

        1. BRUCE
          CORRECTION The Pacino/De Niro movie Righteous Kill to which I referred in my previous Dreyfuss post was 2008- apologies.

          Reply

        2. Hey Bob
          1. Yeah that is the same picture on my DVD…..to me it looks like it is all Dreyfuss….especially with the text under his picture….so I think I am not thinking the same way you are …in this case.
          2. Good stories on City Heat (I need to watch that one again) and Boeing Boeing (aware of the movie but never even come close to watching it)
          3. That might Wiki’s general rule…..but I am sure there are exceptions to the rule….but in this case…Hunter had only a modest success with Broadcast News to her credit…while Dreyfuss was still near the top of the game….plus the whole reason the movie got made was because Dreyfuss and Spielberg both loved A Guy Named Joe (a movie I have not seen)…..the Spielberg/Dreyfuss combo is what sold that movie….so in this case I am not buying your logic. Now if Hunter had been a bigger star….I could maybe agree with you….but for an actress that only has 15 movies with an adjusted gross over $10 million…no way did she bump Dreyfuss…..just it makes the poster look better.
          4. Thanks for the information for further information.
          Good stuff as always….even if we do not see eye to eye on this one.

          Reply

          1. HI BRUCE

            “None so blind as he who will not see.!”

            By the way Spielberg actually wanted Redford and Newman instead of Dreyfuss and Goodman and then his next choice was Sean Connery for one of the roles but I’m not sure which.

          2. Hey Bob…..“None so blind as he who will not see.!” ..I was thinking the same thing about you….lol. True…..about Newman and Redford….but the original thought of Spielberg doing the remake to Joe…started during the filming of either Jaws or Close Encounters…probably both….granted 12 years after Close …Dreyfuss was no longer the hottest box office actor on the planet. 🙂

          3. HI BRUCE

            1 Did some more research and discovered that Spielberg wanted Newman and Redford for the Dreyfuss and Brad Johnson roles but both wanted the Dreyfuss role and neither would back off so he had to forget about casting them. I suppose it makes a change arguing about a role rather than billing!

            2 He actually wanted Connery for the Audrey Hepburn part but when he couldn’t get Sean he changed the gender of the character. Sorry about my earlier mistakes which shows that at times you think you know what you’ve just looked at but on closer inspection find out you were wrong so maybe it would do no harm for you to look at that Always poster again.

          4. Hey Bob….there is no way either Redford or Newman would want the Johnson role…it is a horrible role…granted…the inexperienced goofy clumsy guy would have been thrown out the window if either had played the role….but then they would not need an angel’s help if they were Bob or Paul…lol.

  2. Man I love the man. Which is why it surprised me I have only seen 13 of the movies which does not include the #1 UMR. It must have been quite an experience meeting the man, would love to know how he was. By far my favorite movie in the Top 10 is What About Bob? I think the interactions between Dreyfuss and Murray are hilarious. For the life of me I cannot place him in American Graffiti or Stand By Me. Krippendorf’s Tribe has some pretty memorable scenes but my favorite low rank of the list has to be Let It Ride. Maybe this is you rubbing off on me but I thought this was a great movie.

    Reply

    2. Hey Bryan….very cool that you have almost beaten Steve Lensman in our tally contest. Proud day. Cogerson 40, 16 for Steve and 14 for Son of Cogerson.

      Yep it was a great experience…..his prepared speech was all over the place but his Q and A was fun and the meet and greet was a blast.

      As for What About Bob? We will agree to disagree on that one. I think it is ok but it would be hard pressed to make my personal Top 20.

      He was the author telling the story in Stand By Me and was the teen chasing the girl in the car in American Graffiti.

      Thanks for a great comment….well deserving of your Hall of Fame status.

      Reply

  3. I remember passing Sondra Bullock on the street. She was coming out of the hotel she was staying at and reporters were all hanging around out front. The subway stop I got off for work was down the street so I had to pass that way. Her film While You Were Sleeping was opening that day. She really had only Speed and Demolition Man that were notable hits at that time.

    Reply

    1. Cool Bullock story…I imagine back then she did not get noticed much compared to how it would be today if she was in the same location.

      Reply

  4. Hi

    My favourite Dreyfuss movie is Once Around. A simple story of a man’s relationship with his in-laws. It didn’t do well at the box office but it’s definitely worth looking out for. I also like Mr Holland’s Opus, I seen it recently. Great story about a music teacher and great performances all round.
    What About Bob is very funny and shows off Dreyfuss’ comedic talent and ability. Strange that The Goodbye Girl isn’t as highly regarded today as it is actually a very entertaining movie.
    I remember going to see Close Encounters of the Third Kind, one of the best sci-fi movies ever.
    It was interesting to read that he didn’t get on with the actor Robert Shaw from Jaws. To be honest he does seem like the type of character who would be hard to get on with, so hyper and such a perfectionist.
    It’s a pity he’s no longer a big name, a couple of years ago he appeared in the West End in London and he had difficulty remembering his lines. In fact it was rumoured that he had to get an ear piece. But nevertheless he’s a fantastic talent.

    Reply

    1. Hey Chris.
      1. Very cool that you mentioned Once Around…..it has been getting mentioned in the comments a lot more times than I would have guessed.
      2. I actually just looked at my movie book from the 1980s/1990s…..and in my reviews (a simple 1 to 4 stars) I gave it a 2…..so at the time I thought it was average…..but as I have gotten older I have gotten to understand the movie and Dreyfuss’ character more….so I view as a much better movie than just “average”.
      3. I enjoyed Mr. Holland’s Opus too…..but I have never been a big fan of What About Bob?
      4. The Goodbye Girl is almost a forgotten movie…..I bet if you asked some movie fans…”Which 1970s movie did Richard Dreyfuss win his Oscar for?”…that Jaws and Close Encounters would be the first two picks….and when you told them it was for The Goodbye Girl…you would get some vacant looks.
      5. I agree 100% with you about Close Encounters.
      6. The behind the scenes story of Jaws is pretty fascinating….lots of nuggets like the Shaw/Dreyfuss relationship in that documentary.
      7. Interesting about Dreyfuss forgetting his lines….that would be my greatest fear if I was an actor working on stage in front of a live audience.
      Great comment as always…thanks for sharing your Dreyfuss knowledge.

      Reply

  5. 1 BRUCE I used to think of Richard as ‘The blockbuster man’ because as you illustrate above within a very short period he was in 4 massive hits which astonishingly totalled almost $2.8 billion domestically in today’s dollars. However he also had an enormous number of flops with nearly 59% of his movies grossing less than an adjusted $50 million domestically His final $100 million+ grossers were in 1995 for one of which Mr Holland’s Opus he received Oscar and Golden Globe noms after which his box office went downhill. He was in the 2010 Willis hit Red but he is not on the posters and IMDB does not list him in the main cast list for that movie.

    2 I most enjoyed him in the ‘tiny’ film Once Around (1991 where he played a flippant character called Sam Sharpe whose father in law Joe Bella (Danny Aiello) despises him as a sponger and a nuisance and I loved the scene in which Joe Bella says scathingly of Sharpe to a friend “He always seems to be ARRIVING at my house. I never see him LEAVE.” The irony is that toward the end of the movie Sam becomes invalided and in one scene Joe has to actually carry him into the Bella residence !

    3 It is a pity that Richard’s heyday ended so soon and I have always thought that the culprit was his choice of some very offbeat roles. He did though love unusual cinematic things in general and he once said that one of the scenes that he most admired was the shack confrontation between Mr Mumbles and Ben Johnson in One Eyed Jacks where Mr M explodes and quickly walking backwards to put distance between himself and Ben violently throws a table aside without looking at it as he reaches down to his gun, bores his eyes into Ben and invites Johnson to try to beat him to the draw. Richard said he thought that scene was unique in its co-ordination of actions. For my money Richard himself was not just a brilliant but also an endearing actor and you were very privileged to meet him as you clearly realise.
    However if I had been part of that 2009 audience I would have taken the opportunity to ask questions like “Tell me Mr Dreyfuss what did you think of the wonderful Miss Crawford?”

    Reply

    1. Hey Bob
      1. I agree his 1970s time span was incredible….that was when I first started paying attention to things like stars and such….to me Richard Dreyfuss was the King of the World. American Graffiti/Happy Days, Jaws and Close Encounters were game changing movies in my world.
      2. Yep things have really slowed down for him…..he is barely in Red….though I like his part….Poseidon was just terrible…..and his last movies have been HE movies….and looking at his IMDb list of upcoming projects….it likes that will true for a little while longer.
      3. Of the two Hunter/Dreyfuss movies….I think Once Around is the one to watch…I agree Aiello gives one of his best performances in that one. Always is cute….but it falls apart with a lackluster Brad Johnson as the third member of that love triangle.
      4. Good story of Dreyfuss and One-Eyed Jacks…..sounds like Dreyfuss was a movie buff back in the day…he has said he no longer watches movies…..because all they are superheros, computer graphics and remakes.
      5. You know….that would have been my question to Dreyfuss if I had TWO questions….instead I blew it by talking about Tin Men with him…..lol. He did say that was some of the most fun he had on a movie set….he mentioned how much fun he had with Jackie Gayle, Bruno Kirby and DeVito… Kirby had only passed away a year or two from that conversation.
      Thanks for the great comment on Mr. Dreyfuss.

      Reply

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