Want to know the best Richard Pryor movies? How about the worst Richard Pryor movies? Curious about Richard Pryor box office grosses or which Richard Pryor movie picked up the most Oscar® nominations? Need to know which Richard Pryor movie got the best reviews from critics and audiences? Well you have come to the right place….because we have all of that information.
Richard Pryor (1940-2005) was an American stand-up comedian and actor. Pryor is considered by many to be the most influential stand-up comedian of the last 50 years. His movie career was impressive too…as his movies grossed over $3.50 billion in adjusted box office. Pryor’s IMDb page shows acting credits from 1966-1999.
This page will rank Richard Pryor 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. Drivel Part: Whenever I think of Richard Pryor I can’t but help think of the time my brother and I watched Richard Pryor: Live In Concert. for the first time. It had to be a Friday or Saturday night and HBO was showing the movie. We were laughing so hard that our dad kept coming in the room and telling us to be quiet. After the third or fourth time of telling us to be quiet my dad gave up and went to bed. I do not think I have ever laughed that much or that hard in my life. Thank you Mr. Pryor.
Frequent co-stars Gene Wilder and Richard Pryor in 1980’s Stir Crazy
Richard Pryor Movies Ranked In Chronological Order With Ultimate Movie Rankings Score (1 to 5 UMR Tickets) *Best combo of box office, reviews and awards.
Richard Pryor 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 Pryor movies by his co-stars
Sort Richard Pryor movies by adjusted domestic box office grosses using current movie ticket cost (in millions)
Sort Richard Pryor movies by yearly domestic box office rank
Sort Richard Pryor 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 Richard Pryor movie received.
Sort Richard Pryor movies by Ultimate Movie Rankings (UMR) Score. UMR puts box office, reviews and awards into a mathematical equation and gives each movie a score.
Richard Pryor Adjusted World Wide Box Office Grosses
Movie (Year)
UMR Co-Star Links
World-Wide Box Office Adjusted (mil)
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Check out Richard Pryor’s career compared to current and classic actors. Most 100 Million Dollar Movies of All-Time
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Possibly Interesting Facts About Richard Pryor
1. Richard Franklin Lennox Thomas Pryor was born in Peoria, Illinois in 1940.2. Richard Pryor served in the United States Army from 1958 to 1960. In 1963 he started performing stand-up in New York City. He performed regularly besides then unknowns…Bob Dylan and Woody Allen. 3. Richard Pryor was originally slated to play Bart in 1974’s Blazing Saddles. Due to Pryor’s background and controversial stand-up routines, Mel Brooks couldn’t secure financing for the project. Pryor is credited as one of the screen play writers of that monster hit. 4. Richard Pryor pointed to Bill Cosby as his role model and inspiration to become a comedian himself. Eddie Murphy pointed to Pryor as his role model and inspiration to become a comedian himself. Murphy cast prior Pryor in his directorial debut…Harlem Nights. 5. Richard Pryor was ranked as the 5th most popular movie star in 1982 according to Quigley Publications….his one and only appearance on that list. 6. Richard Pryor was awarded The First Annual Kennedy Center Mark Twain Prize in 1999. 7. Richard Pryor was married 7 times…he had eight children. 8. Check out Richard Pryor’s career compared to current and classic actors. Most 100 Million Dollar Movies of All-Time.
Academy Award® and Oscar® are the registered trademarks of the Academy of Motion Arts and Sciences. Golden Globes® are the registered trademark and service mark of the Hollywood Foreign Press.
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12 thoughts on “Richard Pryor Movies”
The first film I saw Richard Pryor in was Silver Streak at the cinema back in the 70s. Gene Wilder was already a favorite from the Mel Brooks comedies, Pryor was hilarious, I was an instant fan.
He and Wilder made a good comedy team. Stir Crazy was comedy gold. By the mid 80s his star started to fade, most probably because of the rise of Eddie Murphy who became one of the biggest stars of the 80s.
I’ve seen 17 of the films listed, favorites include – Blazing Saddles (not in the film, co-writer?) Silver Streak, Stir Crazy, Superman III, Richard Pryor in Concert, Brewsters Millions and See No Evil Hear No Evil.
Movies I haven’t seen include – The Toy, The Wiz and The Muppet Movie.
The first time I saw In Concert was on video tape in the early 80s, couldn’t stop laughing, he was a huge influence on Eddie Murphy.
A nice tribute to a comedy legend Bruce. Voted Up!
Hey Steve.
1. Thanks for commenting on my Richard Pryor page.
2. Silver Streak used to play of television a lot when I was younger…..so I am thinking that is when I first noticed him too.
3. I agree Wilder and Pryor made a great screen team…though they were not too close away from the screen…which seems a little sad….as when somebody makes so many movies together….it makes you think they were great friends in real life.
4. 17….is the top so far….I am 15 and Laurent was at 8….congrats…seems like it has been awhile since you got the “gold”.
5. I see Another You…the 4th Wilder/Pryor movie did not make your list of favorites…I thought See No Evil Hear No Evil was pretty good.
6. As for the ones you have not seen….not thinking any of them are really worth checking out….The Toy is pretty brutal to watch.
As always….thank you for your movie thoughts. 🙂
Richard Pryor was and is totally unknow in France. Only 22 of his movies are released in my country. Some of these movies are released in France, but not in Paris, like The Toy (who is a remake of a french movie : Le Jouet with Pierre Richard, a big french star of the 70’s, specialized in comedies).
His only two little success were Superman 3 with 1.1 million of admissions and Silver Streak (1.3millions tickets sold, thanks to Gene Wilder). All of the others atracted less than 500 000 spectators.
I discovered him in video when I was 13 with Silver Streak. But at the time, when I talk about him, people told me “Who ?”. And I answer “The black in Superman 3”. “Ah, OK”.
Hey Laurent….thanks for checking out my Richard Pryor page….gotta admit….not surprised that he was not popular in France. His humor does not seem to translate well to other countries and other languages. That being said….I can see Superman 3 and Stir Crazy being decent draws outside of the states. So your tally is at 8….I am at 15…I have seen 2 of his movies in cinemas….Stir Crazy and Wholly Moses. Silver Streak is a movie that introduced him to lots of people….which is amazing…because the part is pretty small…as always thanks for the comment and the visit.
Hey Dan….Wow it was on TCM….from what I read many of his late 1960s and early 1970s were almost lost films….one of them Pryor burned the print so nobody would be able to see it. I guess The Phynx is not one of those movies. I will have to check it out.
Glad to see Blue Collar so highly ranked. It is without a doubt his strongest acting performance. Brutal honesty, humor, and anger mixed togerther in one of the finest performances I have ever seen. Sadly he did not make many movies like this instead the public seemed to like him in pretty dumb comedies. But we will always have Blue Collar.
Hey S. Gelride….Blue Collar got the 2nd best reviews of his career….and if you look at acting performances it would be 1st. Thanks for the mini-review.
Three of his concert movies in the Top 8? That is very surprising. I did not know he was credited for the screenplay for Blazing Saddles but now that I have read that it makes perfect sense. Superman III is not good but dead last here? Nice addition.
Hey Stein….thanks for checking out our latest page. I think Kevin Hart will be releasing his 3rd Concert movie soon….Cosby to Pryor to Murphy to Hart? I need to add “screenplay only” to the Blazing Saddles line. Sorry Superman III got rated so low….but really is a bad movie….I am sure at the time the Superman people thought they had struck gold when Pryor signed up for the movie….too bad that did not happen.. Thanks for stopping by.
Want to know the best Richard Pryor movies? How about the worst Richard Pryor movies? Curious about Richard Pryor box office grosses or which Richard Pryor movie picked up the most Oscar® nominations? Need to know which Richard Pryor movie got the best reviews from critics and audiences? Well you have come to the right place….because we have all of that information.
The first film I saw Richard Pryor in was Silver Streak at the cinema back in the 70s. Gene Wilder was already a favorite from the Mel Brooks comedies, Pryor was hilarious, I was an instant fan.
He and Wilder made a good comedy team. Stir Crazy was comedy gold. By the mid 80s his star started to fade, most probably because of the rise of Eddie Murphy who became one of the biggest stars of the 80s.
I’ve seen 17 of the films listed, favorites include – Blazing Saddles (not in the film, co-writer?) Silver Streak, Stir Crazy, Superman III, Richard Pryor in Concert, Brewsters Millions and See No Evil Hear No Evil.
Movies I haven’t seen include – The Toy, The Wiz and The Muppet Movie.
The first time I saw In Concert was on video tape in the early 80s, couldn’t stop laughing, he was a huge influence on Eddie Murphy.
A nice tribute to a comedy legend Bruce. Voted Up!
Hey Steve.
1. Thanks for commenting on my Richard Pryor page.
2. Silver Streak used to play of television a lot when I was younger…..so I am thinking that is when I first noticed him too.
3. I agree Wilder and Pryor made a great screen team…though they were not too close away from the screen…which seems a little sad….as when somebody makes so many movies together….it makes you think they were great friends in real life.
4. 17….is the top so far….I am 15 and Laurent was at 8….congrats…seems like it has been awhile since you got the “gold”.
5. I see Another You…the 4th Wilder/Pryor movie did not make your list of favorites…I thought See No Evil Hear No Evil was pretty good.
6. As for the ones you have not seen….not thinking any of them are really worth checking out….The Toy is pretty brutal to watch.
As always….thank you for your movie thoughts. 🙂
Hello Bruce,
Richard Pryor was and is totally unknow in France. Only 22 of his movies are released in my country. Some of these movies are released in France, but not in Paris, like The Toy (who is a remake of a french movie : Le Jouet with Pierre Richard, a big french star of the 70’s, specialized in comedies).
His only two little success were Superman 3 with 1.1 million of admissions and Silver Streak (1.3millions tickets sold, thanks to Gene Wilder). All of the others atracted less than 500 000 spectators.
I discovered him in video when I was 13 with Silver Streak. But at the time, when I talk about him, people told me “Who ?”. And I answer “The black in Superman 3”. “Ah, OK”.
I’ve seen 8 of his movies.
Hey Laurent….thanks for checking out my Richard Pryor page….gotta admit….not surprised that he was not popular in France. His humor does not seem to translate well to other countries and other languages. That being said….I can see Superman 3 and Stir Crazy being decent draws outside of the states. So your tally is at 8….I am at 15…I have seen 2 of his movies in cinemas….Stir Crazy and Wholly Moses. Silver Streak is a movie that introduced him to lots of people….which is amazing…because the part is pretty small…as always thanks for the comment and the visit.
I just saw The Phynx the other night on TCM. You should check out the cast of that humdinger.
Hey Dan….Wow it was on TCM….from what I read many of his late 1960s and early 1970s were almost lost films….one of them Pryor burned the print so nobody would be able to see it. I guess The Phynx is not one of those movies. I will have to check it out.
Glad to see Blue Collar so highly ranked. It is without a doubt his strongest acting performance. Brutal honesty, humor, and anger mixed togerther in one of the finest performances I have ever seen. Sadly he did not make many movies like this instead the public seemed to like him in pretty dumb comedies. But we will always have Blue Collar.
Hey S. Gelride….Blue Collar got the 2nd best reviews of his career….and if you look at acting performances it would be 1st. Thanks for the mini-review.
Three of his concert movies in the Top 8? That is very surprising. I did not know he was credited for the screenplay for Blazing Saddles but now that I have read that it makes perfect sense. Superman III is not good but dead last here? Nice addition.
Hey Stein….thanks for checking out our latest page. I think Kevin Hart will be releasing his 3rd Concert movie soon….Cosby to Pryor to Murphy to Hart? I need to add “screenplay only” to the Blazing Saddles line. Sorry Superman III got rated so low….but really is a bad movie….I am sure at the time the Superman people thought they had struck gold when Pryor signed up for the movie….too bad that did not happen.. Thanks for stopping by.