Want to know the best Robert Ryan movies? How about the worst Robert Ryan movies? Curious about Robert Ryan’s box office grosses or which Robert Ryan movie picked up the most Oscar® nominations? Need to know which Robert Ryan movie got the best reviews from critics and audiences? Well you have come to the right place….because we have all of that information.
Robert Ryan (1909-1973) was an American who often played hardened cops and ruthless villains. His IMDb page shows 90 acting credits from 1940 to 1973. This page will rank 62 Robert Ryan movies. Movies will be ranked from Best to Worst in six different sortable columns of information. Television shows, shorts, cameos, movies that grossed less than $1 million in rentals and movies that were not released in theaters in North America were not included in the rankings.
Drivel part of the page: This Robert Ryan page comes from a request by Brando90 and was seconded by Flora R. We were unable to find box office information on 7 of his movies. They were 1940’s Queen of the Mob, 1943’s Gangway for Tomorrow, 1954’s Alaska Seas, 1954’s About Mrs. Leslie, 1961’s The Candadians, 1965’s The Crooked Road and 1969’s Captain Nemo and the Underwater City. We will continue our search for those numbers.
Robert Ryan 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 Robert Ryan movies by co-stars of his movies
- Sort Robert Ryan movies by adjusted domestic box office grosses using current movie ticket cost (in millions)
- Sort Robert Ryan movies by yearly domestic box office rank
- Sort Robert Ryan 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 Robert Ryan movie received.
- Sort Robert Ryan 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 Robert Ryan Table
- Sixteen Robert Ryan movie crossed the magical $100 million domestic gross mark. That is a percentage of 25.80% of his movies listed. The Longest Day (1962) was his biggest box office hit.
- An average Robert Ryan movie grosses $79.80 million in adjusted box office gross.
- Using RottenTomatoes.com’s 60% fresh meter. 39 of Robert Ryan’s movies are rated as good movies…or 62.90% of his movies. The Wild Bunch (1969) is his highest rated movie while Best of the Badmen (1951) is his lowest rated movie.
- Twelve Robert Ryan movies received at least one Oscar® nomination in any category…..or 19.35% of his movies.
- Three Robert Ryan movies won at least one Oscar® in any category…..or 4.83% of his movies.
- An good Ultimate Movie Ranking (UMR) Score is 40.00. 32 Robert Ryan movie scored higher that average….or 51.61% of his movies. The Longest Day (1962) got the the highest UMR Score while Lolly-Madonna XXX (1973) got the lowest UMR Score.
Possibly Interesting Facts About Robert Ryan
- Robert Bushnell Ryan was born in Chicago, Illinois in 1909.
2. While attending Dartmouth College Robert Ryan was on the boxing team and posted a 5-0 (3 knockouts) record.
3. Robert Ryan’s pre-movie making jobs included: sandhog, seaman, sewer builder, salesman, miner, cowboy, bodyguard-chauffeur to a mobster, photographer’s model, laborer and paving supervisor’.
4. In 1947, Robert Ryan, received his one and only Oscar® nomination. He was nominated for Best Supporting Actor for 1947’s Crossfire.
5. Robert Ryan’s film work often ran counter to the political causes he embraced. Ryan was a pacifist and tirelessly supported civil rights issues. He starred in war movies, westerns, and violent thrillers and played a racists many times.
6. Robert Ryan was considered for Stephen Boyd’s role as Messala in 1959’s Ben-Hur.
7. Robert Ryan’s career adjusted domestic box office total is $4.94 BILLION!
8. Robert Ryan was married one time. He had three children.
9. Robert Ryan worked with John Wayne twice. When working on 1951’s The Flying Leathernecks they got along great…..years later when the worked on The Longest Day they got along horribly.
10. Check out Robert Ryan‘s career compared to current and classic actors. Most 100 Million Dollar Movies of All-Time.
If you do a comment….please ignore the email address and website section.
Hey, Bruce.
Tonight I crossed another Robert Ryan film off of my to-see list. I did no have a lot of time, so I watched a short film.
It is called Gangway For Tomorrow and was a film made during WWII, so it was open ended. Lots of character actors in this, include the head of the Carradine clan – John Carradine. Do you have any Carradine pages, Bruce?
I understand that Keith Carradine is hosting the Western spotlight for TCM in July.
This movie was a great example of how you do not need a 2 hour movie to tell a great story.
By the way, my total of seen Robert Ryan films on the basis of the films where you could find box office information stands at: 44.
I still have plenty of Robert Ryan movies recorded that I have not seen.
Regarding my comment of Steve, you and I having compared totals of actors seen-films for 5 years, one of the films of Ryan’s career that I do not have recorded is another Henry Fonda film: #49: The Secret Agents. I have not heard of it.
http://www.chicagoreader.com/chicago/film-noir-icon-robert-ryan-his-chicago-childhood-the-ryan-construction-fire/Content?oid=1223003
Here is a link to a Robert Ryan article I read last month courtesy of mr6666 of TCM. He was a fascinating man.
Wow that is a very detailed article…I think I will see if I can add that article to this page…I think it comes well with the stats, facts and figures of this page. Thanks for sharing the link.
1 Robert was greatly admired by critics but underrated by audiences during his best years in the late forties and the fifties.
2. Yet look at his range ! From the heartless sneering villain in roles like James Stewart’s The Naked Spur to the Idealistic campaigner in Trail Street and to ‘humble’ characters such as the washed-up boxer in The Setup and the lawman going blind in The Proud Ones.
3 When greater stars like the Duke, Randolph Scott, and Stewart were in the movie Robert was just giving support – but what a supporting actor he was. He was also effective in occasional lead roles: in The Canadians; and the low-ley small-town hero in Day of the Outlaws who lures Burl Ives and his band of outlaws away from the town and into the hills to pick them off one-by-one.
4 I find it hard to immediately think of important actors today who can convey the menacing power of a cruel gangland boss without shouting, swearing and resorting to great animation. Some critics feel that Robert’s interpretation was the more telling: – “Men of power don’t really need to shout.
5 How I miss the Robert Ryans of yesteryear !
I know what you mean. That is why Robert Ryan is one of my favourite movie actors of all time.
Because he is the son of a man with a “real job” (eg. Robert Mitchum sometimes called himself an actress as he saw acting as women’s work) – and therefore not part of an acting dynasty like the Barrymores – Ryan is not thought of today except by film buffs as was said in an earlier comment on this page.
Furthermore, he died in 1973.
But this goes to show you how unlikely I am to care about who is currently popular.
It also is a great reminder that while I am a fan of The Barrymores, the Houstons and the Fondas, you do not have to be related to actors for me to like your acting.
Great comment, Robert Roy.
I wouldn’t put too much store on what actors say. Guys like Mitchum with comments about being “an actress” like to shock and be controversial because (a) they want to appear as a colourful personality (b) it gets them noticed more than routine comments would.
Best wishes BOB
True. You know what they say – any publicity is better than no publicity. He was likely drunk at the time.
LOL!
nooo… Robert Mitchum was just fooling around… Monstly he shared Ryan´s views on life and politics (they both hated Duke, for f*cks sake). Mitchums ˝repertoary˝ is full of bizzare comments- he smoked weed and was arrested, constantly talked about having whores, he even said he was in love with Boy George etc. and yet he was married with one woman all his life. In 40s, 50s, 60s Christian ˝polished˝ America when sex-roles and ALL other roles were stricktly defined this was his way of saying F*CK YOU and GO F*CK YOURSELF. He was an underground prize fighter (Mitchum, not Ryan) before entering Hollywood and was a free spirited poetial soul… In other words, he didnt give a f*ck.
Hey Al….thanks for stopping by providing a very unique look at Mitchum and his off and on screen persona. Without a doubt he was a rebel off screen for sure…..he most have had a very patient and understanding wife….or they had an understanding. Thanks for he visit and the comment.
I watched Trail Street yesterday and wrote a review on letterboxd. I seem to have enjoyed the Scott/Ryan movie more than people on imdb.
I will check out your review soon. Your Ryan tally has to be at 40 by now….thanks for the update.
FLORA:
1 There were so many good western about in the forties that it was difficult for the bulk of them of them to stand out; and modern audiences have other tastes since Trail Street’s time. “The past is a foreign country; they do things differently there..”
3 Nevertheless some critical observers back in 1947 when it was released did not under-appreciate Trail Street. For example the critic Mike Ghost wrote that whilst Trail Street was just a routine entertaining western in many ways the film portrayed “fresh visual thinking” and he went on to say that there were “architecturally striking shots never before seen in a western.”
You seem to be an artistic person yourself so perhaps your 6th sense identified the quiet qualities of the film that some others may have missed.
4 Anyway as Bruce would say “Screw IMDB!”. Your opinion and mine is just as good as theirs. My father and I used to watch, and love, it. He was forever humming or singing the song that saloon gal Anne Jeffries (I think) sang throughout the film that went something like “Within a thousand memories there is only one regret.” I can still hear I even today.
Best wishes BOB
🙂 Your comment brought me a big smile today just when I needed it.
Imdb is great to have a list of everything n actor has done or will do (eg. pre-production).
But as for what you personally enjoy watching, there is no reason to agree with everyone.
I do try to watch 5 star rated movies of all genres and eras at least once.
But outside of 5 star ratings, I pretty much decide for myself what I want to see.
FLORA:
1 As you say IMDB has its qualities but it’s awful for box office information on classic era films. Indeed it seems to have lost confidence in many of the few grosses or rentals that it used to quote from those days because they have now vanished from the IMDB pages.
2 It is quite good regarding modern grosses. Unfortunately unlike’ our man’ it doesn’t adjust for inflation but instead gives a protracted earnings timeline build up to the film’s ultimate overall gross that even I as a grosses fanatic can generate no enthusiasm in. Indeed maybe there is something I am missing but it is a mystery to WHO WOULD be interested in that apart from maybe a film company’s own accountants..
3 Incidentally as you enjoyed Trail Street you should make an effort to see [if you haven’t already] Return of the Badmen. Both films have the same quartet of stars: Scott, Ryan, Anne Jeffries and George Gabby Hayes. Robert plays the evil Sundance Kid who is also one of those racist characters that Bruce refers to in Interesting Facts. There is one scene in it that has always stuck in my memory since it first saw it at the age of 11.
As Billy the Kid is departing Sundance draws his gun to shoot him in the back. Anne Jeffries cautions him: “Don’t – he’s got eyes in the back of his head.”
I’ve seen Return of the Bad Men. It is excellent.
I have lots of PVR recorded movies from his recent Star of the Month – some new to me, some I’ve seen before.
As Bruce has stated above, he tried to get box office info on all of them but could not get some on all of them – including About Mrs. Leslie which is my favourite Robert Ryan movie of all time.
Then there are films that I know that the only way I’m going to see them is for me to buy them.
The best example of this is The Iceman Cometh, his final film. It is rare, so to see it you have to buy it.
Hey Flora….you know with my Harrison’s Report project I might actually be able to figure out the grosses on About Mrs. Leslie….might give that a look before I go to sleep. I read a quote from Jeff Bridges about Ryan. Jeff Bridges said he learned a lot about acting from working with Ryan when they appear together in The Iceman Cometh. At one point Bridges noticed that a pool of sweat had formed under Ryan’s hand as it rested on a table, and realized that despite his granite demeanor, the veteran star was nervous that they were about to go for a take. When Bridges asked him about this, he replied, ‘I’d really be scared if I wasn’t scared’.
Hey Bob….IMDb and Box Office Mojo are now under the same umbrella….so they share the same information. You can still find a few box office rental numbers on IMDb….but you are correct….they are few and far between. To me reporting the gross in adjusted gross is the way to go….because you can really understand how big the movie was…..Wife of Cogerson strongly believes it should be the number of tickets sold….which our database has….just to me….tickets sold does not easily translate in my mind.
For example….since I am working on Audie Murphy….his biggest hit (by far) was To Hell And Back….it sold 31.9 million tickets….it sounds good….but not thinking an average movie goer will know if that movie is good or not. If we report the number in the rental number or estimated gross….we get numbers like $5.70 million and $16.54 million…..that 16 million is less than what Finding Dory and Indepedence Day 2 earned on Friday. But if we use the adjusted formula we see it would at $268.60 million….which looking at the Top Hits of 2015…would be in the same neighborhood as the last chapter of the Hunger Games movies. To me that tells me how successful To Hell and Back was in 1955.
Return of the Badman sounds interesting.
🙂
Matt Dillon always reminded me of Robert Ryan.
Hey Dan. Interesting….if I look really hard I can see a little Dillon in Ryan. Was just checking out my request list….one of your requests is the next page…Mr. John Goodman….145 IMDb credits….I am thinking he will end up with about 70 movies on his page….sadly he does not have a BoxOfficeMojo page…..but luckily I imagine I have over 50 of his movies already loaded up and ready to go….should be out this weekend.
wwhaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaattt????
I want some of what you´re smoking… :)) RR is by far the handsomest man in the history of movies and that should probably include the age of ˝camera obscura˝, too 😀
Hey Al….thanks for stopping by….glad to see a Robert Ryan fan found this page. I respect your opinion on his looks…..and I think we can all agree he was one of the best actors working in movies.
Hello Bruce.
I’m sorry to say that I have no information on “About Mrs. Leslie”, other than I know that Shirley Booth who plays the title character was popular at the time after having won the Oscar for Best Actress for 1952’s “Come Back, Little Sheba”.
Hey Lyle…thanks for responding back. With all of the sources I have and I have 0 when it ocmes to About Mrs. Leslie. Booth was at her movie peak….though it did not last long.