Sal Mineo (1939-1976) was a 2-time Oscar®-nominated American film actor. Mineo was mostknown for his performance as John “Plato” Crawford 1955’s Rebel Without a Cause. Sal Mineo’s two Oscar® nominations were for Best Supporting Actor for his roles in Rebel Without a Cause and 1960’s Exodus. His IMDb page shows 72 acting credits from 1952 to 1976. This page ranks 21 Sal Mineo 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.
Sal Mineo Movies Ranked By Combination of Box Office, Reviews and Awards (UMR Score) *Classic UMR Table (the one with all the stats is the second table)
Sal Mineo 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 Sal Mineo movies by movie title and movie trailers.
- Sort Sal Mineo movies by co-stars of his movies.
- Sort Sal Mineo movies by adjusted domestic box office grosses using current movie ticket cost
- Sort Sal Mineo movies by yearly domestic box office rank
- Sort Sal Mineo 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 Sal Mineo movie received and how many Oscar® wins each Sal Mineo movie won.
- Sort Sal Mineo 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.
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HI STEVE In October 1968 Ramon Novarro who was Chuck’s predecessor in playing Ben Hur [in the 1925 silent version] was tortured and murdered in his own home by two male prostitutes in an effort to get him to tell where he had hidden his money that they thought was in the house.
Apparently he didn’t keep money in the house apart from petty cash and after they murdered him the brothers left with just 20 dollars [about $125 in today’s money] After savage beatings Ramon chocked to death on his own blood. He was 69.
The brothers were given long prison sentences but for some reason were released after a short period in 1970. Ironically they were subsequently jailed again for other crimes and served longer sentences than they had done for the Novarro murder. The law makes me despair at times.
Anyway a very sad and grisly end for one of the Greats of the silent era. Apparently the brothers had originally called not with the intention of robbing or harming him him but to offer him their romantic services.
When he was in his prime Novarro looked a bit like Valentino. He was in the silent 1928 Across to Singapore with my Joan and got billed in large letters above the title whilst my poor darling was billed below it in insignificant letters. The Work Horse on Joan’s page gives it a respectable 64% rating and credits it with an adjusted domestic gross of around $49 million
Ramon continued to work in talkies sporadically at times and his final 3 roles were supporting ones in the 1950 The Outriders starring Joel McCrea, Crisis the same year starring Archibald Alexander Leach and finally the 1960 raunchy Heller in Pink Tights starring Sophia Loren and Tony Quinn.
Hey Bob…thanks for sharing this information on Ramon and his passing. I did not know any of this information. A sad way to go out. Sounds like he had a nice long career. Good feedback as always.
HI BRUCE
Steve asked for further examples and his wish is of course my command as the saying goes and historically it is in the DNA of us folk on the island of Ireland to do what the English command us .
By coincidence I’ve just been watching an episode of TV’s Frasier and in it Frasier’s English housekeeper, the young Daphne, is trying to renew her passport by telephone and gets into a heated row with a Yankee bureaucratic official who can’t place her accent and asks her if she’s Russian. “No,” she screams “I’m from England -don’t you remember? – the country that once owned you!” and she slams down the phone.
Frasier’s dad who has been listening in says to her tongue-in-cheek “That last remark will certainly get you to the head of the queue!” .
The Limeys are still at it though. In the recent Brexit referendum Northern Ireland as a whole voted to remain within the EU but Sir Maurice Micklewhite has now entered real-life politics and given us advice on the subject! Sir M has had the tendency to stray into the politics of the real world in the past.
Hey Bob….funny Frasier quotes. I just saw even younger Daphne in To Live And Die In L.A. I do not think she even has a single line in the movie…but she appears in many scenes in the movie. Actors and politics?…Not sure their celebrity status qualifies them to be experts on issues….sadly I think some think that makes experts. Hopefully Caine is not like that too. On the other side…I have no issues with people sharing their opinion….just as long as they know it is an opinion versus a cold hard fact. Weekend is almost here…hope you enjoy it.
Bob, I knew Ramon Novarro as a silent movie star and the first big screen screen Ben-Hur but I didn’t know he was murdered, a tragic end to one of the most popular stars of the 1920s, thanks for the info.
Btw I voted Brexit, I hate the meddling EU and it’s corrupt, smirking leaders telling us what to do and how to do it. Britain survived for hundreds of years without being shackled to Brussels and Berlin, it will get along fine without them. Sadly the Irish border has become a sticking point in negotiations.
HI BRUCE
Historians reckon that a close inspection of the movies of stars who have some control over their choice of material will reveal their political leanings – for example The Duke with Green Berets [“right”] and John Garfield with Force of Evil [“left”].
I had always regarded Sir Maurice as leaning to the “right” from some of his statements that I have read and indeed according to Wikipedia Sir M is a self-proclaimed British Conservative. Conversely Danny DeVito publicly sends messages of support to the Labour leader over here Jeremy Corbyn and Mr Corbyn is probably as left you could get in British parliamentary politics.
It goes without saying that all of the people that I have mentioned are entitled to their own political ideology and thankfully it doesn’t affect one way or the other my affection and admiration for any of the actors I’ve listed.
My brother who lives in Australia is always telling us “You are entitled to your own opinions but not your own facts.” However as Fox News is his Bible and his idol is YOUR current President I am not sure what weight to place on that advice from him!
Anyway thanks for sharing with me your own very sensible take on the matter
Hey Steve…I am right there with you about Ramon Novarro…I had no idea either…thankfully your Ben-Hur did not come across that horrible passing.
I have seen 8 Sal Mineo movies.
The HIGHEST rated movie I have seen is Giant.
The highest rated film I have NOT seen is Exodus.
The LOWEST rated film I have seen is The Gene Krupa Story.
Favourite Sal Mineo movies:
Rebel Without A Cause
Giant
The Longest Day
Cheyenne Autumn
Escape From the Planet of the Apes
The Gene Krupa Story
I have also seen:
Somebody Up There Likes Me
The Greatest Story Ever Told
Hey Flora…thanks for checking out our Sal page….his time as the featured page will be short…as Lizabeth Scott is ready for her time as the “featured UMR page”. Tally counts….you and Steve at 8, Bob at 7 and me at 6. I have seen 4 of your favorites. The Longest Day is the Sal movie I like best. I have always wanted to see Somebody Up There Likes Me….but so far I have not seen that one. Good stuff as always.
Sal Mineo… When I was young I knew him best as an ape in Escape from the Planet of the Apes, he gets killed by a gorilla in the first 15 minutes of the film.
I’ve seen 8 of the 21 films listed on the chart, they are – Apes, Krakatoa, Cheyenne Autumn, The Greatest Story Ever Told, Exodus, Longest Day, Rebel Without a Cause and Giant.
The Longest Day is my favorite from that group followed by Apes.
Looking at the chart he appeared in some huge hits, Giant was the biggest and tops all the charts.
Tragically, as Bob mentions in his post, Mineo was murdered outside his home. I think one of the few actors with murder as the cause of death. How many others can you name? Sharon Tate comes straight to mind. Any more?
Top work. Vote Up!
Hey Steve.
1. Thanks for the visit, the comment and the tally.
2. I just recently re-watched Escape From The Planet of the Apes and I did not even notice that was Mineo in that small role.
3. Your tops me and Bob (yes Bob with a tally count)…Flora and you have 8.
4. I would say The Longest Day is my favorite Sal movie as well. Rebel Without A Cause and Giant are good movies…but not ones I want to re-watch regularly.
5. Actors and actresses that passed by being murdered….let me think….Tate as you mentioned, Ramon N as Bob mentions, Dorothy Stratten of The All Laughed Comes to mind….Star 80 was the movie about her passing. Bob “Hogan’s Heroes” Crane and Oscar winning actor Haing S. Ngor are the three that pop into my head right away.
6. George Reeves has some people believe Eddie Mannix (the guy who did the MGM ledgers) had him killed.
Interesting comment….thanks for sharing your thoughts.
Thanks Bruce, good call on Stratten and Ngor, a horrible end to their lives.
George Reeves I always assumed took his own life because he couldn’t escape being typecast as Superman and was deeply depressed. But there was speculation on the position of the gun, bullets fired etc.
Hey Steve….I forgot all about the comedian Phil Hartman….his wife shot him in the head while he was sleeping….Hartman was pretty popular here….not sure if he even known overseas….but he appeared in some movies…but he was famous as a Saturday Night Live performer. On the screen he was Bruce Willis’ brother in Blind Date, Arnold’s noisy neighbor in Jingle All The Way and Steve Martin’s nemesis in Sgt. Bilko…..just to name a few. As for Reeves…..lots of theories on his passing….Hollywoodland covers his last few hours…Ben Affleck before playing Batman got the chance to play Superman in that one. Good feedback.
Steve, do the Beatles movies count as acting? still saddened when remembering the tragic end of John Lennon.
I saw 6 of top 9. 10 and favourite: the longest day. 10s not favorites: giant(5 excellent performances), the greatest story ever told(over 30 recognizable actors). 9s: rebel without a cause and exodus. 7(to make use of a rainy day) is escape from the planet of the apes.
HI BRUCE As you know unlike you and Steve I don’t normally go in for the testosterone-driven self indulgence of boasting about the films that I’ve seen featuring a particular actor but as Sal was tragically murdered at the age of just 37 by stabbing I will out of respect to his memory make an exception here. [Ironically one of Sal’s nicknames was “The Switchblade Kid”.]
Here are the 7 Mineo films that I’ve seen that are listed in your table.
Giant – I liked your miniature still from that one.
Rebel without A Cause – funny how the 3 stars of that all had tragic premature deaths.
Somebody Up There Likes Me- Paul’s first great role
Six Bridges to Cross – one of my fave heist films, starring Curtis & Julia Adams
Cheyenne Autumn – featuring two of my idols, Stewart & Widmark
Greatest Story Ever Told –“This man truly is the Son of Gawd!”
The Private War of Major Benson
Major Benson was one of Chuck’s pre Ten Commandments/Ben Hur lesser offerings that probably many people will be unaware of but I liked it and fine marks to you for giving it a respectable 63% rating.
Sal was a big Brando fan and wrote a short essay about watching the Great Mumbler in action during their early years at the Actors Studio. It was beautifully written and if you wish to have a glance at it you can do so by Googling “Hemmings: The Brando method Thing*3 – Sal Mineo on Watching Brando at the Actor’s Studio.”
In the essay Sal, again ironically, refers to Brando brandishing a knife and Mineo doesn’t refer to Marlon by his proper name but calls him “Buddy” You and I know that such was Marlon’s nickname long before Steve lumbered him with “Mr Mumbles”
Hey Bob
1. Awesome that you have provided a tally count….this is a proud day here at UMR….actually the tears in my eyes are making it hard to type…lol.
2. Tally count so far….Bob in the lead with 7….Cogerson in second and last with 6. In all seriousness…glad you provided your tally and your mini-reviews.
3. Shocked that The Longest Day is not on your “watched list”….especially with John Wayne having one of the bigger parts in the movie.
4. I tried to include a Heston The Private War of Major Benson trailer….but I was unable to find one. I have actually noticed a lot of Heston’s movies do not have You Tube Heston movie trailers….it makes no sense to me.
5. I will have to check out the Mineo essay on Buddy….I can imagine Brando was a god like person to a very young Sal in the 1950s…Sal would have been 12 or 13 when Streetcar became a sensation.
6. Eerie nickname….especially knowing his untimely passing. I just watched Life with Dane Dahaan as James Dean….movie was alright…but Dane as Dean was impressive.
Thanks for the feedback on our latest UMR page.
HI BRUCE
Thanks for feedback From what I can gather Brando and Dean were both Sal’s idols. I think for guys Sal’s age all 3 of “The Usual Suspects” in the 50s were normally idols, the 3rd wheel being Elvis.
Despite the Duke and a wider stellar cast I have never watched Longest Day because as I’v explained to Steve I don’t like war films except where they contain a strong element of human interest. For example I loved Kirk’s Paths of Glory because it was really a courtroom drama. I also liked A Few Good Men which was a courtroom drama with a military background
War films with too much action usually stereotype performances in my experience and Nicholson’s was a tour de force in the Cruise movie. His line as they arrest him at the end has passed into movie folklore and I hear it repeated many times “You’ve f****d with the wrong marine!” Marvellous acting.
Great that you’ve got Liz Scott so quickly into the system. I’ll transfer the relevant posts from Steve page to the new Cogerson page. Right now I’m off to break out the champagne because with my tally of 7 Mineos I’ve at last bested you at SOMETHING. Take care and have a good weekend.
Hey Bob….yep…got the Liz page done pretty quickly. Still surprised that you have not seen The Longest Day….Wayne is actually pretty good in the movie….and playing spot the star is fun. Sal makes the 10th thespian to have an UMR page that was in that movie. Glad you have the Mineo victory over me…enjoy the spoils of your victory. Good stuff.
One question if I may!!! Why is Sal’s Best Supporting Actor Oscar nomination for EXODUS listed in the above UMR table while his Best Supporting Actor Oscar nomination for REBEL WITHOUT A CAUSE isn’t listed?
Hey Greg. Good eye. Sometimes the “nomination shoutout” gets “stuck” in the move from database to website. Sometimes, like Cosmonaut Lev Andropov in Armageddon. the database needs a big wrench and a smack to it’s side….lol. Thanks for the heads up on that error…..Sal’s nomination is now on the table.