32 thoughts on “Joan Crawford Top 20 Box Office Hits”
Hey Bruce, I also enjoyed this slide show. You picked some great stills and photos reflecting Crawford’s changing look through the years. Whether she had stand-alone hits or not, she did star in many successful films, but ultimately I think she transcends the box office success of her films – not sure if this makes sense, but what I mean is that there are perhaps a number of other stars who have had more or greater box office hits, but very few have achieved Crawford’s greatness.
Hey Phil….glad you liked this new type of page. I enjoyed doing it enough that I actually just got through using it for new material….as I know have two Leslie Caron pages….one done like all the other pages…and the other like this page….I wonder which one will be more popular.
As for Joan….the lady was a star for almost 50 years….yes she had some ups and downs…..but there is no doubt she was a star the whole time. So I agree with your comment about her transcending the box office success. Good feedback as always.
Great feature, congrats!!! I think your choice for the first career “countdown” must have pleased Bob as much as the pictorial inclusion of Margaret Sullavan has pleased me.
One comment about your post about Crawford’s stand-alone hits: I think you can hardly call The Best of Everything a Joan Crawford movie. It was an ensemble piece like The Women and she was billed as “and Joan Crawford as Amanda Farrow”. I’d rather say that Johnny Guitar could be called a stand alone hit for her, Sterling Hayden was often cast in support of bigger movie stars and Mercedes McCambridge, good actress that she was, can hardly be called an audience favourite. Just my 2 cents, though.
Hey Lupino….I think this first countdown turned out pretty well…..but after finishing my second countdown page….I am thinking I can make it even better. Glad you like that Sullavan photo bombed this Joan page…lol. I agree The Best of Everything is not a stand alone Joan page….but she was by far the biggest star in the movie. All of these movies were hits…even if Johnny Guitar does not crack her Top 10….but you are right….she carried that classic western pretty much all by herself. Thanks for your two cents.
Thanks for posting the list, it is an interesting list of movies, she certainly was a popular star from the early 1930s through to the 1960s, how many big female stars of the 1980s are still around today? It was claimed she was box office poison in the late 1930s and yet the figures speak for themselves she had some of her biggest hits then, maybe it is true, women do have it harder in Hollywood.
Hey Charlie….thanks for stopping by, checking out this page and for commenting…all are greatly appreciated. Her lasting power is indeed pretty powerful. As for your question how many female stars of the 1980s are still around….I actually have an UMR page that answers that question. https://www.ultimatemovierankings.com/top-movie-stars-1980s/ I would say only Meryl Streep…with kudos to Sigourney Weaver and Drew Barrymore for still being in big movies. I think her box office poison label was a way to try and control Joan at MGM…..yes she had a few bad movies….but look at her output for the decade…..way more hits than misses in the 1930s. Good feedback.
The other thing that jumped out at me is looking at the seven top ten movies you list for Crawford. Four co-starred Gable. A fifth co-starred Tracy. The sixth, Grand Hotel, was an all-star production top billing Garbo. The seventh was also an all-star production top-billing Shearer.
So the bottom line for me is that it doesn’t appear that “stand-alone” is very relevant to Crawford’s top box-office hits. I imagine this is true of most stars.
Hey John… I agree…even the greatest stars need help in making a box office hit. If you look at the 27 Crawford movies that crossed $100 million in adjusted gross….24 of them have a co-star that has a UMR page….I like to think that we generally only doing pages on people that made their mark in movies. So based on that…she only had 3 stand alone hits…. Mildred Pierce, The Best of Everything and Paid. The rest had Gable, Stewart, Fonda, Heflin, Montgomery, Tracy, Garbo, Shearer, Garfield, Davis, W. Powell, Taylor and others helping carry the load.
Hey Bruce, I also enjoyed this slide show. You picked some great stills and photos reflecting Crawford’s changing look through the years. Whether she had stand-alone hits or not, she did star in many successful films, but ultimately I think she transcends the box office success of her films – not sure if this makes sense, but what I mean is that there are perhaps a number of other stars who have had more or greater box office hits, but very few have achieved Crawford’s greatness.
Hey Phil….glad you liked this new type of page. I enjoyed doing it enough that I actually just got through using it for new material….as I know have two Leslie Caron pages….one done like all the other pages…and the other like this page….I wonder which one will be more popular.
As for Joan….the lady was a star for almost 50 years….yes she had some ups and downs…..but there is no doubt she was a star the whole time. So I agree with your comment about her transcending the box office success. Good feedback as always.
Hello Bruce!
Great feature, congrats!!! I think your choice for the first career “countdown” must have pleased Bob as much as the pictorial inclusion of Margaret Sullavan has pleased me.
One comment about your post about Crawford’s stand-alone hits: I think you can hardly call The Best of Everything a Joan Crawford movie. It was an ensemble piece like The Women and she was billed as “and Joan Crawford as Amanda Farrow”. I’d rather say that Johnny Guitar could be called a stand alone hit for her, Sterling Hayden was often cast in support of bigger movie stars and Mercedes McCambridge, good actress that she was, can hardly be called an audience favourite. Just my 2 cents, though.
Taking back my 2 cents, as I just rewatched the slideshow and saw that JG was not in the top 10…brain’s no longer working properly, I’m afraid :O(
Hey Lupino….it’s ok…..your point is still valid…even if Johnny Guitar does not crack her Top 10…..so rest easy….the brain is working just fine…lol.
Hey Lupino….I think this first countdown turned out pretty well…..but after finishing my second countdown page….I am thinking I can make it even better. Glad you like that Sullavan photo bombed this Joan page…lol. I agree The Best of Everything is not a stand alone Joan page….but she was by far the biggest star in the movie. All of these movies were hits…even if Johnny Guitar does not crack her Top 10….but you are right….she carried that classic western pretty much all by herself. Thanks for your two cents.
Thanks for posting the list, it is an interesting list of movies, she certainly was a popular star from the early 1930s through to the 1960s, how many big female stars of the 1980s are still around today? It was claimed she was box office poison in the late 1930s and yet the figures speak for themselves she had some of her biggest hits then, maybe it is true, women do have it harder in Hollywood.
Hey Charlie….thanks for stopping by, checking out this page and for commenting…all are greatly appreciated. Her lasting power is indeed pretty powerful. As for your question how many female stars of the 1980s are still around….I actually have an UMR page that answers that question. https://www.ultimatemovierankings.com/top-movie-stars-1980s/ I would say only Meryl Streep…with kudos to Sigourney Weaver and Drew Barrymore for still being in big movies. I think her box office poison label was a way to try and control Joan at MGM…..yes she had a few bad movies….but look at her output for the decade…..way more hits than misses in the 1930s. Good feedback.
Glad you started off with Joan for your top 20 countdown. Bruce Cogerson is the Casey Kasem of movie stats!
Hey John M. I will be glad to be considered the Casey Kadeem of movie stars…..thanks for the nice words.
Cogerson
The other thing that jumped out at me is looking at the seven top ten movies you list for Crawford. Four co-starred Gable. A fifth co-starred Tracy. The sixth, Grand Hotel, was an all-star production top billing Garbo. The seventh was also an all-star production top-billing Shearer.
So the bottom line for me is that it doesn’t appear that “stand-alone” is very relevant to Crawford’s top box-office hits. I imagine this is true of most stars.
Hey John… I agree…even the greatest stars need help in making a box office hit. If you look at the 27 Crawford movies that crossed $100 million in adjusted gross….24 of them have a co-star that has a UMR page….I like to think that we generally only doing pages on people that made their mark in movies. So based on that…she only had 3 stand alone hits…. Mildred Pierce, The Best of Everything and Paid. The rest had Gable, Stewart, Fonda, Heflin, Montgomery, Tracy, Garbo, Shearer, Garfield, Davis, W. Powell, Taylor and others helping carry the load.