UltimateMovieRankings (UMR) has been ranking movies since 2011. Movies are ranked by using a combination of box office grosses, reviews, and awards. So far we have ranked 36,000 movies, written over 8,500 pages, been viewed over 25 million times, won three website awards, and have received over 50,000 comments on our pages.
Our vital links: Site Index, Newest Pages & Request Hotline. The Trending Now Sidebar lists our most popular pages in the last 24 hours.
Our Site Index lets you see what movie subjects we have already written about. The index lists the movie subjects alphabetically. Subjects go from classic performers like Clark Gable and Charlie Chaplin to the stars of the 1960s like Marlon Brando, Elizabeth Taylor and Paul Newman to today’s most popular stars like Sandra Bullock, Channing Tatum and Chris Pratt.
We like ranking movies…and that is what this website is all about. And we are not talking about a Top Ten list…we are talking about ranking all the movies in somebody’s career from Best to Worst. The criteria used for the rankings is box office grosses, critic reviews, audience voting, and award recognition. Every day the amount of movies ranked by Ultimate Movie Rankings increases ….our tally is now over 25,000 movies. The number one ranked movie is The Godfather ….coming in last is Kirk Cameron’s Saving Christmas. Thankfully our pages have been well received. Recently we crossed the 15 million view mark and are now read in over 230 different countries.
How we got here.
Sometime in 2010, for the millionth time I was looking at Joel Hirschhorn’s book Rating The Movie Stars (1983) when I wondered had he updated his ratings lately? A quick internet check provided the sad news that Mr. Hirchhorn had passed away in 2005. About a month later, I thought I could update the ratings. I then came up with an idea to create a mathematical equation that would create a numerical score for each movie. The first thing I had to come up with were factors for the equation.
So I thought….if I were producing a movie, what would I like to see my movie accomplish. The first thing I would want would be for the movie to be successful at the box office. Secondly, I would like the critics and moviegoers to enjoy my movie. And finally, I would like my movie to receive award recognition through Golden Globe® and Oscar® ceremonies.
There are all kinds of ways to determine if you want to see or skip a movie. You can depend on your favorite critic. My favorites are the late great Roger Ebert and Leonard Maltin. You might go to Rotten Tomatoes to get the consensus of all the critics. You might watch the viewer ratings at Yahoo Movies and IMDB. You might depend on which movies are doing the best at the box office. You might wait for the end of the year awards.
Ultimate Movie Rankings (UMR) Score takes all of these options and creates a mathematical equation that generates a score from 1 to 100. The higher the score the better the movie. A “good ” movie score = 60 or above. So anything above 60 should be a good movie to check out. This gives a good comparison number between centuries and now my wife and I can argue over the merits of her favorite, The Sound of Music and one of my favorites, Pulp Fiction using the same scoring criteria.
So far, I’ve generated scores for 36,000+ movies. With these scores, I’ve written 1,000+ web pages with a focus on actors/actresses and similar groups (Star Trek vs Star Wars, Top 100 Sports Movies are examples).
So let’s look at the breakdown of the variables in the equation.
1. Box office results. Receives the second-highest percentage (30%) of the equation. The ceiling was 200 million in adjusted for inflation dollars. Any movie that crossed 200 million maxed out the points in the category.
2. Critics and audience reception. Receives the highest percentage (46%) of the equation. So where do I find critics/audience reception? I use many different sources: RottenTomatoes, IMDb, MetaCritic, Yahoo Movies, Roger Ebert, Leonard Maltin, and Fandango. Put them all together and I get an average with 100% being the highest score possible. Sadly with the passing of my all-time favorite critic, Roger Ebert, I needed a new source….after much research…..our latest movie critic and taking Mr. Ebert’s spot is YouTube movie reviewer Chris Stuckmann.
3. Award Recognition. The final part of the equation is worth 24%. A movie gets points for Golden Globe® and Oscar® nominations and wins. The Golden Globes get 5% while the Oscars® get 13% of the equation. The last 6% goes to the amount of Oscar® nominations and the amount of Oscar® wins.
One way to see how the scores are calculated:
Top 200 Box Office Hits with Inflation + Top 100 Best Reviewed Movies + 88 Best Picture Oscar Winners = Top 100 UMR Score Movies
In January of 2011, we published our first Ultimate Movie Ranking (UMR) Score table on HubPages.com…we picked one of our favorite actors, Bruce Willis, to be the guinea pig. We have updated his page countless times over the years.
Stuart Whitman has died, he was 92. RIP.
I liked him, the films I remember him best from are – Sands of the Kalahari where he was surrounded by vicious baboons, Those Magnificent Men in their flying machines and with John Wayne in The Comancheros.
https://www.hollywoodreporter.com/news/stuart-whitman-dead-cimarron-strip-mark-star-was-92-1033764
Yes, I just read this too. I have not seen a lot of his films, but I quite liked him. Most recently I saw him in The Girl with Black Stockings, a film noir starring Mamie Van Doren.
Hey Flora. I will have to check out The Girl With Black Stockings. Rest in Peace Mr. Stuart Whitman.
HI STEVE: Thanks for sharing this sad news which I hadn’t picked up until I saw your post. Stuart served a long initial apprenticeship in supporting roles throughout the 1950s starting with 1951’s The Day the Earth Stood Still.
He never became a megastar but he had a solid run of leading man roles in the 1960s; but when the seventies dawned it was largely back to supporting roles and/or ones in low grade movies as well as TV movies.
The films for which I most remember him in his heyday 1960s are The Mark in which he played a paedophile [he took over the role from Burton] Sands of the Kalahari/Rio Conchos/An American Dream [aka See You in Hell Darling] and The Comancheros with Wayne in which Stuart played Paul Regret whom The Duke as Capt Jake Cutter kept calling “Monsieur” throughout the movie if I remember correctly.
The Girl in the Black Stockings which Flora mentions had Lex Barker in the male lead role and I’m just about to write to you about Lex. Meanwhile RIP Stuart.
The Comancheros’re takin’ this land the Comancheros’re takin’ this land
Paul Regret of New Orleans a fast man with a gun
Didn’t want to go but he had to run when he shot down the judge’s son
Yes he shot Judge Moebeam’s son
With the dark of night he left that town never to return again
With a oneway ticket at the end of the line
He was told by a stranger man the Comancheros’re takin’ this land
And then the Comancheros came ridin’ through the night
Stealin’ and a killin’ takin’ everything in sight
Nothin’ left behind but the blood in the sand
The Comancheros’re takin’ this land the Comancheros’re takin’ this land
Hey Steve…thanks for sharing this news….I would write a page on him….but I just read this comment….and it is already Wednesday….I have a long day of training tomorrow….so thinking I might not get an UMR tribute page on him done. I would say I liked him best in The Comacheros. Thanks for the link. Rest in peace Mr. Whitman.
I see there is no search engine widget anymore. Too bad.
By the way, someone has requested a Rex Harrison page which I know already exists because I remember writing on it. But it is not included in the site index
Hey Flora….the search engine stopped working trying to find a new search engine. As for Rex…you are correct….we have a Rex page…https://www.ultimatemovierankings.com/rex-harrison-movies/ It was not listed in the Site Index…but it is now. Thanks for the help.
Hey Flora….search engine is back.
I am glad the search engine is back. 🙂
Hey Flora….one of the positives of the website going dark on Saturday…was the issue that was causing the “Search” widget not to work got fixed. So people can now search UMR again.
Well you see that list of connectable I did through the oldest movies I’ve seen since 1992. Now inspired by Bob, I think, from the 20000 or so films and shows I’ve rated on the IMDB, this is my top 100 connectible stars of the 2800 or so films I’ve given 3 stars or better or 6/10 on the IMDB.
A few notes, this is a smaller sample then everything on the other list and only films I consider good. Loretta Young and Joan Blondell who topped the other list are not in the top 100 here (they are 282 and 271 ) so whilst I may have seen a lot of their films they’re mostly average or worse. Again they are many films rated 3 stars or better that were old when I first saw them before 1992 and I put a rating on the IMDB
Johnny Mack Brown had 84 films seen (he didn’t make this list) nor Gene Autry who was high on them (most B westerns are generic unless they interesting scenery or a surprise actor pop up).
Since we take only the top 2 billed people, actors that may be billed 3rd or lower are hurt (sorry Michael Caine, later year rolls).
Comedy teams are counted as 2 entities so it’s just the Three Stooges (who had 83 3 stars or above shorts with me), Laurel and Hardy, Olsen and Johnson, Marx Brothers, even Cheech & Chong have no 2nd billed co-star because they are the two people.
Here follows the top 100 connectible leading actors per my ratings on the IMDB and their co-stars. Actor’s names are followed by the # of people they directly worked with, then the # of other actors that those co-stars worked with and the total combined. So countdown easily figured was total, additional actors, direct actors. 2 or more appearances with 1 actor only counts as once (sorry Spencer Tracy and Katharine Hepburn or Sylvester Stallone and Jason Statham.
Since this also counts all current pictures as rated this list leans more modern.
If there is no number in front of an actor they are tied with the preceding one.
1 MATT DAMON 20 147 167
2 MERYL STREEP 16 150 166
3 TOM HANKS 22 138 160
4 DENZEL WASHINGTON 18 133 151
5 JULIA ROBERTS 13 117 130
6 BRAD PITT 14 111 125
7 LEONARDO DICAPRIO 14 110 124
8 GEORGE CLOONEY 13 108 121
9 TOM CRUISE 18 92 110
10 NICOLE KIDMAN 10 93 103
11 CHRISTIAN BALE 11 92 103
12 CATE BLANCHETT 9 91 100
13 MORGAN FREEMAN 10 90 100
14 JULIANNE MOORE 12 86 98
15 DUSTIN HOFFMAN 10 87 97
16 MARK WAHLBERG 12 85 97
17 NICOLAS CAGE 19 78 97
18 HENRY FONDA 16 74 90
19 EWAN MCGREGOR 10 79 89
20 AL PACINO 14 75 89
21 RUSSELL CROWE 13 75 88
22 SANDRA BULLOCK 12 72 84
23 LIAM NEESON 13 71 84
24 SEAN CONNERY 8 70 78
25 HUGH JACKMAN 10 65 75
26 STEVE CARELL 12 62 74
27 ROBERT REDFORD 11 62 73
28 JOAQUIN PHOENIX 6 64 70
29 ROBERT DE NIRO 13 56 69
30 KEVIN COSTNER 14 55 69
31 JOHN WAYNE 13 55 68
32 KATE WINSLET 7 60 67
33 JOHN CUSACK 8 59 67
34 ROBIN WILLIAMS 11 56 67
35 COLIN FARRELL 5 61 66
36 ANTHONY HOPKINS 10 56 66
37 HARRISON FORD 13 53 66
38 CLINT EASTWOOD 12 53 65
39 BRUCE WILLIS 14 51 65
40 KEVIN KLINE 9 54 63
41 CAMERON DIAZ 8 54 62
42 FRANCES MCDORMAND 5 56 61
43 JACK NICHOLSON 6 55 61
KATHARINE HEPBURN 6 55 61
45 ANNE HATHAWAY 7 54 61
JODIE FOSTER 7 54 61
47 RENEE ZELLWEGER 8 53 61
48 GENE HACKMAN 9 52 61
49 DIANE KEATON 7 53 60
50 DIANE KRUGER 4 55 59
51 DANIEL CRAIG 10 49 59
52 MATTHEW MCCONAUGHEY 11 48 59
53 CARY GRANT 12 47 59
54 WILL SMITH 8 49 57
55 JAMES CAGNEY 10 47 57
56 EMILY BLUNT 5 51 56
57 MICHELLE MONAGHAN 6 50 56
58 TOMMY LEE JONES 6 49 55
59 JIM CARREY 8 47 55
60 HUMPHREY BOGART 11 44 55
61 JAMES STEWART 12 43 55
62 CHRISTOPHER WALKEN 6 48 54
JEFF BRIDGES 6 48 54
64 WILL FERRELL 9 44 53
65 KEVIN SPACEY 10 43 53
ROBERT DOWNEY JR. 10 43 53
67 GARY COOPER 11 42 53
68 AMY ADAMS 5 47 52
69 HUGH GRANT 6 46 52
70 MAUREEN O’HARA 7 45 52
SEAN PENN 7 45 52
72 OWEN WILSON 10 42 52
73 AUDREY HEPBURN 5 46 51
JAY BARUCHEL 5 45 50
75 PAUL NEWMAN 6 44 50
SALLY FIELD 6 44 50
77 MICHAEL DOUGLAS 7 43 50
78 ARNOLD SCHWARZENEGGER 9 41 50
79 JEAN ARTHUR 6 43 49
80 BEN AFFLECK 7 42 49
RICHARD GERE 7 42 49
82 CHRIS EVANS 8 41 49
83 CHRIS PINE 6 42 48
JAMIE FOXX 6 42 48
85 HALLE BERRY 4 43 47
86 GINGER ROGERS 6 41 47
87 KEANU REEVES 8 39 47
88 RYAN GOSLING 5 41 46
89 ALEC BALDWIN 6 40 46
90 GEOFFREY RUSH 7 39 46
91 GRACE KELLY 4 41 45
92 JEREMY IRONS 5 40 45
93 BETTE DAVIS 7 38 45
MATTHEW BRODERICK 7 38 45
95 ED HARRIS 8 37 45
96 WILLIAM HOLDEN 13 32 45
97 HELEN HUNT 4 40 44
98 ANGELINA JOLIE 6 38 44
SAM WORTHINGTON 6 38 44
100 JON VOIGHT 7 37 44
Tom Hanks starred in more feature films I gave 3 stars or above than to than anyone, 25, but he made 3 with Tim Allen so they count once.
George O’Hanlon as Joe McDoakes had about 17 costars over 38 shorts I gave 6/10 or better but they usually worked with him
Buster Keaton also had a lot of co-stars that only appeared with him on my list (17 6/10 or better films).
Pete Smith and Robert Ripley also had no co-stars for their shorts (Ripley’s Believe it or Not).
Sterling piece of work this Dan – your 23 Feb post which I’ve just finished analysing. Are you sure you are not a secret official film historian?
Did you ever see 100 Years at the Movies a short made for TV that celebrated the history of movies in a few minutes? I must have seen it 100 times on TCM or showing people the video at the nursing home I volunteer at. I found out the director compiler made a similar flic in 1986, Precious Images. This was sponsored the Directors Guild of America and uses clips of 453 movies in 8 minutes. It won the Academy Award for best live action short that year and is supposedly the most shown short in history. You should check them out. 100 years is longer at 9 minutes, Of course they’re both way out of date but fun.
Did you ever see 100 Years at the Movies a short made for TV that celebrated the history of movies in a few minutes? I must have seen it 100 times on TCM or showing people the video at the nursing home I volunteer at. I found out the director compiler made a similar flic in 1986, Precious Images. This was sponsored the Directors Guild of America and uses clips of 453 movies in 8 minutes. It won the Academy Award for best live action short that year and is supposedly the most shown short in history. You should check them out. 100 years is longer at 9 minutes, Of course they’re both way out of date but fun.