Want to know the best Blake Edwards movies? How about the worst Blake Edwards movies? Curious about Blake Edwards box office grosses or which Blake Edwards movie picked up the most Oscar® nominations? Need to know which Blake Edwards movie got the best reviews from critics and audiences? Well you have come to the right place….because we have all of that information.
Blake Edwards (1922-2010) was an Oscar® nominated director, writer and producer. Edwards was actually an actor in the 1940s before turning to writing. This would eventually lead him to directing and producing movies. His career spanned 7 decades. Edwards was best known for the Pink Panther series starring Peter Sellers.
His IMDb page shows 128 directing and writing credits. This page will rank 42 Blake Edwards 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. There are 5 screen play only credits on the following table: City Heat, Soldier in the Rain, The Notorious Landlady, Operation Madball and My Sister Eileen. He directed the rest of the movies.
Blake Edwards Movies Ranked In Chronological Order With Ultimate Movie Rankings Score (1 to 5 UMR Tickets) *Best combo of box office, reviews and awards.
Blake Edwards 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 Blake Edwards movies by movie titles or trailers
- Sort Blake Edwards movies by adjusted domestic box office grosses using current movie ticket cost (in millions)
- Sort Blake Edwards movies by yearly domestic box office rank (in millions)
- Sort Blake Edwards movies by 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 Blake Edwards movie received.
- Sort Blake Edwards movies by Ultimate Movie Rankings (UMR) Score. UMR puts box office, reviews and awards into a mathematical equation and gives each movie a score.
| R | Movie (Year) | UMR Co-Star Links | Adj. B.O. Worldwide (mil) | Review | Oscar Nom / Win | UMR Score | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| R | Movie (Year) | UMR Co-Star Links | Actual B.O. Domestic (mil) | Adj. B.O. Domestic (mil) | Adj. B.O. Worldwide (mil) | B.O. Rank by Year | Review | Oscar Nom / Win | UMR Score | S |
| 1 | Breakfast at Tiffany's (1961) | Audrey Hepburn & Mickey Rooney |
12.00 | 174.8 | 174.80 | 17 | 84 | 05 / 02 | 97.9 | |
| 3 | Days of Wine and Roses (1962) | Jack Lemmon & Lee Remick |
12.30 | 176.3 | 209.10 | 17 | 83 | 05 / 01 | 97.6 | |
| 4 | Days of Wine and Roses (1962) | Jack Lemmon & Lee Remick |
12.30 | 176.3 | 209.10 | 17 | 83 | 05 / 01 | 97.6 | |
| 2 | A Shot in the Dark (1964) | Peter Sellers & George Sanders |
19.30 | 221.1 | 221.10 | 5 | 80 | 00 / 00 | 97.5 | |
| 5 | The Great Race (1965) | Tony Curtis & Jack Lemmon |
30.80 | 325.6 | 325.60 | 5 | 74 | 05 / 01 | 97.2 | |
| 7 | Operation Petticoat (1959) | Cary Grant & Tony Curtis |
26.60 | 478.5 | 478.50 | 3 | 77 | 01 / 00 | 97.0 | |
| 6 | Operation Petticoat (1959) | Cary Grant & Tony Curtis |
26.60 | 478.5 | 478.50 | 3 | 77 | 01 / 00 | 97.0 | |
| 8 | The Pink Panther (1963) | David Niven & Peter Sellers |
16.80 | 210.4 | 210.40 | 12 | 76 | 01 / 00 | 96.7 | |
| 9 | The Pink Panther Strikes Again (1976) | Peter Sellers & Lesley-Anne Down |
60.30 | 304.9 | 304.90 | 8 | 75 | 01 / 00 | 96.6 | |
| 9 | The Return of the Pink Panther (1975) | Peter Sellers & Christopher Plummer |
41.80 | 220.0 | 220.00 | 13 | 75 | 00 / 00 | 96.4 | |
| 11 | Revenge of the Pink Panther (1978) | Peter Sellers & Dyan Cannon |
56.50 | 260.1 | 260.10 | 8 | 70 | 00 / 00 | 95.1 | |
| 10 | 10 (1979) | Dudley Moore & Julie Andrews |
74.90 | 321.5 | 321.50 | 8 | 65 | 02 / 00 | 94.3 | |
| 13 | Victor Victoria (1982) | Julie Andrews & James Garner |
28.20 | 103.5 | 103.50 | 26 | 84 | 07 / 01 | 92.2 | |
| 15 | The Notorious Landlady (1962) | Fred Astaire & Jack Lemmon |
7.50 | 107.8 | 107.80 | 34 | 66 | 00 / 00 | 83.9 | |
| 14 | The Party (1968) | Peter Sellers | 8.30 | 68.2 | 68.20 | 47 | 79 | 00 / 00 | 83.8 | |
| 16 | My Sister Eileen (1955) | Jack Lemmon & Janet Leigh |
5.10 | 106.6 | 106.60 | 64 | 65 | 00 / 00 | 82.8 | |
| 17 | Experiment in Terror (1962) | Glenn Ford & Lee Remick |
4.00 | 57.5 | 57.50 | 61 | 78 | 00 / 00 | 81.8 | |
| 18 | Experiment in Terror (1962) | Glenn Ford & Lee Remick |
4.00 | 57.5 | 57.50 | 61 | 78 | 00 / 00 | 81.8 | |
| 19 | Operation Mad Ball (1957) | Jack Lemmon | 5.30 | 101.7 | 101.70 | 43 | 64 | 00 / 00 | 81.8 | |
| 20 | The Perfect Furlough (1958) | Tony Curtis & Janet Leigh |
6.60 | 118.1 | 118.10 | 38 | 55 | 00 / 00 | 79.4 | |
| 21 | S.O.B. (1981) | Julie Andrews & William Holden |
14.90 | 57.7 | 57.70 | 58 | 70 | 00 / 00 | 76.4 | |
| 22 | Darling Lili (1970) | Rock Hudson & Julie Andrews |
9.80 | 68.5 | 68.50 | 35 | 64 | 03 / 00 | 76.3 | |
| 23 | Darling Lili (1970) | Julie Andrews & Rock Hudson |
9.80 | 68.5 | 68.50 | 35 | 64 | 03 / 00 | 76.3 | |
| 24 | Micki + Maude (1984) | Dudley Moore | 26.10 | 83.7 | 83.70 | 38 | 61 | 00 / 00 | 75.7 | |
| 27 | High Time (1960) | Bing Crosby | 7.10 | 111.6 | 111.60 | 41 | 51 | 01 / 00 | 74.9 | |
| 28 | Blind Date (1987) | Bruce Willis | 39.30 | 108.4 | 178.60 | 29 | 50 | 00 / 00 | 73.5 | |
| 25 | The Tamarind Seed (1974) | Julie Andrews & Omar Sharif |
8.00 | 46.1 | 46.10 | 51 | 70 | 00 / 00 | 72.8 | |
| 26 | The Tamarind Seed (1974) Director |
Julie Andrews & Omar Sharif |
8.00 | 46.1 | 46.10 | 51 | 70 | 00 / 00 | 72.8 | |
| 29 | Soldier in the Rain (1963) | Steve McQueen & Jackie Gleason |
2.70 | 34.1 | 34.10 | 73 | 68 | 00 / 00 | 65.9 | |
| 30 | This Happy Feeling (1958) | Debbie Reynolds | 2.30 | 41.0 | 41.00 | 100 | 65 | 00 / 00 | 63.9 | |
| 31 | What Did You Do in the War, Daddy? (1966) | James Coburn | 6.50 | 63.7 | 63.70 | 42 | 53 | 00 / 00 | 57.1 | |
| 34 | City Heat (1984) | Clint Eastwood & Burt Reynolds |
38.30 | 123.0 | 123.00 | 23 | 35 | 00 / 00 | 56.8 | |
| 33 | Skin Deep (1989) | John Ritter | 19.70 | 53.4 | 53.40 | 52 | 56 | 00 / 00 | 55.8 | |
| 33 | Mister Cory (1957) | Tony Curtis | 2.90 | 55.0 | 55.00 | 81 | 54 | 00 / 00 | 54.1 | |
| 36 | He Laughed Last (1956) | Frankie Laine | 1.80 | 35.4 | 35.40 | 146 | 57 | 00 / 00 | 47.9 | |
| 36 | The Carey Treatment (1972) | James Coburn & Jennifer O'Neill |
3.00 | 19.2 | 19.20 | 89 | 62 | 00 / 00 | 46.6 | |
| 37 | Switch (1991) | Ellen Barkin | 15.50 | 39.8 | 39.80 | 72 | 51 | 00 / 00 | 36.7 | |
| 39 | Wild Rovers (1971) | William Holden & Ryan O'Neal |
5.50 | 35.6 | 35.60 | 58 | 50 | 00 / 00 | 32.2 | |
| 38 | That's Life! (1986) | Jack Lemmon & Julie Andrews |
4.10 | 11.9 | 11.90 | 117 | 57 | 01 / 00 | 32.0 | |
| 41 | Bring Your Smile Along (1955) | Frankie Laine | 0.90 | 19.3 | 19.30 | 174 | 53 | 00 / 00 | 28.1 | |
| 42 | Gunn (1967) | Craig Stevens | 1.70 | 14.7 | 14.70 | 108 | 52 | 00 / 00 | 22.7 | |
| 42 | Trail of the Pink Panther (1982) | David Niven & Peter Sellers |
9.10 | 33.2 | 33.20 | 65 | 45 | 00 / 00 | 22.0 | |
| 43 | The Man Who Loved Women (1983) | Burt Reynolds & Julie Andrews |
11.00 | 37.5 | 37.50 | 59 | 43 | 00 / 00 | 19.5 | |
| 44 | Sunset (1988) | Bruce Willis & James Garner |
4.60 | 12.1 | 14.60 | 128 | 45 | 01 / 00 | 12.8 | |
| 45 | Curse of the Pink Panther (1983) | David Niven & Roger Moore |
4.80 | 16.4 | 16.40 | 92 | 45 | 00 / 00 | 12.6 | |
| 46 | Son of the Pink Panther (1993) | Roberto Benigni | 3.40 | 9.0 | 9.00 | 148 | 46 | 00 / 00 | 11.1 |
Stats and Possibly Interesting Things From The Above Blake Edwards Table
- Eleven Blake Edwards movies crossed the magical $100 million domestic gross mark. That is a percentage of 26.19% of his movies listed. Operation Petticoat (1959) was his biggest hit.
- An average Blake Edwards movie earned $89.16 million in adjusted box office gross.
- Using RottenTomatoes.com’s 60% fresh meter. 23 Blake Edwards movies are rated as good movies…or 54.76% of his movies. Breakfast at Tiffany’s (1961) was his highest rated movie while Son of the Pink Panther (1993) was his lowest rated movie.
- Eleven Blake Edwards movies received at least one Oscar® nomination in any category…..or 26.19% of his movies.
- Four Blake Edwards movies won at least one Oscar® in any category…..or 9.52% of his movies.
- A “good movie” Ultimate Movie Rankings (UMR) Score is 60.00. 30 Blake Edwards movies scored higher that average….or 54.76% of his movies. The Great Race (1965) got the the highest UMR Score while Son of the Pink Panther (1993) got the lowest UMR Score.
Possibly Interesting Facts About Blake Edwards
1. William Blake Crump was born in Tulsa, Oklahoma in 1922.
2. Blake Edwards’ step grandfather was J. Gordon Edwards, a director of silent movies. Edwards used his middle name and his granddad’s last name to come up with his Blake Edwards Hollywood name.
3. Blake Edwards appeared in 31 movies from 1942 to 1949. Most of the roles were either uncredited or bit parts…..but he got a chance to work with and learn from legendary directors John Ford, Otto Preminger and William Wyler.
4. S.O.B. (1981) is based on Blake Edwards’ experiences making 1970’s Darling Lili and 1971’s Wild Rovers (1971). S.O.B. was the last movie of William Holden. When Blake Edwards had his name removed from the writing credits of the 1984 movie City Heat , he got himself billed under the pseudonym of “Sam O. Brown”, whose initials are S.O.B.
5. Henry Mancini scored 31 films Blake Edwards directed.
6. Blake Edwards was one of the first directors to employ video playback of shot film footage on set. He did this with 1968’s The Party.
7. Blake Edwards was married two times in his life. He had 4 children. He was married to Julie Andrews from 1969 until his death in 2010. He met wife-to-be Andrews after she’d heard that he once described her as being, “…so sweet she probably has violets between her legs.” Andrews was so entertained by the remark she sent Edwards a bunch of violets accompanied by a note. They began dating and later married.
8. Blake Edwards is one of the few directors to direct their spouse to a Best Actress Oscar® nomination. This occurred when Julie Andrews got a nomination for 1982’s Victor/Victoria.
9. In 2004, Blake Edwards received an Honorary Academy Award® in recognition of his writing, directing, and producing an extraordinary body of work for the screen.
10. Check out Blake Edwards’ career compared to current and classic actors. Most 100 Million Dollar Movies of All-Time.
Steve’s Blake Edwards You Tube Video
If you do a comment….please ignore the email address and website section.
In my view, Blake Edwards is maybe not one of the greatest movie directors, but when you consider his work as director, screen writer and producer, together with his partnership with Peter Sellers in the Pink Panther films, he was certainly major force in Hollywood during the 60s and 70s. Of the 18 movies on the list I have seen, my favorites are Breakfast at Tiffany’s (I can forgive the Mickey Rooney misstep), A Shot in the Dark (the best of the Panthers), Days of Wine and Roses (sadly realistic with some great performances), The Party (Sellers again at his best), Victor Victoria (entertaining and well-executed), and Experiment in Terror (with a suspense ahead of its time).
It’s rather unfortunate, however, that the Pink Panther was milked for much longer than necessary, with The Trail, The Curse and The Son of..representing perhaps the low points of Blake Edwards’ career, and the over-baked farce continuing more recently with Steve Martin strangely giving his own rendition of Inspector Clouseau.
Apart from these, I agree with you, Bruce, that Sunset was arguably Edwards’ worst movie and I remember being very disappointed when I saw it. After all, a film teaming up Bruce Willis and James Garner, about the legendary Wyatt Earp, and directed by Blake Edwards, should have been a winner. Not sure what happened there. Soldier in the Rain, however, I thought was okay. Though I was never able to see the end of it, what I did see was a rather unusual comedy-drama, with some interesting, though not particularly funny moments.
Hey PhilHOF17
1. Thanks for returning to our Blake Edwards page…..which is now already 4 pages old….and off the list of pages in the header.
2. I agree from Operation Petticoat to 10 he was one of the most successful people working…..his 1980s were pretty hit and miss.
3. 18 is a pretty good tally….but out of her medal range.
4. Mickey Rooney would not be able to do that role today…..the press would destroy him and the movie.
5. Thanks for the mini-reviews…. I will have to check out The Party.
6. Sunset was horrible…though Bob likes it….it should have been fun….instead is a slow moving drag of a movie.
7. It has been years since seeing Soldier in the Rain…McQueen playing Gomer Pyle did not work for me at all.
Good feedback as always.
I am a Blake Edwards fan like a lot of people who have already written about him.
I have seen 22 Edward movies.
The highest rated film I have seen is The Great Race.
The highest rated film I have NOT seen is The Notorious Landlady. So I have seen the top 12.
The Lowest rated film I have seen is Curse of the Pink Panther. Regarding this series, my favourite movies are the original The Pink Panther and A Shot in the Dark. Other films I do not find funny.
My favourite Blake Edward movies are:
Breakfast at Tiffany’s (except for Mickey Rooney’s character)
Operation Petticoat
Victor/Victoria
Experiment in Terror
The Great Race
A Shot in the Dark
The Pink Panther
My Sister Eileen
Soldier in the Rain
10
SOB (final William Holden film)
Hey Flora
1. Thanks for the comment, visit and tally count.
2. Tally count: Dan 42, Cogerson 24, Flora 22 and Steve 16….a victory for me….but it is due to the fact that I have seen so many of his most recent movies…..but I will take it.
3. My first miss is #12 The Party…..looking at the trailer….you can tell it was made in the 1960s.
…..probably the least known Edwards/Sellers movie.
4. The post Sellers movies are horrible….ok the first Steve Martin one is ok…….but the Edwards ones are just sad to watch.
5. I have seen all of your favorite Edwards’ movies…..I did not like Soldier in the Rain at all…..McQueen and comedy do not mix well.
6. As a teenager….I thought 10 was a masterpiece…..I remember when we first got cable…10 was the feature movie of the month….and I must have watched 10 to 20 times in a 2 month time frame……I was such a Dudley Moore fan……lol.
7. I really enjoyed S.O.B. too …..but fear that I would not like it all…if I were to re-watch it….the trailer looks horrible…..it has probably been 25 years since I last watched it.
8. Actually….I just looked at movie rating book from the 1980s…..I actually gave S.O.B. a pretty average 2 star rating….so I wonder how the years have made me think I liked the movie the first time?…..gotta be that the movie was about the movie business.
1 BRUCE As you say Edwards was best known for Pink Panther but made some strong dramatic stuff as well such as Days of Wine and Roses and Charley Bill Stuart’s Experiment in Terror aka The Grip of Fear]. My personal fave Edwards movie was Breakfast at Tiffany’s
2 I didn’t know Blake started out as an actor so great you could share that one with your viewers. I see that Blake not only got to work with some of old Hollywood greats like Grant, Curtis and Charley Bill but also with more modern stars such as Willis and Burt Reynolds. John Ritter whom you list as the star of Skin Deep was the son of the famous Tex Ritter, great star of Hollywood’s B movie singing cowboy era and and Tex of course sang the Academy Award winning title song to High Noon on screen. Sadly John died prematurely from some kind of blood disorderat the age of 53 in 2003.
3 Apparently according to a recent documentary I watched on Sellers, success unfortunately went so much to Peter’s head and he became so contrary that other actors didn’t relish, and some even avoided, working with him towards the end of his career and it is said Blake too came to want to distance himself from Peter. If so that’s sad in my opinion given their great screen success together.
4 Anyway I like your new Blake Edwards page and am glad to see you are continuing the Cogerson tradition of balancing thespians with some profiles of prominent directors. By the way thanks for your responses to my Duryea posts and I await your revised commenter figures for me. It’s conscientious of you to take the trouble that you have on that project .
Hey Bob
1. Thanks for the thoughts on Mr. Blake Edwards.
2. I agree besides his comedies he has a few very good movies like Days of Win and Roses, Experiment in Terror and The Tamarind Seed (though I am basing this on my mom’s thoughts…as I have not seen it).
3. I knew he started out as an actor…just did not realize he almost 30 IMDb acting credits…..though it sounds like he rarely spoke……but he obviously learned a lot while being a young man on the set.
4. Interesting about that documentary…..I have read that Edwards did not enjoy working with Sellers at the end….but……had no interest in dissolving the professional relationship.
5. In the tv movie (yes I watch some of them), The Life and Death of Peter Sellers with Geoffrey Rush playing Sellers….there is a very funny part of the movie dealing with Sellers and Edwards.
6. That part dealt with the time Sellers would not return to the Panther series….right after the first two Panther movies in the mid 1960s…..anyway….Edwards knew Sellers believed what psychics told him….so Edwards hired a psychic and told the psychic to tell Sellers that a B.E. (Blake Edwards) was in his immediate future….Sellers got the message….and immediately started to pursue a B.E. Britt Elkand were married from 1964 to 1968.
7. Not sure if the story is true or not…..so I did not include it in the Possibly Interesting Facts section of the page.
8. Blake Edwards has always fascinated me…..he directed two of my Top 3 actors…..Grant and Willis…..I have looked through his entire IMDb career…and sadly can not find a Caine connection….but it makes me wonder if somebody worked with all three of my favorites.
Good feedback as always.
Thanks for feedback. Some very interesting additional anecdotes and info there
I’ve seen all his pictures, yes including the 2 Frankie Laine epics (thanks TCM). The Great Race I’ve seen 3 times. I liked or give 3 1/2 stars to Breakfast at Tiffany’s, 4 to Days of Wine and Roses, 3 1/2 to Victor Victoria, and yes 3 1/2 to My Sister Eileen. I thought he was getting desperate with the Pink Panther pictures after Peter Sellers died. My least favorite of his is S.O.B.
Hey Dan….congrats on being a Blake Edwards completist….Days and Wine and Roses is a good movie but not a movie that begs to be re-watched. I had never heard of the two Frankie Laine movies until last night…so I am even more impressed that you have seen both of them.
Tally count: Dan 42, Cogerson 24 and Steve 16…..I will guess that you will win this…lol. I agree with you about his final Pink Panther movies…..seems he should have stopped after Sellers passed away…..Trail of , Curse of, Son of are horrible attempts to capitalize on the success of the Sellers movies. I found the Steve Martin Pink Panther movies dreadful too….especially part 2.
I have fond memories of S.O.B…….but the last time I watched it was when I was a teenager….it played on HBO all the time…..and I loved the Hollywood aspect of the movie….when I was attaching the trailer to the movie…I was not too impressed.
Thanks for sharing your thoughts on Mr. Blake Edwards.
I actually bought the ticket to Steve Martin’s Pink Panther 2 in advance and it was snowed out. They let you in the next night. Up there with going to Deuce Bigalo: European Gigolo and have lightning hitting a small tree beside me. First time for everything, Monday I went to see Ready Player One and about 7 minutes into the film the mall had a blackout. I saw it Wednesday, very good, reminds me of 35mm a few years ago.
Hey Dan…..that sounds like a good threesome of bad luck….glad you like Ready Player One….WoC has gone crazy for that movie….after seeing it last weekend….she read the book this week….she is taking the rest of the kids that did not see it last weekend to see it this afternoon….and next week she was to do a road trip to go to a book signing by the author of Ready Player One.
Glad the lightning did not strike you…..good stuff.
Good to see more directors getting the UMR treatment.
I was a big fan of Blake Edwards Pink Panther movies starring Peter Sellers back in the 70s and 80s though I rarely watch them now – A Shot in the Dark is probably the funniest in the series.
I’ve seen 16 of the 42 films on the chart, less than I thought. Favorites include the first 5 Pink Panther films, The Great Race, City Heat, Breakfast at Tiffanys and Victor Victoria.
The Great Race tops the UMR chart, a fun film which inspired the Wacky Races cartoon but not nearly as funny as it thinks it is, ditto other 60s comedy extravaganzas like It’s a Mad Mad Mad Mad World and Those Magnificent Men in Their Flying Machines, big loud and expensive but they strain too hard to make you laugh IMO.
Top work Bruce, Vote Up!
Hey Steve.
1. I have always been fascinated about Blake Edwards (which makes no sense when you realize it took me over 7 years to finally do an UMR page on him).
2. He has directed many of my favorite actors…Cary Grant , Bruce Wills (2 times), Steve McQueen (writer only), James Coburn and Peter Sellers (many times).
3. His type of humor does not age well as you get older……I find the Pink Panther movies somewhat challenging to finish….as they no longer seem as funny as they did as a kid. I think both of our fathers took us to Pink Panther movies….so we share the same memory there.
4. I agree with you about The Great Race…..but it was a huge hit…and picked up 5 Oscar nominations…one of 4 Edwards’ movies to receive 5 or more nominations.
5. Overall I have seen 24 of his movies…..so that is 42 for Dan (he is an Edwards completist), 24 for me and 16 for you.
6. My favorites would include A Shot In The Dark, Operation Petticoat, 10, Experiment in Terror and S.O.B.
7. I think Sunset with Bruce Willis and Soldier in the Rain with Steve McQueen are some of the worst movies in their careers.
8. Thanks for the visit and the comment….it is greatly appreciated.