Charles Bronson Movies

Charles Bronson played vigilante Paul Kersey five times in the Death Wish movies from 1974 to 1994.
Charles Bronson played vigilante Paul Kersey five times in the Death Wish movies from 1974 to 1994.

Want to know the best Charles Bronson movies?  How about the worst Charles Bronson movies?  Curious about Charles Bronson’s box office grosses or which Charles Bronson movie picked up the most Oscar® nominations? Need to know which Charles Bronson movie got the best reviews from critics and audiences and which got the worst? Well, you have come to the right place…. because we have all of that information.

Welcome to my Charles Bronson (1921-2003) Ultimate Movie Rankings career movie page. My first visit when I started researching Charles Bronson was to his IMDb page. I found that he had 160 acting credits from 1949 to 1999. That is over 3 projects a year for 50 years…a pretty impressive total. After throwing out 78 television performances and 12 uncredited bit parts that left 70 movies to research. I have ranked 61 of his movies from best to worst in this page.

So, I know what you are thinking…. where are the other 9 Charles Bronson movies? Well, I was unable to find box office numbers for 4 of his 1950’s quickie low budget films. And 4 of his movies he made in Europe from 1968-1972 never really got much of a release in North America….so they were not included. 

This page will rank Charles Bronson movies from Best to Worst in six different sortable columns of information. Television shows, shorts, cameos and movies that were not released in theaters were not included in the rankings.

Charles Bronson in 1968's Once Upon A Time In The West
Charles Bronson in 1968’s Once Upon A Time In The West

Charles Bronson Movies Ranked In Chronological Order With Ultimate Movie Rankings Score (1 to 5 UMR Tickets) *Best combo of box office, reviews and awards.

Charles Bronson 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 Charles Bronson movies by the co-stars of his movies
  • Sort Charles Bronson movies by adjusted domestic box office grosses using current movie ticket cost (in millions)
  • Sort Charles Bronson movies by yearly box office rank
  • Sort Charles Bronson 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 Charles Bronson movie received.
  • Sort Charles Bronson 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.

Charles Bronson Adjusted World Wide Box Office Grosses

Charles Bronson in 1963's The Great Escape
Charles Bronson in 1963’s The Great Escape

10 Possibly Interesting Facts About Charles Bronson

1. Charles Bronson(1921-2003) was born Charles Dennis Buchinsky.

2. Charles Bronson was one of 14 children born to a Lithuanian immigrant in Pennsylvania. Bronson started working in coal mines as a teenager before serving in World War II. He won a Purple Heart for wounds he received in combat.

3. Charles Bronson changed his name in 1955 due to concerns about the House Un-American Activites Committee(he thought it sounded too Russian). In some of his early successes like Apache, Vera Cruz and House of Wax he is listed in the credits as Charles Buchinsky.

4. Charles Bronson used the same approach to stardom as Clint Eastwood. Both started out in television, both went to Europe to make movies, both become international stars in Europe, and then both came back to the United States as stars. Bronson was actually offered the Man With No Name role in A Fistful of Dollars….but he passed and the role went to Eastwood. Meanwhile when Eastwood passed on Once Upon A Time In The West….the role went to Charles Bronson.

5. Roles that Charles Bronson turned down or was seriously considered for: Superman (Christopher Reeve part), Escape from New York (Kurt Russell part), A Fistful of Dollars (Eastwood part), Jaws (Robert Shaw part) and The French Connection (Gene Hackman part). The role that made Bronson a star in the United States, Death Wish, was originally written for Henry Fonda. Fonda was disgusted with the script and turned down the role.

6. Charles Bronson was married three times in his life. His marriage to Harriet Tendler(1949-1967) and his second marriage to Jill Ireland(1968-1990 her death) produced two children each. His final marriage was to Kim Weeks from 1998 until his death in 2003. He was the step father to David McCallum’s (NCIS) two children as well.

7. Charles Bronson and his wife, Jill Ireland, appeared in a total of 15 movies together. Besides her work along side of Bronson, Ireland is best remember as Spock’s love interest in the classic Star Trek episode…This Side of Paradise.

8. Charles Bronson was known as “le monster sacre” to the French movie going public. Le monster sacre means the sacred monster.

9. Here is a great trivia question…..Who is the only person to be a member of the Magnificent Seven and the Dirty Dozen…. not to mention he played one of the three roles that actually escaped the Great Escape….Mr. Charles Bronson.

10.  Check out Charles Bronson’s career compared to current and stars of the past on my Most 100 Million Dollar Movies of All-Time Table.

10A. The missing 9 Charles Bronson movies: 1954’s Crime Wave, Tennessee Champ. 1955’s Big House USA, Target Zero. 1958’s Showdown at Boot-Hill, Gang War, When Hell Broke Loose, 1970’s Lola, You Can’t Win Them All. 1971’s Someone Is Behind the Door. I will continue to search for some North America box office numbers for these movies so they can be included in this page.

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99 thoughts on “Charles Bronson Movies”

  1. As a Bronson fan I would study him in roles—-one day I was watching an old black and white cheap western and saw someone jump from a rock to knock a guy off his horse–his face flashed and I could see it was him–the credits had him as his given name Buchinsky–I don’t remember the movie but nothing like that has ever appeared in the many online lists–most of these lists just rely on other’s lists–anyone know the movie I am referring to–thanks–hh

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  3. Your not taking into account,the grossers of Bronson films abroad,in Europe,Charlie wasn’t just a moviestar but a god,he was huge,and in the Asian territory’s,if you could research the grossers for these films we would have a more accurate appraisal of Bronson’s box office lower example , once upon a time in the West made 15 million in France aloan, pretty dam good and Charlie’s films after this were huge , especially in Europe,so for example Death wish did 20 million in the states in 1974,adjusted .130 million ,abroad you need to double that, his films played in over a hundred countries ,work with me on this and we can do a decent box office list of his film,

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  4. Hi Phil, thanks for that excellent comment on Charles Bronson and my video, much appreciated. My internet has been failing badly this past 24 hours and I hate tapping away on my mobile phone (cellular in the US?). Seems to be okay now.

    Yeah sometimes Bruce and I have similar top 10s and other times Bruce’s rankings are all over the place, makes my head spin I tells ya. [cue Bruce snarling] funny thing is we use some of the same sources. I just hope he’s not using Joe Hershorne or whatever his name was. [wink]

    I haven’t seen Rider on the Rain, it’s one of the three Bronson films I haven’t seen from my chart, the other two are This Property is Condemned and Machine Gun Kelly. It’s a high score and if it ever pops up on TV I’ll have to check it out.

    p.s. I love Battle of the Bulge. Great cast, stupendous tank battles.

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    1. Oh and Phil, I had to sacrifice some of his 50s movies for more modern ones even if some of those 50s movies were high scorers. I know he palyed an Indian in a bunch of cowboy movies, like Apache. I took out Vera Cruz at the last minute and added one of his later starring films. I did allow one in, Run of the Arrow. And of course House of Wax with Vincent Price, the most successful horror movie of the 1950s.

      It’s Bob’s fault he started this billing business and he’s got me checking the posters and credits to see where the names crop up. Too low and it’s out. 😉

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      1. The power of Bob…..I still try and include all of the performer’s movies…..no matter where they get billed…..lol.

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      2. Thanks for your kind comment on my comment Steve, and further clarifications on how went about selecting movies for your Charles Bronson piece. Yeah, it’s a little tricky to decide what to do with supporting roles and to what extent a supporting roles is actually close to a lead role. I think Bronson’s roles, for instance, in Magnificent Seven, The Great Escape and the Dirty Dozen are important and to exclude these films would have resulted in only a partial presentation of his career. Good call on leaving out Vera Cruz though – his role in it is not that significant.

        And I also like Battle of the Bulge! From a critical perspective, I think it’s not one of the best big war pictures but it has a lot of good moments.

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    2. Hey Steve…..funny…. “other times Bruce’s rankings are all over the place, makes my head spin I tells ya”……that is exactly how I feel sometimes only it is “other times Steve’s rankings are all over the place, makes my head spin I tells ya”. lol.

      You are not missing much by not seeing This Propery is Condemned….Charlie is a supporting player and does not really have many lines….that is all Robert Redford and Natalie Wood.

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      1. Bruce, like you said, it would be boring if we had similar rankings. Nice to have a few surprises in store. Yeah you’re more of a completist. I have to pick and choose and occasionally jettison some famous movies (Vera Cruz, Apache) for some lesser known ones. If the video gets too long viewers will get bored and skip to the end.

        And I still get complaints, someone just posted that I forgot to include Anne of the Thousand Days in my Richard Burton video. I checked and it’s on there in the top 10. I still got a thumbs down though. Oh well. 🙂

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        1. Bruce, Steve,
          Without entering this amicable dispute, just to share a few thoughts about ratings. I assume that some of the differences come also from the fact that you don’t use always the same sources (apart from yourselves I mean)? I see that Steve uses UK’s Halliwell’s and Radio Times, which may not be used by UMR? It’s interesting how a movie can rate differently in the hands of one critic as compared to those of another. While there seems to be some relative convergence of opinion on the majority of films among presumably knowledgeable movie experts and critics, there are still many movies where they disagree to a significant extent.
          In that sense, I think it’s useful that you both include the opinions of the average Joe or Jill on the street through IMDB and Rotten Tomatoes. However, as I once mentioned to Bruce, I would give less weight to RT when it comes to older films because IMDB may have 5 to 10 times more user ratings than RT for the same film, and it’s probable that many of them are the same people who voted on RT anyway. Even with IMDB, one should be conscious that the large majority of voters are male who tend to be more oriented toward action, western and war films. I suspect we would see somewhat different ratings if females voted in equal numbers!

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          1. Hey Phil. Good comment. I think we share a few sources but I do not use Halliwell or Radio Times….and I do not think Steve has even heard of some of the ones I use. Generally if the vote total or review totals are too low…I do not use the source….unless I am desperate when doing older movies…as finding any information is hard. Time is also a factor. When I do a new movie like Dunkirk…it usually starts off awesome…but as months go by….it’s scores seem to go down..especially in IMDb….Dunkirk was 9.3 on Wednesday….down to 9.0 this morning…and as I type this comment it is down to 8.9 at 12:30 in the morning.

        2. Hey Steve…very boring indeed. I get that comment too. Makes me wonder if people use the search box or the sort button. I agree short and sweet is the way to go. I used to watch all the “Everything Wrong With “Pick a Movie” in 6 minutes or less”….but their videos keep getting longer and longer….one was almost 30 minutes long….needless to say I stopped checking out that channel.

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    3. Hello Steve,
      Rider on the rains Is a very good thriller like old films of the 40 and in the mean Time it Is Is a love story with contradictions …Both actors are very good…
      It Is French Italian film and from the 70 but i hope You Can see it and in what version you want, French or english.
      But of course most of the actors are French so i am not sure You know them.
      Oh by the way it Is at the Time of the ” Mini Jupe “….
      I am going to see Your vidéo and i am going to see Bronson By the Link of Dietrich…
      Have a good Day
      Pierre

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      1. Hello Pierre, I had heard of the film before but I didn’t know Riders on the Rain was one of Bronson’s top scorers until I put that video together. If it comes up on TV I will check it out whatever the language. I don’t mind subtitles. I hope you enjoy the video. Take care.

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  5. Hey,

    Bronson Is one of my favorite actors when i Was young….and not so far away!!!!
    Big deal…

    Anyway my first meeting Was a french-italian film which Is call “Le passager de la pluie”
    With Marlène ( Not Dietrich) but Jobert as the other star…and a part for Jill Ireland and a lot of French actor that i am sure You never Hear about…
    Anyway i am not sure it Is in Your list…the only one i can try Is “Rider on the rain”
    Because i dont know the title in english…so i go to the web before writing my comment…that because every Time i went to the web in the same Time i wrote a comment …i lost my comment…
    And of course hé Was great in “once upon Time in west “but Fonda Was very great too.
    And that film Was so magic with this music and “harmonica”
    After that i saw a lot of his films …..on théâtres and films before 1970 on TV…

    And in Paris to Day it Is very hot and in the same Time it Is raining a lot….
    So have a very good weather….
    Bye bye
    Pierre

    Reply

    1. Bonjour Pierre, et oui, Rider on the Rain is the English title of Le passager de la pluie, and Steve has it as #9 on his video. I sang the praises of this movie in my earlier comments (July 18 and March 4) so am glad you also mention it! I had seen it originally in French on TV but unfortunately, I was only able to find a dubbed English version DVD in Canada. However, as Bronson dubs himself, it’s mostly ok. Jobert is also great in it. Enjoy the heat and rain!

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      1. Thank you Phil. Your movie knowledge is truly impressive. It looks like Rider on the Rain barely made a dent here in the USA. I always find it amazing to realize how a movie that got ignored here is so popular in other countries. Thanks again.

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        1. Thanks Bruce, you are too kind. Actually, when I spend time on this site and read the comments, I realize how much I do NOT know and that there are still so many movies I would like to see!

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      2. Bonsoir Phil,
        Thank You so much for confirm that i Was not wrong, and i read Your comments, very good even i dont pick all the words but i understand most of the words.
        You are right for “Adieu l’Ami” with Delon, his first Big smash hit in France, and then “le Passager de la pluie” à great moment in Cannes and a very great succès in France and in Europe.
        For Both of the Two stars Bronson and Jobert that Was a very great moment.
        Bronson after that Was in”once upon Time….”
        But by year he became more making américain films and by years he lost the prestige of these three films.
        But i never lost him because i like the way he Was in film.
        Bye and have a good Day
        Pierre

        ,

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    2. Hey Pierre….Phil had identified the movie you talked about. It is ranked as the 24th best movie according to critics and audiences….but 9th on Steve’s video. It did not do much here in the states…..but I know Bronson’s overseas status was even greater than his in North America. Once Upon A Time In The West is one of the great westerns….with Bronson taking over for Eastwood. Thanks for your thoughts on Mr. Bronson.

      Reply

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