Want to know the best George C. Scott movies? How about the worst George C. Scott movies? Curious about George C. Scott box office grosses or which George C. Scott movie picked up the most Oscar® nominations? Need to know which George C. Scott movie got the best reviews from critics and audiences and which got the worst reviews? Well you have come to the right place….because we have all of that information.
George C. Scott (1927-1999) was an American Oscar®-winning actor. He was best known for his Oscar®-winning portrayal of General George S. Patton in 1970’s Patton. His IMDb page shows 96 acting credits from 1951-1999. This page ranks 34 George C. Scott movies from Best to Worst in six different sortable columns of information. His 62 television appearances were not included in the rankings. This page comes from a request from GreatScott!, Wayne S. and Lyle.
George C. Scott 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 George C. Scott movies by co-stars of his movies
- Sort George C. Scott movies by adjusted domestic box office grosses using current movie ticket cost (in millions)
- Sort George C. Scott movies by domestic yearly box office rank
- Sort George C. Scott 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 George C. Scott movie received.
- Sort George C. Scott 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.
Stats and Possibly Interesting Things From The Above George C. Scott Table
- Ten George C. Scott movies crossed the magical $100 million domestic gross mark. That is a percentage of 29.41% of his movies listed. Patton (1970) was his biggest box office hit.
- An average George C. Scott movie grossed $74.50 million in adjusted domestic box office gross.
- That translates to a career adjusted box office of $2.53 billion.
- Using RottenTomatoes.com’s 60% fresh meter. 21 George C. Scott movies are rated as good movies…or 52.63% of his movies. Dr. Strangelove or: How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Love the Bomb (1964) is his highest rated movie while The Formula (1980) is his lowest rated movie.
- Ten George C. Scott movies received at least one Oscar® nomination in any category…..or 19.73% of his movies.
- Three George C. Scott movies won at least one Oscar® in any category…..or 8.82% of his movies.
- An average Ultimate Movie Rankings (UMR) Score is 40.00. 15 George C. Scott movies scored higher that average….or 44.11% of his movies. Patton (1970) got the the highest UMR Score while Gloria (1999) got the lowest UMR Score.
Possibly Interesting Facts About George C. Scott
1. George Campbell Scott was born in Wise, Virginia in 1927.
2. George C. Scott was a U.S. Marine from 1945 to 1949. One of his duties was as an honor guard for military funerals at Arlington National Cemetery.
3. In 1958 George C. Scott won an Obie Award for his stage appearance in Children of Darkness. In 1959 he appeared in his first movie….Gary Cooper’s The Hanging Tree.
4. George C. Scott earned Best Supporting Actor Oscar® nominations for his 2nd and 3rd movies: 1959’s Anatomy Of A Murder and 1961’s The Hustler. He later would earn two Best Actor Oscar® nominations: He won for 1970’s Patton….his 4th and final nomination came for 1971’s The Hospital.
5. George C. Scott was the first actor to refuse the Oscar® when he won for 1970’s Patton. Scott also refused his Oscar® nomination in the Best Supporting Actor category in 1961, because he didn’t believe in actors competing against each other unless they were playing the exact same role. Marlon Brando would follow Scott’s lead and also refused his Oscar® when he won for his role in 1972’s The Godfather.
6. George C. Scott directed two movies: 1972’s Rage and 1974’s The Savage Is Loose. He was also the producer and distributor for The Savage Is Loose.
7. George C. Scott was married 5 times and had 6 children. His youngest child is actor and director Campbell Scott. Campbell is quickly closing in on his dad’s 96 IMDb acting credits.
8. George C. Scott starred in 4 movies that earned Best Picture Oscar® nominations: 1959’s Anatomy Of A Murder, 1961’s The Hustler, 1964’s Dr. Strangelove or: How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Love the Bomb and 1970’s Patton…..Patton was the only one to win.
9. George C. Scott and Patton trivia. Rod Steiger, Lee Marvin, Robert Mitchum and Burt Lancaster all turned down the lead role. Meanwhile…John Wayne really wanted the role but was turned by the producers.
10. Check out George C. Scott ‘s career compared to current and classic actors. Most 100 Million Dollar Movies of All-Time.
HI STEVE 1 I have said before on this site that Scott reckoned that the “best three actors” that he seen in his “own lifetime” were “Montgomery Clift, Marlon Brando and John Barrymore”. Martin Sheen told Rolling Stone magazine that George himself “towered” above not just those three but ALL actors. Oddly enough though today George C is either omitted from any official list of perceived greatest actors of all time or else his position on the list is not vertiginous. He is for example currently 35th on IMDB’s list of the 100 best all time actors.
2 Indeed his name usually comes up when he and his own mumbling idol are mentioned as two actors who refused the Oscar. One explanation he is said to have given for that is that Patton was “pro war”.
3 Rod Steiger though criticized him for making that excuse, Steiger insisting that Scott must have read the script before making the film. However as I have also previously mentioned Rod like W C Fields*** seemed to hate just about everybody and Karl Malden implied Rod’s opinions and utterances should be taken with a pinch of salt [***Who allegedly said “A man who hates children cannot be all bad” and who reportedly complained that his neighbour my Deanna was driving him mad by “making an awful racket when practicing her singing”. I’ll bet that Miss Durbin rarely if ever encountered a “boy next door” like that in her squeaky-clean movies! ]
4 Excellent posters I thought were those for Rage, Not with My Wife You Don’t, Hardcore, List of Adrian Messenger, Petulia, The Changeling, Dr Strangelove and par excellence in fact the ones from The Hanging Tree and Patton.
6 Stills which I loved were the opening one of George in The Formula with one of his idols, and those from The Hindenburg, Islands in the Stream, The Hustler [with Newman] and Patton.
By the way lightning CAN strike the same place twice for this is the 2nd consecutive video of yours that I’ve seen in the last 24 hours in which you and Joel Junior agree on the Top 4 best Scott flicks and also in the exact same order [the other one being L & H]. His 5th pick is Julia whereas yours is The Hospital. I haven’t seen Petulia and thought The Hospital was brilliant so I’ll give you the benefit of the doubt on that one! Overall your Scott video was a highly entertaining treat that I rated at 95.5%
CORRECTION – STEVE
When I said “Julia” in the final para of my last post I did of course mean Petulia which I subsequently got right in that para. It sometimes happens that I lose the plot when we get too much of Joel on this site.
Thanks Bob, appreciate the review, rating, comment, info and trivia!
Happy you liked the posters and stills.
I thought it was time for some not so pretty and well respected actors to make an appearance at the video shack. IMO Scott’s George S. Patton was one of the all time greatest movie performances ever, a bravura piece of acting fully deserving of the Oscar award, a shame he didn’t want it. Would Steiger have been as good? I dunno, he’s a brilliant actor too.
Good to know Bruce and I are still currently in tune via our charts. 🙂
Some George C. Scott quotes –
“Bette Davis is my bloody idol. I admire her more than any other film star. For me, the sexiest woman on the screen ever was Joan Blondell.”
“Brando would drive you crazy. He does it over and over and over. Marlon would improve all the time. I’m not sure about the rest of us.”
“Acting is just a matter of observation, imitation and communication. That’s what it’s all about.”
“There is no question you get pumped up by the recognition. Then a self-loathing sets in when you realize you’re enjoying it.”
“I have nothing against Oscar. I know what he stands for and it’s terrific. And I think when people used to hang around and pat each other on the back over a drink and dinner it was wonderful. But when it became an international hoopla, where careers lived and died on whether or not you did or didn’t get an Oscar, then it got out of hand.”
Four of Scott’s film scored 10 out of 10 from my sources – Anatomy of a Murder, Dr. Strangelove, Patton and The Hustler. One scored 9 – The Hospital.
Strangelove was also no.1 at IMDB, where it scored 8.5.
HI STEVE
1 Some very interesting background information and I enjoyed the quotes from George C though Joan Blondell was a great surprise to me . I read that when making Guys n Dolls Mr Mumbles drove Sinatra mad too with Mr M’s passion for repeated takes though strangely enough Frankie later said in an interview that I saw that when preparing for a difficult role “I would take a leaf out of Marlon Brando’s book.”
2 I’ve probably also mentioned on this site that George C had big alcoholic problems and when on a celebrity golfing tour organised by Burt Lancaster George got into a drunken rage and wrecked his hotel room and Burt ordered him to cut short the tour and go home.
3 Anyway Work Horse aside who’s perfect? and I now look forward to your next “respected actor” [or actress] – warts and all if applicable!
Hey Bob and Steve….just got through reading and commenting on Steve’s latest. Very interesting conversation between the two of you. Liked the quotes you shared Steve. As for me being perfect….I was wrong once…..but it turned out I was mistaken….lol. Good thoughts on Scott, Mumbles (the first time I have ever referenced him as this), Lancaster, Davis and many others.
I most strongly feel that amongst many strong performances, George C. Scotts role as
General Turgidson, under the aegis of Stanley Kubrick in “Dr. Strangelove” was the apotheosis of truly black humor and scathing sarcasm. Along with his performance, plus,
especially Sterling Hayden, Peter Bull, Slim Pickens and Peter Sellers, again with Kubrick
calling the “shots”, effected a horrifying masterpiece that I credit with possible saving the
world from nuclear holocaust – Of course, I didn’t hurt that “Failsafe” followed shortly thereafter, in a “One>>Two Punch ( Interestingly, the same author was involved in BOTH plays! I feel that most people are unaware the of the gestalt of REVULSION that was brought to a timely fruition by the confluence of these two movies, concomitant upon the
various aspects of Human Bungling, brought HEADLONG into an argument un-Godly denoument with the unspeakable Horrors of a World-Wide Nuclear Confrontation – These
Productions made a realisation of the POSSIBLE Reality, MUCH HARDER to avoid con- templating, and thus, that much less likely – tho’ we have, certainly, come far too close!!
Most people are unaware of the power of revulsion against
Hey Robert
1. Are you asking for your e-mail to be shown in the comment? I can do that for one…..just I want to make sure that is what you are asking for.
2. Great point on the importance of Dr. Strangelove and Fail Safe….I am sure both movies scared lots of people…..I remember growing up in the late 1970s and 1980s….and Russia was a threat even children were aware of….I can only imagine how it was in the 1960s.
3. Scott’s role in Dr. Strangelove is my favorite in the movie…which is saying something because it is loaded with great performances.
4. Outstanding points throughout the comment…thanks for sharing your thoughts.
1 George was highly respected for a strong screen personality and a string of riveting performances such as my own favourites in The Hustler, The Hanging Tree, Anatomy of a
Murder and Patton.
2 He was very outspoken about other performers. He said that Marlon Brando, John Barrymore, and Monty Clift were the three best American actors he had ever seen; that Bette Davis was his own greatest screen idol; and that Paul Newman was a poor actor.
3 Apparently he could be highly volatile in his cups and it is reported that he participated in a celebrity golfing tour organised by Burt Lancaster but that the latter ordered him to go home because George trashed his own hotel room in a drunken rage.
4 However I personally prefer to be left with the memory of Martin Sheen’s reference to George C. Speaking in Rolling Stone about great screen actors Marty mentioned some of the usual contenders but then added “And towering above them all is GEORGE!”
BOB
Hey Bob….thanks for checking out one of our latest pages.
1, He got off to a great start….3 of your favorites were his first 3 movies….number 4 was the List of Adrian Messenger and 5th was Dr. Strangelove….that is John Cazale terrority.
2. Wow he thought Newman was a poor actor…not many people thought that….but everybody is entitled to their own opinion. Of his 3 favorites….he only worked with Brando…..and that was late in both of their careers.
3. Trashing his hotel room….sounds like the Johnny Depp of that generation.
4. Sheen worked with George C. Scott….they made Rage together…with Scott directing as well…and then they both appeared in Firestarter….so I will have to go with Sheen’s opinion.
As always…thanks for sharing your GCS knowledge.
BRUCE
1 “Paul Newman is one of the sweet people of the world but the only piece of acting that he’s ever done that I thought was first class was Hud (1963)” – George Campbell Scott speaking to Lawrence Grobel of Playboy magazine in 1980.
2 Actually room-trashing apart Scott reminds me more of Steiger than Depp in that both Rod and George seem to think that they were put on earth to openly criticise others of their profession – apart from Bette Davis in Scott’s case !.
3 Even Bud did not escape George’s acid tongue great actor though George thought him to be. Scott said that when making The Formula [1980] with Brando the latter did scenes over and over again to achieve perfection. George acknowledged that it worked for Bud but suggested that it was frustrating for other actors like himself who were also continually put through the hoops to complete the same scene. Sinatra made a similar complaint about working with Marlon inn Guys and Dolls back in 1955.
4 Also Bud/George played chess together on the set of the Formula and Scott said that Brando was a lousy chess player !
5 Obviously George C was even crankier in his cups but it was reported that to please wife Trish Van Devere he gave up the drink but whether he stayed on the wagon I din’t Know.
BOB
Hey Bob.
1. Interesting…..maybe George did not see Cool Hand Luke, The Hustler (even though he was in it), Hombre and Cat On A Hot Tin Roof…..that might explain that comment.
2. You know…..I often think about destroying my hotel room when I am vacation…..so I can understand…Scott, Steiger and Depp doing that. Sadly there are people that like to criticize in all walks of laugh….reading your comment..made me remember a grocery store manager I used to work with.
3. There is some good trivia at The Formula IMDb page….getting Scott and Brando together might not have created magic on the screen…but having those two legends on set together created some great stories.
4. Gotta keep the wife happy.
Thanks for the comment. 🙂
BRUCE:
1 In the same interview George actually did comment on Newman’s Hustler role and said that he found it a very disappointing performance.
2 Thanks for directing my attention to the IMDB trivia page for The Formula. Two aspects of that trivia and the main IMDB page for the film immediately struck me.
(1) After his struggles to get the Salkinds and Francis Ford to pay him the money he was owed from the profits of Superman (1978) and Apocalypse now (1979) this is the first film in which MB got his dollars paid on an upfront instalment and on this occasion daily basis but at least it indirectly revealed that George C had a sense of humour under that crustiness I have read elsewhere that an insensitive interviewer quoted the Brando instalment arrangement to George and asked if he would have liked a similar deal but Scott simply laughed off the question by replying “I’ll say!”
(2) The poster reproduction on The Formula’s top IMDB page shows the kind of compromise billing arrangement that was the end result of the Newman/McQueen squabbles regarding their appearance in The Towering Inferno. Marlon is billed first and George C’s name comes next but 50% of it protrudes above Brando’s.
Best wishes BOB
Hey Bob.
1. Pretty sure he is standing on an deserted opinion island…when it comes to Newman in The Hustler.
2. Glad you enjoyed the IMDb trivia…..every time I watch a movie I go there and pick up the trivia.
3. I never noticed the poster before you mentioned it…but you are right in your assessment of it.
Thanks for the information.
My knowledge of him quickly fades off as I scan down the table. I have seen his Top 5 but after that Taps is not only the one I have seen but have not heard of most of the others. Still good time while checking out your latest.
Hey Helakoski….well his Top 5 is pretty impressive. I actually saw Taps in the theater…..I noticed Sean Penn….but I did not give much attention to Tom Cruise in that one…..that is no longer the case…because now it is impossible not to notice Cruise. Thanks for the kind words, your visit and the comment.
Not too familiar with his career. To me he was always the old guy from Firestarter. I liked the interesting facts part. 2 Oscar nominations in his first 3 movies is pretty sweet. I have to admit I have not seen Patton. Probably need to see that one for sure. Nice job!
Hey Stein….Patton is worth a look. Many great scenes in that one for sure. I imagine you are not the only one that remember him from Firestarter. That patch on his eye was very memorable. As always thanks for stopping by.