Want to know the best Jack Lemmon movies? How about the worst Jack Lemmon movies? Curious about Jack Lemmon’s box office grosses or which Jack Lemmon movie picked up the most Oscar® nominations? Need to know which Jack Lemmon 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.
John Uhler “Jack” Lemmon III (February 8, 1925 – June 27, 2001) was a two Academy Award® winning actor. Lemmon’s film debut was a uncredited bit part in the 1949 film The Lady Takes a Sailor but he was not noticed until his official debut in 1954’s It Should Happen To You.
Over the next 45 years, Lemmon would appear in numerous classic movies. Movies like Mister Roberts, Some Like It Hot, The Apartment, Day of Wine and Roses, The Great Race and The China Syndrome. Jack Lemmon received 8 Oscar® nominations for acting in his career.
He won twice, once as Best Supporting Actor in 1955’s Mister Roberts and once as Best Actor for 1973’s Save The Tiger. Lemmon also received an incredible 16 Golden Globe® nominations for his movie roles. So basically for every three movies Lemmon made, he would receive one nomination…..not a bad ratio.
His IMDb page shows 96 acting credits from 1949-2000. This page will rank 53 Jack Lemmon movies from Best to Worst in six different sortable columns of information. Television shows, shorts, cameos and bit parts were not included in the rankings.
Jack Lemmon Movies Ranked In Chronological Order With Ultimate Movie Rankings Score (1 to 5 UMR Tickets) *Best combo of box office, reviews and awards.
Year
Movie (Year)
Rating
S
Year Movie (Year) Rating S
1960
The Apartment (1960)
AA Best Picture Win
AA Best Actor Nom
1959
Some Like It Hot (1959)
AA Best Actor Nom
1955
Mister Roberts (1955)
AA Best Picture Nom
AA Best Supp Actor Win
1991
JFK (1991)
AA Best Picture Nom
1963
Irma La Douce (1963)
1968
The Odd Couple (1968)
1962
Days of Wine and Roses (1962)
AA Best Actor Nom
1979
The China Syndrome (1979)
AA Best Actor Nom
1965
The Great Race (1965)
1993
Grumpy Old Men (1993)
1964
Good Neighbor Sam (1964)
1963
Under The Yum Yum Tree (1963)
1965
How To Murder Your Wife (1965)
1982
Missing (1982)
AA Best Picture Nom
AA Best Actor Nom
1974
The Front Page (1974)
1970
The Out of Towners (1970)
1958
Bell Book and Candle (1958)
1995
Grumpier Old Men (1995)
1954
It Should Happen To You (1954)
1960
The Wackiest Ship In The Army (1960)
1977
Airport '77 (1977)
1962
The Notorious Landlady (1962)
1969
The April Fools (1969)
1955
My Sister Eileen (1955)
1992
Glengarry Glen Ross (1992)
1973
Save the Tiger (1973)
AA Best Actor Win
1966
The Fortune Cookie (1966)
1954
Phffft (1954)
1957
Operation Mad Ball (1957)
1971
Kotch (1971)
1971
Kotch (1971)
1993
Short Cuts (1993)
1996
Hamlet (1996)
1955
Three For The Show (1955)
1959
It Happened To Jane (1959)
1958
Cowboy (1958)
1972
Avanti! (1972)
1956
You Can't Run Away From It (1956)
1989
Dad (1989)
1972
The War Between Men And Women (1972)
1975
The Prisoner of Second Avenue (1975)
1997
12 Angry Men (1997)
Showtime Movies
1996
My Fellow Americans (1996)
1997
Out to Sea (1997)
1980
Tribute (1980)
AA Best Actor Nom
1999
Inherit the Wind (1999)
Showtime Movies
1957
Fire Down Below (1957)
1981
Buddy Buddy (1981)
1984
Mass Appeal (1984)
1998
The Odd Couple II (1998)
1995
The Grass Harp (1995)
1986
That's Life! (1986)
1976
Alex & The Gypsy (1976)
1985
Macaroni (1985)
1967
Luv (1967)
1996
Getting Away with Murder (1996)
Jack Lemmon 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 Jack Lemmon movies by co-stars of his movies
- Sort Jack Lemmon movies by adjusted domestic box office grosses using current movie ticket cost (in millions)
- Sort Jack Lemmon movies by yearly domestic box office rank
- Sort Jack Lemmon 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 Jack Lemmon movie received.
- Sort Jack Lemmon 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.
| 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 | The Apartment (1960) AA Best Picture Win AA Best Actor Nom |
Shirley MacLaine & Fred MacMurray |
19.00 | 296.8 | 296.80 | 8 | 87 | 10 / 05 | 99.9 | |
| 2 | Some Like It Hot (1959) AA Best Actor Nom |
Tony Curtis & Marilyn Monroe |
23.20 | 417.2 | 417.20 | 5 | 93 | 06 / 01 | 99.5 | |
| 3 | Mister Roberts (1955) AA Best Picture Nom AA Best Supp Actor Win |
Henry Fonda & James Cagney |
21.40 | 444.2 | 499.60 | 4 | 88 | 03 / 01 | 99.4 | |
| 4 | JFK (1991) AA Best Picture Nom |
Kevin Costner & Tommy Lee Jones |
70.40 | 180.3 | 526.00 | 17 | 81 | 08 / 02 | 98.9 | |
| 5 | Irma La Douce (1963) | Shirley MacLaine & James Caan |
25.20 | 315.9 | 315.90 | 6 | 79 | 03 / 01 | 97.9 | |
| 6 | The Odd Couple (1968) | Walter Matthau & John Fiedler |
44.50 | 366.4 | 366.40 | 6 | 81 | 02 / 00 | 97.9 | |
| 9 | Days of Wine and Roses (1962) AA Best Actor Nom |
Lee Remick | 12.30 | 176.3 | 209.10 | 17 | 83 | 05 / 01 | 97.6 | |
| 8 | The China Syndrome (1979) AA Best Actor Nom |
Jane Fonda & Michael Douglas |
51.70 | 222.1 | 222.10 | 15 | 77 | 04 / 00 | 97.5 | |
| 7 | The Great Race (1965) | Tony Curts & Natalie Wood |
30.80 | 325.6 | 325.60 | 5 | 74 | 05 / 01 | 97.2 | |
| 11 | Grumpy Old Men (1993) | Walter Matthau & Ann-Margret |
70.20 | 182.7 | 182.70 | 14 | 65 | 00 / 00 | 92.4 | |
| 13 | Good Neighbor Sam (1964) | Edward G. Robinson | 14.10 | 162.2 | 162.20 | 13 | 68 | 00 / 00 | 91.0 | |
| 12 | Under The Yum Yum Tree (1963) | Carol Lynley & Dean Jones |
14.10 | 177.3 | 177.30 | 19 | 61 | 00 / 00 | 90.2 | |
| 15 | How To Murder Your Wife (1965) | Terry-Thomas | 15.10 | 160.0 | 160.00 | 16 | 66 | 00 / 00 | 90.0 | |
| 14 | Missing (1982) AA Best Picture Nom AA Best Actor Nom |
Sissy Spacek | 14.00 | 51.3 | 51.30 | 51 | 87 | 04 / 01 | 89.1 | |
| 14 | The Front Page (1974) | Walter Matthau & Susan Sarandon |
23.80 | 137.4 | 137.40 | 26 | 69 | 00 / 00 | 88.6 | |
| 17 | The Out of Towners (1970) | Sandy Dennis | 21.90 | 152.4 | 152.40 | 16 | 62 | 00 / 00 | 87.8 | |
| 16 | Bell Book and Candle (1958) | James Stewart & Kim Novak |
7.10 | 127.1 | 127.10 | 35 | 68 | 02 / 00 | 87.7 | |
| 19 | Grumpier Old Men (1995) | Walter Matthau & Sophia Loren |
71.50 | 177.2 | 177.20 | 20 | 53 | 00 / 00 | 87.0 | |
| 18 | It Should Happen To You (1954) | Judy Holliday & Directed by George Cukor |
4.00 | 93.7 | 93.70 | 79 | 75 | 01 / 00 | 86.3 | |
| 22 | The Wackiest Ship In The Army (1960) | Ricky Nelson | 10.30 | 160.7 | 160.70 | 20 | 54 | 00 / 00 | 85.8 | |
| 23 | Airport '77 (1977) | James Stewart & Olivia de Havilland |
40.80 | 197.1 | 197.10 | 17 | 42 | 00 / 00 | 85.6 | |
| 24 | The Notorious Landlady (1962) | Fred Astaire | 7.50 | 107.8 | 107.80 | 34 | 66 | 00 / 00 | 83.9 | |
| 25 | The April Fools (1969) | Catherine Deneuve | 14.30 | 108.5 | 108.50 | 23 | 65 | 00 / 00 | 83.5 | |
| 24 | My Sister Eileen (1955) | Janet Leigh | 5.10 | 106.6 | 106.60 | 64 | 65 | 00 / 00 | 82.8 | |
| 25 | Glengarry Glen Ross (1992) | Al Pacino & Ed Harris |
10.70 | 27.9 | 27.90 | 95 | 89 | 00 / 00 | 82.6 | |
| 26 | Save the Tiger (1973) AA Best Actor Win |
Jack Gilford | 7.10 | 43.4 | 43.40 | 49 | 80 | 03 / 01 | 82.2 | |
| 26 | The Fortune Cookie (1966) | Walter Matthau & Directed by Billy Wilder |
4.20 | 41.2 | 41.20 | 61 | 79 | 04 / 01 | 82.0 | |
| 30 | Phffft (1954) | Judy Holliday | 4.40 | 103.8 | 103.80 | 66 | 64 | 00 / 00 | 81.9 | |
| 31 | Operation Mad Ball (1957) | Mickey Rooney & Ernie Kovacs |
5.30 | 101.7 | 101.70 | 43 | 64 | 00 / 00 | 81.8 | |
| 32 | Kotch (1971) | Walter Matthau | 10.90 | 71.3 | 71.30 | 34 | 67 | 04 / 00 | 79.8 | |
| 29 | Kotch (1971) | Jack Lemmon & Deborah Winters |
10.90 | 71.3 | 71.30 | 34 | 67 | 04 / 00 | 79.8 | |
| 32 | Short Cuts (1993) | Robert Downey Jr. & Julianne Mooe |
6.10 | 15.9 | 15.90 | 132 | 87 | 01 / 00 | 79.3 | |
| 33 | Hamlet (1996) | Robin Williams & Charlton Heston |
4.70 | 11.5 | 41.10 | 153 | 83 | 04 / 00 | 77.8 | |
| 34 | Three For The Show (1955) | Betty Grable | 3.60 | 74.0 | 74.00 | 90 | 65 | 00 / 00 | 76.0 | |
| 35 | It Happened To Jane (1959) | Doris Day | 4.90 | 87.3 | 87.30 | 51 | 60 | 00 / 00 | 75.4 | |
| 36 | Cowboy (1958) | Glenn Ford | 3.60 | 63.9 | 63.90 | 62 | 64 | 01 / 00 | 72.9 | |
| 36 | Avanti! (1972) | Juliet Mills | 4.50 | 28.8 | 28.80 | 69 | 74 | 00 / 00 | 71.3 | |
| 38 | You Can't Run Away From It (1956) | June Allyson | 4.30 | 84.0 | 84.00 | 69 | 57 | 00 / 00 | 71.2 | |
| 38 | Dad (1989) | Ted Danson & Ethan Hawke |
22.10 | 60.0 | 74.70 | 46 | 60 | 01 / 00 | 66.4 | |
| 40 | The War Between Men And Women (1972) | Barbara Harris & Jason Robards |
12.10 | 76.9 | 76.90 | 30 | 54 | 00 / 00 | 64.7 | |
| 40 | The Prisoner of Second Avenue (1975) | Anne Bancroft | 7.30 | 38.2 | 38.20 | 54 | 66 | 00 / 00 | 64.1 | |
| 41 | 12 Angry Men (1997) Showtime Movies |
George C. Scott | 0.00 | 0.1 | 0.10 | 334 | 76 | 00 / 00 | 62.0 | |
| 45 | My Fellow Americans (1996) | James Garner & Dan Aykroyd |
22.30 | 54.4 | 54.40 | 70 | 59 | 00 / 00 | 61.3 | |
| 46 | Out to Sea (1997) | Walter Matthau | 29.00 | 68.2 | 68.20 | 71 | 54 | 00 / 00 | 60.9 | |
| 44 | Tribute (1980) AA Best Actor Nom |
Robby Benson | 9.00 | 37.3 | 37.30 | 79 | 63 | 01 / 00 | 60.6 | |
| 46 | Inherit the Wind (1999) Showtime Movies |
George C. Scott | 0.00 | 0.1 | 0.10 | 356 | 74 | 00 / 00 | 58.7 | |
| 48 | Fire Down Below (1957) | Robert Mitchum & Rita Hayworth |
5.90 | 112.8 | 112.80 | 41 | 38 | 00 / 00 | 57.2 | |
| 47 | Buddy Buddy (1981) | Walter Matthau & Directed by Billy Wilder |
7.30 | 28.1 | 28.10 | 84 | 64 | 00 / 00 | 56.7 | |
| 49 | Mass Appeal (1984) | Charles Durning | 1.90 | 6.2 | 6.20 | 140 | 66 | 00 / 00 | 47.3 | |
| 50 | The Odd Couple II (1998) | Walter Matthau | 18.90 | 43.5 | 43.50 | 86 | 53 | 00 / 00 | 43.9 | |
| 51 | The Grass Harp (1995) | Walter Matthau & Sissy Spacek |
0.60 | 1.4 | 1.40 | 203 | 64 | 00 / 00 | 39.7 | |
| 52 | That's Life! (1986) | Julie Andrews | 4.10 | 11.9 | 11.90 | 117 | 57 | 01 / 00 | 32.0 | |
| 54 | Alex & The Gypsy (1976) | James Woods & Geneviève Bujold |
3.30 | 16.9 | 16.90 | 97 | 56 | 00 / 00 | 31.5 | |
| 52 | Macaroni (1985) | Marcello Mastroianni | 0.90 | 2.7 | 2.70 | 155 | 60 | 00 / 00 | 31.5 | |
| 55 | Luv (1967) | Peter Falk | 2.30 | 20.5 | 20.50 | 89 | 53 | 00 / 00 | 28.1 | |
| 56 | Getting Away with Murder (1996) | Dan Aykroyd | 0.20 | 0.5 | 0.50 | 241 | 33 | 00 / 00 | 1.4 |
Possibly Interesting Facts About Jack Lemmon.
1. Jack Lemmon was born in an elevator.
2. His father was the president of a doughnut company.
2. Jack Lemmon graduated from Harvard University in 1947.
3. Lemmon taught himself to play the piano. He appears in numerous movies playing the piano.
4. Lemmon appeared in 7 movies directed by Billy Wilder. From 1959’s Some Like It Hot to 1991’s Buddy Buddy.
5. Lemmon made 12 movies with Walter Matthau. From 1965’s The Fortune Cookie to 1998’s The Odd Couple II. To see all 12 movies….just type in Walter in the search box…and they will all pop up.
6. Other roles Lemmon turned down over the years: Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolfe? , All That Jazz, Never So Few, Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid and The Hustler.
7. Lemmon was married twice. His son Chris Lemmon, was his first child by his first wife, actress Cynthia Stone. His second wife was the actress Felicia Farr, with whom he had a daughter, Courtney and a step daughter Denise.
8. Lemmon directed one film in his lifetime…1971’s Kotch. Kotch starred his friend Walter Matthau, and earned Matthau an Oscar® nomination for Best Actor.
9. Lemmon passed away about one year after Matthua passed away. His gravestone simply reads “JACK LEMMON in”
10. Check out Jack Lemmon‘s career compared to current and classic actors. Most 100 Million Dollar Movies of All-Time.
If you do a comment….please ignore the email address and website section.
I wonder why today’s crop has no greats like Lemmon and Matthau?
Hey WillStarr….I wonder in time how will rank with Lemmon and Matthau….currently the only actors that seem to like each other enough to keep working with each other are Ben Stiller and Owen Wilson…and I do not think they are nearly in the same class as Matthau and Lemmon…thanks for commenting on my movie page.
gain a great page. Jack Lemmon was a great actor (so was Walter Matthau)
Thanks for stopping by gunnarsrud17….yep Jack Lemmon was a great actor…..I was surprised hoe successful and long his career was….he never really had a bad run of movies from 1954 to 2000…that is impressive….I would put him and Gregory Peck in the same category….and I agree Matthau is also a great actor.
I came by your pages to back track and read about James Garner. Lemmon is a long time favorite of mine. You supplied some interesting unknown facts. Especially the parts he turned down. Thanks for such a nice review.
Hey mckbirdbks…thanks for stopping by and checking out my Jack Lemmon hub. I am glad you like my “possibly interesting facts”…when researching these hubs….I write down the things I read about that I think are different and unknown…..here is another one for you….Oliver Stone went to Charlie Sheen and said we have two people who can play your dad in Wall Street….Jack Lemmon or Martin Sheen….for some reason Charlie picked Martin…lol.
Hi Cogerson-you need to reword #10 of interesting facts as you say “James Garner is the 64th actor/actress…’ should be “Jack lemmon is…”
Well, like Garner I’ve seen a number of Lemmon’s films made after I was born.
Regarding the top ten box office: I’ve seen 8 of them. Of the top 10 critics choices I’ve seen seven of them. The ones I *haven’t* seen yet of these two lists are Irma La Duce (will see), JFK (don’t want to), Missing (undecided if I will), Short Cuts (I’ve not heard of), and Hamlet (I prefer stage versions and Olivier, so probably not).
Of the movie score list: I’ve seen 7 of the top 10 and 14 of the top 20.
I have seen 5 movies made since I was born.
Overall, I have seen 26 of Jack’s films or exactly 50% of his movie career. In terms of his career before I was born, I have seen 21 of his films before I was born of 31 total: That is 68% of the Jack Lemmon films I’ve seen. That is 2% less than the percentage of Garner films of *his* career I’ve seen before I was born. Thus, i have seen more of Garner’s recent films than of Lemmon’s recent films.
The 3 movies that I have seen the most often (and thus, presumably my favourites), are in alphabetical order:
The Odd Couple
Mr. Roberts
Some like It Hot (my ultimate favourite but I can’t decide an order for the other two)
Others I try to watch at least once a year in alphabetical order are:
Bell Book and Candle
The Front Page
Grumpy Old Men
The Wackiest ship in the Army
Five Excellent Films that I Admire but are difficult to watch in alphabetical order, with comments:
The Apartment (I’m tense throughout)
The China Syndrome (too realistic for me)
Days of Wine and Roses (very sad; painful subject matter; gorgeous theme song)
Glengarry Glen Ross (lots of swearing; tense)
The Prisoner of Second Avenue (very depressing situation)
Lemmon/Matthau films I’ve seen, in alphabetical order, including those I’ve mentioned already)
The Odd Couple
The Fortune Cookie
The Front Page
The Grass Harp
Grumpy Old Men
Grumpier Old Men
Out to Sea
Jack Lemmon was a wonderful, classy actor.
Hey Flora…thanks for catching that….ah the joys of copy and paste…it makes you lazy….but it has been corrected.
I have seen both Top Ten lists 100%….Short Cuts is an excellent movie…probably the late great Robert Altman’s last great movie…Lemmon has a small part…as does everybody else in the movie….but a part I think about many times…although if you see the movie…believe it or not…Lyle Lovett the singer steals the show as an angry banker.
I would highly recommend Irma La Doche…one of the biggest hits of the 1960s…and look for a very young James Caan in a bit part…about 10 years before he became famous.
Overall I have seen 21 of his 52 movies…so you have me there….I have My Fellow Americans(with Garner)..sitting on my DVD shelf….and have yet to watch it.
As for your top 3….great movies….my favorite would be Mister Roberts…then The Odd Couple….I think Good Neighbor Sam would be my third favorite…bumping Some Like It Hot out of the medals.
And finally I agree 100% Jack Lemmon was a great classy actor….and an actor that I grew up with….it is sad that his time has passed….as always thanks for the great comment.
As A Kid On A Boring Saturday Afternoon I Fondly Remember Watching Lemmon In The Wackiest Ship In The Army…I’ve never seen him in the odd couple but guess it’s rated as one of the,if not top,best comedies ever made.;)
Hey Mentalist acer…you know I have not seen The Wackiest Ship in the Army…that movie will probably be the one I watch first of all the ones I researched….everytime I do a hub I always end up with about 5 movies that make me list of movies to watch…as for The Odd Couple…it is classic…just avoid The Odd Couple II….that is more sad than funny…thanks for the stopping by.