James Caan Movies

James Caan in 1972's The Godfather
James Caan in 1972’s The Godfather

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

The other day I received a comment on my Al Pacino page talking about James Caan (1940-2022). After reading the comment it occurred to me that although James Caan was one of my favorite actors, I had yet to do a movie page on him. So this page was written to correct that horrible error I have been making for the last 10 months.

I think the first three movie stars I became aware of as a kid were, John Wayne, Michael Caine and James Caan. Four Caan movies from the 1970s really caught my attention as a kid…..Brian’s Song (one of the best television movies ever), The Godfather (I was not allowed to watch it….but all kids knew about the toll booth scene), Rollerball (I never really understood the movie as a kid, but it was a superbcool movie), and Freebie and the Bean (it seems this movie played on ABC’s Sunday night at the movies every 6 months).

As I got older I tried to watch as many of his movies that I could get my hands on….so far I have seen 45 of his movies. My favorite James Caan movies (not already mentioned) are A Bridge Too Far, Kiss Me Goodbye, Bottle Rocket and The Gambler (not the Kenny Rogers TV movie).

His IMDb page shows over 137 acting credits since 1961. This page will rank James Caan movies from Best to Worst in five different sortable columns of information.  Television appearances, shorts, cameos and straight to DVD movies were not included in the rankings.

James Caan and Barbra Streisand in 1975's Funny Lady
James Caan and Barbra Streisand in 1975’s Funny Lady

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

James Caan 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 by James Caan’s co-stars of his movies.
  • Sort James Caan movies by adjusted domestic box office grosses using current movie ticket cost.
  • Sort James Caan movies by yearly box office rank
  • Sort James Caan movies how they were received by critics and audiences.  60% rating or highis should indicate a good movie.
  • Sort by how many Oscar® nominations and how many Oscar® wins each James Caan movie received.
  • Sort James Caan 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.
James Caan in 1990's Misery
James Caan in 1990’s Misery

Possibly Interesting Facts About James Caan

1. 1971’s Brian’s Song was originally a made for television movie, but was such a popular hit on television that the producers actually released Brian’s Song to theaters…..it did perform well when people had to pay to watch the movie. James Caan received an Emmy® nomination for his role.

2. James Caan played football at Michigan State University back in 1956 before transferring to Hofstra University. Caan was also a rodeo performer for many years and has a black belt in karate.

3. During his long career, James Caan has only received one Oscar® nomination (The Godfather) but he has helped numerous actresses receive Oscar® nominations…Marsha Mason in 1973’s Cinderella Liberty and 1980’s Chapter Two, Bette Midler in 1991’s For The Boys, and Kathy Bates in her Oscar® winning performance in 1990’s Misery.

4. James Caan has received more love from the Golden Globe® people as he has received 4 Golden Globe® nominations. Those four movies are 1965’s The Glory Guys, 1972’s The Godfather, 1974’s The Gambler, and 1975’s Funny Lady …he has yet to win one.

5. James Caan has directed one movie in his career….1980’s Hide in Plain Sight…a forgotten gem of a movie that is based on a true story. In the movie Caan’s children go into the Witness Protection with their mom and stepfather….leaving the real father with no way to see or contact his children.

6. James Caan has been married four times. Those four marriages have given Caan a daughter named Tara, and four sons named Scott, Alexander, James, and Jacob. Caan is currently not married. His son Scott Caan is also an actor, he can be seen on the CBS show Hawaii Five-O as well as the Oceans Eleven trilogy.

7. During one of his divorces, James Caan moved into one of his good friend’s house….that friend was Hugh Hefner and the house was the Playboy Mansion.

8. James Caan has turned down some very famous roles….some of these roles include….Blade Runner, Close Encounters of the Third Kind, Kramer vs Kramer, MASH, Star Wars, Superman, and One Flew Over The Cuckoo’s Nest.

9. From 1982 to 1987 James Caan briefly retired from the movie business, during this time frame he coached a Little League baseball team, there was one incident where his team’s weakest player hit a home run that won a game. Caan claims this is one of the greatest moments of his life.

10. Check out James Caan’s career compared to current and classic actors.  Most 100 Million Dollar Movies of All-Time.

Academy Award® and Oscar® are the registered trademarks of the Academy of Motion Arts and Sciences.
Golden Globes® are the registered trademark and service mark of the Hollywood Foreign Press.
Emmy® is a registered trademark.
Academy Award® and Oscar® are the registered trademarks of the Academy of Motion Arts and Sciences. Golden Globes® are the registered trademark and service mark of the Hollywood Foreign Press.

If you do a comment….please ignore the email address and website section.

(Visited 1 times)

73 thoughts on “James Caan Movies”

  2. Such sad news! Nice tribute to his long career. He was an extraordinary actor. He will be missed

    Reply

  3. R.I.P to a legend. I loved basically all his performances. Freebie and the Bean, Honeymoon in Vegas and The Dark Backward are good comedies, if you want to stay away from his dramas today. So R.I.P James you’ll be missed

    Reply

    1. Hey Tyler….that is a great list of comedies from James Caan….I would also put Kiss Me Goodbye on that list. I was talking about Freebie and the Bean last night with my wife. I remember the car crashing into the apartment very well. We (the wife and I) almost watched Honeymoon in Vegas last night. And then…we have The Dark Backward. Somewhat surprised that movie got mentioned, as it is one of the strangest movies ever made…but Caan is pretty funny as Judd Nelson’s doctor. I can picture him putting that band-aid on Nelson’s back…lol. Great comment. RIP Mr. James Caan.

      Reply

  4. Sad news. James Caan has died at the age of 82. I have seen 9 of his movies including Elf and Silent Movie – my favourites. Rest in peace

    Reply

    1. In the lead-in to one obituary James Caan is referred to as “The Godfather Actor”. It is true that whilst his later career didn’t live-up to the spin-off glory from Godpop that Al Pacino for example achieved [and of course the film marked a return to former glory for Brando] nevertheless Jimmy will always be remembered as Sonny in The Godfather.

      My own two fave Caan scenes in that movie are the “dustbin lid” fight scene and the scene in which he is butchered with a hail of bullets. I read that initially Caan was down for the role of Michael and “Little Al” Pacino was to be Sonny. I don’t think that would have worked.

      He and Brando became great friends during the making of the film and two particular aspects of their relationship Jimmy recounted in a later interview:

      1/His first encounter with Marlon was when they passed each other going in opposite directions in taxies in crowded traffic. Each immediately spotted the other and Marlon stood up and mooned at Jimmy who mooned back as the cab sped on. Pacino said in an alternative subsequent interview that the same pair did a lot of mooning at each other on the set but claimed that he, Al, never took part as he thought it “childish”

      2/Both being “party animals” Brando and Caan regularly went out nightclubbing together and Jimmy said that Marlon’s party-piece was to jump up and perform the dance that he did with Jean Simmons in the Havana scene in Guys and Dolls [ the hit movie that Joel Hirschhorn claimed Brando turned into a flop!].

      In the interview that I mentioned Jimmy claimed that his later career did not go as well as he had hoped because he refused to “kiss ***” but instead had often engaged in heated confrontation with the big guns in Hollywood – “the suits” as he called them. A great pity and indeed waste. Nonetheless RIP “Godson.

      Reply

      1. Hey Bob….thanks for the comment. I am truly sad that Caan passed away. I first noticed him when he played the kid in El Dorado…..and then I connected him to The Godfather. This was of course in the mid to late 1970s when I made those connections. Rest in Peace Mr. Caan.

        Reply

    2. Hey Flora…I have seen 55 of his movies…so call me a fan. My favorite Caan movies would be Misery, The Godfather, Bottle Rocket, A Bridge Too Far, Thief (my brother’s favorite of all-time) and El Dorado. My kids saw a photo of him and immediately mentioned Elf. Rest in Peace.

      Reply

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.