94 thoughts on “James Stewart Movies”

1. 1 In recent exchanges we discussed how Bogie, Davis and Tracy showed disrespect for respectively Golden, Greg Peck and Jimmy Stewart and you mentioned how Jimmy aired his grievance in that respect. Well what goes around comes around as the saying is.

   2 According to the autobiography of Maureen O’Hara who worked numerous times with Duke, Hank Fonda and Jimmy separately whilst those three were invariably the stars of the films where she partnered them Hank and Duke always voluntarily took a back seat in any scene she shared with them where the script called for her to take centre stage.

   3 However she went on to say that in all their scenes together Jimmy would never give her the floor and would jump in and try to dominate selfishly what were supposed to be her moments so that she and all the other co-stars were left in no doubt as who called all the shots in a James Stewart movie. Ironically Bogie, Tracy and Jimmy probably thought of themselves as great guys to work with !

   “O wad some Pow’r the giftie gie us
   To see oursels as ithers see us!”

   4 For good measure Maureen threw in her contention that she was the first person in Hollywood to recognise [just slightly before Lensman of course] “Brando’s potential greatness” as a movie star when she saw him on stage; though she insists she was not attempting to claim that she ‘discovered’ him – Brando, not Lensman, !

   5 Who’s the modern day Maureen? O’Hara The Black Swan &The Spanish Main/Keira Knightley Pirates of the Caribbean. Swashbuckling heroines ?

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   1. Hey Bob….thanks for the comment. Interesting about Stewart and O’Hara…..I have read lots about Stewart…..and this is one of the few times I have seen anything like that….maybe he did not get along with her for some reason. Just trying to figure why Stewart would behave like that. Sad to read stuff like that…as I always like to think these legends like each other off screen too. I imagine seeing Brando on stage before he became a star was probably pretty impressive….good to know O’Hara and Steve saw the genius in Mr. Brando…lol. Interesting choice for the new Maureen….I like Keira Knightley. Speaking of POTC…I often thought Orlando Bloom was the new Errol Flynn…maybe Bloom likes Flynn too….as he named his son Flynn….after the best Robin Hood?.. thanks as always for your thoughts, visit and comment.

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      1. HI BRUCE

         1 Even our idols have other idols of whom THEY are in awe. I have mentioned how Kelsey Grammar was nervous about working with the Great DeNiro in 15 Minutes (2001).

         2 Apparently one night during his historic stage run in Streetcar Brando was told that King Gable was in the audience and Marlon said later that his confidence dipped at the prospect of the GWTW legend judging his performance. Bud also told of being tongue-tied when he accidentally found himself sitting at the same table as the Duke whom he had never before. met. Bud didn’t say whether they eventually conversed at that table.

         3 The Duke in turn was apparently worried about the prospect of co-starring with Golden in The Horse Soldiers (1959) as Wayne (wrongly in my view) did not consider himself an ‘actor’ whereas he knew that Bill excelled in that field.

         4 As it transpired he needn’t have worried because it was reported that during a very sensitive scene the Duke’s performance was so touching that the watching cast and crew burst into applause which so embarrassed Wayne that he fled the set with Golden shouting after him “Don’t you dare tell me ever again that you can’t act you big lug!” Indeed one critic whom I read contended that THE greatest performance in the 50s was Wayne in The Searchers.

         5 Steve Carell was excellent in Cafe Society but I think that Brucie too would have been fine in the role. Another Cogerson-pageless name that popped up in the movie was Paul Muni.

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         1. Hey Bob.
            1. Good stories about Grammar/DeNiro, Brando and Wayne/Gable and Wayne/Holden.
            2. I imagine all stars have somebody they greatly admired….I was recently watching the extras on Now You See Me 2….and the younger actors felt that way about Michael Caine…especially Harry Potter (Daniel Radcliffe).
            3. I would agree John Wayne’s performance in The Searchers is indeed one of he best of the entire 1950s….in one of my favorite books of all-time Danny Peary’s Alternate Oscar….he says Wayne should have gotten an Oscar nomination for The Searchers….though he put Laurence Olivier’s performance in Richard III as the one that should have won….Brynner won for The King And I ….in case you are wondering.
            4. I think it would have been cool with Bruce to be in a Woody Allen movie….but Bruce joins Michael Keaton and others that got bounced during production of the movie.
            🙂

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            1. 1 According to IMDB the Duke in turn told Richard Burton at the Oscars ceremony where John was present with the True Grit statute that for Anne of the Thousand Days Richard should have won instead of Duke. There is no doubt that whilst Wayne could at times be “hawkish” there were other occasions where he was obviously self-depreciating.

               2 Also in spite of what Mo O’Hara says about Stewart he is on record as saying that instead of his award for Philadelphia Story (1940) the Oscar for that year should have gone to Hank for Grapes of Wrath.

               3 Another star who did not have complete confidence in his own acting skills was apparently Ladd and serial co-star Bill Bendix told of how he and others among Laddie’s actor friends had to repeatedly reassure him that he was really “a very good actor.”

               4 I suppose that what all of the foregoing amounts to is that whatever image the publicists attach to a star none of them is all this or all that.

            2. Hey Bob.
               1. Mmmm….I think Burton had some great roles….but not thinking Anne of the Thousand Days was one of those great ones…so not thinking he really had a chance against Wayne and True Grit.
               2. Well according to my book Alternate Oscar…Danny Peary agrees that Fonda should have won in 1940…he actually thought Stewart’s best movie that year was The Shop Around The Corner versus The Philadelphia Story….which was a supporting role…in my mind.
               3. I think Ladd had lots of self-confidence issues….but he still left one nice footprint in movies…Shane alone guaranteed that.
               4. I agree….:)

2. James Stewart has 41 films that made 100 million on your list. In 2000 he was #344 on the Oracle of Bacon’s top 1000 Center of the Hollywood Universe list. He has fallen off the chart over the years. These are the only people on the current list who have worked with Jimmy.

   Airport ’77 (1977) – 35 Christopher Lee, 115 M. Emmet Walsh, 313 George Kennedy
   An American Tail: Fievel Goes West (1986) – 201 John Cleese, 634 Jon Lovitz
   Anatomy of a Murder (1959) – 194 Ben Gazzara
   Bandolero (1968) – 313 George Kennedy
   Dear Brigitte (1965) – 325 James Brolin, 912 Arthur Tovey
   Firecreek (1968) – 926 Bill Mckinney
   Fools’ Parade (1971) – 313 George Kennedy, 357 Kurt Russell
   How the West Was Won (1962) – see John Wayne
   Mr. Hobbs Takes a Vacation (1962) – 478 John Saxon, 912 Arthur Tovey
   Shenandoah (1965) – 313 George Kennedy
   Take Her, She’s Mine (1963) – 325 James Brolin
   The Big Sleep (1978) – 809 Robert Mitchum
   The Cheyenne Social Club (1970) – 912 Arthur Tovey
   The Far Country (1954) – 966 Kathleen Freeman
   The FBI Story (1959) – 109 Stacy Keach
   The Flight of the Phoenix (1965) – 142 Ernest Borgnine, 313 George Kennedy
   The Greatest Show on Earth (1952) – 247 Charlton Heston, 966 Kathleen Freeman
   The Magic of Lassie (1978) – 245 Mickey Rooney
   The Shootist (1976) – see John Wayne
   Winchester ’73 (1950) – 781 Shelley Winters, 897 Tony Curtis

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   1. Hey Dan…Kathleen Freeman? Not sure who that is…but she showed up 4 times on your Grant comment..and now she is on Stewart’s list. So James had a spot on the Top 1000 but lost it….maybe Kurt Russell and James Brolin who are still very very active can get him back on the list. As I wrote in another comment…I thought I had found a mistake you made….but “see John Wayne” made me wrong and not you. These have been fun lists to look at…thanks for taking the time to put it all together. Stacy Keach was in The FBI Story? Wow….his career is now closing in on 60 years!

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3. Hey Bruce.

   I just finished watching Harvey on TCM as it aired. I have not seen it in a long time. lovely film.

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   1. Harvey was possibly such a success because Jimmy had a sense of humour that suited the Harvey concept..

      I saw a personal TV interview with Jimmy once where he told amusing anecdotes about his early days in Hollywood. Apparently he was so thin, gawky and boyish-looking back then that MGM were concerned that he would not be able to display presence and maturity on the screen. So they advised him to take up body building and hang out with hookers to gain worldly experience!

      He said in the interview that he tried weight training for short time but gave it up, telling the studio that he thought it a “mindless” activity. Now Jimmy apparently turned down the Peter Finch role in Network because the thought that the bad language** went too far; so you can imagine where he told the studio to go regarding the hookers!

      ** A film historian jokingly observed that many modern actors don’t really need a script: “Just let them loose in the movie set with their small vocabulary of four-letter words and they’ll do fine.”

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      1. Great insight into the wonderful career of Mr. Stewart….thanks for sharing it…Robert Roy.

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   2. Hey Flora….yes indeed it is a lovely film…with a great performance from Stewart….love the final shot of the movie.

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4. Last night I watched Jimmy Stewart on SSC: Mr. Smith Goes to Washington.

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   1. Hey Flora….one of Stewart’s greatest roles for sure.

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5. 1 I was so caught up in Bruce’s new Durbin offering that i almost missed his revised James Stewart page, jam-packed with interesting updated stats.

   2 Yet when I was growing up in the 50s Jimmy was my idol. As Bruce points out he was the first major star to achieve a profits% of his films’ earnings, stars previously settling for (albeit often lucrative) salaries or flat fees. Accordingly in the fifties Jimmy was credited within the film industry of leading “The Revolt of the Robots”. [Again though Bruce has given me something new: I was aware Jimmy had a cut of Winchester 73, but never knew that the same applied to Broken Arrow.].

   3 I can still vividly remember standing in queues for Jimmy’s early-fifties westerns I never actually took to The Man from Laramie; but Bend of the River* and The Far Country and Alan Ladd’s Shane to this day remain my three all-time favourite westerns. Also every time the modest Stewart oil movie Thunder Bay appears on TV I watch it !
   * It was called Where the River Bends in my country.

   4 Bruce’s stats and other information bear out my long-held view that Jimmy enjoyed one of the half-dozen or so very greatest male careers in the classic era. Indeed not only has the AFI recognised that; but Jimmy’s contemporaries among directors and actors also acknowledged his massive status within the film industry. For example Alfred Hitchcock in a mid 50s interview opined that from his standpoint the four most ideal leads in film at that time were Cary Grant, Marlon Brando [strange choice as Hitch and he never made a movie together] Grace Kelly – and James Stewart.

   5 Also ever since John Wayne became a massive presence as America’s most popular actor Jimmy was the only star to whom the Duke ever conceded compromise first billing. In The Man Who Shot liberty Valance Jimmy’s name appeared first on all of the official advertising posters for the film as well as the trailers and published cast lists; whereas John’s name came first on the actual screen. [Bogie and Tracy in their time repeatedly refused such a compromise to appear together according to Katharine Hepburn.]

   6 On the lighter side Jimmy’s name is associated with in my view one of the most ironic anecdotes ever to come out of Hollywood. Louis B Mayer naturally would hold regular meetings at MGM to discuss casting options for planned films. At one meeting a forthcoming political film production was on the agenda and one of Mayer’s executives suggested the young Ronald Reagan for the role of President of the United States. LB is reported to have thumped the table and shouted “Never! Jimmy Stewart as the President, Ronnie for friend.”

   7. Whether true or not great things get written about great people, and as said Jimmy was one of the all-time greats.

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   1. Hey Bob Roy
      1. Lately when picking who to update…I have been looking at the table on my $100 million dollar movie page….and I have been picking those people that are high on the career box office total column….Mr. Stewart was sitting pretty before the update and after the update.
      2. I think Stewart and Cary Grant are the two main actors that helped end the studio system….first with Grant have success as a free agent in the late 1930s and 1940s….and then Stewart pretty much becoming a business partner of the studio…versus hired help.
      3. Very cool memories of waiting to see the Stewart westerns…..thanks for sharing.
      4. That is a very good group of 4….though I must admit that I am not a huge Brando fan at all…the other three are awesome.
      5. Interesting about Wayne and Stewart and billing…..I had not noticed that….I would think Stewart’s massive acting career and heroic military duty would make Wayne easily let Stewart have the edge with billing. Tracy and Clark Gable stopped making movies together over top billing issues…which was a shame.
      6. I like the story about LBJ, Stewart and Reagan….classic. Thanks for sharing that one….I had never heard that before.
      7. I agree with your last comment 100%…..thanks for checking out our latest update.

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      1. BRUCE

         1 Thanks for the info about Cary’s role in breaking down the studio system. Never knew that before.

         2 Whilst today money seems more important than precise billing, in the Golden Era of Hollywood the VERY Big Beasts would never willingly take second billing.* In my recollection Stewart/Wayne is the only example of even compromise billing being voluntarily entered into by two giant stars of the classic era. Crawford/Gable had a similar arrangement for Strange Cargo, (1940) but that was able to be imposed by L B Mayer as he had them both under contract. Sinatra ceded first billing to Rita Hayworth in Pal Joey and to Tracy in The Devil at Four O’Clock; but Frank’s legend lies more in his singing than his acting good though that is.
         *Leaving aside of course ensemble movies like How the West Was Won, where billing was alphabetical.

         3 Indeed even the Liberty Valance compromise may not have happened if John Ford had not been the director, wanted both the Duke and Jimmy, and as we know had great influence over certainly the former. Incidentally that film was apparently shot in black and white because Ford considered his two stars actually a bit too old for their parts and felt that colour
         was more likely to give the game away.

         4 Tracy, all time great though he was, seems to have been a cantankerous individual who was always getting into billing controversies. An interviewer once pointed out that he had made (up to that time) 7 films with Katie Hepburn but had never once let her have first billing. Tracy replied “So?”. The interviewer lamely spluttered “Ladies first you know.” Tracy growled back “Those were movies chowder head: not lifeboats.”

         5. Brando does seem to polarise opinions. When Time magazine published its list of the 100 greatest people of the 20th century Brando was the only DRAMATIC ACTOR on it. Indeed all told the list contained only four film stars: Monroe, an ACTRESS; Chaplin as a comedian/producer/director; and Sinatra as a singer. Variety’s list of the 10 greatest entertainers of the last century, topped by the Beatles also included Marlon. I think that Bogie was the only other dramatic actor on it. Certainly there weren’t many.

         6. Jack Nicholson observed of Brando: “He gave us our freedom.” Gene Hackman said he played Lex Luthor in Superman (1978) because he thought it was the only chance he would get to be in a Brando film (though they shared no scenes). Martin Scorsese opined “Brando is the marker. There’s before Brando and after Brando. That’s it”

         7 If you go into U Tube you will see that Barbara Streisand was such a great Marlon Brando admirer that she has superimposed herself alongside a clip of him from Guys and Dolls to create the impression of them singing a duet together. Jean Simmons and Jane Fonda, who co-starred with him, said they were in awe of him on the set. Bogie once remarked “That guy will be still acting when the rest of us are peeling potatoes!” Olivier called him an acting “genius” Deborah Kerr claimed that he was the only other performer to whom she had ever written a fan letter (apparently when he was on the set of Sayonara). Cary Grant who in initially criticised Brando later recanted and became an admirer. Before hitting the movie big time Russell Crowe sang and marketed a pop song called something like I wish I were like Marlon Brando

         8 However YOU have your own soul mates. For example Cagney when asked by an interviewer what he thought of Brando replied “Have never seen one of his films. Don’t intend to.” Spencer Tracy made The Mountain around the mid-fifties with Robert Wagner and Brando’s then wife Anna Kashfi. Between the shooting of scenes a general discussion about acting occurred on an occasion and Anna opined that people with the greatest IQs would probably make the best actors. Cantankerous old Spence is reported to have retorted: “Acting doesn’t necessarily require intelligence. Look at your husband!” Truman Capote is supposed to have referred to “Montgomery Clift, who sees himself as dull, but is actually very smart; and Marlon Brando, who thinks himself very intelligent but is actually stupid”.

         9 As Patrick Swayze said in Road House (when someone told him that he didn’t seem a very impressive tough-guy bouncer): “Opinions differ.” The wonderful thing is that with with the wealth of information available on today’s internet one can always find enough ammunition to support one’s own viewpoint. That wasn’t of course the case when the classical Greats roamed the earth.

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         1. Hey Bob Roy.
            1. I imagine when the big stars of the day (Gable, Tracy, Powers) saw Grant’s ability to go to the studio with best movie…and Stewart’s ability to make more money……they no longer had any interest in being bond to a long term contract with one studio anymore. I can imagine the big studio heads having meetings as they tried to keep control….as it was slipping through their fingers.
            2. I think….since the Big Beasts were tied up with long term contacts….”billing” was one of the main things they could use as leverage…..seems McQueen lost out on many great roles (Butch Cassidy and Sundance Kid comes to mind) due to issues with billing.
            3. In many ways Liberty was the final great movie for all three of them….sorry I do not include True Grit as one of Wayne’s great movies….though the Magic of Lassie is up there for Stewart….lol.
            4. Funny quote Tracy.
            5. & 6. Brando was huge…especially when he owned the entire 1950s….I can see why he was so popular….but many times I have found his movies to be a long, hard process to finish….granted there are some exceptions….like The Godfather. Hackman’s reasoning for appearing in Superman sounds like a good reason to me. Bruce Willis did Nobody’s Fool just for the chance to work with Paul Newman.
            7. & 8. Great quotes on the star’s on Brando…I might include some of those on my Brando page….actually using more “quotes” on the pages might be a good idea too.
            9. Good point. Thanks for another great comment….I really enjoy reading your comments.

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            1. Bruce:

               1 Agree with you about True Grit. In fact I thought the Duke gave far better performances in Red River, Liberty Valance and the Searchers. His work in the latter film was I thought one of the great performances of the 50s, albeit possibly underrated at the time.

               2 However Trevor Howard seemed to think that the likes of the Duke should not be judged primarily by acting. Trevor appeared to suggest in an interview that Wayne etc were great STARS and that their main function was to provide a massive screen presence. The Duke certainly did that. Robert Mitchum’s brother was on the set of El Dorado and he watched the shooting of a scene where the Duke and Bob walked down the street together. He said “I felt that three men, and not two, were coming towards me!”

               3 For some reason McQueen had an obsession with getting billed above Newman; and Paul would not wear that for Butch/Sundance. They reached a compromise
               on their billing for Towering Inferno; but as soon as the agreement was signed McQueen apparently wrote to all in sundry claiming that he had got the better part of the compromise. Not really a nice person; but it’s a pity that he died so prematurely.

               4. Agree with you too about some of Brando’s films being ‘dry goods’. However in a kind of a way that fact again highlights his star power: it is easy to get a string of hits out of for example ‘feel-good’ films; but I think that only a popular star could bring home the bacon with some of the broody, ponderous films that MB made.

               5 Incidentally regarding Newman again, one of his biographers claims that Brando was offered a part in every movie over which Paul had production control, including Butch/Sundance. If Marlon had accepted the offer Paul was apparently prepared
               to play Sundance, and let MB do Butch and have first billing. Things had certainly changed in 1968/69 since the Classic Era. Spence wouldn’t have made that offer to anyone !

            2. Hey Robert Roy
               1. The reason people mention True Grit is because of the Oscar win….but to me it was a career win like Newman got for The Color of Money and Pacino got for Scent Of A Woman….when you list these actor’s greatest roles….it takes awhile before you mention their “Oscar winning movie”. I actually think Leo’s Oscar for The Revenant is in the same category….but time will tell on that one.
               2. Good stories from Howard and Mitchum’s brother…I can easily imagine thinking that way watching those two screen giants together.
               3. I like Steve McQueen….my dad had a great Steve McQueen story….just got an idea….for a new page….sharing my dad’s McQueen story for Father’s Day….sorry got side tracked…but I do not think McQueen was a very nice guy off screen….so I agree with you 100%.
               4. Brando owned the entire 1950s…..not thinking anybody has owned a decade like he did….so I agree his star power brought home “the bacon” for sure.
               5. I need to update my Newman page very soon….I can see lots of people willing to work with Brando….it is not too often people get to work with a legend.

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