18 thoughts on “Joe E. Brown Movies”

1. I saw 4. 10s and favorites: some like it hot and its a mad, mad, mad world (a sentimental over rating for personal reasons, I saw it on the big screen with my grandfather in the days when you wore a coat and tie to the movies). no hidden gems.

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2. Did you know that Joe’s son, Joe E. Brown Jr. was the general manager of the Pittsburgh Pirates from 1955 to 1976, he built the 1960 and 1971 championship teams.

   Pops never was on the Oracle of Bacon top 1000 Center of the Hollywood Universe list. There are people on the current list he has worked with;

   18 JOHN GIELGUD Around the World in Eighty Days (1956)
   28 TREVOR HOWARD Around the World in Eighty Days (1956)
   48 JOHN CARRADINE Around the World in Eighty Days (1956)
   109 DAVID NIVEN Around the World in Eighty Days (1956)
   112 SHIRLEY MACLAINE Around the World in Eighty Days (1956)
   120 JOHN MILLS Around the World in Eighty Days (1956)
   142 MARC LAWRENCE Beware Spooks! (1939)
   155 ROBERT MORLEY Around the World in Eighty Days (1956)
   172 MICKEY ROONEY A Midsummer Night’s Dream (1935)
   172 MICKEY ROONEY It’s a Mad Mad Mad Mad World (1963)
   205 PETER FALK It’s a Mad Mad Mad Mad World (1963)
   242 AVA GARDNER Show Boat (1951)
   391 LLOYD BRIDGES Shut My Big Mouth (1942)
   391 LLOYD BRIDGES The Daring Young Man (1942)
   469 VINCENT PRICE The Comedy of Terrors (1963)
   474 TONY CURTIS Some Like It Hot (1959)
   487 MARCEL DALIO Pin Up Girl (1944)
   502 JACK LEMMON Some Like It Hot (1959)
   511 TERRY-THOMAS It’s a Mad Mad Mad Mad World (1963)
   512 KEYE LUKE Around the World in Eighty Days (1956)
   672 WALTER PIDGEON Going Wild (1930)
   687 FRANK SINATRA Around the World in Eighty Days (1956)
   708 JOHN DEHNER Hollywood Canteen (1944)
   759 NEHEMIAH PERSOFF Some Like It Hot (1959)
   784 CESAR ROMERO Around the World in Eighty Days (1956)
   801 BETTE DAVIS Hollywood Canteen (1944)
   805 CHARLES LANE Beware Spooks! (1939)
   805 CHARLES LANE Fit for a King (1937)
   805 CHARLES LANE It’s a Mad Mad Mad Mad World (1963)
   854 PAT O’BRIEN Some Like It Hot (1959)
   857 JOHN CRAWFORD Show Boat (1951)
   966 JIM BACKUS It’s a Mad Mad Mad Mad World (1963)
   HM (806) CHARLES BOYER Around the World in Eighty Days (1956)
   HM (937) GLYNIS JOHNS Around the World in Eighty Days (1956)

   Only Shirley Maclaine and NEHEMIAH PERSOFF are still alive.

   Joe E. worked with 19 Oscar winners.

   BETTE DAVIS Hollywood Canteen (1944)
   CHARLES COBURN Around the World in Eighty Days (1956)
   DAVID NIVEN Around the World in Eighty Days (1956)
   DOROTHY MALONE Hollywood Canteen (1944)
   FRANK SINATRA Around the World in Eighty Days (1956)
   GINGER ROGERS The Tenderfoot (1932)
   HUMPHREY BOGART Hollywood Canteen (1944)
   JACK LEMMON Some Like It Hot (1959)
   JAMES CAGNEY A Midsummer Night’s Dream (1935)
   JANE WYMAN Elmer, the Great (1933)
   JANE WYMAN Hollywood Canteen (1944)
   JANE WYMAN Wide Open Faces (1938)
   JOAN CRAWFORD Hollywood Canteen (1944)
   JOHN GIELGUD Around the World in Eighty Days (1956)
   JOHN MILLS Around the World in Eighty Days (1956)
   OLIVIA DE HAVILLAND A Midsummer Night’s Dream (1935)
   RONALD COLMAN Around the World in Eighty Days (1956)
   SHIRLEY MACLAINE Around the World in Eighty Days (1956)
   SPENCER TRACY It’s a Mad Mad Mad Mad World (1963)
   SUSAN HAYWARD $1000 a Touchdown (1939)
   VICTOR MCLAGLEN Around the World in Eighty Days (1956)

   On the Quigley Box office stars lists, Joe E. was # 11 in 1933, # 12 in 1934, # 9 in 1935, # 5 in 1936 and # 17 in 1937

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   1. Although you probably don’t know him, Dick Miller, # 489 on the December 15, 2018 Oracle of Bacon list died yesterday at 90. He was in numerous Roger Corman movies.

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      1. Hey Dan….sad news about Dick Miller….I knew he made movies with Corman….but it was his association with Joe Dante that I knew him best…..Gremlins (probably his most famous role), The Burbs (a guilty pleasure for me), and Small Soldiers. Overall, I would say The Terminator is his most famous movie….but his tiny part does not really offer too much to the movie. I did not know he passed until reading your comment. Rest in Peace Mr. Dick Miller.

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   2. Hey Dan…..very cool trivia about Joe’s son….I did not know that….but I find it really interesting. Charles Lane? is his most frequent co-star…gotta admit that is a new name on me. Around The World In 80 Days, really helped out both of his lists….especially the Oscar winning co-star list…as it accounted for almost half of the actors on the list. Jane Wyman has three movies which ties Lane for most when looking at both lists.

      As for the Quigley lists….I knew he was on there a couple of times….but I did not realize he was listed in the Top 20 five times….heck…I might have to include him in my book (we have a Top 20 box office stars by decade part in the book, and it looks like JOE might crack that Top 20)……which is finished….and ready for some final finishing touches on the cover. Good information as always.

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      1. Charles Lane was on hundreds of TV shows too. He made his first movie in 1930 and his last in 1993. He died in 2007 at 102. You’d recognize him, thin with glasses always playing bosses or IRS guys,

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3. I didn’t know Joe E. Brown had appeared in so many films, and movie titles I’ve never heard of too.

   I’ve only seen 6 of his films, they are – Around the World in 80 Days, A Midsummer Night’s Dream, It’s a Mad, Mad, Mad, Mad, Mad, Mad, Mad World, Show Boat, The Comedy of Terrors and my favorite of the bunch – Some Like it Hot.

   Joe of course has one of the greatest last lines in film history in Some Like it Hot, and is hilarious as the ‘dirty old man’ smitten with Jack Lemmon’s Daphne.

   Good stuff Bruce. Vote Up!

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   1. Hey Steve. He was very very productive in the 1930s. By the time the 1950s arrived, his production had really slowed down. I think I am missing almost 10 movies here…..almost every single Republic Pictures from the 1940s, and some of his early movies did not make the rankings. So I think his final movie tally would be real close to 50.

      My four Brown movies are in the 6 you have seen. I have not seen A Midsummer Night’s Dream…..as for Comedy of Terrors….I might have seen it…..but I get confused with all the Price horror flicks of the 1960s…so I did not include it in my tally.

      I agree with you about Brown’s final line in Some Like It Hot….a classic scene….and a classic movie line. As always, thanks for sharing your movie thoughts….it is greatly appreciated.

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4. Ironically, I was just re-watching Showboat last night. For some reason, neither it nor the earlier version of that musical is part of the database on Letterboxd. It would not let me log that film. There is some way to add it to the database if you pay for a higher package rather than free basic, I guess.

   Anyway, I have seen 7 Joe E. Brown movies, and they are the top 7 films.

   Favourite Brown movies:

   Around the World in 80 Days
   Showboat
   Some Like It Hot
   It’s a Mad, Mad, Mad, Mad World

   The Remaining top 7 Films I Have Seen in Order of Preference:

   Hollywood Canteen
   Pin-Up Girl
   A Midsummer Night’s Dream

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   1. Hi Flora, have you tried typing in ‘Show Boat’ as two words in the Letterboxd search box? I think it’s two words on the poster too.

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      1. I did just now Steve and it did indeed show up. Thanks for the help. I could not figure out why it wasn’t there. 🙂

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         1. Hey Flora…I was thinking…..did (1) I forget to review Show Boat when I watched it? or (2) Was it a spelling issue for it not showing up. The only movies, I have not seen them have…are really low budget movies that nobody has seen…..a big budget movie like Show Boat….usually seems to always be there. Glad you found the movie.

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      2. Good call Steve….you were 100% correct.

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   2. Hey Flora….Tally count….You 7, Steve 6 and me 4. Wow…..nobody in double figures. Your favorite Joe E. Brown movies are the exact 4 I have seen as well. I especially liked him in Some Like It Hot and Show Boat. Hollywood Canteen is historically an important movie…..but it sounds like a serious of skits versus an actual movie….one day I will check that movie out. Good feedback.

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5. Joe has 8 movies in the above chart that crashed the now legendary Cogerson $100 million barrier and in none of them was he the star. However 1929s On with the Show has a historical significance as it was the first ever all-talking, all-colour full-length movie.

   Joe E was never my cup of tea as I perceived his brand of humour to be not too subtle. The Master excludes him from his fabled Bible of Star Ratings but that gives us little objective clue to Joe E’s worth as a comedian because I have always suspected that Hirsch might have taken most movie things rather seriously and may have been incapable of lightening up when the occasion demanded it.

   “I cannot present your husband at court madam, because he is perceived as somewhat of a buffoon, whereas I am regarded as a serious man!” [Laurence Olivier as The Duke of Wellington speaking in the bedchamber to his mistress Lady Caroline Lamb in the 1972 film of that name.]

   However when I started watching movies in the early 50s I regarded Joe E as a long standing household name because many of his old movies like Shut my Big Mouth and Chatterbox were given reruns in Belfast out of town cinemas.

   Certainly in 27 of the 30 movies outside the $100 million block on the above table Joe E was the leading man/top billed star and usually billed alone above the title. Those 27 have an overall gross of almost $1.4 billion in the table, and they average at around $52 million. Whilst those were obviously not John McClane level grosses the films would most likely have been profitable overall because of low budgets under the mass production systems of that time.

   Accordingly regardless of what the Master and I may have thought of Brown, Joe undoubtedly deserves his Cogerson page. “V Up!”

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   1. Hey Bob…..thanks for checking out our Joe E. Brown page. Let’s see…..sorry I could not find anything on Chatterbox…..so it was left off. Republic Pictures…might be the worst to find financial information on….heck…even Paramount gets listed in the Harrison Reports. I think there are some Republic Pictures books at a library near me…the next time I am near that library…I will stop in and see if Chatterbox is in one of those books.

      I have actually not seen a single “Joe E. Brown” movie…..in that I mean, a movie he was the star. Overall, I have only seen 4 of his movies….I did not really want to include his roles in It’s A Mad Mad Mad World and Around the World in 80 Days. The other two I have seen are Show Boat and Some Like It Hot. He has my favorite part in both of those movies.

      His stand alone movies were modest hits….but like you said….their budgets made all those films very very profitable….which is why he averaged almost 3.5 movies a year in the 1930s. Basically every 3 months for 10 years a new Joe E. Brown movie popped up in theaters that decade.

      Yep….Joel avoided Joe in his book. I have noticed that unless you were a screen legend back then….they were dumped from his 410. Pretty sure Joe E. deserved to be one of those 410….but then again….it took me over a 1000 UMR pages before he finally got an UMR page.
      I guess I shouldn’t throw rocks from my glass house.

      Good stuff as always.

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      1. HI BRUCE

         Thanks for your detailed and interesting feedback

         Take care.

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         1. Hey Bob….I looked for box office grosses on Chatterbox again last night, but struck out again. But I am still efforting.

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