Want to know the best Joel Hirschhorn movies? How about the worst Joel Hirschhorn movies? Curious about Joel Hirschhorn box office grosses or which Joel Hirschhorn movie picked up the most Oscar® nominations? Need to know which Joel Hirschhorn 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.
Joel Hirschhorn (1937-2005) was a two-time Oscar® winning American singer, composer and writer. Hirschhorn’s songs sold more than 90 million records. Various artists including Elvis Presley, recorded his songs…and Hollywood is still using his work in current movies. His IMDb page shows over 80 credits from 1966-2017. This page will rank Joel Hirschhorn movies from Best to Worst in six different sortable columns of information.
Drivel Part 1: Why a Joel Hirschhorn UMR page? Well….his book….Rating the Movie Stars…is one of the most influential books on this website. Published in 1983, it is a book I have been referencing for almost 40 years. In that book, Hirschhorn, rated every movie that a movie star appeared in during their career. Sometime in 2010, for the millionth time I was looking at his book when I wondered; had he updated his ratings lately? A quick internet check provided the sad news that Mr. Hirchhorn had passed away in 2005. About a month later, I thought I could update the ratings….tunrs out those were the first baby steps of UMR.
Drivel Part 2: This page is from a request from Bob. Bob has been requesting a Joel Hirschhorn page for almost 2 years now. Constantly filling up our request page…with Hirschhorn requests….day after day. Well Bob….finally your Hirsch page is here….hope it was worth the wait…lol.
Joel Hirschhorn Movies Ranked In Chronological Order With Ultimate Movie Rankings Score (1 to 5 UMR Tickets) *Best combo of box office, reviews and awards.
Joel Hirschhorn 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 Joel Hirschhorn movies by co-stars of his movies.
- Sort Joel Hirschhorn movies by adjusted domestic box office grosses using current movie ticket cost (in millions)
- Sort Joel Hirschhorn movies by yearly domestic box office rank
- Sort Joel Hirschhorn movies how they were received by critics and audiences. 60% rating or higher should indicate a good movie.
- Sort by how many Oscar® nominations each Joel Hirschhorn movie received and how many Oscar® wins each Joel Hirschhorn movie won.
- Sort Joel Hirschhorn 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 Joel Hirschhorn Table
- Five Joel Hirschhorn movies crossed the magical $100 million domestic gross mark. That is a percentage of 22.72% of his movies listed. The Towering Inferno (1974) was his biggest box office hit when looking at adjusted domestic box office gross.
- An average Joel Hirschhorn movie grosses $91.20 million in adjusted box office gross.
- Using RottenTomatoes.com’s 60% fresh meter. 14 Joel Hirschhorn movies are rated as good movies…or 46.80% of his movies. The Ice Storm (1997) is his highest rated movie while The Fat Spy (1969) was his lowest rated movie.
- Three Joel Hirschhorn movies received at least one Oscar® nomination in any category…..or 13.63% of his movies.
- Two Joel Hirschhorn movies won at least one Oscar® in any category…..or 9.09% of his movies.
- An average Ultimate Movie Rankings (UMR) Score is 40.00. 8 Joel Hirschhorn movies scored higher than that average….or 36.36% of his movies. The Towering Inferno (1974) got the the highest UMR Score while The Fat Spy (1969) got the lowest UMR Score.
Possibly Interesting Facts About Joel Hirschhorn
1. Joel Hirschhorn was born in Bronx, New York in 1937.
2. After graduating from Manhattan’s High School of Performing Arts, he became a regular performer on New York’s nightclub circuit, both as a solo singer and as a member of the rock & roll band, The Highlighters.
3. During the mid-1960s, Hirschhorn branched out into writing film soundtracks. The results were horrible. 1969’s The Fat Spy is considered to be one of the worst movies ever made.
4. Joel Hirschhorn’s The Fat Spy (1969) is the 11th worst movie in our UMR 36,000 plus movie database.
5. Joel Hirschhorn worked with songwriting partner Al Kasha from the 1960s until the late 1990s.
6. Joel Hirschhorn (and Al Kasha) were nominated for four Oscars® and four Golden Globes®. They won Oscars® for 1972’s The Poseidon Adventure and 1974’s The Towering Inferno. They received two Oscar® nominations for 1977’s Pete’s Dragon.
7. Joel Hirschhorn and Al Kasha also worked together on Broadway musicals, receiving Tony Award® for Best Original Score nominations for both Copperfield and Seven Brides for Seven Brothers.
8. Joel Hirschhorn the book author. Besides his book RatingThe Movie Stars, Hirschhorn also wrote 2001’s The Complete Idiot’s Guide to Songwriting.
9. *Joel Hirschhorn’s Bette Davis story: “Star quality is difficult to define, but my personal definition was formed after a lunch with Bette Davis. At the time (1972), Davis was to appear in the musical “Copperfield,” which I had co-written with Al Kasha. Al and I went to the Bel Air Hotel to play the score for her. She was a petite, almost delicated woman, but there was nothing timid about her direct gaze, and authoritative speaking voice. We need a piano and the empty dining room didn’t have one, so she told a work-man, “We must have a piano immediately.” She wasn’t rude, but her firmness brooked no argument. The piano materialized in seconds. She applauded after we performed the songs, and I modestly ventured that “We had a lot of help from Dickens.” She responded, “Yes, but look what you did with him!” Her conviction made me feel we were on par with Dickens, that he was lucky to have us as collaborators! She had wit, intelligence, force, charm, vulerability – but most of all, a highly charge belief in herself, in her ability to dominate. The performer who has this belief and this assured, takeover quality can make film vehicles timeless.”
10. Check out Joel Hirschhorn’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.
*Bette Davis story comes from Hirschhorn’s Rating The Movie Stars book.
Joel shows up at about 45 seconds.
Never heard of him, but I have heard of many of his movies. Will have to keep an ear out for his music the next time I watch either of his two disaster movies.
Is there ANYBODY who has heard of this man? I am beginning to think somebody HAS made him up.
Which two movies has Tamrah already identified as disastrous?
Is Tamrah talking about Joel’s rock music when he did the night clubs?
I certainly hope Steve doesn’t play any of it to accompany his videos.j
Hey Bob….pretty sure Tamrah is referring to the upside down boat and the tall building on fire movies.
Well….you now know and will forever remember Mr. Joel Hirchhorn…you are welcome….lol.
HI BIG BOY
I’ve been scouring my diary to find out where I was or what I was doing when I first heard of Joel. Great fun though we’re having at his expense I’m sure he took himself seriously.
Hey Bob….great moments in time…..Franklin flying a kite in a storm, Bell getting his phone to work, Jolson saying “You ain’t heard nothing yet”, Armstrong steps on the moon in Kubrick’s secret movie and Bob discovers Joel Hirschhorn…lol
Hey Tamrah. Glad you know have an idea that this guy existed. I will be doing the same thing the next time I watch either Poseidon or Towering. Thanks for the comment and for coming back and checking out a new page.
HI BRUCE
1 I think that the Duke may have been spoofing Joel in that the only time in which there is any record of a meeting between Wayne and Mr Mumbles was as I mentioned before when according to the latter he was too tongue-tied to even speak to Big John. Ole Mumbles was a newcomer then and without warning suddenly found himself in the presence of one of the Good and Greats of his trade so try to imagine yourself unexpectedly sitting beside Sir Maurice or the Great Myrna at a dinner table.
2 Still “many a true word is spoken in jest” and the probably imaginary Wayne/Bud conversation did contain a few home truths. For example if Joel was the great figure in the actual production of movies that some seem to think why did the Duke not snap him up for work on The Alamo? If the Wayne/Mumbles conversation DID take place Bud was probably being sarcastic in even suggesting that the Duke would want a character like Hirsch anyway near his brain child. Worth thinking about isn’t it?
3 Anyway bottom line – I wish Stern had been right in thinking you HAD made up Joel
“Yesterday upon the stair
I saw a man who wasn’t there.
I didn’t see him there today.
I wish, I wish he’d go away.”
Hey Bob. I got a kick out of the You Tube video I attached first of all. You not only get Hirsch’s Oscar speech….but Caine hosting the Oscars and then Sonny and Cher. Then when you think about that night the Brando Oscar situation was only minutes away. Regardless of what you think of his movie rating skills….the guy got to fly with the eagles. I can not figure out which guy is Joel in the video the first winner or the second.
I wish he was still around….he might have some Wayne or Brando stories….versus our comic fake ones…lol.
BRUCE:
According to the Indian Girl who made the speech on Brando’s behalf refusing the Oscar she was terrified because in the middle of her speech The Duke tried to gatecrash the stage to drag her off and she said it took several strong security men to restrain him. If her story is true I couldn’t see after the incident the Duke and Bud having that pally chat that is recounted in the “John Wayne” post !
Hi I’m intrigued what happened to the musical and what part did you have in mind for Davis?
Hey Huw Jenkins The musical picked up some Tony nominations…but I do not thing Davis appeared in the show. If I had to guess….I am thinking it would have been one of the Claras….either Clara Copperfield or Clara Peggotty….those are just guesses.
I have been seeing the name “Joel Hirschhorn” popping up on this website lately. I actually thought you had made him up. Like Mark Twain and Samuel Clemens. So I am surprised to see that he is real. Or I guess I should say was real. Four Oscar nominations for only 22 movies is pretty awesome. His list of collaborators is also awesome. McQueen, Newman, Dunaway, Holden, Hackman, Borgnine, Foster and many others. Not to mention Elvis Presley. It looks like he had a successful life for sure. Interesting and completely new to me info.
Hey SteinHOF…..nope he is not made up. His writing partner is still alive….I have sent him a Facebook message but so far nothing in response. You are right his list of collaborators is truly impressive. Thanks for the comment and the visit.
My ratings of star’s performances in movies in which we worked together. (1 to 4 star ratings)
1. Jayne Mansfield….The Fat Spy….1 star
2. Henry Fonda…Cheyenne Social Club….3 stars
3. James Stewart…Cheyenne Social Club….3 stars
4. Gene Hackman…The Poseidon Adventure…..4 stars
5. Ernest Borgnine…The Poseidon Adventure…..3 stars
6. Shelley Winters…The Poseidon Adventure…..3 stars
7. Red Buttons…The Poseidon Adventure…..4 stars
8. Roddy McDowall…The Poseidon Adventure…..3 stars
9. Paul Newman….The Towering Inferno… 2 stars
10. Steve McQueen…The Towering Inferno……3 stars
11. William Holden…The Towering Inferno……3 stars
12. Jennifer Jones…The Towering Inferno……2 stars
13. Robert Wagner…The Towering Inferno……2 stars
14. Faye Dunaway…The Towering Inferno……2 stars
15. Fred Astaire…The Towering Inferno……4 stars
16. Richard Chamberlain…The Towering Inferno……3 stars
17. Jodie Foster….Freaky Friday….4 stars
18. Mickey Rooney….Pete’s Dragon….2 stars
19. Joseph Cotten…The Grasshopper…3 stars
20. William Holden….Earthling…3 stars
21. Art Carney….Take This Job And Shove It…2 stars
22. Jack Lemmon….The April Fools…2 stars
23. Myrna Loy….The April Fools…3 stars
24. Peter Lawford…The April Fools…1 star
25. Catherine Deneuve…The April Fools…1 star
Hey Joel….thanks for sharing your thoughts actors/actresses that appeared in movies you both worked with….I imagine that had to be somewhat difficult.
HI JOEL
1 Critics used to send me to sleep but when you came along I certainly sat up and took notice. Every April Fool’s day I watch the No 23 on your list in the 10.02 am post on this site and certainly I think that that film in particular will always remind me of you and M-s Loy.
2 There is someone called SteinHOF who’s been writing about you and thought that some guy called Cogerson had made you up but if I met Stein I would say that that Hirschhorn galoot falls into the category where as the old cliche says “You COULDN’T make it up!”
3 I mentioned you the other day to Bud Brando and he too says he’s never known the like of you. I added “And Joel seems like A Real American Bud,” And Marlon replied “I agree Duke and it’s a pity he was never at the Alamo.”
BEST WISHES from BIG JOHN
Hey John W. Thanks for the visit and the comment. Good to know he is part of your April Fools day routine. Good to know you and Marlon at least talk about him. At the Oscar show in 1973….both Marlon and Joel won Oscars….Joel showed up to get his. I love that the attached video starts with Sir Michael Caine. Good stuff.
Oh – so Joel didn’t care about the plight of some sections of his fellow citizens!