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.
HI BRUCE. It was most generous of you to go to the expense and trouble of sending me the copy of Joel’s book. It has a lot of information in it that I will work my way through but meantime here are my comments on what he says in the book about The Duke and Old Mumbles as I have found most controversial his observations about those two as conveyed to me by you
Joel in effect admits that some of his views about Marlon Brando are minority ones among critics. However when Joel states that John Wayne’s great popularity had nothing to do with his acting ability and that The Duke had a limited range Hirsch was maybe there speaking for a consensus among critics.
However some critics and historians nonetheless argue that Wayne was underrated as an actor. One historian has long contended that screen acting differs from stage acting and that the best screen acting was the naturalism of “being oneself”. Within that context the historian argued the best screen actors were the likes of Bogart, Gable, Jimmy Stewart and to some extent Wayne as opposed to “theatrically orientated” thespians like Olivier.
By a great coincidence I was listening to a movie historian on the radio who was asked for his views on what constituted great acting and he replied “The best kind of acting in my opinion is “reacting.” Ironically I clearly remember The Duke being asked in a mid-1950s interview what he thought of his own reputation as an actor and he replied “I don’t act. I react!”
Another movies historian commenting on the acting of the 1950s opined that “The greatest performance in that decade was given not by those who normally get that accolade including the newcomers but by long-standing 1930s/1940s stalwart John Wayne in The Searchers.” As my old mate Dalton says in Roadhouse 1989 “Opinions vary.” Continued in Part 2
HI BRUCE I have said before that I do not object to Joel’s artistic criticism. However I didn’t like the closing Brando statement in his book -“Marlon Brando appears to have retired——Either the Great Method Actor has run out of method or he’s made enough money.” That seems to me as an unnecessarily petty and was certainly premature in Joel’s 1983 book.
Moreover a close scrutiny of Brando’s final decades shows that Joel was mistaken at least in terms of his assessment of Marlon’s ultimate overall longevity as Brando’s 57 years on stage and screen compares favourably with and often exceeds, that of many other great stars whatever one might think of the quality of some performances.
He temporarily retired in 1981 when he was 57 but W o C’s survey showed us that the average male star declines anyway career wise in the mid-fifties of life. Brando came back in 1989 when he was 65 and made 8 films from then until his final one at the age of 77 in 2001. The first of the 8, A Dry White Season, earned him an Oscar nomination in a supporting role. Three others, Don Juan DeMarco, The Freshman and his final flick The Score won him respectable critical praise. John Travolta said in an interview that Brando’s work in the later years of his career impressed Travolta more that Brando’s performances in the latter’s films pre 1972.
Let’s examine how that stacks up with the longevity of other big stars. Bogie, Gable, Flynn, Power Laddie, Cooper for example were all gone from this world by the time they were 60. Tracy made just 5 films upon turning 60 and was gone by the time he was 67 My Jimmy upon turning 60 was sadly a shadow of what he had been and made just 8 more films largely in cameos/supporting roles such as those in Airport 77, The Shootist and The Big Sleep.
Cary Grant retired at 62 and Daniel Day Lewis had made just 6 films in the last 21 years and retired in 2017 aged 60. That’s his right. He has served well.
Hey Bob….good stats on the retirement ages. In fairness to Joel…we have the benefit of hindsight….he had to predict Brando’s future….and his last part of his career without knowing he was going to return. It is just like DDL….yes he says he is retiring…but would you be shocked if word comes out that DDL is going to make another movie? I agree WoC’s breakdown shows the advantage of older actors to older actresses. Interesting tidbit about Travolta….not sure I agree with him…but it is interesting for sure. Good feedback.
Bob, great comments. is it possible Joel was suffering from “Brando envy”? I retired from paediatrics at 54 but unretired in 24 months due to boredom. that time away reinvigorated me. I have stated before that don juan demarco got me to revisit brando’s efforts pre 1972 and I had grown enough to greatly appreciate them even if not my favorites. I got much pleasure from Brando’s un-retiring.
I understand the comments and quotes shared about the Duke. not a great actor but a great movie star who transmitted his easy/winning ways to his audience. his best acting for me was in his most challenging/out of character roles. the mysterious/tormented killer in quiet man, the hate filled relative in the Searchers, the hardened sergeant in sands of Iwo Jima, the father figure in the cowboys and red river, the backshooting man who shot liberty valance . my favourite wayne roles were his comedies: mcclintock and donovans reef . why I love Wayne and not Fonda, its just me.
The Bob, you are insightful, knowledgeable, and thought provoking as always.
I will believe day lewis is retired when they bury him. somebody will offer the right script. or he might need the adoration, the awards or the remuneration. am I correct that only Grant successfully retired early?
Hey Bob…..you are welcome….I am getting a kick out of thinking of you looking through that book with the M&M duct tape holding it together. Why am I not surprised that you went straight to John Wayne and Marlon Brando….lol. Although those two “essays” really get you fired up….I hope you will see how impressive the book’s format was…especially since it was published all the way back in 1983. Ranking all of those movies….in a clear easy to read format has always impressed me.
I like John Wayne….so I am agreeing with you about his acting style and his act versus react style….all I know is it worked. Glad you have been checking out the book. Hopefully you will find some enjoyment with the other 408 subjects in the book.
James Abbott McNeill Whistler was a great American painter who died in 1903 and he made good profits from his paintings.
On one occasion he asked for $200 dollars for a painting and in Whistler’s time that would have been worth definitely over $5 million [and maybe much more] today according to the US Bureau of Labor Stats.
The buyer apparently stiffened at the price and asked Whistler how long it had taken him to complete the painting and he answered 2 days.
BUYER “So you’re asking me for $200 dollars for a painting that it took only 2 days to paint!”
WHISTLER “No I’m asking you for $200 dollars for a lifetime’s experience!”
OTHER WHISTLER QUOTES
1/An artist is paid not for his labor but for his vision.
2/I maintain that 2 and 2 would continue to make 4 in spite of the whine of the amateur for 3 of the cry of the critic for 5.
HI BRUCE
I noticed that in one post you made a comment about my possibly “warming” to Joel so I thought I might take a little time to refute what I think is at least a part-misconception about my beef with the Great H.
1/I think Joel is a fine musical critic – maybe that’s is indeed his forte.
2/I think he was wrong on occasions in his criticism of Brando’s Your own reviews that you linked me were critical at times but more balanced than Joel’s I thought.
3/However it was Hirsch’s job to criticise acting and it would be unreasonable of me to hold against him his genuine opinions.
4/My objection to the piece that I saw was that I thought it was in part a prejudiced rant against Brando’s personal character because he demanded as much money as he could get for doing as little as possible.
Now it is perfectly reasonable I think to argue that movie stars, sportsmen, pop stars etc are grossly overpaid but why pick on Brando and scapegoat him? For example my Roger is reputed to have $350 million in the bank for hitting a tennis ball about – and what about Tom Hanks and Cameron Diaz being reportedly paid around $17 million and $12 million respectively for sitting in a studio doing Toy Story 3/Shrek Forever After voice roles?
Others joined in this scapegoating of Marlon over his Superman lolly. For example an English MP got up in The House of Commons and protested about greed in the movie industry by “outing” Brando in particular. Well the English are a funny lot so maybe this is a bad example!
Brando himself was confronted on British television about his “exorbitant” Superman 1978 fee and % for 15 minutes on screen work. I saw the interview and here is what he said “Well, who do you want to give the money to? Some rock star with bubbles coming out of his ears? It’s what you do with money that counts. I would ask everyone to give up just 1% of income to needy causes”
Brando got up at high ticket price celebrity feast and made the same plea and was booed off the stage [ You shouldn’t have been so vocal at that dinner Joel!”]
Examples of some other quotes
“We live in a capitalist society where rightly or wrongly market forces largely determine income. The people who paid Brando that Superman money did so because they thought they could make a profit out of him so best of luck to him if he demands what they think he is worth.”
[According to stats sources Brando ultimately got over $75 million out of Superman 1978 in
today’s money BUT Superman grossed over a whopping $1.1 billion in adjusted worldwide theatrical revenues according to Cogerson tables]
“Those people are sharks. How did Frankie think all of them got all that money in the first place? By helping old ladies across the road? [Jack Warden in 1982’s The Verdict. Frankie Galvin is Paul Newman]
I am stunned that this is the 66th comment on this page. Good points about Brando not being the only one getting big bucks. I think the time frame of the book’s publications has to be considered. In 1983….Brando’s huge paychecks for Superman and Apocalypse Now were still fresh in most people’s minds….and it was big news. As big a star as a Roger is in the world…not many talk about his earnings…..few people realize Adam Sandler earned over $70 million for The Longest Yard. Back then it was bigger news than today. Still….I have faith one day Joel will win you over.
HI BRUCE
Some excellent points.
Alexander Salkind one of the producers of Superman 1978 said the following when criticised about the “exorbitant” Brando Superman fee.
“It was such a risky project costing so much that we needed to lure somebody of high prestige into it. We tried to get Redford at one stage. Brando is a SUPER superstar and you don’t get too many of those. When he signed him up we were able to raise the rest of the cash for the huge budget with all the special effects, nail down advance foreign markets and prestige actors like Hackman came on board who were holding back because of doubts about the viability of the project.
We also had a hidden agenda. We knew that by paying a fee and % well above the then going rate for Brando’s screen time it would attract a lot of comment and even outrage – in other words massive free publicity for the film” [The Brando fee even got into the Guinness Book of Records at that time.]
In short The Salkind brothers got the likes of Joel to play their game on their terms. “Boy oh boy! There’s always one!” [Ed Begley 12 Angry Men]
Hey Bob…overall….the amount of money a star makes (in any field) is no longer “big news”….when Brando was a star that was big news. Your information on the making of Superman sort of backs that up. Before The Meg opened….other studios were saying it was going to huge money loser….mainly because of the $175 million budget. At no point did anybody say it was because of the $5 to $10 million Jason Statham was going to earn.
As for the Guinness Book Of Records and Brando’s entry…..back then….that was must read reading. Still…I agree 100% with you that Joel was harsh on Marlon. But as I have stated before…..when it came time to pick people for the cover of his book….Marlon got two pictures on the cover…. Joel is saying to me….Marlon was a bad actor….but popular enough that I can use him to see more books. certainly hypocritical of Joel. Good feedback.
HI BRUCE
More excellent points.
Possibly what the Joels of this world missed is that Marlon was not being paid to turn in a great performance [or to thrill Steve with his great diction!] but for his commercial worth to those who were predominately interested in profit.
Even Aunt Rosemary”s nephew George who said that “I want to be known for more than one summer’s blockbuster,” conceded that the blockbusters like the Danny Ocean films were necessary for George to get the money to make the “message” films he wanted to produce such as Good Night and Good Luck.
IMDB give that one 75% critical rating and you do even better with a whopping 87%. Goodness for YOU to give Gorgeous George an 87% the film must have been better than even I thought!
Brando may have screwed out every dollar he could get from the Salkinds but I understand that he did the “message” film A Dry White Season about apartheid in South Africa for “scale union fee” which he turned over to charity.
He is supposed to have said that his own very fave among all his films was the political “cause” movie Burn aka Queimada. I am sure that he would be pleased to know that you give both those films an excellent 75% approx.
Anyway I don’t really think there is much you and I are disagreeing about on the Joel/Brando subject and probably like that guy in Picture of Dorian Gray we have “said everything we have to say” about the matter so I’ll say no more and simply wait with excitement the chance to visit some different Joel topic. Knowing this site as I do I may not have to wait long!
Bruce, has Bob mellowed a little regarding ‘The Great Satan’ aka Joel Hirschhorn now that you’ve sent him…. The Book? 😉
Bob, I’m sure you’ll find Joel wasn’t nearly as nasty on your other favorite actors, just the two icons – The Duke… and Mumbles. [Bob bites his fist] On my movie forum members would have serious disagreements on certain movies and than pleasantly discover they have mutual respect on others, it’s never all bad.
HI STEVE I’ve long said that I didn’t object to Joel’s artistic criticism that I didn’t agree with but rather with his apparent personalised attacks particularly singling out ole Mumbles for criticism because seemingly Joel thought that Marlon was too fond of making money.
Such selective treatment I thought ignored the fact that as my recent quotations of the net worth of many stars illustrated most of them, even relatively small fry as well as some idols of The Work Horse himself, were rolling about in multi-millions.
However I now find that it is true that even with regard to his award of performance stars for movies Joel has not in some cases been as harsh as I interpreted form The Work Horse’s taunting of me in the matter so that in that sense there has now been a “mellowing” on my part.
However it could be said that the “mellowing” was underway when as I’ve also explained in a couple of posts I discovered that Joel’s critiques of opera were in tandem with my own thoughts.
I am reminded of the movie 1958’s Me and the Colonel in which if my memory is correct Danny Kaye’s Jew, Jacobowsky, accompanies Curd Jurgens’ anti-Semitic Polish Colonel on a hazardous journey through German lines. At first the Colonel naturally does not like his Jewish companion but as the latter’s resourcefulness repeatedly assists the Colonel in evading the Nazis the Colonel starts to concede “More and more I like this Jacobowsky!”
Glad you liked Bruce’s 1928 review which spotlights the cinema marketplace that year. A lot of the stats are of historic importance so that you should maybe start taking notes yourself. As politicians would tell you “It’s always nice to be in tune with history.”
Hello Mr Cogerson…I like your other pages but not this man…bad to other people and say silly things…you have no one else as critic?….that why you all the time use this man only you ask for…you self dulge yourselff? it a great pity as you good all other stuff and seem have nice family. Hope translate from me OK.
Baby
HELLO BABY
1 I hope that doesn’t sound like I’m trying to hit on you but I don’t know your real name and anyway I can’t be sure of your gender though the Million Dollar Baby in Clint Eastwood’s film of that name was of course a woman played by Hilary Swank.
2 Anyway I am very fond of quoting on this site Charles Bickford’s words to Charlton Heston in the Big Country when Bickford thinks that Heston is going to desert him in the range battle with Burl Ives and says “Well, I don’t mind. I’ve been on my own before.”
3 The latter was my own motto in exchanges on this site until you came along and whilst I will always be prepared to go it alone against even heavy guns like the Moderator of the site it’s still nice to have some support.
4 I say the latter because I understand you perfectly and know your thoughts chime with my own and indeed I admire you for taking the trouble to translate your views so that we can all benefit from them though your nationality too obviously escapes me. There is nothing new in giving yourself an anonymous title as for example we have from time to time somebody writing some strange things to us who claims he/she is “In The Shadows”
5 However what matters in the end of course is not WHO you are but WHAT you say and to me your opinions certainly make sense to me and in fact until I saw your post I was thinking of signing off the site as BOB and reappearing under the alias of THE LONE WOLF. Anyway thanks for your support whether intended or not and if we don’t hear from you again soon have a good Xmas.
Hey Baby….Joel Hirschhorn’s book Rating the Movie Stars was a huge influence on this website…so he gets some shout outs. Sorry you do not like him. Thanks for the feedback.
HI BRUCE: 1 Thank you for responding quickly to my query about Esther Williams’ page. All the stats line up now and I will be able to complete the updating of Esther’s grosses in my own database. Also for once Joel has indirectly led to my having nostalgic memories of long-ago experiences.
2 When movie videos came on the scene my own first two viewings were of horror films the 1988 Rush Week and the 1983 Curtains starring burly John Vernon from Marvin’s Point Blank. Vernon plays a hot-shot Hollywood producer who makes up a female character called Audra whom he manages to hype as the next Scarlett so that Audra’s name is on the lips of every wannabe actress around. Obviously the latter have never heard of Audra since the character has never existed but they don’t want to admit that for fear of displaying ignorance of a possible important historical or literary person.
3 Vernon lures 6 of the wannabes to a secluded retreat where he proceeds with “casting couch” auditions. In tandem with those a real-life masked slasher keeps popping up among the bevy of beauties and is coincidentally useful in helping Vernon slim down the list of contenders for the part! Finally one of the surviving actresses who has compromised herself is told that she hasn’t got the part and flies into a rage and starts to run off when she stops and yells “Say who the XXXX is Audra anyway?”
4. And what’s all this to do with Joel? I’ve mentioned my small movie buff’s group and that I’ve been recounting to them some of Joel’s pronouncements. Usually they don’t get worked up about him the way that I do and I generally tend to get blank ‘so what?’ stares and the only time that there was unified outrage being when I told them about Joel’s estimate of The Duke. However Jeff is a great admirer of David Shipman and interpreted the June Allyson post as disrespect for Shipman so then the dam burst “Why do you keep telling us this stuff, Bob? And who the XXXX is this Joel guy anyway?”
5 I told Jeff that sadly unlike Audra Joel DID once exist and that unfortunately his lone surviving modern disciple seemed hell-bent on proving the wisdom of Shakespeare’s suggestion that our goodness dies with us but our badness continues on live on afterwards. [Conversely Curtains initially a critical and commercial failure has now become a cult movie according to Wiki with the slasher ice skating scene being the jewel is its crown like the shower scene was to Psycho.]
Hey Bob
1. Sorry about that “ranking” issue it is one of the bugs that WoC is working on. I can manually fix it…..but I can not tell which table is having an issue….and the frustrating part…..it goes back to the error whenever the table has a change…which happens frequently…..BUT…..a small price to pay for all the awesome stuff the “dynamic” pages provide.
2. Funny how memories trigger the brain to recall movies…WoC….is always picking on me that I talk “in movies” all the time. I constantly say stuff like….”Oh that was just like when Bruce Willis in Die Hard said……..”.
3. Good breakdown on the Vernon movies.
4. Ah….Joel, Roger, David, Danny….all critics that have fans and people that don’t like them….well you can not please everybody all the time.
5. Sorry Jeff is now frustrated with Joel. All I can say is….that I am a pretty loyal fellow….been friends with Rating The Movie Stars book for over 30 plus years……so I like getting Joel’s thoughts out there.
6. I saw Curtains….a very long time ago.
Good feedback as always…..once again glad you enjoyed your Berlin trip….glad you made it back safely….and now….que the Disney Snow White music….off to work I go…..hi ho