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 STEVE:Thanks for the Brando item and the link as I had been previously unaware of those exchanges. You will see that I have copied your post to Joel’s page as HE complained about Brando’s earnings:
I always thought that his criticism was unfair: why pick on Marlon when big money is being dished out all over the place? Marlon himself was tackled about the Superman salary by a BBC interviewer in England after some MP in the house of Commons had criticised it and The Great Mumbler hit back with “Who do you want to give it to – some rock star with bubbles coming out of his ears?”
I agree with Marlon though I would have said “To whom do YOU wish to give it?” instead of “who” – when you are exchanging wriiten comments with academics like The Work Horse you have to watch your grammar!!
The usual suspects among the Brando ‘Trekkies’ such as Babs Streisand also came to his defence at the time probably thinking ” How dare those Englishmen on the BBC criticise a Yankee Legend!” Anyway I look forward to your Monday video though Sir Walter Billy Bacon de Vere will be a hard act to follow. Meanwhile keep safe
“Sadly since I last mentioned him on this site – I was the one who HAD to do it: nobody else was going to the whole preoccupation from others being with Al’s song-writing junior partner! – Albert “Al” Kasha died in Sept 2020 aged 83. RIP Al.”
The above extract is from a post that I sent to The Work Horse today on the Tom Berenger page as I think that the extract is appropriate to be placed on this page too because of the following comments from IMDB and Wikipedia:
“Al Kasha has reached the top of every field that he has lent his talents to: as a writer, producer, composer, motivational speaker and executive working in theatre, film, television, home video, music publishing, and recording. Kasha is one of those rare artists who, as a composer/lyricist, has had hit records over the last five decades
Kasha is most noted though for his years of collaboration with songwriter Joel Hirschhorn. The two wrote and collaborated on many nominated and award-winning songs for many music groups, movies, and musicals. The Peppermint Rainbow’s “Will You Be Staying After Sunday” is just one example of the many songs they wrote for groups during their time.”
I know little about Al overall but from an interview that he gave a year or so ago he seemed an unassuming but gregarious guy; indeed he must have had the patience of a saint when one considers the company he kept!!!
However when I think of how little coverage on this site apart from a passing reference, the contribution of Al to the song-writing team has gotten compared with that of his songster partner [“ ‘No: not Jesus! Release to us instead Barabbas.’ Now Barabbas was a robber.”] I am reminded of how observant were these famous lines from Thomas Gray’s Elegy Written in a Country Churchyard [completed 1750 published 1751]
Full many a gem of purest ray serene
The dark unfathom’d caves of ocean bear:
Full many a flower is born to blush unseen,
And waste its sweetness on the desert air
NOTES ON GIELGUD TALKING ABOUT BRANDO
The Work Horse’s 24 Nov [6.32pm] post to me seems to suggest that Sir John ran down Marlon in the interview concerned. However I have studied the video a couple of times and here is my own transcript of what Sir John actually said in that interview:
1/He found Brando a “sweet boy”.
2/Brando would arrive on the set of 1953’s Julius Caesar “looking splendid” and whilst at times he appeared worried about something, he displayed “very touching” mannerisms and habits.
3/Marlon was “striking” in the role of Antony in the 1953 movie but wasn’t as familiar with the “shape” of certain scenes that he would have better picked up if he had done the play on stage
4/Sir John wished that Marlon HAD performed Julius Caesar on stage as he was a wonderful stage actor. Sir John had seen him in Streetcar on Broadway and he was great in the role of Stanley and was very “balanced” in the way he blended humour with high drama. Sir John thought it important to be able to marry humour with the serious stuff in a Tennessee Williams play.
5/The upshot of all this was that Sir John tried to coax Marlon to do Shakespeare’s Hamlet on stage as he thought Brando would be good in the role but Marlon wasn’t interested as he said he “planned to retire”. I think Brando meant retire from the STAGE; and in fact in 1953 he did make a final stage appearance in George Bernard Shaw’s Arms and the Man in Boston summer stock and he played Sergius and his close friend William Redfield [Dale Harding in the film One Flew over the Cuckoo’s Nest] acted Bluntschi. The Work Horse if he wishes can obtain a video of the filming for posterity of that Brando production for $79.99.
It’s difficult for me to see how The Work Horse interprets the Gielgud interview as in any way a serious put-down of Brando: Sir John was simply saying that Marlon would have been even better as Antony if he had done the play on stage. Interestingly enough Lord Olivier in classifying Brando as a “genius” felt that only the screen -and not the theatre- could demonstrate genius. AS I HAVE SAID IN PREVIOUS POST I WONDER IF LORD LARRY SAW JOEL HIRSCHHORN TOO AS A GENUIS> AS THERE IS NO RECORD OF THE MATTER I SUPPOSE THE JURY WOLL ALWAYS BE OUT ON THAT ONE.
Anyway I can only assume that either (1) WH is trying to wind me up – he has picked on me a lot over the years OR (2) he has watched a version of the clip in that parallel universe that Joel seemed to regularly frequent where only ‘bad Brando things’ happen!
However to be fair to Hirsch he did give Brando 3 stars for his Antony performance which I think is good for a Yank playing Shakespeare; and of course Marlon won an Oscar nom for the role.
“Damn that Marlon: he’s such a wonderful actor. With his ability to demonstrate a deep range of feelings via just facial expressions and mannerisms he would have been the greatest actor of ALL eras had he flourished in the silent period of movies.” Richard Burton in his renowned diaries.
Hey Bob….Happy Thanksgiving…or Happy Thursday as I am not sure people in Ireland celebrate turkey day like we Yanks do. Good breakdown on Sir John’s remarks on Saint Marlon. I agree that most of his comments are very complimentary towards MB…..I guess the think that got my attention was when he mentioned that Brando did not know “the depth” of the scenes (your 4th part in your comment). Normally….when other actors talk about Vito there are never any negative issues…..which in this video….there is that one small “pick”. As for the important question….yes….it was done to playfully give you a “hard” time. Good stuff as always.
FYI….I am down to 4 people in our UMR Hall of Fame interview series….are you ready for your moment in the UMR sun?
HI BRUCE:
As Fern Persons as Barbara Hershey’s mother said to Gene Hackman in 1986’s Hoosiers [aka Best Shot] “The sun don’t shine on the same dog’s a** every day but mister you ain’t had a break since you got here” – so maybe here on Cogerson I’m ready for my moment in the sun!
HI BRUCE:
As Fern Persons as Barbara Hershey’s mother said to Gene Hackman in 1986’s Hoosiers [aka Best Shot] “The sun don’t shine on the same dog’s a** every day but mister you ain’t had a break since you got here” – so maybe here on Cogerson I’m overdue my moment in the sun!
Regarding Vito and negativity: Burton Lancaster opined “I could have provided a more subtle interpretation of Don Corleone than Marlon did.” To prove his point Burt drew the interviewer’s attention to his own acclaimed performance as a power/authority-cum family man figure in 1963’s The Leopard.
It’s not uncommon for one Great to think he could perform better than another Great this major role/activity or that one. For example in an interview The Donald told the interviewer that he Trump was in such great physical shape and had maintained so much of all his youthful sporting skills that he could better Roger Federer at tennis.
Marlon and Burt were always friendly rivals – for example in their early Hollywood days as young men each tried to beat the other to be first in the bed of Shelley Winters and she said in her biography that she had to juggle between them.
I referred to Shelley’s biography in my previous post when of course I meant autobiography.
Oh I would wholeheartedly engage in Thanksgiving to have my own Cogerson correction button! As it is I am like the character in the famous novel The Hired Hand – I’m always “a day late and a dollar short”: I don’t spot these oh so irkesome little mistakes until it is too late to do anything about them; and I’m not like Joel Hirschhorn who seems happy enough to write any old thing down on a page!
HI BRUCE: Thanks for the link which I enjoyed Apart from saying that Brando’s Antony [which Gielgud thought was good] could have been better if he had done the play on the stage Sir John was actually full of praise for Marlon and even tried to encourage him to play Hamlet. Indeed Gielgud tried to coax Marlon to join him on a tour of English theatres.
On the same page as that link is another one: “Sir Laurence Olivier on the genius of Marlon Brando-The Dick Cravat Show” In it Lord Larry calls Brando an acting genius*** and also says among other superlatives “His Napoleon is the best that there ever has been.” Check it out if you have not already seen the clip.
As you know Hirsch hyperbolically said on page 57 of his 1983 book “Nobody cared for Desiree or Brando’s portrayal of Napoleon.” My own conclusion: there MUST be a parallel universe somewhere in which Joel watched another Marlon – a different Brando from the one that Olivier and Gielgud saw in their lifetime.
However if that’s not so and they all watched the same person – whose opinion should an unenlightened man-in-the-street value as likely the more accurate?-
1/an obscure would-be-Elvis rock n roll singer and nightclub entertainer of the late fifties/early sixties who came late to the art of film criticism; OR
2/a much-lauded doyen of the great British actor-knights club along with a Lord of the British realm who is world-famous as a great actor even today and who is included in the American Film Institute’s Top 25 greatest male acting legends of all time.
Tough call! Anyway please take care. I hope you are still not queuing up to vote somewhere and that you voted in good time – and only once: I wouldn’t want you to be accused of fraudulent voting!
*** Afterthought: I WONDER IF LORD LARRY THOUGHT HIRSCH WAS A GENIUS – ASSUMING OF COURSE HE KNEW WHO JOEL WAS
Hey Bob…good feedback on Steve’s posters and the movie career of Ben Johnson. I always enjoyed when good ole Ben appeared in movies. Bob taking a shot at Myrna Loy…..well…how about a video that shows Gielgud taking a shot at Brando?….https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=up-7hSCpiO8