Want to know the best Judy Garland movies? How about the worst Judy Garland movies? Curious about Judy Garland’s box office grosses or which Judy Garland movie picked up the most Oscar® nominations? Need to know which Judy Garland movie got the best reviews from critics and audiences? Well you have come to the right place….because we have all of that information.
A quick check on the American Film Institute’s Top Stars Of All-Time list….I found that the highest rated performer that I had not written a movie page on was Judy Garland. Garland is ranked as the 8th greatest actress according to their Legends poll. Even more impressive is the massive box office success her movies experienced. Of her 31 movies…23 crossed the $100 million mark when looking at adjusted box office grosses. That is the highest total for any actress that I have researched.
Judy Garland’s (1922-1969) IMDb page shows 38 acting credits from 1930-1963. This page will rank 31 Judy Garland movies from Best to Worst in six different sortable columns of information. Television shows, shorts, and cameos were not included in the rankings. Most of the box office figures are provided by the Eddie Marmix MGM Feature Film Ledgers and include not only North America figures but worldwide box office totals as well. I have seen 3 of her movies….so I do not really know how accurate my rankings turned out…I look forward to Judy Garland experts telling me which movies are too high or too low.
Judy Garland Movies Ranked In Chronological Order With Ultimate Movie Rankings Score (1 to 5 UMR Tickets) *Best combo of box office, reviews and awards.
Judy Garland 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 Judy Garland movies by co-stars of her movies.
- Sort Judy Garland movies by adjusted domestic box office grosses using current movie ticket cost.
- Sort Judy Garland movies by adjusted worldwide box office grosses using current movie ticket cost.
- Sort Judy Garland movies how they were received by critics and audiences. 60% rating or higher should indicate a good movie.
- Sort by how many Oscar® nominations and how many Oscar® wins each Judy Garland movie received.
- Sort Judy Garland 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 Judy Garland Table
- Twenty-four Judy Garland movies crossed the magical $100 million domestic gross mark. That is a percentage of 77.41% of his movies listed. Meet Me in St. Louis (1944) was her biggest box hit.
- An average Judy Garland movie grosses $176.80 million in adjusted box office gross.
- Using RottenTomatoes.com’s 60% fresh meter. 28 of Judy Garland’s movies are rated as good movies…or 90.32% of her movies. Wizard of Oz (1939) is her highest rated movie. Everybody Sing (1938) was her lowest rated movie.
- Twelve Judy Garland movies received at least one Oscar® nomination in any category…..or 38.70% of her movies.
- Four Judy Garland movies won at least one Oscar® in any category…..or 12.90% of her movies.
- A “good movie” Ultimate Movie Rankings (UMR) Score is 60.00. 26 Judy Garland movies scored higher that average….or 83.87% of her movies. A Star is Born (1954) got the the highest UMR Score while I Could Go On Singing (1963) got the lowest UMR Score.
Possibly interesting facts about Judy Garland.
1. Judy Garland was born Frances Ethel Gumm. At the age of 6 she started performing with her two older sisters in a vaudeville act call the Gumm Sisters.
2. Judy Garland was married 5 times in her life. She had two children with Sidney Luft and one child(Liza Minnelli) with Oscar® winning director Vincente Minnelli.
3. Dorothy’s daughter was married to the Tin Man’s son for seven years….or in other word’s Judy’s daughter Liza Minnelli was married to Jack Haley’s son Jack Haley Jr. for seven years.
4. Judy Garland’s singing of Over the Rainbow in The Wizard of Oz was voted the greatest song in movies according to the American Film Institute.
5. Judy Garland received 2 Oscar® nominations for acting….Best Actress in 1954’s A Star Is Born and Best Supporting Actress in 1961’s Judgement at Nuremberg. She also received a special Juvenile Oscar® for her work in The Wizard of Oz.
6. Judy Garland and Mickey Rooney appeared in 9 movies together….or roughly 33% of all Judy Garland movies also starred Mickey Rooney.
7. One of only six actresses to dance with both Fred Astaire and Gene Kelly in a movie….the other five? Debbie Reynolds, Rita Hayworth, Cyd Charisse, Leslie Caron and Vera-Ellen.
8. I have over 22,000 movies in my database….before doing this hub I had not included The Wizard of Oz in the database….however after including The Wizard of Oz it has a high enough ranking to crack my Top 100 Films of All-Time movie page….as it comes in at #75.
9. To see vintage movie posters of Judy Garland’s movie career….please check out his outstanding hub by Steve Lensman….Judy Garland Movie Posters
10. Check out Judy Garland‘s career compared to current and classic actors. Most 100 Million Dollar Movies of All-Time.
Steve Lensman’s Judy Garland You Tube Video
Academy Award® and Oscar® are the registered trademarks of the Academy of Motion Arts and Sciences.
Most of the box office totals came from the Eddie Mannix MGM Film Ledgers.
Hey Bruce, The Wizard of Oz was one of the first films I remember seeing, also the 1933 King Kong watched on TV at a very young age and it gave me nightmares! I kept seeing Kongs humungous face staring at me from the window, brrr! 🙂
But I don’t remember the witch or flying monkeys of Oz giving me the heebie or the jeebies.
The Clock is on my find and watch list, I saw the sequel The Big Clock it was pretty good, starring Charles Laughton and Ray Milland. 😉
Regarding The Clock: It is a wonderful romantic drama starring Garland and Robert Walker-Walker is remembered very well and deservedly so for being a killer in Hitch’s classic. But he played a charming and shy man here.
:)Oh, and Steve is joking about the sequel. 🙂 there s no tie between The Clock and The Big Clock (also a great film)
Cheers
Flora –
Hey Flora thanks for the headsup on The Clock and the fact that Steve was joking….I probably would not have been able to figure that out.
Hey Steve….it is amazing how movies can have the same memories on people on different continents. I remember it always seemed like it was bedtime when the evil witch sent the flying monkeys after Dorothy….so that was the last thing I saw….them tracking down Dorothy and poor Toto too….lol.
I will make sure that I put The Clock, The Big Clock and Three O’Clock High on my movie watch list…..actually the Big Clock is one of the few movies at my library that I have not seen.
Hey, Bruce.
I see you’ve read my response to your email already. Yes indeed. I have seen 26 of them.
As I have seen too many to worry about exact numbering in the critics – always a bit different than what the audience will prefer – I will not debate where the movies ended up. I will just say what I have seen.
In the top ten box office titles, I have seen them all.
In the top ten critics list, I have seen them all.
In the overall list, I have seen all ten as well.
In regards to the overall listing, the highest rated film I have NOT seen is Presenting Lily Mars. The ones I haven’t seen is mostly to do with availability, but sometimes it has to do with the type of film – ie: It took me a long time to see A Child Is Waiting because it is a difficult film to watch.
The lowest one on the list that I have seen is, in fact, the final one: I Could Go on Singing. It is too bad it is so low as it is very well made. But again, it is difficult to watch.
Movies I always rewatch are the musical films, as you would imagine.
My favourites are too long to list but reading your mother’s comments I have to say I love A Star is Born. It is my favourite version of the film and James Mason makes me cry. I always cry when I see that movie.
Among the films I have not yet seen I am looing forward to Presenting lily Mars. Thoroughbreads (spelled incorrectly) Don’t Cry is a drama that is sad and hard to watch, so I have not seen it yet. But it is a film I should see sometime.
By the way, I have no idea what the first film I ever saw anywhere was, but the first movie I remember seeing of TV ….The Wizard of Oz
I’m not surprised I have seen more than you and Steve combined.
Cheers
Flora
I enjoyed reading this tribute to one of my favorites. I have my own Garland tribute you might like here.
http://www.imdb.com/list/MpueQY2jZxY/
My top 10.
1. Broadway Melody of 38. 2. Wizard of Oz 3. Strike Up The Band 4. Meet Me In St. Louis 5. The Clock 6. The Harvey Girls 7. The Pirate 8. Easter Parade 9. Good Old Summertime 10. Star Is Born.
Looking at your comments I would have to say I think The Harvey Girls is well positioned.
Hey Brinkley ….Thanks for the link….I liked your explainations for your top 10….let’s see how close our rankings were….Broadway was 1st for you 19th for me….not too close….Wizard….2nd for you 1st for me. Strike Up the Band 3rd for you 10th for me. Meet Me in St. Louis 4th for you 3rd for me. The Clock 5th for you 14th for me. Harvey Girls 6th for you 4th for me. The Pirate 7th for you 22nd for me. Easter Parade 8th for you 5th for me. Good Old Summertime 9th for you 17th for me….A Star Is Born 9th for you 2nd for me…..so we have 6 of the same movies in the Top Ten…..interesting to compare. Thanks for the visit.
THANK YOU THANK YOU THANK YOU Bruce. Judy Garland was a very good entertainer including her TV show (I cannot remember much of that). My favorite movie is A STAR IS BORN. The acting, the story and the music was very very good and I have seen that movie many times and still enjoy it. I have seen quite a few of the movies listed above but not all. THANKS FOR THE COMMENTS ABOUT MY DAY YESTERDAY BUT I FORGIVE YOU SON. Got great results from my test today as you know. Your favorite mother, Bern PS Still waiting on Susan Hayward, ha, ha, ha.
Hey Bern1960….glad you enjoyed your hub….and even glader your test turned out so well. I was going to do Susan Hayward for you but I would not have been able to research and write the hub in one day….but one day I will get that hub done.
I am glad that your favorite Garland movie….A Star Is Born did so well in the rankings….somehow I have managed to not see that movie….but it is one I want to see. Thanks for the comment
Well well well a brand new Cogerson page, we don’t see many of these on HP these days. Just like old times Bruce? Where’s Flora?
It’s only been a week or so since I published my Judy Garland poster hub, (thanks for the mention btw much appreciated) so I’ve still got her movies floating around in my head. 🙂
Let’s see… The Wizard of Oz no.1 had to be, probably the most beloved movie of all time.
The Harvey Girls is much higher than I expected, not one of her best but it does have a catchy Oscar winning song. Easter Parade should have been at no.4 or no.3 (Cue Bruce growling].
I’ve seen 17 of the 31 films listed. All 10 of the box office top 10 and 8 from the critics top 10, I have not seen The Clock or A Child is Waiting.
Judgement at Nuremberg is a good film, an important film, but to be frank I’d much rather watch one of Judy’s breezy musicals.
Enjoyed the trivia and the photo from A Star is Born, another fave of mine.
The Pirate is way down on the list and a box office failure but it’s colorful and fun and I would rather have that in my movie collection than any of last years Best Picture Oscar nominees.
Excellent work Bruce, you must have covered most of the Hollywood greats in this series, can’t be many left.
Hey Steve…thanks for responding…..it is amazing take 5 months off and crickets take over the place…..lol. Speaking of Flora I happen to already know how many Garland movies she has seen….26….so she has more than the two of us combined….then again I only brought 3 to the party.
The Harvey Sisters is not one of the 3 I have seen so I will have to go with your opinion that it is too high…..but I must say Easter Parade is in the Top 5 …that has to count for something. I think your Garland hub and my Garland hub make for good companion pieces.
I think the movie that made my list to watch is The Clock…some of the reviews I read were outstanding….with Meet Me In St. Louis next….seems that movie was made at the peak of popularity.