193 thoughts on “Marlon Brando Movies”

1. “There is Before Brando and there’s After Brando. HE is the marker.” [Martin Scorsese]
   The only movie Marlon ever directed was One Eyed Jacks and a few years ago Scorsese and Steven Spielberg Jointly conducted a state-of-the-arts restoration of that film. Steven had in fact been campaigning for some years previous for its restoration as he says it is one of his all time favourite westerns. Bruce gives it just a 66% rating, at least presumably in respect of its original presentation, but it fares much better with you as you feel it is worth 73%.

   BRANDO EXTENDED VIDEO 38-19 Best POSTERS are I think foreign language one for Christopher Columbus, The Brave, Reflections in a Golden Eye [magnificent 2], Nightcomers [again 2 great ones], The Fugitive Kind [which one English critic claimed was Brando’s greatest performance – but what do the English know about acting?] two excellent ones for Desiree, A Dry White Season, the foreign language one for Morituri, The Missouri Breaks [“One steals. One kills. One Dies!”] and Night of the Following Day.

   Apparently Brando and director of the last named film Hubert Cornfield fell out because allegedly Marlon tried to seduce Hubert’s wife and co-star Richard Boone had to direct the final scenes of the film. Boone said of Brando “He’s a real ding dong!” Over here the film was shown on the 2nd half of a double bill with Eastwood’s Coogan’s Bluff and was the only Brando movie I can ever remember being a 2nd feature.

   STILLS that most impressed me (1) opening two of the young Brando (2) Marlon with DeNiro [Brando said of Robert ”He’s so good even he doesn’t know how good he is.”] (3) Marlon with George C Scott who said of Brando “He, Montgomery Clift and John Barrymore are the 3 best American actor I’ve ever seen] (4) Marlon and Sophia (5) great one of Nappy with Jean Simmons and (6) Nicholson with the neighbor who lived on a property above him and whom Jack often referred to as “The big guy up on the hill.” Jack was apparently exceptionally good to the Big Guy often popping in to care for him when the latter’s health was suffering. To be continued……

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   1. “Brando is America’s greatest actor and anyone who tells you different is either a liar or doesn’t know anything about acting.”

      Say STEVE ! – do you think that Jack Nicholson too had been reading that book of Joel’s?

      VIDEO 1-19 Best POSTERS for me are Burn [apparently MB’s most favourite among his own films] foreign language ones for Teahouse, One Eyed Jacks, Mutiny on the Bounty, On the Waterfront (2) and The Men [aka Battle Stripe- one of your posters refers to the AKA as Battle Strips] two great ones for Sayonara, Guys and Dolls, Julius Caesar and a first stunning one for Apocalypse Now – almost breathtaking!

      Some really superb STILLS the pick of which for me are (1) Teahouse – Machiko Kyo in the photo is the only one of the principal cast still living, aged 94](2) and (3) simply gorgeous ones for Bounty and Jacks (4) a solo of Marlon in The Young Lions – that was the iconic image that induced Sir Anthony Hopkins to ask “Where do they come from these special people who suddenly appear among us perhaps once or twice in one’s own lifetime?” (5) (6) and (7) as The Wild One, Marc Antony and Zapata [a role initially intended for Ty Power] (8) on the set of Streetcar and (9 )Brando in aircraft in Sayonara.

      A truly comprehensive video profiling almost the entire career of one of the most-talked-about stars in the history of the cinema. A really objective rating from me would be 98% but as I’m biased I’m gonna give it a 98.5%!

      You and our own Young Lion agree on 5 of MB’s Top 6 for Review. Great uniformity of opinion there but Work Horse includes in his 6 Sayonara whereas you, possibly because you’re English, plump for “Friends Romans and countrymen” to round off your top half dozen. You probably have the literary connoisseurs on your side but WH is backed by the public because pre Godpop Sayonara was MB’s highest grossing film as Bruce illustrates in his stats table.

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      1. Hey bob roy. So our Brando page now joins the 100 comment club….as this is the 100th comment. Good review on Steve’s video…along with some solid Brando comments from some major players like Scorsese and Nicholson. I see there are trailers for about 50% of his movies….one of these days I will get the rest of trailers on this page. Good stuff as always.

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         1. Thanks for feedback Bruce

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      2. Hi Bob, thanks for the review, generous rating, info, trivia, quotes and comparison, much appreciated. Happy you liked the posters and stills.

         When I was preparing this expanded video of one your top idols you were getting ready for your holidays, so you missed reviewing it while it still had that new car smell. 😉

         When it comes to ratings I think mine are a bit more generous than Bruce, his sources can be brutal. Plus on these revised videos I’ve been re-evaluating the scores for all the major films making sure the ‘popular’ are just as well served as the ‘important’. Making sure that ‘Midway’ and ‘Earthquake’ don’t end up at the bottom of Heston’s Top 50.

         The Great Mumbler has 8 films scoring 10 out of 10 from my sources –

         Godfather ,The
         On the Waterfront
         Streetcar Named Desire ,A
         Apocalypse Now
         Julius Caesar
         Superman -The Movie
         Last Tango in Paris
         Viva Zapata

         Five more scoring 9 out of 10 including The Men and Sayonara. Ten more scored 8 out of 10. So that’s 23 films out of 38 scoring 8-10, quite impressive. Would Mr. Hirschhorn have been pleased with the results I wonder? 😉

         The Godfather no.1 on all charts including Bruce’s UMR and Critics charts.

         “On The Godfather I had signs and cue cards everywhere — on my shirt sleeves, on a watermelon and glued to the scenery. Not memorizing lines increased the illusion of reality and spontaneity.”

         Brando on Pacino – “I didn’t say much to Pacino when we were making The Godfather, but I not only consider him one of the best actors in America, but in the world. I never meant anything more in my life.”

         Brando on Chaplin – “A remarkable talent but a monster of a man.”

         Brando on Monroe – “Marilyn was a sensitive, misunderstood person, much more perceptive than was generally assumed. We had an affair and saw each other intermittently until she died in 1962.

         It’s been speculated that she had a secret rendezvous with Bobby Kennedy that week and was distraught because he wanted to end an affair between them. But she didn’t seem depressed to me, and I don’t think that if she was sleeping with him at the time she would have invited me over for dinner.

         Do you remember when Marilyn Monroe died? Everybody stopped work, and you could see all that day the same expressions on their faces, the same thought: “How can a girl with success, fame, youth, money, beauty… how could she kill herself?” I’m sure she didn’t commit suicide. I have always believed that she was murdered.”

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         1. Thanks for feedback on my Brando posts and for explaining more details of your rating systems and updating of the same.

            I loved the quotes but as I am a Chaplin admirer I was wondering if you gave me the”monster” quote in retaliation for my passing on to you Tippi’s remarks about Hitch!

            You have though also given me a “first” in that whilst I always knew Marlon dated Monroe that is the first reference I’ve seen to him actually admitting that.

            It seems that he had affair with half of the major female celebs of all entertainment mediums in his time and all that remains now is for somebody to tell me that he and Myrna Loy were lovers, that he tried to run off with Demi while she was married to Willis and that Brando had designs on Joel’s wife or girlfriend. [Round up The Usual Suspects!]

            Actually in a Vanity Fair interview Brando claimed that he was not especially amorous but that it was a case of so many wanting him that it was only fair to them that he share his romantic favours out among them Modest chap, wasn’t he!

            I did see internet photos of Marlon with Bobby Kennedy and they seemd to be good enough friends.

            Your stuff about Marilyn reminds me of a TV play I saw years ago called The Night Elvis Died. In it there is a disc jockey who is obsessed with Elvis and plays non-stop Elvis records on the air.

            When he’s told that The King has just died he shuts down his music program and starts doing the rounds to cry on the shoulders of friends. One of the latter says to him “Do you not realize it’s 2 in the morning when most people are sleeping?” to which the disc jockey retorts “Wrong – NOBODY will be able to sleep tonight!”

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2. Hi guys

   Usually don’t get involved in movie counts as that reminds me of how old I’m getting but Bruce’s boast was like a red flag to a bull and I have seen 32 of the movies on this page. The ones I gave a miss are Columbus – who wants to watch something about America bein discovered – candy,formula, dr Moreau, countess, and night of following day

   Steve’s tally of 20 is good – but how many of those has he heard?
   I have been following the site and Steve’s latest offerings closely and have made some notes on his Dino, rock, marlon and Ida lupine videos as well as Bruce’s dresser, Morgan freeman and 1973 pages. Sorry I meant lupin0

   I have been visiting some old haunts here including Paris that was very nostalgic as last time I was there was quarter of century ago

   “I remember Paris in the 49s,
   Vodka, whiskey and old red wines,
   The boulevards and waterways,
   In my Parisian days.”

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   1. Hey Bob
      1. Disappointed that you are not 100% when it comes to watching Marlon Brando movies…..lol.
      2. Wow if I can track down some of my missing Marlon movies I could surpass your tally…now that would be a proud day.
      3. Steve and I have been busy…sadly some of my busyness has been dealing with final goodbyes….we are getting up at the crack of dawn and driving up the East Coast tomorrow as we work our way home. Look forward towards your thoughts on these recent subjects.
      4. Good to hear you are enjoying your stay in Paris….I can imagine a lot has changed over the last 25 years.
      5. Thanks for keeping an eye on UMR during your vacation.

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3. Steve’s Brando Update Video Is Part of This Page.

   “One for Bob. So I have seen 25 of these movies….including the Top 7….with #1 The Godfather,#2 On The Waterfront and #4 Apocalypse Now being favorites. I enjoyed #11 Guys and Dolls…though I am far from a musical expert. #20 Missouri Breaks has two legends….and Brando is amazing in the movie….just not sure what his character was talking about in the movie. #37 Island of Dr. Moreau should be his worst rated movie….what a mess.#36 The Formula got nicknamed The Bore……it is a slow moving movie. Two movies that considered classics….are merely ok in my book…#3 Streetcar Named Desire and #7 Last Tango in Paris. Nice updated…voted up and shared.”

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   1. Bruce one critic wrote about marlon Missouri Birks performance “not since the days of Sarah Bernhardt has there been such outlandish characterisation”
      Steve is making up for some of grief Joel has given me on this site

      “Encouraged now to begin and live in a world to my liking at last.”

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   2. Hi Bruce, your tally of 25 is pretty good, my tally was 20 and Flora 16. You mean Dr. Moreau isn’t his worst rated movie? What could be worse? Christopher Columbus? The last time I saw that one was in 1992.

      But I have seen Brando’s Dr. Moreau a bunch of times, along with the Burt Lancaster version and the classic Charles Laughton one which was retitled Island of Lost Souls. I have them all on DVD. All three contain excellent make up effects. John Frankenheimer’s is a collector’s item because it has the great mumbler himself as the mad doctor.

      Thanks as always for the comment, vote and share, it is appreciated.

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      1. Wow….I am the leader in the Brando tally count….wonder if Bob saw that…..lol. Christopher Columbus is not a good movie….but it is not horrible. Although I know you like Brando’s Dr. Moreau…have to tell you most people think it is one of the worst movies ever made. Pretty much killed the career of Val Kilmer….at least as a bankable leading man. Glad to share your video….and now I go to work.

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4. Hi Bob, Brando’s earnings for Candy came from IMDB, here are a few more if you’re interested –

   The Men (1950) $50,000 (equivalent of $477,354 in 2012 dollars)

   A Streetcar Named Desire (1951) $75,000 (equivalent of $663,706 in 2012 dollars)

   Viva Zapata! (1952) $100,000 (equivalent of $868,245 in 2012 dollars)

   On the Waterfront (1954) $100,000 (equivalent of $855,334 in 2012 dollars)

   Guys and Dolls (1955) $200,000 (equivalent of $1,710,668 in 2012 dollars)

   Sayonara (1957) $300,000 (equivalent of $2,456,423 in 2012 dollars)

   Mutiny on the Bounty (1962) $1,250,000 (equivalent of $9,500,000 in 2012 dollars)

   The Chase (1966) $750,000 plus $130,000 fee to his production company Pennebaker (equivalent of $6,249,222 in 2012 dollars)

   Reflections in a Golden Eye (1967) $750,000 + 10% of the net profits (equivalent of $5,326,041 today)

   Candy (1968) $50,000 plus points

   The Night of the Following Day (1969) $50,000

   Queimada (1969) $750,000

   The Nightcomers (1971) $50,000

   The Godfather (1972) $50,000 plus percentage of gross on sliding scale; points sold back for $100,000 ($150,000 equivalent of to $865,000 in 2013 dollars)

   Ultimo tango a Parigi (1972) $250,000 + 10% of the profits (equivalent of $10,000,000 in 2012 dollars)

   The Missouri Breaks (1976) $1,250,000 plus 11% of gross receipts over $8,850,000 (equivalent of $5,000,000 in 2012 dollars)

   Superman (1978) $3,000,000

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   1. HI STEVE

      Thanks for this comprehensive list. All I can say is Wow – no wonder Joel was Jealous of him!

      Marlon also got a % of the Superman profits though he had to sue the Salkinds and ended up with an out of court settlement in 1983 at between $15 and 18 million – $38-45 million in 2018 dollars. Sadly too he had to sue his mate Francis for his profit entitlement from Apocalypse Now and another out-of-court settlement got him $9 million around 1982 – about $23 million in today’s dollars which allowed him to retire from the screen for 10 year and fool about, again to the chagrin of guys like Joel.

      For a person who doesn’t like stats you certainly have acquitted yourself well with the figures you have given me today – many thanks.

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5. We learn of another person who joins W o C in exhibiting excellent taste!

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