Want to know the best Marx Brothers movies? How about the worst Marx Brothers movies? Curious about Marx Brothers box office grosses or which Marx Brothers movie picked up the most Oscar® nominations? Need to know which Marx Brothers 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.
The Marx Brothers were a family comedy act that was successful in vaudeville, on Broadway, and in motion pictures from 1905 to 1949. 5 of the Marx Brothers’ 13 feature films were selected by the American Film Institute (AFI) as among the top 100 comedy films. Their movies Duck Soup and A Night at the Opera are both in the AFI’s top 12 comedy movies. One of our goals here at Ultimate Movie Rankings is do a career movie page on every member of the American Film Institute’s Top 50 Greatest Screen Legends list. Marx Brothers are ranked as the 20th greatest screen legends on that list. This page ranks 14 movies in which at least 3 Marx brothers appeared in as well as 4 Groucho Marx movies.The movies are ranked from Best to Worst in six different sortable columns of information. Following the movie ranking table is a “Know your Marx brother” section as well as links to the our AFI Screen Legend movie pages.
The Marx Brothers in 1938’s Room Service.
Marx Brothers Movies Ranked In Chronological Order With Ultimate Movie Rankings Score (1 to 5 UMR Tickets) *Best combo of box office, reviews and awards.
Marx Brothers 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 Marx Brothers movies by which Marx Brother starred in the movie
Sort Marx Brothers movies by adjusted domestic box office grosses using current movie ticket cost (in millions)
Sort Marx Brothers by yearly domestic box office rank
Sort Marx Brothers 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 Marx Brothers movie received and how many Oscar® wins each Marx Brothers movie won.
Sort Marx Brothers 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 Marx Brothers Table
Seven Marx Brothers movies crossed the magical $100 million domestic gross mark. That is a percentage of 41.11% of their movies listed. A Day At The Races (1937) was their biggest box office ht when looking at adjusted domestic box office gross.
An average Marx Brothers movie grosses $94.70 million in adjusted box office gross.
Using RottenTomatoes.com’s 60% fresh meter. 13 of Marx Brothers’ movies are rated as good movies…or 72.22% of their movies. A Night At The Opera (1935) is their highest rated movie while The Story of Mankind (1957) was their lowest rated movie.
One Marx Brothers movie (A Day At The Races) received at least one Oscar® nomination in any category…..or 5.55% of their movies.
Zero Marx Brothers movie won at least one Oscar® in any category…..or 0.00% of their movies.
An average Ultimate Movie Ranking (UMR) Score is 60.00. 13 Marx Brothers movies scored higher than that average….or 72.22% of their movies. A Day At The Races (1937) got the the highest UMR Score while The Story of Mankind (1957) got the lowest UMR Score.
Zeppo, Groucho, Harp and Chico Marx in 1932’s Horse Feathers
Know Your Marx Brother
Chico Marx 1887-1961
Chico Marx was born Leonard Marx. Originally his nickname was Chick-O but due to a typing error he became Chico. Chico was actually the 2nd Marx brother to be born. His older brother (Manfred) died in infancy. His persona in the act was that of a charming, dim-witted albeit crafty con artist. After their mother passed away, Chico became the manager of the brothers. He played an important role in the management and development of the act. He was married two times and had one child. Chico loved to gamble. His favorite gambling pursuits were card games as well as horse racing, dog racing, and various sports betting. His addiction cost him millions of dollars by his own account. When an interviewer in the late 1930s asked him how much money he had lost from gambling, he answered, “Find out how much money Harpo’s got. That’s how much I’ve lost.”
Harpo Marx 1888-1964
Harpo Marx was born Arthur Marx. He was a mime artist and musician, and the second-oldest of the Marx Brothers. His comic style was influenced by clown and pantomime traditions. He wore a curly reddish blonde wig, and never spoke during performances (he blew a horn or whistled to communicate). He frequently used props such as a horn cane, made up of a lead pipe, tape, and a bulbhorn, and he played the harp in most of his films. So why did Harpo never speak? Early in his vaudeville days he got a bad review. The review said his pantomime was excellent…but when he talked he ruined the performance. So he decided to stop speaking….and the Marx Brothers quickly realized that his not speaking worked very well in their act. He was married one time and had 4 children.
Groucho Marx 1890-1977Groucho Marx was born Julius Henry Marx. He was known as a master of quick wit. His rapid-fire, often impromptu delivery of innuendo-laden patter earned him many admirers and imitators. His distinctive appearance, carried over from his days in vaudeville, included quirks such as an exaggerated stooped posture, glasses, cigar, and a thick greasepaint mustache and eyebrows. He also had a successful solo career, most notably as the host of the radio and television game show You Bet Your Life. The Marx Brothers’ movies did not get much Oscar® love (their movies combined for only ONE nomination) ….but they did give Groucho an Honorary Oscar® in 1974. His Oscar® reads…. “In recognition of his brilliant creativity and for the unequaled achievements of the Marx Brothers in the art of motion picture comedy”. He was married three times and had three children.Zeppo Marx 1901-1979
Zeppo Marx was born Herbert Marx. He was the youngest of The Marx Brothers, Zeppo was put into the role of the straight man after his brother Gummo (the other brother) left the act. Zeppo also acted as an understudy to all three of his brothers. After playing small parts in the first five Marx Brothers movies, Zeppo felt his talent wasn’t being used to its full extent and left the act to join Gummo as an agent. Somewhat of a mechanical whiz, Zeppo invented a wristwatch that would monitor the pulse rate of cardiac patients, and his company, Marman Products, produced clamping devices which were used in the first atomic bomb raids over Japan in 1945. Zeppo was married twice and had one child. Gummo Marx (1892-1977) was the 4th brother. He left the Marx Brothers just when they were reaching popularity because he felt he lacked the performing skills of his brothers. He became a well respected agent.
Marx Brothers Financials Directly From MGM/RKO Ledgers 1935-1941
The really cool thing about this table is that it is “user-sortable”. Rank the movies anyway you want.
Column 1 is the name of the movie
Column 2 is the name of the studio
Column 3 is the domestic rental total
Column 4 is the international rental total
Column 5 is the total of domestic and international rentals
Column 6 is the profit or loss in dollars of the movie
AFI’s Top 25 Screen Legend Actors….with links to our movie pages on the Screen Legend
1. Humphrey Bogart 58 Movies Ranked….from Casablanca (1942) to Swing Your Lady (1938)
2. Cary Grant 58 Movies Ranked… from North by Northwest (1959) to Born To Be Bad (1934)
3. James Stewart 73 Movies Ranked Mr. Smith Goes to Washington(1939) to Big Sleep(1978)
4. Marlon Brando 37 Movies Ranked….from The Godfather (1972) to Christopher Columbus (1992)
5. Fred Astaire 39 Movies Ranked The Towering Inferno (1974) to The Amazing Dobermans (1976)
6. Henry Fonda 81 Movies Ranked… On Golden Pond (1981) to City on Fire (1979)
7. Clark Gable 63 Movies Ranked….from Gone With The Wind (1939) to Parnell (1937)
8. James Cagney 61 Movies Ranked….from Yankee Doodle Dandy (1942) to Boy Meets Girl (1938)
9. Spencer Tracy 53 Movies Ranked….from Boy’s Town (1938) to Up the River (1930)
10. Charles Chaplin 12 Movies Ranked….from The Kid (1921) to A Countess from Hong Kong (1967)
11. Gary Cooper 67 Movies Ranked….from Sergeant York (1941) to Fighting Caravans (1931)
12. Gregory Peck 53 Movies Ranked To Kill a Mockingbird(1962) to Amazing Grace & Chuck(1987)
13. John Wayne 83 Movies Ranked….from True Grit (1969) to Brannigan (1975)
14. Laurence Olivier 48 Movies Ranked….from Rebecca (1940) to Inchon (1982)
15. Gene Kelly 40 Movies Ranked….from Anchors Aweigh (1945) to Viva Knievel! (1977)
16. Orson Welles 75 Movies Ranked….from Citizen Kane (1941) to Treasure Island (1972)
17. Kirk Douglas 71 Movies Ranked….from Spartacus (1960) to Diamonds (1999)
18. James Dean 3 Movies Ranked….from East of Eden (1955) to Giant (1956)
19. Burt Lancaster 67 Movies Ranked From Here to Eternity (1953) to Executive Action (1973)
20. Marx Brothers 18 Movies Ranked….from Horse Feathers (1932) to The Story of Mankind (1957)
21. Buster Keaton 28 Movies Ranked….from The Cameraman (1928) to The Intruder (1936)
22. Sidney Poitier 46 Movies Ranked….from In the Heat of the Night (1967) to Fast Forward (1985)
23. Robert Mitchum 83 Movies Ranked….from The Longest Day (1962) to Matilda (1978)
24. Edward G. Robinson 67 Movies Ranked 10 Commandments(1956) to BiggestBundleofAll(1968)
25. William Holden 66 Movies Ranked….from The Bridge on the River Kwai (1957) to Ashanti (1979)
For comments….all you need is a name and a comment….please ignore the rest.
Academy Award® and Oscar® are the registered trademarks of the Academy of Motion Arts and Sciences.
(Visited 1 times)
53 thoughts on “Marx Brothers Movies”
1 For me The Marx Brothers were almost a solo act as I loved Groucho with his marvellous one liners but found Chico and Harpo unfunny and indeed considered Harpo’s routines quite boring though I did enjoy Chico’s piano playing. I was indifferent to Zeppo and after 5 films with his brothers he disappeared to be become a multi-millionaire in the field of engineering. Groucho may have wished he’d joined him because according to Chico, a compulsive gambler, Groucho was a real-life money miser. Zeppo outlived all of his Brothers
VIDEO COMMENTS
(1) I see that to provide extra value for money you’re straying into Cogerson-style calculations. On the Virginia Mayo page for example he numbers her worldwide grosses 1-22 but one line contains two entries and you cite 12 Marx Bros films but give us 13 !
(2) However whilst I’m not sure what Bruce’s playing at there could be method in YOUR madness as your No 13th contains one of your own overblown icons and did I tell you that the authors of my Icons book were going to make Chuck 101?
(3) Once more you’ve overcome me with the quantity and quality of your excellent posters and stills so I’ll content myself with Go West and Night at the Opera among the posters and will single out your very first still as it is one of the best photos that I’ve seen of all 4 movie Marx Bros.
(4) For once I’m familiar with all of the movies of one of your selected comic acts and agree totally with your Top 5. Bruce agrees with 4 of them but surprised me by making Duck Soup 2 whereas you have it as No 1 in sync with most film historians who see it as THE Marx Bros masterpiece.
(5) 9.5/10 because of that exceptional run of black and white stills
Hi Bob, thanks for the review, rating, observation and trivia. The Marx Bros have been favorites of mine for a few decades now. I like all the brothers but Groucho is the one that makes me laugh, his quips and insults are what made me a fan in the first place.
The only film in this group I didn’t much like was the 13th – Love Happy, which wasn’t really a Marx Bros film as the three brothers don’t have a scene together. Even Groucho said in one of his books that the last official Marx Bros film was A Night in Casablanca.
But I had to include Love Happy, not because one of my favorite icons was in there in one of her first roles, but it was the last comedy to feature all three brothers. They would appear again in a movie – The Story of Mankind – but in different scenes.
Their two greatest films were Duck Soup and A Night at the Opera, the latter contains probably their most famous gag sequence, the stateroom scene – Groucho’s tiny stateroom aboard ship becomes increasingly crowded.
I’d always read that A Day at the Races was their biggest success but Bruce’s chart puts it below Horse Feathers in adjusted grosses. I don’t think we’ll ever see worldwide grosses on these films, but who knows?
Otis B. Driftwood: “You’re willing to pay him a thousand dollars a night just for singing? Why, you can get a phonograph record of Minnie the Moocher for 75 cents. And for a buck and a quarter, you can get Minnie.”
1 Up above on this page Bruce HAS ACTUALLY given us adjusted Worldwide grosses for Day at the Races, Night at the Opera, Go West, Big Store, At the Circus and Room Service.
2 Room Service was remade in 1944 as Step Lively starring Sinatra.
3 Thanks for the rest of your feedback. As well as the one-liners Julius could also reel off several quips within the one gag as you have demonstrated. One of my own favourite one-liners was when Rufus T Firefly was made the incompetent leader of Freedonia and it was demanded that he reveal his policy for dealing with a dangerous enemy in another province and he answer “I’m going to rap his door and run away.”
Whoa! Were those worldwide figures always there? I didn’t notice them before. No info on the 5 Paramount comedies though. When they moved to MGM the films had bigger budgets and the brothers had to make room for romance, songs and dance, their madcap humor also started to lose some of it’s satirical bite.
By the early 40s Abbott and Costello had taken over as the top comedy team in Hollywood and they in turn were knocked off their perch by Dean Martin and Jerry Lewis in the 50s.
Groucho: How about you and I passing out on the veranda; or would you rather pass out here?
Woman at Party: Sir, you have the advantage of me.
Groucho: Not yet I haven’t, but wait till I get you outside.
Hey Steve….thanks for sharing the link to your video.
Hey Steve…..you are correct…we will never see the worldwide gross in those 5 Paramount movies. Those worldwide grosses have been there a very long time….since the page was originally written. Granted tonight those numbers have been upgraded. Now the top grossing movie is A Day At The a Races. Funny Groucho comment.
Hey Bob….good review on the Marx Brothers…I agree with you about about Groucho …he is easily the best parts of the movie. I never thought Harpo was funny…even as a kid. Chico and his piano playing scene was always more enjoyable than Harpo’s harp playing scene.
Yes we have A Night At The Opera first….but we also have Duck Soup as one of our highest rated movies in our database….so it is not like we are saying it was a bad movie. I finally figured out what you meant about my error on Mayo’s worldwide numbers….so I will fix that and now have 23 movies listed there. Thanks for sharing your Marx brothers thoughts.
I was delighted you done a page on the Marx Brothers. When I was 12, the BBC did a season of Marx Brothers movies every Friday night. One of the nights was Horse Feathers, our T.V was very wonky, the kind where you moved the aerial around the room if the screen went fuzzy. Alas to no avail, I had to give up.
But I’ve always really liked the Marx Brothers, my favourite movies would be Duck Soup, A Night at the Opera and A Night in Casablanca. I’m surprised it did so poor at the box office, considering 1946 such a bumper year. No mention of the Marx Brothers would be complete without Margaret Dumont, the wonderful character actress who was Groucho’s foil. She always played the rich, snooty Socialite with a heart for Groucho.
I know they weren’t to everyone’s taste, their humour was a bit wild. But even today you can see the influence they have left behind.
In the film Hannah and her Sisters, the Woody Allen character is sitting in a cinema all depressed about his life and he’s watching Duck Soup, and he gets the realisation that life isn’t that bad and is worth living, while enjoying the Marx Brothers. I think that’s a wonderful tribute to their legacy.
Hey Chris…glad you liked my Marx Brothers movie page. Thanks for sharing your BBC experience with their movies. It reminds me of how I used to watch Abbott and Costello movies when I was younger. I remember the days of moving the rabbit ears it hopes of getting a better picture.
By the time they made A Night in Casablanca they were no longer a box office pull. I saw a Groucho You Tube video that was really interesting about Margaret Dumont. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7m-KBe5t0j4
I remember that scene in Hannah and Her Sisters…..I agree with you that is a wonderful tribute to their legacy. Thanks as always for stopping by and talking movies.
Hey BERN1960…..thanks for keeping your record of commenting on every one of my pages…..your 100% comment rate will never be beat….it might be equaled…but it will never be beat….thanks as always for checking out my latest page….especially since you are not a Marx Brothers fan at all.
Interesting – I never cared much for the Marx Brothers. The only one I really knew of was Groucho Marx – I remember seeing reruns of his TV show – YOU BET YOUR LIFE. He was quick with his remarks. Thanks for all the interesting facts about them all.
1 For me The Marx Brothers were almost a solo act as I loved Groucho with his marvellous one liners but found Chico and Harpo unfunny and indeed considered Harpo’s routines quite boring though I did enjoy Chico’s piano playing. I was indifferent to Zeppo and after 5 films with his brothers he disappeared to be become a multi-millionaire in the field of engineering. Groucho may have wished he’d joined him because according to Chico, a compulsive gambler, Groucho was a real-life money miser. Zeppo outlived all of his Brothers
VIDEO COMMENTS
(1) I see that to provide extra value for money you’re straying into Cogerson-style calculations. On the Virginia Mayo page for example he numbers her worldwide grosses 1-22 but one line contains two entries and you cite 12 Marx Bros films but give us 13 !
(2) However whilst I’m not sure what Bruce’s playing at there could be method in YOUR madness as your No 13th contains one of your own overblown icons and did I tell you that the authors of my Icons book were going to make Chuck 101?
(3) Once more you’ve overcome me with the quantity and quality of your excellent posters and stills so I’ll content myself with Go West and Night at the Opera among the posters and will single out your very first still as it is one of the best photos that I’ve seen of all 4 movie Marx Bros.
(4) For once I’m familiar with all of the movies of one of your selected comic acts and agree totally with your Top 5. Bruce agrees with 4 of them but surprised me by making Duck Soup 2 whereas you have it as No 1 in sync with most film historians who see it as THE Marx Bros masterpiece.
(5) 9.5/10 because of that exceptional run of black and white stills
Hi Bob, thanks for the review, rating, observation and trivia. The Marx Bros have been favorites of mine for a few decades now. I like all the brothers but Groucho is the one that makes me laugh, his quips and insults are what made me a fan in the first place.
The only film in this group I didn’t much like was the 13th – Love Happy, which wasn’t really a Marx Bros film as the three brothers don’t have a scene together. Even Groucho said in one of his books that the last official Marx Bros film was A Night in Casablanca.
But I had to include Love Happy, not because one of my favorite icons was in there in one of her first roles, but it was the last comedy to feature all three brothers. They would appear again in a movie – The Story of Mankind – but in different scenes.
Their two greatest films were Duck Soup and A Night at the Opera, the latter contains probably their most famous gag sequence, the stateroom scene – Groucho’s tiny stateroom aboard ship becomes increasingly crowded.
I’d always read that A Day at the Races was their biggest success but Bruce’s chart puts it below Horse Feathers in adjusted grosses. I don’t think we’ll ever see worldwide grosses on these films, but who knows?
Otis B. Driftwood: “You’re willing to pay him a thousand dollars a night just for singing? Why, you can get a phonograph record of Minnie the Moocher for 75 cents. And for a buck and a quarter, you can get Minnie.”
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=deS6SExQw6U
HI STEVE:
1 Up above on this page Bruce HAS ACTUALLY given us adjusted Worldwide grosses for Day at the Races, Night at the Opera, Go West, Big Store, At the Circus and Room Service.
2 Room Service was remade in 1944 as Step Lively starring Sinatra.
3 Thanks for the rest of your feedback. As well as the one-liners Julius could also reel off several quips within the one gag as you have demonstrated. One of my own favourite one-liners was when Rufus T Firefly was made the incompetent leader of Freedonia and it was demanded that he reveal his policy for dealing with a dangerous enemy in another province and he answer “I’m going to rap his door and run away.”
Hey Bob….those numbers will be changing when I update this page. Which should be soon.
Whoa! Were those worldwide figures always there? I didn’t notice them before. No info on the 5 Paramount comedies though. When they moved to MGM the films had bigger budgets and the brothers had to make room for romance, songs and dance, their madcap humor also started to lose some of it’s satirical bite.
By the early 40s Abbott and Costello had taken over as the top comedy team in Hollywood and they in turn were knocked off their perch by Dean Martin and Jerry Lewis in the 50s.
Groucho: How about you and I passing out on the veranda; or would you rather pass out here?
Woman at Party: Sir, you have the advantage of me.
Groucho: Not yet I haven’t, but wait till I get you outside.
Hey Steve….thanks for sharing the link to your video.
Hey Steve…..you are correct…we will never see the worldwide gross in those 5 Paramount movies. Those worldwide grosses have been there a very long time….since the page was originally written. Granted tonight those numbers have been upgraded. Now the top grossing movie is A Day At The a Races. Funny Groucho comment.
Hey Bob….good review on the Marx Brothers…I agree with you about about Groucho …he is easily the best parts of the movie. I never thought Harpo was funny…even as a kid. Chico and his piano playing scene was always more enjoyable than Harpo’s harp playing scene.
Yes we have A Night At The Opera first….but we also have Duck Soup as one of our highest rated movies in our database….so it is not like we are saying it was a bad movie. I finally figured out what you meant about my error on Mayo’s worldwide numbers….so I will fix that and now have 23 movies listed there. Thanks for sharing your Marx brothers thoughts.
Thanks lol!
You are welcome….this page has been a solid view getter for us.
Hi
I was delighted you done a page on the Marx Brothers. When I was 12, the BBC did a season of Marx Brothers movies every Friday night. One of the nights was Horse Feathers, our T.V was very wonky, the kind where you moved the aerial around the room if the screen went fuzzy. Alas to no avail, I had to give up.
But I’ve always really liked the Marx Brothers, my favourite movies would be Duck Soup, A Night at the Opera and A Night in Casablanca. I’m surprised it did so poor at the box office, considering 1946 such a bumper year. No mention of the Marx Brothers would be complete without Margaret Dumont, the wonderful character actress who was Groucho’s foil. She always played the rich, snooty Socialite with a heart for Groucho.
I know they weren’t to everyone’s taste, their humour was a bit wild. But even today you can see the influence they have left behind.
In the film Hannah and her Sisters, the Woody Allen character is sitting in a cinema all depressed about his life and he’s watching Duck Soup, and he gets the realisation that life isn’t that bad and is worth living, while enjoying the Marx Brothers. I think that’s a wonderful tribute to their legacy.
Hey Chris…glad you liked my Marx Brothers movie page. Thanks for sharing your BBC experience with their movies. It reminds me of how I used to watch Abbott and Costello movies when I was younger. I remember the days of moving the rabbit ears it hopes of getting a better picture.
By the time they made A Night in Casablanca they were no longer a box office pull. I saw a Groucho You Tube video that was really interesting about Margaret Dumont. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7m-KBe5t0j4
I remember that scene in Hannah and Her Sisters…..I agree with you that is a wonderful tribute to their legacy. Thanks as always for stopping by and talking movies.
Hey BERN1960…..thanks for keeping your record of commenting on every one of my pages…..your 100% comment rate will never be beat….it might be equaled…but it will never be beat….thanks as always for checking out my latest page….especially since you are not a Marx Brothers fan at all.
Interesting – I never cared much for the Marx Brothers. The only one I really knew of was Groucho Marx – I remember seeing reruns of his TV show – YOU BET YOUR LIFE. He was quick with his remarks. Thanks for all the interesting facts about them all.