Want to know the best Mickey Rooney movies? How about the worst Mickey Rooney movies? Curious about Mickey Rooney box office grosses or which Mickey Rooney movie picked up the most Oscar nominations? Need to know which Mickey Rooney 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 audience and I are friends. They allowed me to grow up with them. I’ve let them down several times. They’ve let me down several times. But we’re all family..” – Mickey Rooney
Mickey Rooney (1920-2014) had an incredible acting career. Rooney started performing as a 15 month old in 1921. On April 16th, 2016 Rooney’s final movie will be released. That is almost 100 freaking years! His film career was one awesome (and very long) roller coaster ride….with lots of highs and lows. He was the biggest star in Hollywood from 1938 to 1942….including the Top Star in 1939, 1940 and 1941. By 1962 he was bankrupt. During his long career he picked up 4 acting Oscar® nominations and received 2 Honorary Oscars®.
His IMDb page shows 334 acting credits from 1926-2016. This page will rank 77 Mickey Rooney movies from Best to Worst in six different sortable columns of information. Television appearances, cameos and movies not released in North America were not included in the rankings. Normally we try and find every movie in a person’s career….but we acknowledge that Rooney’s career is just too damn big to list every Rooney movie ever made. So we tried to include all of his major movies and all the Rooney movies in our database. By taking out his 76 television appearances, his 82 shorts, his 83 movies that never saw theaters that leaves 93 possible Rooney movies. We have 77 ranked….so I feel good that we have almost all of his quality movies. Please comment if I have made a horrible mistake and left off a quality Rooney movie.
Mickey Rooney 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 Mickey Rooney movies by co-stars of his movies.
- Sort Mickey Rooney movies by adjusted domestic box office grosses using current movie ticket cost (in millions)
- Sort Mickey Rooney movies by yearly domestic box office rank
- Sort Mickey Rooney 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 many Oscar® wins each Mickey Rooney movie received and
- Sort Mickey Rooney 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.
- Use the search and sort button to make this page very interactive. For example type “Spencer” in the search box and up pop the 3 movies that Spencer Tracy/Rooney movies.
Stats and Possibly Interesting Things From The Above Mickey Rooney Table
- Thirty-six Mickey Rooney movies crossed the magical $100 million domestic gross mark. That is a percentage of 46.75% of his movies listed. It’s a Mad Mad Mad Mad World (1963) was his biggest box office ht when looking at adjusted domestic box office gross.
- An average Mickey Rooney movie grosses $113.20 million in adjusted box office gross.
- Using RottenTomatoes.com’s 60% fresh meter. 44 of Mickey Rooney’ movies are rated as good movies…or 57.14% of their movies. Boys Town (1938) is his highest rated movie while The Extraordinary Seaman (1969) was his lowest rated movie.
- Nineteen Mickey Rooney movie received at least one Oscar® nomination in any category…..or 24.67% of his movies.
- Ten Mickey Rooney movie won at least one Oscar® in any category…..or 12.98% of his movies.
- An average Ultimate Movie Ranking (UMR) Score is 40.00. 47 Mickey Rooney movies scored higher than that average….or 61.03% of his movies. Boys Town (1938) got the the highest UMR Score while The Extraordinary Seaman (1969) got the lowest UMR Score.
Possibly Interesting Facts About Mickey Rooney
1. Mickey Rooney was born Joe Yule Jr. on September 23, 1920 in Brooklyn, New York.
2. After appearing in almost 100 shorts from 1926 to 1932….Rooney gained noticed for playing Clark Gable as a child in 1934’s Manhattan Melodrama. Manhattan Melodrama was the movie that John Dillenger watched right before leaving the theater and being gunned down by the FBI.
3. Mickey Rooney was a Top Ten Box Office Star 6 years. He was ranked 4th in 1938, 1st in 1939 (Tyrone Power was 2nd) , 1st in 1940 (Spencer Tracy was 2nd), 1st in 1941 (Clark Gable was 2nd), 4th in 1942 and 9th in 1943.
4. When looking at adjusted domestic box office grosses….Mickey Rooney has 24 movies that reached the $100 million mark. Of the close to 300 performers looked at here at UMR that is the 6th best total. Only Cary Grant (29 movies), John Wayne (29 movies), Dean Martin (26 movies), Spencer Tracy (25 movies) and Tom Cruise (25 movies) have a better total of $100 million movies.
5. Mickey Rooney was married 8 times in his life. His most famous bride was actress Ava Gardner. He had 9 children. My favorite Rooney quote on all of his marriages. “How can you be married eight times?” But I played the hand dealt me the way I was supposed to. I was friendly with most of my ex-wives. My God, there’s a Mickey Rooney’s Former Wives Marching Band!
6. Mickey Rooney served 22 months in the U.S. Army during World War II. Five of those months were with the Third Army of Gen. George S. Patton. Rooney attained the rank of Sergeant, and won a Bronze Star, among other decorations.
7. Mickey Rooney is in Guinness book of world records for longest movie career of 89 years (1925-2014).
8. Mickey Rooney was a compulsive gambler on horse racing. My favorite Rooney quote on his gambling issues. “I lost $2 at Santa Anita and I’ve spent $3 million trying to get it back”.
9. Mickey Rooney was nominated for 4 acting Oscars®. He received Best Actor Oscar® nominations for 1939’s Babes in Arms and 1943’s The Human Comedy. He received Best Supporting Actor nominations for 1956’s The Bold and the Brave and 1979’s The Black Stallion. He was given two Honorary Oscars®….the first was in 1939 and the second 44 years later in 1983.
10. Mickey Rooney was the only surviving screen actor to appear in silent films and still continue to act in movies into the 21st century. His film debut was in the movie Not to Be Trusted (1926), when he was 4 years old.
But wait! There is more! How about adjusted Worldwide grosses on 43 Mickey Rooney Movies?
- Andy Hardy Comes Home (1958) $27.80 million adjusted worldwide gross
- Andy Hardy Gets Spring Fever (1939) $227.60 million adjusted worldwide gross
- Andy Hardy Meets Debutante (1940) $225.30 million adjusted worldwide gross
- Andy Hardy’s Blonde Trouble (1944) $187.20 million adjusted worldwide gross
- Andy Hardy’s Double Life (1942) $203.20 million adjusted worldwide gross
- Andy Hardy’s Private Secretary (1941) $233.20 million adjusted worldwide gross
- Babes in Arms (1939) $401.30 million adjusted worldwide gross
- Babes on Broadway (1941) $374.50 million adjusted worldwide gross
- Baby Face Nelson (1957) $64.90 million adjusted worldwide gross
- Big Operator, The (1959) $27.20 million adjusted worldwide gross
- Boys Town (1938) $443.70 million adjusted worldwide gross
- Captains Courageous (1937) $405.90 million adjusted worldwide gross
- Courtship of Andy Hardy (1942) $200.80 million adjusted worldwide gross
- Family Affair, A (1937) $57.40 million adjusted worldwide gross
- Girl Crazy (1943) $280.80 million adjusted worldwide gross
- Hardys Ride High, The (1939) $222.60 million adjusted worldwide gross
- Human Comedy, The (1943) $306.70 million adjusted worldwide gross
- Judge Hardy and Son (1939) $213.30 million adjusted worldwide gross
- Judge Hardy’s Children (1938) $94.40 million adjusted worldwide gross
- Killer McCoy (1947) $196.50 million adjusted worldwide gross
- Life Begins for Andy Hardy (1941) $241.50 million adjusted worldwide gross
- Love Finds Andy Hardy (1938) $280.40 million adjusted worldwide gross
- Love Laughs At Andy Hardy (1946) $152.60 million adjusted worldwide gross
- Manhattan Melodrama (1934) $129.00 million adjusted worldwide gross
- Midsummer Night’s Dream, A (1935) $123.40 million adjusted worldwide gross
- National Velvet (1944) $496.80 million adjusted worldwide gross
- Night at the Museum (2006) $736.00 million adjusted worldwide gross
- Night at the Museum: Secret of the Tomb (2014) $371.80 million adjusted worldwide gross
- Off Limits (1952) $106.20 million adjusted worldwide gross
- Out West With The Hardys (1938) $238.60 million adjusted worldwide gross
- Platinum High School (1960) $11.10 million adjusted worldwide gross
- Reckless (1935) $135.00 million adjusted worldwide gross
- Riffraff (1936) $117.60 million adjusted worldwide gross
- Slight Case of Larceny, A (1953) $25.10 million adjusted worldwide gross
- Stablemates (1938) $198.10 million adjusted worldwide gross
- Strike Up The Band (1940) $299.80 million adjusted worldwide gross
- Strip, The (1951) $47.60 million adjusted worldwide gross
- Summer Holiday (1948) $96.10 million adjusted worldwide gross
- Thoroughbreds Don’t Cry (1937) $95.20 million adjusted worldwide gross
- Words and Music (1948) $252.50 million adjusted worldwide gross
- World Changes, The (1933) $71.40 million adjusted worldwide gross
- Yank At Eton, A (1942) $200.60 million adjusted worldwide gross
- Your’re Only Young Once (1937) $87.10 million adjusted worldwide gross
Check out Mickey Rooney’s movie career compared to current and classic stars on our Most 100 Million Dollar Movies of All-Time page.
Academy Award® and Oscar® are the registered trademarks of the Academy of Motion Arts and Sciences.
Hey Steve….another would be John Saxon. Saxon and Mickey Rooney appeared in the classic film Maximum Force in 1992. Sam J. Jones better known as Flash Gordon or Ted’s all-time hero got that the lead role in that one. We watch Maximum Force every Arbor Day….kind of a tradition in our family….lol.
Glad it held up in Manchester as well.
Arbor day? Bruce, that’s a closer connection between Rooney and Enter the Dragon than I managed, good work. I don’t think I’ve seen Maximum Force.
Hey Steve….actually I have never even heard of Maximum Force either….it was just the google search result when I typed in “John Saxon & Mickey Rooney”….and it popped right up. I imagine with a 4.4 IMDb rating…we are not missing much…lol.
Hi Steve
“Can a dozen critics and websites be wrong.”
Certainly, especially on issues like musicals (or opera or ballet) as there isn’t any necessary common ground. The critics might dismiss anything that Rogers and Hart did because they simply do not like the music.
It comes down to the dog whistle thing about music. You blow the whistle and a human doesn’t hear anything but the dog perks up its ears. There is a whistle for the dog. The problem is with your ears not with the whistle. Many times I have heard a singer sing beautifully in a certain style which might no longer be mainstream and be scalded as having an ugly voice or a voice too high-pitched, etc. That type of criticism is not relevant to me if I appreciate the singing.
Also, many movie critics aren’t into the music at all and judge the movie on the plot or characters. Misses the point for those mainly interested in the music.
Anyway, don’t be so defensive. I know you and Bruce are simply reflecting the critical consensus.
Steve
Just watched your Rooney video. As I have stated previously, Words and Music should be rated much higher. I concede it avoids the truth about Lorenz Hart being gay, and so is phony, plus the dramatic scenes with Rooney are over-the-top. But this one has the great Rogers and Hart score and spectacular singing and dancing turns by Rooney, Garland, Kelly, Horne, Como, Charisse, etc. For me, it should be in the top ten. I watch musicals for the music and this one delivers on that.
Boys Town should be about #4. I have always liked it.
Breakfast at Tiffany’s—well, everyone else loves it, so what am I to say. Just an old grouch about this one, I guess, but it would be my #1 for Rooney. More like #5. Whatever else, though, this is the worst Rooney performance I have seen and is downright embarrassing not only for being politically incorrect, but just as an acting performance. (Brando was un-PC in Teahouse of the August Moon, but his acting at least was up to par).
Bottom line–I would rate National Velvet as the #1 Rooney movie.
*I know this might stir up a hornet’s nest, but the poster for the 1941 Life Begins for Andy Hardy interests me. Rooney was in his third year of being voted the #1 box office draw. He was a rising superstar. Who gets top billing on the poster? Old Lewis Stone! When I made the point that seniority mattered, I got stomped on. But it obviously did. There is no other plausible explanation for Stone being top billed.
Cogerson
“but it would be my #1 for Rooney” should have read “it would NOT be my #1 for Rooney.”
Another typo.
Got it….correctly I can not edited it….as I am away from my main computer.
Hi John, Words and Music only managed a score of 7.2 from one of my sources, rotten tomatoes, second highest was IMDB with 6.6, the others around 6, so I couldn’t get it much higher on the ratings average.
As a Rooney movie, Breakfast at Tiffanys was one of his worst, but taken on it’s own it was easily the highest rated movie on the list, at least from my sources. If the criteria was ‘movies that best represent Mickey Rooney’ than the results would be different, maybe not much different, Tiffanys would not be up there but some of the others in the top 10 will still be there.
Not sure if Boys Town or National Velvet represents the best of Rooney, I would pick a musical like Babes in Arms or Strike Up the Band that showcase how versatile and entertaining the young actor was in his hey day.
Looking at Bruce’s critics chart – Words and Music is almost last – so it fared a lot better on the Lensman chart, he smugly replied. 🙂
Hi Steve
I understand you are basing your ratings on the critics’ opinions.
So to put my position succinctly–
The critics are wrong.
Well to be fair John, Bruce’s critics chart is also based on critics opinions and they were even less impressed about your favorite Rooney movie. Can a dozen critics and websites be wrong? 😉
🙂
Hey John and Bob…..I will have to see which of my sources rated Words and Music so low.
Love how Steve uses UMR as a human shield when the bullets start flying….lol. I was just minding my business when Steve points out my rating….I thought we were friends….lol.
I know it’s terrible. I love the UMR Bruce, it comes in useful when Bob or John point at the scores from my sources and cry ‘they’re wrong!’ than I very kindly (and quietly) redirect them to your charts where their favorite films get even worse treatment. [wink]
I mean it’s not our fault if they choose films that get average ratings. One of my top favorite movies ‘The Omega Man’ didn’t even make Heston’s top 10, it happens to everyone.
Btw I’m watching Enter the Dragon for the zillionth time, but first time I’m watching it out of London.
Just terrible! Funny how they keep picking average movies…lol. Glad we are here to help take some of the heat off of you. So was Enter The Dragon better now that you are outside London? Another funny Lensman comment….very well done Mr. Lensman.
I’m trying to connect Mickey Rooney to Enter the Dragon but I can’t think of any link here. Sometimes when I randomly watch two films in an evening I try to find a connection between the two, like an actor appearing in both films, similar technical credits or even some of the same dialogue. But Rooney and Bruce Lee are too far apart.
Enter the Dragon still holds up even in Manchester, easily the greatest martial arts epic of them all, ironic in that it was produced and directed by Americans.
Oh found a connection – Mickey Rooney appeared in Night at the Museum which also starred Owen Wilson, Wilson co-starred with Jackie Chan in a couple of films and a very young Chan has an uncredited role in Enter the Dragon as ‘Thug in Prison’.
Cogerson and Steve
I will point out that I said the critics were wrong. Not that you were wrong.
Just on critics, here is something which might probably means nothing to Steve, but which Cogerson might appreciate. This is the scouting report on a quarterback prospect coming out of college–
“Poor build. Very skinny and narrow. Looks a little frail and lacks great physical stature and strength. Can get pushed down more easily than you would like. Lacks mobility and ability to avoid the rush. Lacks a really strong arm. Can’t drive the ball down the field and does not throw a really tight spiral.”
Who was this poor prospect? A young fellow named Tom Brady.
*Just on this topic which I have managed to tenuously drag in here, I heard this fact from a sportscaster on TV. There have been about 15,000 NFL games played. How many times has a team come back from 25 or more points down to win? The answer is 7.
Tom Brady? I am not too familiar with him….was he a classic supporting actor? a great chef? a soccer player? Maybe one day his name will register with me. His name sounds kind of like the Patriots QB Tom Shady…..you know the guy that lives in the gray area of the rules and has a 1-3 record against Peyton Manning when they played in the AFC Championship game. Mr. Shady was also 0-2 against Eli Manning in the Super Bowl. I will have to do some research on this Tom Brady….lol.
Great stat…on the 25 or more point comeback….I am so glad I am not a Falcon fan. Thanks for the comment and the visit.
Hey John…. your thoughts have me interested in checking out Words and Music. My sources gave it pretty bad marks as well. Still it is now on my list of movies to watch. I agree with your thoughts on Rooney and Breakfast at Tiffany’s. His role could not be made today without some serious rewrites.
Good point about Rooney on that poster…..maybe Stone’s contract made sure he got top billing. Still good catch by you. Thanks for the feedback.
Great comment Bob, much appreciated. I wavered on including Manhattan Melodrama but the fact he played Clark Gable as a boy on film made it interesting and I included it.
Breakfast at Tiffanys was a problem, it’s the highest rated movie he has appeared in, at least from my sources, but his role is the most offensive of the lot. People remember him in that film, should I leave it out? I’m sure I would get comments arguing that it should have been included.
Your favorite Rooney movie – Off Limits – didn’t even make it to Bruce’s more comprehensive list so there was little chance it’ll appear on mine.
Thanks again for the review and rating. Edna Mae Durbin up next.
Hey Steve…it is indeed strange to see Breakfast at Tiffany’s so highly rated on both of pages/videos. But it is a great classic movie even though Rooney actually brings the movie down…versus helping the movie. In the end Rooney was one of the featured actors in the movie….so how can it not be included? 🙂
So got home and immediately went to check out Words And Music…..well…..when I did the research on Words and Music….it’s IMDb rating was 6.3…it is now up to 6.5. Rotten Tomatoes no longer has it listed…at the time it was running 51% there. Now it is listed as a 1998 movie and no longer has a consensus. It got a video rating of 2 and half bones on Video Hound….that is a 62.50% when it goes into my database…Joel Hirschhorn gives Rooney’s a 3 star review which translates to a 75% rating when it goes into my database.
So in a nutshell…..most of my sources had it hovering around the good to average mark….with Rotten Tomatoes pulling it into the mid 50s range. I might have to recalculate that number when I get around to updating this page….which will be coming in the future. It is disturbing that the Rotten Tomatoe number does not exist anymore. Hope that explains it some.
Bring on Edna Mae!
🙂
1 STEVE Bruce’s page on screen duos rightly recognises Mickey and Judy Garland as one of the great movie teams of the classic era whereas many chroniclers don’t look beyond Astaire/Rogers, MacDonald/Eddy, Powell/Loy, Tracy/Hepburn. In an interview after Judy’s death Mickey blamed MGM for many of her problems and suggested they pushed her too hard at a young age when she was unable to cope with excessive pressure. I think I counted 8 Rooney/Garland films in your selections so good coverage there.
2 I anticipated that a live wire like Joe Yule Jr would yield you a comprehensive range of dazzling posters for you and I was not disappointed, the pick for my money being Huckleberry Finn, Babes in Arms, Girl Crazy and Strike up the Band. Good stills of Rooney/Garland (4 in all), Mickey and Old Cantankerous from Boys’ Town, Rooney/Liz Taylor in National Velvet and a really unique almost startling one of Mickey from Midsummer Night’s Dream – where on earth did you get it?
3 For artistic merit you and Bruce agree on 3 of the Top 5 with Bruce including Boys’ Town but I back you in leaving it out of the Top 5 simply because I never liked it. I was disappointed that you included in your overall selections Manhattan Melodrama in which Mickey had the minor role of Clark Gable as a boy. Of course I make allowances for the fact that on this site there is always the compulsion to showcase a movie in which Myrna Loy has even the most fleeting role. I could also have done without Breakfast at Tiffany’s because of Mickey’s silly cameo in that one. I was also sorry that my own overall favourite Rooney film Off Limits [aka Military Policeman] with Bob Hope didn’t make the cut. However those are just nit- picking observations and all in all the video was good value and worth a 9.4/10
4 Mickey’s heyday was of course in the 1940s, and the 50s and beyond saw him in supporting roles and/or low budget movies. For me his best film in the later years was the little thriller Drive a Crooked Road and I was very pleased that you included it in your video. Good work.
Hey Bob….good review of Steve’s Mickey Rooney page….I actually found that page 4 minutes after he posted it….by far my quickest response to one of his videos. Sorry you and Steve are wrong about Boys Town. That is the movie that made him a superstar…and yes he was a superstar back then. I need to update his page….and when I do….he should be sitting in a very good place…heck he is already in 61st before his update. Good stuff as always.