Paul Newman Movies

Want to know the best Paul Newman movies?  How about the worst Paul Newman movies?  Curious about Paul Newman’s box office grosses or which Paul Newman movie picked up the most Oscar® nominations? Need to know which Paul Newman 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.

One of the few things I remember from my college days was this little lesson……one of my professors was explaining Maslow’s Hierarchy of Needs pyramid and how self-actualization is the highest level a person can reach. The example he gave off a person that had reached the top of the pyramid was Paul Newman (1925-2008). During Newman’s very successful 52 year movie career, he received nine Oscar® nominations for acting……winning for The Color of Money. He also received two honorary Oscars® in 1986 and 1994. His 56 movies averaged almost 100 million in adjusted for inflation dollars at the box office per movie, while earning 98 Oscar® nominations.

I however believe he will ultimately be remembered for what he gave back to society. He started Newman’s Own in 1982 with all profits being donated, after taxes, to various charitable organizations. To date they have donated nearly 300 million dollars. Newman also started the Hole in the Wall summer camp program. The camp serves nearly 15,000 seriously ill children every year, free of charge. Newman arranged for the continuation of the distribution of Newman’s Own profits to charity after Newman’s death through the establishment of the Newman’s Own Foundation.

Ok….so let’s starting talking about movies. Paul Newman is one of my favorite actors. My favorite movie of all-time is Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid. Other Newman movies that I think are classics would include: The Sting, Cool Hand Luke, The Verdict, Nobody’s Fool, Slap Shot and Cat on a Hot Tin Roof. Paul Newman passed away in September 2008. He is missed by movie fans all around the world.

His IMDb page shows 82 acting and 6 directing credits from 1949-2006. This page will rank Paul Newman movies from Best to Worst in six different sortable columns of information. Television shows, shorts, cameos and movies that were not released in theaters were not included in the rankings.

Paul Newman in 1994's Nobody's Fool
Paul Newman in 1994’s Nobody’s Fool

Paul Newman Movies Ranked In Chronological Order With Ultimate Movie Rankings Score (1 to 5 UMR Tickets) *Best combo of box office, reviews and awards.

Paul Newman 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 Paul Newman movies by titles and trailers
  • Sort Paul Newman movies by co-stars of his movies.
  • Sort Paul Newman movies by adjusted domestic box office grosses using current movie ticket cost (in millions)
  • Sort Paul Newman movies by yearly box office rank
  • Sort Paul Newman 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 Paul Newman movie received.
  • Sort Paul Newman 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.

Adjusted Paul Newman Adjusted Worldwide Box Office Grosses 

Paul Newman in 1967's Cool Hand Luke
Paul Newman in 1967’s Cool Hand Luke

Check out Paul Newman’s career compared to current and classic actors.  Most 100 Million Dollar Movies of All-Time.

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73 thoughts on “Paul Newman Movies”

  1. COPIED FROM STEVE McQUEEN PAGE

    STEVE 1. I know that you’re not usually too interested in detailed historical stats but as McQueen made a big issue of status and you have put much hard work into giving us the excellent McQueen/Newman/Redford video trilogy I thought that you might like to see a summary of the Work Horse’s box office take in the matter

    2 As the hotly-contested billing issue first arose in relation to Butch Cassidy & the Sundance Kid in 1969 only the earnings of their films up to roughly that point are relevant and Bruce’s tables show that the total adjusted domestic grosses for the two stars at the end of 1968 were:

    NEWMAN Total gross figure $3.03 billion – average per movie $108.2 million
    McQUEEN Total Gross figure $1.7 billion – average $100.5 million per movie

    2 In terms of box office it was therefore really no contest at that point and the 2nd time the billing quarrel broke out was when Towering Inferno was being made in 1974 and the total Cogerson adjusted domestic grosses at the end of 1973 were:

    NEWMAN Total gross figure $5.35 billion – average per movie $144.5 million.
    McQUEEN Total Gross figure $2.56 billion – average per movie $116.4 million.

    3 Thus by end 1973 Newman’s adjusted grosses had Increased to more than twice those of McQueen so that whether one has regard to total gross or average gross Steve’s apparent belief that he had some absolute right to be billed over Paul could be regarded as an inflated sense of self-entitlement. I should add that I find Bruce’s stats invaluable in helping movie industry ‘outsiders’ like me to be aware of at least at the statistical weight of evidence in disputes of the kind mentioned. Indeed when I look at the Work Horse’s comprehensive figures I find it harder to understand why Paul didn’t just tell McQueen much as I like Steve to **** off!

    4 Actually what I find even more amazing was that in 1965 McQueen seemed to think he should be billed above Cary Grant and Steve and Cary did not get to make The Cincinnati Kid together because of the billing issue. Yet Steve was a relative newcomer and Grant had enjoyed one of the greatest careers in movie history which had already lasted over 30 years and had garnered an adjusted domestic gross of over $8 billion according to WH. What’s more Cary was no “has been” but was a vibrant box office star up to his retirement in 1966 and had been in a string of box office hits in the years immediately preceding 1965
    [North by Northwest, Operation Petticoat, That Touch of Mink, Charade and Father Goose]

    5 For the record whilst Bob Redford never seemed to get involved in the McQueen/Newman-type power struggles WH’s stats show that by the time Towering Inferno in 1974 had come around Bob too had out-grossed Steve in terms of both total grosses and average grosses and Bob’s average gross per movie was in fact almost twice that of Steve’s. So all in all who did that guy McQueen think he actually was – Spencer Tracy?

    Reply

  2. 1. Although he won a Golden Globe for Most Promsing Newcomer, his first film The Silver Chalice in 1954 was deemed so awful by critics that Paul took out a newspaper ad to disown and apologise for it. Also journalists initially persisted in tagging him “another Brando” whereas he had a separate distinct persona and of course ultimately became in his own right one of the greatest and indeed most widely respected movie stars.

    2. I too always had a lot of time for Paul as both a star and a private individual*** and therefore welcome this video. I loved the STILLS for Cat, Sting, Hustler and the two black and white solos of Paul as Billy the Kid and Hud. I presume that the one from Towering Inferno was taken between scenes and is not from the actual movie? You have given us an unusually long run of foreign-language posters and they really are superb with my personal favourites being Torn Curtain, Color of Money, Exodus, Hombre and Butch Cassidy. Other classy ones were The Young Philadelphians [aka The City Jungle] and the Long Hot Summer. The latter holds particularly nostalgic memories for me – “It was a lazy languid kind of day with the girls in their summer dresses. Then the stranger came to town and nothing was ever the same again,” ran the tagline in the 1958 posters.

    3***Bruce in his lead-in on Newman’s excellent Cogerson page well-articulates Paul’s off-screen contribution to society and though the ever and over-busy Work Horse omitted to amend the opening statistical quote he in his later ready reckoner duly updated an adjusted domestic gross figure of approx. $5.6 billion for 56 movies to a whacking $7.43 billion roughly for 59 movies. I feel that along with a viewing of the Lensman video the Cogerson profile of Paul is well worth a scrutiny/second visit.

    4 You and WH agree on 4 of Paul’s Top 5 with Bruce opting for inclusion of The Verdict instead of your choice of Cat on a Hot Tin Roof. I’m afraid I have to back him there as The Verdict is my own very favourite Newman movie after The Hustler which means though that I support you in making Hustler No 1 whereas WH lists it as his No 2. It’s really all hair-splitting though. Anyway a career that was undoubtedly one of the greatest of all time in terms of artistic quality and commercial success deserves a fitting tribute and your video certainly complements WH’s page in provided such a tribute and in my opinion the video easily earns a 96.5% rating.

    ADDITIONAL TRIVIA (1)Though Paul got Top billing in Torn Curtain Julie Andrews was given the higher salary.but then Paul was generally praised for always being reasonable in his pay demands (2) It’s disappointing that another of my very fave Newman flicks Absence of Malice is given just a 66% rating by you whereas WH gives it an excellent 77.5%. If it had been the other way around I would have blamed Hirsch’s negative influence on the Work Horse !!!

    Reply

    1. STEVE

      I meant to address directly to you my Newman post of a few minutes ago – apologies for the omission.

      Reply

      1. Hey Bob.
        1. First of all…here is the link to Steve’s new Newman You Tube video https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2KdHqJ7XyJQ
        2. I agree 100% our two pages make great compliments to each other….even if we disagree on the rankings.
        3. I see Silver Chalice did not crack Steve’s video…somewhere Newman is smiling about that.
        4. I recently saw The Young Philadelphians recently….an enjoyable though very dated movie.
        5. Glad you are in my corner with regards to The Verdict…..the movie that should have given Newman the Oscar versus the far inferior The Color Of Money.
        6. Funny you mentioned Hirsch….he does in fact have a Joel Newman breakdown….that I am just itching to use…..lol. You and him agree on The Verdict ….it is one of his 4 star performances of Newman.
        Good stuff.

        Reply

        1. Thanks as always for the link Bruce. I wanted to include The Silver Chalice on the video if only for the poster artwork but it was a very low rated film. Interesting production design and the usual scenery chewing by Jack Palance. I’m not surprised Newman is embarrassed of it.

          Newman on The Silver Chalice – “That I survived the first film I did [The Silver Chalice (1954)] was extraordinarily good fortune. I mean, I had dogs chasing me down the street. I was wearing this tiny little Greek cocktail dress – with MY legs! Good Lord, it was really bad. In fact, it was the worst film made in the 1950s. My first review said that “Mr. Newman delivers his lines with the emotional fervor of a Putnam stop conductor announcing local stop”.

          🙂

          Reply

          1. HI STEVE1 Enjoyed your backchat to my Newman post and it is indeed interesting to learn the behind-the-scenes history of some of your ratings. I loved too the funny story about Paul and The Silver Chalice that you told in your post to Bruce. It was once said of Rock Hudson that at his peak he was “so popular that even dogs followed him about.”

            2 Indeed Paul must have been a well-balanced and laid-back person because whereas it would no doubt have driven Tracy wild and made him even more abusive than usual if he had been compared unfavorably with Mr. Mumbles those early comparisons never seemed to bother Newman. Indeed he claimed in an interview that Mr M was offered a part in every movie over which Paul had some sort of production control and Newman mentioned that ole Mumbles was in fact the first to be invited to play Butch and if he had agreed Paul was going to be Sundance usually prcveived as the more ‘junior’ of that partnership [The two superstars did of course team up in real life along with Chuck for Civil Rights campaigns.]

            3 In most anecdotes that we impart a Dan-like spinoff link can be identified and turning again to the Newman/McQueen feud it has always struck me that given Paul’s influence on the Butch Cassidy movie Steve picked the wrong production over which to start his now historical billing feud with Paul. IMDB lists Paul as uncredited executive co-producer of Butch Cassidy and it must surely have occurred to McQueen sooner or later that in taking on Paul over that particular project he had as Jack Nicholson expressed it in A Few Good Men “****** with the wrong Marine!” Anyway to paraphrase Abbott & Costello “Who’s on Next,” for you?

          2. Hi Bob, thanks for the additional Newman trivia. He does seem like a nicer guy than Bronson, McQueen and Garner too.

            From Newman’s IMDB bio – “He had his own line of food products, “Newman’s Own”, featuring mainly spaghetti sauces and salad dressings. The company made more than $100 million in profits over the years, all of which he donated to various charities.”

            “The embarrassing thing is that my salad dressing is out-grossing my films.”

            His buddy Redford is up next and his top 30 is looking pretty good too.

          3. Hey Steve and Bob.
            1. You are welcome for the link, Steve. I have noticed that you videos are driving some decent traffic to my pages….so thank you for that.
            2. Luckily Newman got better reviews than the one you partial included.
            3. Good Brando/Newman trivia Bob.
            4. In some ways Steve McQueen was like my favorite tennis player Mats Wilander. Wilander spent years trying to become the #1 ranked player….but once he got there….he lost his desire for the game. McQueen spent years trying to top Newman….and when he finally did….The Towering Inferno billing issue….he seemed to lose desire for movies…as only made three movies after achieving his goal….and that trio of movies is never mentioned as some of McQueen’s great movies.
            5. Look forward to your Robert Redford video – Steve.
            🙂

    2. Hi Bob, thanks for the generous rating (more than Paul Newman’s top film managed on my video), review, comment, trivia, billing info, observation, comparison, appraisal and evaluation, much appreciated.

      Very happy the pictorial content met with your approval.

      Regarding the absence of a high score for Absence of Malice – looking at my charts none of the scores were impressive, the highest was 7 out of 10. Bruce couldn’t get it past 8. It’s not a high scoring film though Newman did recieve an Oscar nomination.

      I’m not the biggest Newman fan as I’ve mentioned a number of times before, as I was earlier telling Bruce on my channel a few minutes ago I was more in the McQueen/Bronson camp rather than Newman/Redford. But I do like a number of his films including Cool Hand Luke, The Hustler and Butch Cassidy. I’ve never seen The Verdict. One day I will give it a spin.

      I decided not to include the movies he directed, the top rated was Rachel, Rachel which scored 7.5. I’m sure viewers want to see Mr. Blue Eyes on there rather than his wife.

      Have to admit Newman’s top 20 is of a higher quality than the recent top superstars I’ve done videos on, higher score averages and a greater number of award nomination.

      Looking at my files he has five films scoring 10 out of 10 – The Hustler, Butch Cassidy, The Sting, Hud and The Verdict. The latter scored around 7 to 8 from other sources which brought it’s total down and it missed the top 5. Seven others scored 9 out of 10 including Cool Hand Luke and Cat on a Hot Tin Roof.

      The Sundance Kid next, no surprises there.

      Reply

  3. Paul has worked with 42 other Oscar winners I could come up with.

    A New Kind of Love (1963) – Joanne Woodward
    Absence of Malice (1981) – Sally Field
    Buffalo Bill and the Indians (1976) – Burt Lancaster
    Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid (1969) – Cloris Leachman
    Cars (2006) – Tom Hanks
    Cat on a Hot Tin Roof (1958) – Elizabeth Taylor, Burl Ives
    Cool Hand Luke (1967) – George Kennedy
    Exodus (1960) – Hugh Griffith, Eva Marie Saint
    From the Terrace (1960) – Joanne Woodward
    Harper (1966) – Shelley Winters
    Harry & Son (1984) – Morgan Freeman, Joanne Woodward
    Hemingway’s Adventures of a Young Man (1962) – Jessica Tandy, James Dunn
    Hombre (1967) – Martin Balsam, Fredric March
    Hud (1963) – Melvyn Douglas, Patricia Neal
    Lady L (1965) – David Niven, Sophia Loren, Peter Ustinov
    Magnificent Desolation: Walking on the Moon 3D (2005) – Morgan Freeman, Tom Hanks, Matthew McConaughey
    Mr. & Mrs. Bridge (1990) – Joanne Woodward
    Nobody’s Fool (1994) – Philip Seymour Hoffman, Jessica Tandy
    Paris Blues (1961) – Sidney Poitier, Joanne Woodward
    Pocket Money (1972) – Lee Marvin
    Rally Round the Flag, Boys! (1958) – Joanne Woodward
    Road to Perdition (2002) – Tom Hanks
    Sometimes a Great Notion (1970) – Henry Fonda
    Sweet Bird of Youth (1962) – Geraldine Page
    The Color of Money (1986) – Forest Whitaker
    The Drowning Pool (1975) – Joanne Woodward
    The Hustler (1961) – George C. Scott
    The Long, Hot Summer (1958) – Joanne Woodward
    The Rack (1956) – Cloris Leachman, Lee Marvin, Edmond O’Brien
    The Silver Chalice (1954) – Jack Palance
    The Towering Inferno (1974) – Faye Dunaway, William Holden, Jennifer Jones
    Torn Curtain (1966) – Julie Andrews
    Twilight (1998) – Susan Sarandon, Gene Hackman, Reese Witherspoon
    Until They Sail (1957) – Joan Fontaine
    What a Way to Go! (1964) – Shirley Maclaine
    When Time Ran Out (1980) – Ernest Borgnine, William Holden, Red Buttons
    Winning (1969) – Joanne Woodward
    WUSA (1970) – Cloris Leachman, Joanne Woodward

    Reply

    1. Hey Dan…..yet another performer right at 42. Newman is one of my all time favorites. I see you got both from Nobody’s Fool. Are you finding these results by memory or the use of a database? Either….way….the information is great to see.

      Reply

  4. A Paul Newman update, cool. I’ve checked my earlier posts and I don’t seem to have included a tally of films watched. Let’s see… 1,2,3.. I’ve seen 20 of the 59 films listed, what part of the podium do I stand? Do I get bronze or platinum or maybe plastic?

    Good to see Cool Hand Luke topping the critics chart, the hugely successful Butch Cassidy is a little low in the ranks there. The Verdict no.2 on the UMR chart. Never seen it. [Bruce gasps]

    I have to confess I was never a big fan of Newman, Redford or Beatty and would generally ignore their movies at the cinema. I was more into Bronson, Coburn, Marvin and McQueen movies back then.

    Good work Bruce. Voted Up!

    Reply

    1. Thanks Steve…..will….your tally will get you the bronze…..as long as nobody else offers up a tally count…..in a bitter and contested contest…..Oh Canada…will be playing again….lol. I actually did not count The Life and Times of Judge Roy Bean….I know I have seen most of that movie….but the memory seems to think I never saw the beginning.

      Well Butch is 4th on UMR….essentially due to the fact that Newman did not get an Oscar nomination for that one. If I was to do a Top 5….Butch would be first, Luke would be second Nobody’s Fool 3rd, Towering 4th and a log jam for 5th between Slap Shot, The Verdict, The Sting and Harper.

      Not a huge Newman fan….never realized that….you learn something new everyday. Thanks for the visit and the comment.

      Reply

  5. Hey, Bruce.
    I saw you had updated your page on Newman and I had to update my comment as well.

    I see by your comments about Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid that when you wrote those words you had not yet seen Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid since he had died. I know now that you have indeed been able to see the film. I too could not watch films Newman made where he died until long after Newman died.

    Of course, since I never shut up about my love of Gregory Peck, – LOL- you and I had a conversation on these pages about how I was unable to watch anything sentimental with My Darling Greg when he was in the last years of his life and for several years after he died. Thankfully this has changed. I now see Roman Holiday on a regular basis.

    Back to Newman’s Own – there are several people whose pages you have done who are great actors/directors etc. with wonderful careers who have done wonderful things off screen for which they are best remembered and loved. Newman is one of the best.

    Looking at the films I have seen – Splat Shot is the first photo. It is is one of the few hockey movies I have seen. I know it sounds odd for a Canadian to say this, but I prefer Curling. This is as a fan. With my bad balance, I would not go anywhere near ice myself.

    The highest ranking film I HAVE NOT SEEN is 14: Sometimes a Great Notion co-starring Henry Fonda. (sorry Henry)

    The lowest ranking film I have seen 58: Quintet. So I am all over the place with my views Newman’s films.

    The most recently released movie of Newman’s movie which I saw on the big screen was Road to Perdition – a movie I loved so much that I saw it twice on the big screen.

    I’ve seen 37 of Newman’s movies now which is over half.

    I thought that I still had The Helen Morgan Story recorded on PVR, but it looks like I deleted it before I saw it.

    The film of Newman’s I saw for the first time the most recently regardless of when it was made is The Young Philadelphians. Excellent film. Not sure how I missed seeing it all the years before.

    Reply

    1. Hey Flora.
      1. Thanks for checking out our latest update.
      2. I was looking at the old comments….and it appears this page was first published in 2011….before we shared our tally counts….that is a shame because it would be interesting to see how many new Newman movies I have seen in the last 5 years.
      3. So you are at 37…..I am at 36….oh so close…..I actually stunned that there are still 23 “new to me” Newman movies out there.
      4. Yes it took a very look time to give Butch and Sundance another spin….about to get Sam to watch it too…..it is now summer break….and we have the whole summer to watch movies….lol.
      5. I understand your thinking regarding Peck 100%.
      6. Sometimes A Great Notion has a memorable scene involving Newman, Richard Jaekal and a huge log…..seems I think about that scene pretty often.
      7. Wow you saw Road To Perdition twice in theaters….I am impressed.
      8. I need to find The Young Philadelphians…that is one of the 23 that I have not seen.
      Thanks for another great comment.

      Reply

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