Want to know the best Richard Widmark movies? How about the worst Richard Widmark movies? Curious about Richard Widmark’s box office grosses or which Richard Widmark movie picked up the most Oscar® nominations? Need to know which Richard Widmark 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.
This Richard Widmark page comes from a request from film historian Flora Robison. Richard Widmark (1914-2008) was an American actor who was born in Sunrise Township, Minnesota. His career spanned over 50 years and included work in film, radio, stage and television. Widmark made his debut as a radio actor in 1938 and his debut on Broadway in 1943’s Kiss and Tell. His work on the stage earned him a seven-year movie contract with United Artists.
His first movie role was playing a giggling sociopath, in the classic Kiss of Death (1947). His most notorious scene found Udo happily pushing a wheelchair-bound woman down a flight of stairs to her death. The role earned Widmark his only Oscar® nomination, and won him the Golden Globe® for most promising newcomer. After the success of Kiss of Death, he would work steadily until he retired at the age of 76 in 1992, primarily as a character lead. His stardom would peak around the time he played the U.S. prosecutor in 1961’s Judgment at Nuremberg, but he would continue to act for another 30 years. His final role would be in the John Cusack movie…. True Colors.
His IMDb page shows 79 acting credits from 1947-1992. This page will rank Richard Widmark movies from Best to Worst in six different sortable columns of information. Television appearances, some of his movies made outside of the Hollywood system and his straight to DVD movies were not included in the rankings.
Richard Widmark Movies Ranked In Chronological Order With Ultimate Movie Rankings Score (1 to 5 UMR Tickets) *Best combo of box office, reviews and awards.
Richard Widmark 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 Richard Widmark movies by co-stars of his movies
- Sort Richard Widmark movies by adjusted domestic box office grosses using current movie ticket cost (in millions)
- Sort Richard Widmark movies by yearly box office rank
- Sort Richard Widmark 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 Richard Widmark movie received.
- Sort Richard Widmark 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 Richard WidmarkTable
- Fifteen Richard Widmark movies crossed the magical $100 million domestic gross mark. That is a percentage of 24.59% of his movies listed. How the West Was Won (1963) was his biggest box office hit.
- An average Richard Widmark movie grosses $74.60 million in adjusted box office gross.
- Using RottenTomatoes.com’s 60% fresh meter. 40 Richard Widmark movies are rated as good movies…or 65.57% of his movies. Judgment at Nuremberg (1961) is his highest rated movie while The Swarm (1978) is his lowest rated movie.
- Fifteen Richard Widmark movies received at least one Oscar® nomination in any category…..or 24.59% of his movies.
- Six Richard Widmark movies won at least one Oscar® in any category…..or 9.83% of his movies.
- An average Ultimate Movie Rankings (UMR)Score is 60.00. 28 Richard Widmark movies scored higher that average….or 45.90% of his movies. How the West Was Won (1963) got the the highest UMR Score while National Lampoon’s Movie Madness (1982) got the lowest UMR Score.
Possibly Interesting Facts About Richard Widmark
1. Richard Widmark’s daughter was married to baseball legend Sandy Koufax from 1969 to 1982.
2. Richard Widmark was married to playwright Jean Hazlewood from 1942 to her death in 1997. One of the few successful Hollywood marriages.
3. Widmark Airport is located in Green City, Missouri and was named in honor of Richard Widmark. Widmark contributed funds to the construction of the airport.
4. Richard Widmark and director Robert Totten had artistic differences during the filming of 1969’s Death of a Gunfighter. Totten was replaced by Don Siegel. When the film was completed, Siegel, saying that Totten directed more of the film than he did, refused to take screen credit for it, but Widmark didn’t want Totten’s name on it. A compromise was reached whereby the film was credited to the fictitious Alan Smithee, thereby setting a precedent for directors who, for one reason or another, did not want their name on a film they made. On IMDB, Alan Smithee has over 100 projects to his name….but the first was Death of a Gunfighter.
5. Richard Widmark made three movies with Sidney Poitier…..1950’s No Way Out, 1964’s The Long Ships and 1965’s The Bedford Incident.
6. Check out Richard Widmark‘s career compared to current and classic actors. Most 100 Million Dollar Movies of All-Time.
Taking A Closer Look At Richard Widmark’s Top Five Movies
5. Kiss of Death (1947) What a start to a movie career. Victor Mature was the star of the movie, but Richard Widmark stole the show. His Tommy Udo, a fiend who delights in pushing crippled wheelchair using women down stairs, is the primary reason to see this movie. Widmark based his character on The Joker from the Batman comics. Widmark would receive an Oscar® nomination for Best Supporting Actor (his only nomination) and would win a Golden Globe® as most promising newcomer. One of my favorite quotes about Widmark in Kiss of Death….comes from writers Raymond Borde and Etienne Chaumeton who wrote, “one will remember that nasty little creep with the wild eyes and high-pitched laugh, neurotic to the core”. Well that nasty little creep went on to make many classic movies over the next 50 years.
4. Judgment at Nuremberg (1961) Judgment at Nuremberg is a fictionalized film account of the post-World War II Nuremberg Trails. Widmark played prosecuting attorney Colonel Tad Lawson and is joined by another all-star cast….Spencer Tracy (nominated Best Actor), Burt Lancaster, Maximilian Schell (won Oscar® for Best Actor), Judy Garland (nominated Best Supporting Actress), Montgomery Clift (nominated Best Supporting Actor), William Shatner(yep Captain Kirk), and Marlene Dietrich. Movie was nominated for 11 Oscars®, including a Best Picture nomination and 2 Oscar® wins. According to critics and audiences this is Widmark’s best movie with a 86% score. – See more at: http://cogersonmoviescore.com/richard-widmark-movies-best-to-worst.html#sthash.HQW9Chp0.dpuf
3. Murder on the Orient Express (1974) Murder on the Orient Express is based on the 1934 novel by Agatha Christie. Albert Finney stars as Hercule Poirot, who is asked by his friend Bianchi, a train company director, to investigate the murder of an American business tycoon, Mr. Ratchett aboard a train with an all-star cast of suspects. That all-star cast included Lauren Bacall, Ingrid Bergman, Sean Connery, Sir John Gielgud, Vanessa Redgrave, Michael York and Anthony Hopkins. Widmark plays the very nasty Mr. Ratchett in one of my favorite Widmark roles. Movie earned 6 Oscar® nominations, including a win for Best Supporting Actress (Ingrid Bergman) and was Widmark’s 3rd biggest box office hit.
2. The Alamo (1960) By 1945 John Wayne had decided to make a movie about the 1836 Battle of the Alamo. It took Wayne 15 years to get The Alamo to the big screen. The result was one of the biggest hits of 1961 and 7 Oscar® nominations, including one for Best Picture. Wayne originally intended that Widmark should play Davy Crockett, while Wayne himself would have taken the small role of Sam Houston so he could focus his energy on directing the picture. However, Wayne was only able to get financial backing if he played one of the main parts, so he decided to play Crockett and cast Widmark as Jim Bowie. Rumor has it that Widmark was not a happy camper about the change in his roles, as he did not really want to play Jim Bowie at all.
1. How The West Was Won (1963) Talk about a big movie….an all-star cast (Gregory Peck, Debbie Reynolds, James Stewart, John Wayne, Henry Fonda, Karl Malden, Eli Wallach and narrated by Spencer Tracy).. 3 directors (John Ford, Henry Hathaway and George Marshall)….and 5 segments that span four generations from 1839 to 1889. This western was one of the biggest hits of the 1960s, it earned 8 Oscar® nominations, including one for Best Picture. It won three Oscars®. Widmark appears as ruthless railroad man, Mike King, who violates a treaty by building on Indian territory.
HI STEVE 1 Somebody has already pointed out that in Bruce’s table of Widmark’s box office grosses Richard could not be said to be the out-and-out star of 8 of the Top 10 entries. He was however at the same time very prolific in churning out stand-alone movies generally and Bruce has listed a massive 26 of them between 1949 and 1965.
2 Whilst they are of mixed size, success and quality you and Bruce have each listed 5 of them in your Top 10 best reviewed Widmark films including the ant-Communist Pickup on South Street which many film historians consider a minor classic.
3 Best POSTERS in Video Entries 50-26 were I thought – The Swarm, Domino Principle, To the Devil a Daughter, Destination Gobi, Red Skies of Montana, the foreign language one for Run for the Sun, Alvarez Kelly, the foreign language one for The Trap [The Baited Trap in the UK] Garden of Evil, Hell and High Water, two absolute crackers for the film Halls of Montezuma and lastly A Prize of Gold. At the time of the latter’s release, there was a lot of hype in UK papers and film magazines about the fact that in a scuffle in the movie Brit “softie” Nigel Patrick got the better temporarily of “a Hollywood tough guy” [Richard].
4 STILLS that I recommend are (1) Richard and my Doris in Tunnel of Love. Originally Charlie Bill Stuart was down for the Widmark role. It was of course win-win for me anyway! (2) wonderful lobby cards for The Trap and especially Long Ships (3) with Marilyn in Don’t Bother to Knock. Richard later narrated a documentary about MM and of course in his narration referred to his co-starring with her in that movie (4) Richard with rifle in Backlash.
5 Richard apparently didn’t drink alcohol and hosted a small dinner party for Karl Malden. Sir Sean Connery and Mr Mumbles at which the latter pair entered into a drinking competition and became legless so that the sober Dickie had to organise their getting home safely!
Hi Bob, another big favorite of yours gets an expanded video. Thanks for reviewing the first half of Richard Widmark’s video, appreciate the comment and info. Glad you liked the posters, stills and lobby cards.
I was surprised to read Widmark was such a pacifist, considering how violent some of his films are. Here is the quote I used in the video – “I know I’ve made kind of a half-assed career out of violence, but I abhor violence. I am an ardent supporter of gun control. It seems incredible to me that we are the only civilized nation that does not put some effective control on guns.”
Steve’s latest video update is now on the page…plus our comments on that video. Wow it is time to go to work…will have to do 1965 comments later today.
“I know so people that will like this update. #50 Yeah The Swarm makes the cut….campy fun. #35…wow all the way to Alvarez Kelly for the next match…..decent western #31 Garden of Evil…surprised this is so low…great cast #30 Don’t Bother To Knock….a very unusual role for Monroe #27 Halls of Montz….one of his first starring roles #25 The Cobweb….slow movie…was going to be the 4th James Dean movie #20 The Law and Jake Wade….twice this week you give this movie some love #19 Coma….nice thriller #16 Warlock…great underrated western #14 Madigan….his last great starring role? #13 The Alamo….better than some people say #12 Yellow Sky….one of my favorite Widmark movies #9 Broken Lance…One of Widmark’s best acting performances #8 Murder on the Widmark Express…fun movie #7 Pickup on South Street….great Widmark movie #6 The Bedford Incident…I like it but do not love it #4 Night and City…cult classic #3 HTWWW…small role in epic movie #2 Panic In The Streets…love this one #1 Judgement at Nuremberg….what a cast…..he is great in movie…but Lancaster (he never gets credit for this movie) steals the show in my mind. So that is 20 or 40%….no where near some other tallies…but not too bad. Voted up and shared.”
Hi Bruce, thanks again for the comment, vote and share, it is appreciated. 20 out of 50 is good, I managed 24 and Flora has seen 44, as much as both our tallies combined. I hate seeing Nuremberg no.1 on some charts, it’s not a pleasant film to watch, but it is highly rated.
“Murder on the Widmark Express” nice. Johnny Depp played the same role in Branagh’s recent remake, not a big role but it is important.
My rating for Garden of Evil is only a bit lower than yours, you gave it 6.8 and mine was 6.4.
I think there is something wrong with The Trap and The Final Option. Happy New Year.
Hey In The Shadows….you are 100% correct….I need to fix that….and give those two movies their UMR score…thanks for the headsup.
Fixed.
Hey Lifelong Widmark fan…..that is awesome that you got to meet Mr. Widmark. I really liked The Bedford Incident and Warlock. I have not yet tracked down Two Rode Together. Good comment….thanks for finding our Widmark page.
I have been a Richard Widmark since I got a chance to met him when he was filming the Alamo in brackettville way back in the early 1960s. Granted I was a wee boy but it had a lasting memory on me. So many great movies listed here. I would say my favorites are Two Rode Together, Bedford Incident and the almost forgotten Warlock.