Want to know the best Robert Ryan movies? How about the worst Robert Ryan movies? Curious about Robert Ryan’s box office grosses or which Robert Ryan movie picked up the most Oscar® nominations? Need to know which Robert Ryan movie got the best reviews from critics and audiences? Well you have come to the right place….because we have all of that information.
Robert Ryan (1909-1973) was an American who often played hardened cops and ruthless villains. His IMDb page shows 90 acting credits from 1940 to 1973. This page will rank 62 Robert Ryan movies. Movies will be ranked from Best to Worst in six different sortable columns of information. Television shows, shorts, cameos, movies that grossed less than $1 million in rentals and movies that were not released in theaters in North America were not included in the rankings.
Drivel part of the page: This Robert Ryan page comes from a request by Brando90 and was seconded by Flora R. We were unable to find box office information on 7 of his movies. They were 1940’s Queen of the Mob, 1943’s Gangway for Tomorrow, 1954’s Alaska Seas, 1954’s About Mrs. Leslie, 1961’s The Candadians, 1965’s The Crooked Road and 1969’s Captain Nemo and the Underwater City. We will continue our search for those numbers.
Robert Ryan 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 Robert Ryan movies by co-stars of his movies
- Sort Robert Ryan movies by adjusted domestic box office grosses using current movie ticket cost (in millions)
- Sort Robert Ryan movies by yearly domestic box office rank
- Sort Robert Ryan 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 Robert Ryan movie received.
- Sort Robert Ryan 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.
| R | Movie (Year) | UMR Co-Star Links | Adj. B.O. Worldwide (mil) | Review | Oscar Nom / Win | UMR Score | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| R | Movie (Year) | UMR Co-Star Links | Actual B.O. Domestic (mil) | Adj. B.O. Domestic (mil) | Adj. B.O. Worldwide (mil) | B.O. Rank by Year | Review | Oscar Nom / Win | UMR Score | S |
| 1 | The Dirty Dozen (1967) | Lee Marvin & Charles Bronson |
51.00 | 454.4 | 703.90 | 5 | 86 | 04 / 01 | 98.9 | |
| 3 | Crossfire (1947) AA Best Picture Nom AA Best Supp Actor Nom |
Robert Mitchum | 6.80 | 196.9 | 253.90 | 41 | 76 | 05 / 00 | 98.4 | |
| 4 | The Professionals (1966) | Burt Lancaster & Lee Marvin |
22.00 | 215.6 | 215.60 | 10 | 83 | 03 / 00 | 98.3 | |
| 5 | King of Kings (1961) | Jeffrey Hunter | 22.90 | 333.0 | 333.00 | 8 | 75 | 00 / 00 | 96.3 | |
| 6 | The Tall Men (1955) | Clark Gable & Jane Russell |
12.10 | 251.7 | 251.70 | 20 | 75 | 00 / 00 | 96.3 | |
| 6 | The Longest Day (1962) AA Best Picture Nom |
John Wayne & Richard Burton |
31.30 | 449.7 | 449.70 | 3 | 60 | 05 / 02 | 95.8 | |
| 7 | The Wild Bunch (1969) | William Holden & Warren Oates |
15.10 | 115.0 | 115.00 | 21 | 89 | 02 / 00 | 93.4 | |
| 8 | Bad Day at Black Rock (1955) | Spencer Tracy & Ernest Borgnine |
5.70 | 118.5 | 226.40 | 56 | 87 | 03 / 00 | 93.4 | |
| 9 | The Naked Spur (1953) | James Stewart | 6.80 | 122.5 | 122.50 | 38 | 84 | 01 / 00 | 92.4 | |
| 10 | North West Mounted Police (1940) | Gary Cooper & Directed by Cecil B. DeMille |
4.30 | 165.0 | 165.00 | 28 | 65 | 05 / 01 | 92.0 | |
| 11 | Flying Leathernecks (1951) | John Wayne | 7.40 | 160.2 | 243.30 | 22 | 70 | 00 / 00 | 91.5 | |
| 12 | Bombardier (1943) | Randolph Scott & Pat O'Brien |
5.30 | 192.0 | 234.60 | 51 | 58 | 01 / 00 | 91.3 | |
| 15 | Tender Comrade (1943) | Ginger Rogers | 5.50 | 197.8 | 272.30 | 49 | 54 | 00 / 00 | 90.2 | |
| 14 | God's Little Acre (1958) | Aldo Ray & Vic Morrow |
10.00 | 179.7 | 179.70 | 13 | 60 | 00 / 00 | 90.1 | |
| 14 | Behind The Rising Sun (1943) | J. Carrol Naish | 5.70 | 203.8 | 286.40 | 46 | 53 | 00 / 00 | 90.1 | |
| 16 | Battle of the Bulge (1965) | Henry Fonda & Charles Bronson |
13.80 | 145.7 | 145.70 | 17 | 67 | 00 / 00 | 88.8 | |
| 17 | The Sky's The Limit (1943) | Fred Astaire | 4.00 | 144.8 | 224.30 | 77 | 64 | 02 / 00 | 88.3 | |
| 18 | Caught (1949) | James Mason | 3.50 | 87.0 | 87.00 | 105 | 81 | 00 / 00 | 87.3 | |
| 19 | Marine Raiders (1944) | Pat O'Brien & Ruth Hussey |
4.30 | 145.1 | 173.30 | 79 | 58 | 00 / 00 | 85.4 | |
| 19 | Men in War (1957) | Aldo Ray | 4.30 | 82.5 | 82.50 | 57 | 76 | 00 / 00 | 84.8 | |
| 21 | House of Bamboo (1955) | Robert Stack | 4.90 | 100.7 | 100.70 | 69 | 70 | 00 / 00 | 84.6 | |
| 22 | Clash by Night (1952) | Barbara Stanwyck & Marilyn Monroe |
4.20 | 81.7 | 81.70 | 84 | 75 | 00 / 00 | 84.3 | |
| 23 | The Set-Up (1949) | George Tobias | 2.30 | 57.5 | 84.30 | 135 | 81 | 00 / 00 | 83.2 | |
| 24 | The Iron Major (1943) | Pat O'Brien | 3.60 | 130.4 | 130.40 | 85 | 55 | 00 / 00 | 81.8 | |
| 24 | Billy Budd (1962) | Terence Stamp & Melvyn Douglas |
2.60 | 37.0 | 37.00 | 90 | 84 | 01 / 00 | 81.8 | |
| 25 | The Boy with Green Hair (1948) | Pat O'Brien & Dean Stockwell |
2.90 | 79.4 | 97.20 | 102 | 71 | 00 / 00 | 81.7 | |
| 27 | Act of Violence (1949) | Van Heflin & Directed by Fred Zinnemann |
2.00 | 49.0 | 78.60 | 146 | 78 | 00 / 00 | 79.9 | |
| 28 | On Dangerous Ground (1951) | Ida Lupino | 1.90 | 40.3 | 40.30 | 159 | 80 | 00 / 00 | 79.3 | |
| 29 | Ice Palace (1960) | Richard Burton | 4.70 | 73.7 | 73.70 | 56 | 69 | 00 / 00 | 79.1 | |
| 30 | The Racket (1951) | Robert Mitchum | 5.00 | 107.8 | 107.80 | 59 | 55 | 00 / 00 | 77.2 | |
| 31 | Return of the Bad Men (1948) | Randolph Scott | 4.50 | 120.6 | 120.60 | 80 | 51 | 00 / 00 | 77.1 | |
| 32 | Back From Eternity (1956) | Anita Ekberg & Rod Steiger |
4.30 | 84.0 | 84.00 | 71 | 62 | 00 / 00 | 76.7 | |
| 34 | Trail Street (1947) | Randolph Scott | 3.70 | 109.1 | 148.40 | 94 | 54 | 00 / 00 | 76.7 | |
| 33 | The Proud Ones (1956) | Virginia Mayo & Walter Brennan |
4.00 | 78.4 | 78.40 | 84 | 64 | 00 / 00 | 76.6 | |
| 35 | Day of the Outlaw (1959) | Burl Ives & Tina Louise |
2.40 | 42.4 | 42.40 | 97 | 74 | 00 / 00 | 75.7 | |
| 36 | Odds Against Tomorrow (1959) | Shelley Winters | 1.80 | 32.1 | 32.10 | 121 | 77 | 00 / 00 | 75.5 | |
| 37 | Inferno (1953) | Rhonda Fleming | 3.00 | 53.1 | 53.10 | 134 | 70 | 00 / 00 | 74.6 | |
| 38 | The Iceman Cometh (1973) | Lee Marvin & Jeff Bridges |
2.50 | 15.2 | 15.20 | 108 | 81 | 00 / 00 | 74.1 | |
| 39 | Berlin Express (1948) | Merle Oberon | 2.50 | 67.4 | 67.40 | 123 | 65 | 00 / 00 | 74.1 | |
| 40 | The Woman on the Beach (1947) | Joan Bennett | 2.50 | 72.1 | 72.10 | 127 | 61 | 00 / 00 | 71.6 | |
| 41 | Born To Be Bad (1950) | Joan Fontaine & Mel Ferrer |
2.70 | 61.0 | 91.40 | 116 | 64 | 00 / 00 | 71.1 | |
| 42 | The Secret Fury (1950) | Claudette Colbert | 2.40 | 54.5 | 83.40 | 125 | 65 | 00 / 00 | 70.4 | |
| 43 | Lawman (1971) | Burt Lancaster & Robert Duvall |
8.20 | 53.5 | 53.50 | 43 | 64 | 00 / 00 | 68.4 | |
| 44 | City Beneath The Sea (1953) | Anthony Quinn | 3.80 | 68.1 | 68.10 | 96 | 58 | 00 / 00 | 66.1 | |
| 45 | About Mrs. Leslie (1954) | Shirley Booth | 0.90 | 21.9 | 21.90 | 153 | 70 | 00 / 00 | 62.5 | |
| 48 | The Love Machine (1971) | Dyan Cannon | 13.90 | 91.1 | 91.10 | 23 | 48 | 00 / 00 | 62.3 | |
| 46 | Beware, My Lovely (1952) | Ida Lupino | 2.00 | 39.4 | 39.40 | 157 | 63 | 00 / 00 | 61.0 | |
| 48 | Her Twelve Men (1954) | Greer Garson | 2.30 | 54.7 | 94.90 | 112 | 58 | 00 / 00 | 59.9 | |
| 49 | Hour of the Gun (1967) | James Garner | 2.10 | 18.4 | 18.40 | 96 | 68 | 00 / 00 | 57.4 | |
| 50 | Anzio (1968) | Robert Mitchum | 4.00 | 32.9 | 32.90 | 75 | 63 | 00 / 00 | 56.8 | |
| 51 | Lonelyhearts (1958) | Montgomery Clift & Myrna Loy |
2.20 | 39.0 | 39.00 | 102 | 59 | 01 / 00 | 54.6 | |
| 53 | Horizons West (1952) | Rock Hudson & Raymond Burr |
2.10 | 41.1 | 41.10 | 149 | 59 | 00 / 00 | 54.2 | |
| 52 | The Outfit (1973) | Robert Duvall | 1.90 | 11.6 | 11.60 | 123 | 67 | 00 / 00 | 52.4 | |
| 54 | Escape to Burma (1955) | Barbara Stanwyck | 2.50 | 51.7 | 51.70 | 121 | 53 | 00 / 00 | 49.9 | |
| 55 | Best of the Badmen (1951) | Claire Trevor & Walter Brennan |
3.00 | 64.7 | 101.60 | 122 | 46 | 00 / 00 | 44.4 | |
| 56 | I Married a Communist/Woman On Pier 13 (1949) | Laraine Day | 1.90 | 47.0 | 47.00 | 149 | 51 | 00 / 00 | 42.0 | |
| 57 | A Minute to Pray, a Second to Die (1967) | Alex Cord | 2.10 | 18.9 | 18.90 | 93 | 58 | 00 / 00 | 39.0 | |
| 60 | The Busy Body (1967) | Richard Pryor | 1.60 | 13.9 | 13.90 | 115 | 57 | 00 / 00 | 32.6 | |
| 60 | Golden Gloves (1940) | Jeanne Cagney | 0.30 | 12.2 | 12.20 | 219 | 58 | 00 / 00 | 32.4 | |
| 61 | The Secret Agents (1965) | Henry Fonda | 0.80 | 8.6 | 8.60 | 139 | 56 | 00 / 00 | 26.6 | |
| 62 | Executive Action (1973) | Burt Lancaster | 2.20 | 13.2 | 13.20 | 118 | 52 | 00 / 00 | 22.7 | |
| 63 | Custer of the West (1967) | Robert Shaw | 1.60 | 14.5 | 14.50 | 113 | 46 | 00 / 00 | 13.9 | |
| 64 | Lolly-Madonna XXX (1973) | Jeff Bridges | 1.00 | 6.0 | 6.00 | 149 | 48 | 00 / 00 | 12.3 |
Stats and Possibly Interesting Things From The Above Robert Ryan Table
- Sixteen Robert Ryan movie crossed the magical $100 million domestic gross mark. That is a percentage of 25.80% of his movies listed. The Longest Day (1962) was his biggest box office hit.
- An average Robert Ryan movie grosses $79.80 million in adjusted box office gross.
- Using RottenTomatoes.com’s 60% fresh meter. 39 of Robert Ryan’s movies are rated as good movies…or 62.90% of his movies. The Wild Bunch (1969) is his highest rated movie while Best of the Badmen (1951) is his lowest rated movie.
- Twelve Robert Ryan movies received at least one Oscar® nomination in any category…..or 19.35% of his movies.
- Three Robert Ryan movies won at least one Oscar® in any category…..or 4.83% of his movies.
- An good Ultimate Movie Ranking (UMR) Score is 40.00. 32 Robert Ryan movie scored higher that average….or 51.61% of his movies. The Longest Day (1962) got the the highest UMR Score while Lolly-Madonna XXX (1973) got the lowest UMR Score.
Possibly Interesting Facts About Robert Ryan
- Robert Bushnell Ryan was born in Chicago, Illinois in 1909.
2. While attending Dartmouth College Robert Ryan was on the boxing team and posted a 5-0 (3 knockouts) record.
3. Robert Ryan’s pre-movie making jobs included: sandhog, seaman, sewer builder, salesman, miner, cowboy, bodyguard-chauffeur to a mobster, photographer’s model, laborer and paving supervisor’.
4. In 1947, Robert Ryan, received his one and only Oscar® nomination. He was nominated for Best Supporting Actor for 1947’s Crossfire.
5. Robert Ryan’s film work often ran counter to the political causes he embraced. Ryan was a pacifist and tirelessly supported civil rights issues. He starred in war movies, westerns, and violent thrillers and played a racists many times.
6. Robert Ryan was considered for Stephen Boyd’s role as Messala in 1959’s Ben-Hur.
7. Robert Ryan’s career adjusted domestic box office total is $4.94 BILLION!
8. Robert Ryan was married one time. He had three children.
9. Robert Ryan worked with John Wayne twice. When working on 1951’s The Flying Leathernecks they got along great…..years later when the worked on The Longest Day they got along horribly.
10. Check out Robert Ryan‘s career compared to current and classic actors. Most 100 Million Dollar Movies of All-Time.
If you do a comment….please ignore the email address and website section.
Cogerson
Besides being a prolific film actor, Robert Ryan had a distinguished stage career, including in Shakespeare. Most intriguing to me is his appearance as Antony opposite Katherine Hepburn as Cleopatra in the 1959-1960 season of the Shakespeare festival at Stratford, Conn. My point–I can see Ryan as Antony. But Hepburn as Cleo? Too bad this performance wasn’t preserved on tape. Hepburn seems all wrong, but perhaps others would disagree.
Hey John….great information on Ryan’s stage career. You are right too bad that is not on film for people to view…because the Ryan/Hepburn combo would have been very interesting to see. I agree seems Hepburn was too old to be playing Cleopatra…but her skills as an actress probably allowed her to succeed. 🙂
Steve
I mainly agree with Bob (shock)–my favorites would be Bad Day at Black Rock & The Naked Spur & The Dirty Dozen.
The Longest Day? His is just another cameo. The Wild Bunch has real quality, but also goes way over the top.
And The Set-Up to me deserves a much higher placement.
Hi John, sorry about The Set-Up being too low, Rotten Tomatoes gave it a middling score.
The problem with The Longest Day is that the biggest stars have the shortest screen time, if I decided they were merely cameo’s and ignored it than the movie might never make an appearance on any of my videos and I don’t think that’s fair. It’s a great war movie with or without the celebrity ‘guest cast’ and deserves to be showed off.
You and Bob were bound to agree on something eventually. 🙂
Hey Steve….it’s ok….you have not been dealing with classic movies very long….so mistakes were bound to happen….lol..
I agree with you about The Longest Day….I am curious which poster or posters you picked….getting closer to catching up on these comments.
Happy day that Bob and John are the page ….at least on one subject.
JOHN & STEVE
1 “I mainly agree with Bob” – the sci-fi fans are right – there IS a parallel universe !
2 Actually I can return the compliment because The Set Up was regarded by 1950s critics as a minor classic because of its realistic and brutal fight scenes. It was unusual too in being played out in real time. Bruce has got it right [for once !] placing it for critic/audience in his top 10 with an 81% rating and he also has it at a very high No 13 on his Boxing movies page. The adjusted box office of $60 million approx also seems about what I would have expected as it was a classy B movie when released on double bills in Belfast being only about 75 mins long.
As Bruce mentions above Ryan was on his college boxing team and that experience may have helped The Set Up’s impression of realism
3 Also John it was in the back of my mind that Ryan had been praised in the fifties for some kind of formal acting training that had escaped many movie actors but I could not quite place its form in my mind so thanks for reminding me that it related to the stage and Shakespearean acting.
4 Anyway I see that I have a Joel McCrea video to look forward to viewing tomorrow morning-
happy days !
Hey Bob…..glad that I finally got something right…lol. It is also ranked 34th on my Sports Movie page…which looked at over a 1000 movies…so I my sources thought it was a great movie. Wow….Steve has been busy while I have been playing in the snow….BUT….I just got word….no work for me tomorrow…so I will get two Sundays…I like it.
Hey John…..wow….you and Bob agreeing on something…..it snowed at the beach and now that…I am beginning to get worried…lol.
As for Set-Up….we have it ranked in the Top 10… and if you look at our Sports Movie pages…https://www.ultimatemovierankings.com/top-400-sports-movies/ it is in the Top 40…not sure what that other site is doing….lol.
My thought on The Longest Day….if they made the poster….then they should get credit for the movie….so that means 43 stars get credit.
HI STEVE
1 Ryan was often the proverbial big fish in the small pond in that when he had the lead role there would be no other really major star in the movie but when he appeared with the likes of Wayne, Mitchum, Gable or Randy Scott he would be second fiddle. It is ironic that Bruce informs us that Robert was a pacifist because one of his screen specialities was bad guys and few could ‘do nasty’ quite like him but he was a terrific actor in any role
2 I was pleased that the cover poster in your catalogue was from The Proud Ones which along with Bad Day at Black Rock, Day of the Outlaw**and The Naked Spur were my 4 favourite Ryan movies.
3 Great posters from The Outfit, The Racket, Inferno and Born to be Bad featuring a saucy pose from Joan Fontaine; and I was impressed with your range of stills especially those of Robert with Merle Oberon in Berlin Express, with Jimmy Stewart/Janet Leigh in The Naked Spur and with Hank Fonda in Battle of the Bulge. [Inferno a cracker of a movie]
4 This seems to be the week for my being reminded of sad situations first about Robert Francis and now your Proud Ones poster shows Jeffrey Hunter in that movie and unfortunately at the age of just 42 Jeffrey suffered a bad fall and was dead on arrival in hospital. Hunter’s main claim to fame was playing Jesus in King of Kings (1961) in which Robert was John the Baptist [great colour still!] and which is your No 5. Your top 5 selections are in fact solid and nicely varied. Bruce and you agree on 3 of the 5 but he ranks King of Kings 17th for critic/audience but does give it a massive adjusted domestic gross of around $260 million.
**5. I see that after Robert’s profile there is a full showing of Day of the Outlaw so I shall reacquaint myself with it later. Overall lots of good things in this presentation for me personally so 9.3/10
Thanks Bob, appreciate the review and rating, glad you liked the posters and stills. Flora was asking me about a video for Robert Ryan last year and here it is, better late than never.
Robert Ryan was good in any role, hero, villain, soldier, cowboy, he could play John the Baptist and Captain Nemo (and the Underwater City) which didn’t make the list.
All the 32 films on the video had good ratings, The Racket with 6.2 was at the bottom of my chart, and still a good score. On my score board 5 to 6 is average, 6 to 7 is good, 7 to 8 is very good, 8 to 9 great,. 9 to 10 excellent or superb or a masterpiece!
Looking at Bruce’s critics chart we have the same 7 in the top 10 but in different order, the top 2 are the same. The big difference like you say is King of Kings which got more love from my sources.
A link to my Robert Ryan video.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LkPE9flahTQ
Cowboy great, Joel McCrea’s video coming up next and packed with rare poster artwork.
Hey Steve….after I catch up with my comments….took a day off from that and now I am so far behind. 7 out 10 is pretty good….especially if King of Kings was the big difference. Thanks for sharing the link to the video.
Hey Bob….so I am guessing Steve has produced a Robert Ryan page. I have yet to check that one out and see how he got the rankings wrong this time…lol. Unlike the passing of Robert Francis…I was aware of Hunter’s early passing. Good comment on Steve’s video.
CAN ANYBODY ANYHOW PLEASE help me with ˝About Mrs. Leslie˝??? I would love to see it? -i live in a stupid Europe and dont have TCM… The first attraction of course is Mr. Ryan and the second is Shirley Booth, the woman who made me drown in tears in ˝Come Back, Little Sheba˝ and for whom Burt Lancaster said was the greatest actress he ever worked with. I love Classic Hollywood, I love life and like Marlon Brando said ˝Id rather like to live forever than to be remembered forever˝. Well, for Marlon, Robert and Shirley at least the latter stands true.
Hey Al…..About Mrs. Leslie is a difficult one to find for sure. I did a couple of quick You Tube searches…seems some live feeds on that movie might be happening at the end of October. In my area I have access to lots of classic movies….but I have never run across About Mrs. Leslie.
Well I have pages on Lancaster, Brando and Ryan…but I do not have a Shirley Booth page….but you can compare her Oscar win to ALL of the other Oscar winners here at this link. https://www.ultimatemovierankings.com/best-actress-oscar-winning-movies/
Thanks for sharing your thoughts on all of these classic performers and classic movies….this site gets about 70% of it’s views from classic movies.
https://mobile.ok.ru/video/2089647147683
I continue to go through my PVR recordings from TCM’s Star of the Month look at Robert Ryan.
Yesterday I added Mariner Raiders to my seen list.
He and Ruth Hussey were a couple.
He had good chemistry with first billed Pat O’Brien.
Hey, do you record those movies on DVDs? maybe its a stupid question…
Hey Al….Pretty sure she recorded them on her DVR and then deleted them when she got around to watching them.