Scatman Crothers Movies

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

Scatman Crothers (1910-1986) was an American actor and musician.  Crothers began his musical career as a teenager.  He sang and was self-educated on guitar and drums.  Crothers’ first major movie was  a small role in 1953’s Meet Me At The Fair.   He would regularly appear in movies for the next 35 years. His IMDb page shows over 128 acting credits from 1951 to 1987.   This page will rank 41 Scatman Crothers movies from Best to Worst in six different sortable columns of information. Television shows, shorts, cameos, uncredited roles and movies that were not released in North American and a handful of his movies that we could not find box office on, were not included in the rankings.

Scatman Crothers and Danny Lloyd in The Shining

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

Jack Nicholson and Scatman Crothers in 1975’s One Flew Over The Cuckoo’s Nest

Scatman Crothers 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 Scatman Crothers movies by his co-stars
  • Sort Scatman Crothers movies by adjusted domestic box office grosses using current movie ticket cost.
  • Sort Scatman Crothers movies by yearly domestic box office rank
  • Sort Scatman Crothers 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 Scatman Crothers movie received.
  • Sort Scatman Crothers 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.
1983’s The Twilight Zone: The Movie

Best IMDb Trivia on Scatman Crothers

1. Benjamin Sherman Crothers was born in Terre Haute, Indiana in 1910.

2. How Benjamin Sherman Crothers became Scatman Crothers.  A radio station manager thought he needed a catchier name, so Crothers suggested “Scatman” for his scat singing.  In Disney’s The Aristocats (1970) his character is called Scat Cat.

3. Scatman Crothers was close friends with Jack Nicholson. They appeared together in four films: The King of Marvin Gardens (1972), One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest (1975), The Fortune (1975) and The Shining (1980).  Crothers also appeared in four Jerry Lewis movies.

4. Jack Nicholson suggested Scatman Crothers for the film, The Shining . Crothers had a tough time on this movie, with Stanley Kubrick making him do over one hundred takes for one scene. Crothers’ next film was Bronco Billy (1980), directed by Clint Eastwood, who was famous for generally only going with one take. Crothers broke down in tears of gratitude on his first scene in the film when he realized he wouldn’t have to do endless take after take again.

5. Scatman Crothers was posthumously inducted into the Black Filmmakers Hall of Fame in Oakland, California (1987).

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

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13 thoughts on “Scatman Crothers Movies”

  1. I have seen 10 Scatman Crothers movies, including 6 of the top 10.

    The HIGHEST rated movie I have seen is Hello, Dolly!

    The highest rated movie I have NOT seen is One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest.

    The LOWEST rated movie I have seen is Chandler.

    Favourite Scatman Crothers Movies:

    The Aristocats
    The Shining (rare for me to love this kind of film)
    The Cheap Detective
    Alias Jesse James
    Alvarez Kelly

    Other Scatman Crothers Movies I Have Seen:

    Hello, Dolly! – I saw Carol Channing in H.D.onstage in Vancouver
    Lady Sings the Blues
    The Shootist
    The Sins of Rachel Cade
    Chandler

    I have been unable to hunt down Porgy and Bess so far. Of the films I have not seen, this is the one that interests me the most.

    Reply

    1. Hey Flora. Thanks for sharing your thoughts on Scatman Crothers. Tally count…Cogerson 17, Steve 14, you 10 and Bob at 8. I have still not managed to see Hello Dolly….one day I will see that one. I have seen all of your favorites with the exception of The Cheap Detective….a movie I would like to see. Why am I not surprised that Alvarez Kelly is on this list?…..lol. As for Porgy and Bess…I am thinking that is a very hard movie to track down. I could not even find a trailer on You Tube on that movie. Very cool that you saw Carol Channing in person. Good stuff as always.

      Reply

  2. I was impressed with all the movies he has done. He has a lot of Disney movies it looks like and did some Jerry Lewis movies that I need to look at the trailers to remember him in them, also looks to have had a nice TV career too.

    Reply

    1. Hey G.C. Vandross…..you see the magic of the internet….we talk about somebody on Tuesday…..and then Wednesday they have the most statistical packed page on the entire internet. As for his Jerry Lewis movies….I suspect they are very small parts…but he and Lewis had to have gotten along…since Lewis kept putting him in the movies. At that point in his career, Lewis was pretty much completely in charge of his movies. I agree….Scatman was well known for his work on television…with Hong Kong Phooey, Globetrooters and Chico and the Man sticking out the most. I am shocked that Hong Kong Phooey only has 16 episodes listed on IMDb. Seems I watched that show a lot when I was growing up. Good stuff.

      Reply

  3. Scatman Crothers eh, interesting subject, I remember him best from The Shining, it’s the film that comes to mind when I think of Scat. Also Twilight Zone the Movie.

    I’ve seen 14 of the 41 films on the chart, probably more if I could remember every film I saw. Favorites include – The Shining, Twilight Zone, The Aristocats, Cuckoo’s Nest, Silver Streak, Bronco Billy and The Shootist.

    Looking at the Shining trivia – yep Crothers had to do that scene so many times Jack Nicholson started yelling at Kubrick to go easy on him because of his age.

    Good stuff Bruce. Vote Up!

    Reply

    1. Hey Steve…..when we started this movie internet adventure…..I never would have thought I would get to the point that Scatman Crothers would get a page. Granted…I have no expectations that this page will become a huge view getter….but I did enjoy researching his career. I had no idea he had made that many movies.

      As for the Shining….it is also one of my favorite Scat movies. I wish…that his character would have saved the day…..like his character did in the book….instead….he does not last long in the movie when he finally reaches the hotel. Kubrick gave Shelley Duvall and Scat some legendary bad times to on the set of The Shining.

      Of your favorites….right there with you on all of them…..though…Bronco Billy is far from my favorite Clint Eastwood movie. Tally count….me 17, you 14 and Bob with a tally count (thank you) at 8. Good stuff as always.

      Reply

  4. TEACH My 3.52 am post had a few errors in it . I’d be grateful if you could find the time to delete it for me. Many thanks.

    Scatman Crothers: some actors sure do have unusual screen names – and to think that Bogie used to publicly ridicule Hudson for having a Christian name like ROCK! I suppose though that those unique names sound more iconic and exciting than for example plain ole Al Leach from Bristol. When I saw Scatman flagged up this morning I briefly via quick thought association recalled character actor the late and to me similar-sounding Strother Martin, who used to support The Duke and Paul Newman a lot [True Grit, The Man Who Shot Liberty Valance, Cool Hand Luke, Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid etc].

    I have seen Scat in 8 of the movies listed above:

    One Flew Over…….
    The Shining
    The Shootist
    Alias Jesse James
    East of Sumatra
    Alvarez Kelly
    Walking My Myrna Back Home.
    Lady in a Cage

    Ironically the performance that I most remember Scat for was in 1953’s East of Sumatra, a B movie which I saw as a supporting feature over here [Take Me to Town starring Ann Sheridan was the main feature]. As you know I was a great Jeff Chandler fan in those days and I paid more attention to the content of his films than I did to supposed prestige, but to me ‘dry goods’, films like Streetcar and Burt’s The Rose Tattoo.

    [You true to form of course mislead viewers into thinking that Tony Quinn was the star of East of Sumatra, whereas Anthony was a supporting actor at that time and the precise billing was “JEFF CHANDLER” followed by in less prominent lettering “Marilyn Maxwell, Anthony Quinn, Suzan Ball” [see poster on Wiki and IMDB]

    Scat was one of those indispensable supporting actors who collectively are part of the bedrock of good film-making, so this new page is “Voted Up” by me. At the time of his death in 1986 Scat had a net worth equivalent to $2 million in today’s money according to Celeb Net Worth.

    NB: Interesting story about your class pupils and The Duke. However I’ll not share it with my amateur movie buffs group. If it got about that perhaps one of the greatest film doyens of all time was teaching a class that hadn’t been educated about Greats like John Wayne it wouldn’t do the reputation of you or me any good. The shock to my group would be akin to that which they experience when I conveyed to them that Hirsch though Brando couldn’t act! Anyway keep safe and have fun – don’t take it ALL too seriously like apparently Joel used to.

    Reply

    1. Hey Bob
      1. Thanks for the input, visit, suggestion and kind words.
      2. I have deleted the comment you wanted.
      3. I have given Jeff Chandler his due….as he is now listed in the UMR column.
      4. As Steve suggested in his comment…at the time East of Sumatra got into our database…Jeff Chandler did not have a page…so we included the person we had a page on (Quinn).
      5. As for Wayne and my kids….you could at least let your film group know….that I have a John Wayne figure in the room….not thinking many middle schools teachers have. Added bonus….my Wayne figure is standing right beside my book…which as you know gives Wayne a good place in it…..so if anybody asks about him…I can go straight to the book for further educational value…lol.
      6. As for Scatman….thanks for the tally. Tally count: Me 17, Steve 14 and you 8.
      7. I agree he was a good character actor…the type of actor that no matter how small the role….brought a smile to the viewers face when he arrived.
      Good stuff as always.

      Reply

      1. HI BRUCE & STEVE: Thanks for feedback from both of you; and I appreciate Bruce fixing the duplication. I should maybe explain that I feel that if a current film is being promoted for release it’s OK in my view to exceptionally highlight some minor/lesser actor in the film who has become an overnight sensation by the time the film reaches audiences. However old films like Jeff Chandler’s East of Sumatra are not of course being promoted today.

        It would be churlish of me though not to concede that in all other aspects of Bruce’s stats tables, and indeed of his overall site, one is given a vast glut of information that is available NOWHERE else especially regarding pre-1980 films. Accordingly when I ‘scold’ him about his ‘miscasting’ it is largely tongue in cheek and the banter is good-spirited; and I appreciate of course the massive task that it is to maintain and update such a wide-ranging and highly informative site as this one.

        That said Bruce had just missed the bullet when he credited Jeff with East of Sumatra because I had been thinking of gate-crashing WH’s classroom and saying to his pupils “Hey guys and gals do you realize that you are being taught by a fella who doesn’t know who Jeff Chandler is?” Now as it is I’ll have to think of some other excuse for getting in to see John Wayne in the classroom!

        ADDITIONAL TRIVIA: Throughout East of Sumatra Scatman’s ‘party piece’ is to keep saying “Oh but this is a strange land!” Near the end when they are surrounded by attacking “savages” Scat triumphantly says to Chandler and the rest of the stranded party “I TOLD you this was a strange land.”

        Reply

        1. Hey Bob…..no problem fixing your duplicate comment. As for East of Sumatra…..I have to go with one of my favorite movie quotes….”Everything will be all right in the end… if it’s not all right then it’s not yet the end.” – The Best Exotic Marigold Hotel (2012). Good stuff as always.

          Reply

  5. I have seen 17 of these movies…..including two in theaters….as I saw Zapped and Transformers The Movie in theaters…I saw the latter because Judd Nelson had a voice in the movie. That movie by the way is garnering a nice cult following. I am sure Bob saw it because of Orson Welles. Favorites would be One Flew Over The Cuckoo’s Nest, The Shining and parts of The Twilight Zone: The Movie (the Lithgow plane scene and opening scene with Dan Aykroyd and Albert Brooks. Glad I did this page…growing up Scatman always fascinated me…shocked that he has been gone for 33 years.

    Reply

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