Want to know the best William Petersen movies? How about the worst William Petersen movies? Curious about William Petersen box office grosses or which William Petersen movie picked up the most Oscar® nominations? Need to know which William Petersen 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.
William Petersen (1953-) is an American actor. Petersen is best known for his role as Gil Grissom in the television series CSI: Crime Scene Investigation. On the movie side, Johnson has been appearing in movies since the early 1980s. His IMDb page shows over 40 acting credits since 1981. This page will rank William Petersen movies from Best to Worst in six different sortable columns of information. To do well in the rankings, a movie needed to do well at the box office, be liked by both critics and audiences and earn some award recognition.
William Petersen Movies Ranked In Chronological Order With Ultimate Movie Rankings Score (1 to 5 UMR Tickets) *Best combo of box office, reviews and awards.
Year
Movie (Year)
Rating
S
Year Movie (Year) Rating S
1981
Thief (1981)
1985
To Live and Die in L.A. (1985)
1986
Manhunter (1986)
1990
Young Guns II (1990)
2000
The Contender (2000)
1989
Cousins (1989)
1987
Long Gone (1987)
HBO Movie
1997
12 Angry Men (1997)
Showtime Movies
1996
Mulholland Falls (1996)
1998
The Rat Pack (1998)
HBO Movie
1996
Fear (1996)
2011
Detachment (2011)
2012
Seeking a Friend For the End of the World (2012)
2000
The Skulls (2000)
1991
Hard Promises (1991)
1998
Kiss The Sky (1998)
1998
Gunshy (1998)
1995
In the Kingdom of the Blind the Man with One Eye Is King (1995)
1987
Amazing Grace and Chuck (1987)
1992
Passed Away (1992)
William Petersen 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 William Petersen movies by co-stars of his movies.
- Sort William Petersen movies by adjusted domestic box office grosses using current movie ticket cost (in millions)
- Sort William Petersen movies by yearly domestic box office rank
- Sort William Petersen movies how they were received by critics and audiences. 60% rating or higher should indicate a good movie.
- Sort by how many Oscar® nominations each William Petersen movie received and how many Oscar® wins each William Petersen movie won.
- Sort William Petersen 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 | Thief (1981) | James Caan & Tuesday Weld |
11.50 | 44.6 | 44.60 | 69 | 85 | 00 / 00 | 83.2 | |
| 2 | To Live and Die in L.A. (1985) | Willem Dafoe & Directed by William Friedkin |
17.30 | 52.6 | 52.60 | 51 | 79 | 00 / 00 | 81.4 | |
| 3 | Manhunter (1986) | Joan Allen & Brian Cox |
8.60 | 25.0 | 25.00 | 71 | 85 | 00 / 00 | 79.4 | |
| 5 | Young Guns II (1990) | Emilio Estevez & James Coburn |
44.10 | 112.5 | 112.50 | 29 | 48 | 01 / 00 | 71.6 | |
| 4 | The Contender (2000) | Jeff Bridges & Gary Oldman |
17.90 | 35.7 | 44.70 | 99 | 70 | 02 / 00 | 71.3 | |
| 6 | Cousins (1989) | Ted Danson & Isabella Rossellini |
22.00 | 59.8 | 59.80 | 48 | 62 | 00 / 00 | 68.6 | |
| 7 | Long Gone (1987) HBO Movie |
Baseball Movies | 0.00 | 0.1 | 0.10 | 274 | 78 | 00 / 00 | 65.0 | |
| 8 | 12 Angry Men (1997) Showtime Movies |
Jack Lemmon & George Scott |
0.00 | 0.1 | 0.10 | 334 | 76 | 00 / 00 | 62.0 | |
| 9 | Mulholland Falls (1996) | Nick Nolte & Melanie Griffith |
11.50 | 28.1 | 28.10 | 117 | 62 | 00 / 00 | 52.2 | |
| 10 | The Rat Pack (1998) HBO Movie |
Ray Liotta | 0.10 | 0.1 | 0.10 | 267 | 69 | 00 / 00 | 48.4 | |
| 12 | Fear (1996) | Mark Wahlberg & Reese Witherspoon |
20.80 | 50.8 | 50.80 | 78 | 52 | 00 / 00 | 47.8 | |
| 11 | Detachment (2011) | James Caan & Adrien Brody |
0.10 | 0.1 | 5.10 | 251 | 67 | 00 / 00 | 44.4 | |
| 13 | Seeking a Friend For the End of the World (2012) | Steve Carell & Keira Knightley |
7.10 | 9.6 | 13.10 | 138 | 63 | 00 / 00 | 43.9 | |
| 14 | The Skulls (2000) | Joshua Jackson & Paul Walker |
35.00 | 70.1 | 101.60 | 69 | 43 | 00 / 00 | 40.8 | |
| 15 | Hard Promises (1991) | Sissy Spacek | 0.30 | 0.8 | 0.80 | 199 | 61 | 00 / 00 | 31.5 | |
| 16 | Kiss The Sky (1998) | Terence Stamp | 0.00 | 0.1 | 0.10 | 276 | 58 | 00 / 00 | 26.5 | |
| 17 | Gunshy (1998) | Diane Lane | 0.00 | 0.1 | 0.10 | 330 | 56 | 00 / 00 | 21.6 | |
| 18 | In the Kingdom of the Blind the Man with One Eye Is King (1995) | Michael Biehn | 0.00 | 0.1 | 0.10 | 298 | 49 | 00 / 00 | 11.5 | |
| 19 | Amazing Grace and Chuck (1987) | Gregory Peck & Jamie Lee Curtis |
4.00 | 11.0 | 11.00 | 115 | 34 | 00 / 00 | 3.1 | |
| 20 | Passed Away (1992) | Frances McDormand & Jack Warden |
4.00 | 10.5 | 10.50 | 131 | 33 | 00 / 00 | 2.4 |
Great UMR Page
I have I think the first 3 seasons of 3 CSI series, the original, Miami and New York. I think where I left on Mr. Petersen’s show he was starting to lose his hearing. CSI Miami was the funniest with Mr. Cool and his passionate performances, David Caruso. The Gary Sinise one was cheap to me, set in my city and running around L.A. At least they had real locations in the other two.
Hey Dan…..thanks for the thoughts on William Petersen and the massive television history of CSI. Me and my previous wife really got into CSI season one with Petersen…..by the time the series cane to an end (a) I had seen every single episode and (b) I was then married to WoC….lots happened during the time frame from when that serious started. I have not seen a single episode of the other two series….which seems weird…since I saw all the CSI episodes. I blame William Petersen for that. Good reviews on the other two CSI shows. NCSI is still going full blast….that is almost 30 years of CSI show on CBS. Good stuff as always.
I’ve seen just 4 of the 20 films on the chart, favorites are – To Live and Die in LA, Manhunter, Thief and Young Guns II.
I may have seen The Skulls but can’t remember for sure.
I’ve watched many late night CSI episodes in the past, there are literally hundreds of episodes inc the various spinoffs. My favorite was the original William Peterson series.
To Live and Die in LA is an old 80s favorite of mine, the music, the car chase, the photography and that shocking ending.
Good stuff Bruce. Vote Up!
Hey Steve…thanks for checking out our William Peterson page. 3 of the 4 of you have seen are favorites of mine. Thief is one of my brothers all-time favorite movies. To Live And Die In LA is an underrated movie….UMR Hall of Famer George V. just watched it again, and our conversation got this page completed. Manhunter is a pretty intense movie, and the first movie to bring Hannibal Lechter to the big screen. He has two other movies I really enjoyed…..The Contender (highly recommend this one) and Hard Promises (fun romantic comedy with a good role for Petersen and a never lovelier Sissy Spacek). CSI shows are all over television…..the Star Trek of this generation. Thanks for the vote up and the visit.
Good actor, Amazing Grace and Chuck , is a great movie everyone needs to go back and watch again. He made it the the small screen and did not come back.
Hey George V. I loved Amazing Grace and Chuck when I first saw it….so I am right there with you…..but the Grace and Chuck fan club is pretty small….it might just be me and you….lol. Good stuff as always.
I have been enjoying William Petersen’s work for many years. I first really paid attention to him when I saw To Live and Die In L.A. on VHS. Heck it was one of the first movies I copied using two VCRs. I actually saw Manhunter in theaters. Loved both of those movies. Overall I have seen 15 of these movies. At one point Amazing Chuck and Grace was one of my all-time favorite movies. Other Petersen movies I have enjoyed are Long Gone, Cousins, Hard Promises and The Contender. Thief is one of my brother’s favorite movies…though his role brought nothing to the greatness of that one. Liking him got me to watch his CSI as well. I saw every episode of that show. So I guess I am saying I really like him as actor.