Want to know the best Yul Brynner movies? How about the worst Yul Brynner movies? Curious about Yul Brynner’s box office grosses or which Yul Brynner movie picked up the most Oscar® nominations? Need to know which Yul Brynner movie got the best reviews from critics and audiences? Well you have come to the right place….because we have all of that information.
Yul Brynner (1920-1985) was a Russian-born stage and Oscar® winning actor. His IMDb page shows 48 acting credits from 1944 to 1976. This page will rank 37 Yul Brynner movies. Movies will be ranked from Best to Worst in six different sortable columns of information. Television shows, shorts, cameos and movies that were not released in theaters in North America were not included in the rankings.
Yul Brynner 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
1956
The Ten Commandments (1956)
AA Best Picture Nom
1956
The King and I (1956)
AA Best Picture Nom
AA Best Actor Win
1956
Anastasia (1956)
1959
Solomon and Sheba (1959)
1973
Westworld (1973)
1958
The Buccaneer (1958)
1960
The Magnificent Seven (1960)
1962
Taras Bulba (1962)
1958
The Brothers Karamazov (1958)
1959
The Journey (1959)
1965
Morituri (1965)
1959
The Sound And The Fury (1959)
1966
Cast a Giant Shadow (1966)
1962
Escape from Zahrain (1962)
1971
The Light at the End of the World (1971)
1963
Kings of the Sun (1963)
1960
Once More, with Feeling! (1960)
1969
The Battle Of Neretva (1969)
1960
Surprise Package (1960)
1964
Flight from Ashiya (1964)
1976
Futureworld (1976)
1973
The Serpent (1973)
1964
Invitation to a Gunfighter (1964)
1968
Villa Rides (1968)
1966
Triple Cross (1966)
1949
Port of New York (1949)
1970
Adiós, Sabata (1970)
1966
Return of the Magnificent Seven (1966)
1975
The Ultimate Warrior (1975)
1972
Fuzz (1972)
1971
Romance of a Horsethief (1971)
1967
The Long Duel (1967)
1971
Catlow (1971)
1969
The File of the Golden Goose (1969)
1967
The Double Man (1967)
1966
The Poppy Is Also a Flower (1966)
1969
The Madwoman of Chaillot (1969)
1976
Death Rage (1976)
Yul Brynner 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 Yul Brynner movies by co-stars of his movies
- Sort Yul Brynner movies by adjusted domestic box office grosses using current movie ticket cost (in millions)
- Sort Yul Brynner movies by yearly domestic box office rank
- Sort Yul Brynner 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 Yul Brynner movie received.
- Sort Yul Brynner 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 |
| 2 | The Ten Commandments (1956) AA Best Picture Nom |
Charlton Heston & Vincent Price |
72.00 | 1,412.0 | 3,423.10 | 1 | 85 | 07 / 01 | 99.4 | |
| 1 | The King and I (1956) AA Best Picture Nom AA Best Actor Win |
Deborah Kerr | 22.60 | 442.4 | 442.40 | 5 | 77 | 09 / 05 | 99.3 | |
| 3 | Anastasia (1956) | Ingrid Bergman | 14.30 | 280.0 | 280.00 | 13 | 79 | 02 / 01 | 97.8 | |
| 4 | Solomon and Sheba (1959) | Gina Lollobrigida | 14.90 | 266.9 | 266.90 | 14 | 61 | 00 / 00 | 92.7 | |
| 5 | Westworld (1973) | Richard Benjamin & James Brolin |
21.20 | 129.2 | 129.20 | 17 | 79 | 00 / 00 | 91.3 | |
| 7 | The Buccaneer (1958) | Charlton Heston & Directed by Anthony Quinn |
9.10 | 164.3 | 164.30 | 20 | 65 | 01 / 00 | 90.6 | |
| 6 | The Magnificent Seven (1960) | Steve McQueen & Charles Bronson |
6.40 | 100.4 | 546.80 | 44 | 85 | 01 / 00 | 90.5 | |
| 8 | Taras Bulba (1962) | Tony Curtis | 9.70 | 139.6 | 139.60 | 25 | 67 | 01 / 00 | 88.4 | |
| 9 | The Brothers Karamazov (1958) | Claire Bloom | 7.40 | 133.5 | 133.50 | 31 | 59 | 01 / 00 | 84.8 | |
| 10 | The Journey (1959) | Deborah Kerr & Ron Howard |
3.60 | 65.4 | 65.40 | 70 | 72 | 00 / 00 | 79.6 | |
| 11 | Morituri (1965) | Marlon Brando | 5.70 | 60.0 | 60.00 | 50 | 67 | 02 / 00 | 75.3 | |
| 12 | The Sound And The Fury (1959) | Joanne Woodward | 4.90 | 87.3 | 87.30 | 52 | 54 | 00 / 00 | 69.5 | |
| 13 | Cast a Giant Shadow (1966) | John Wayne & Frank Sinatra |
7.90 | 77.8 | 77.80 | 37 | 56 | 00 / 00 | 67.5 | |
| 14 | Escape from Zahrain (1962) | Sal Mineo & Jack Warden |
4.00 | 56.9 | 56.90 | 63 | 61 | 00 / 00 | 66.0 | |
| 15 | The Light at the End of the World (1971) | Kirk Douglas | 4.50 | 29.7 | 29.70 | 62 | 68 | 00 / 00 | 63.2 | |
| 16 | Kings of the Sun (1963) | George Chakiris | 4.60 | 57.3 | 57.30 | 57 | 58 | 00 / 00 | 62.2 | |
| 18 | Once More, with Feeling! (1960) | Directed by Stanley Donen | 4.30 | 67.0 | 67.00 | 64 | 55 | 00 / 00 | 61.5 | |
| 17 | The Battle Of Neretva (1969) | Orson Welles | 1.70 | 13.0 | 13.00 | 113 | 70 | 01 / 00 | 59.4 | |
| 20 | Surprise Package (1960) | Mitzi Gaynor & Noël Coward |
3.10 | 49.1 | 49.10 | 73 | 56 | 00 / 00 | 53.3 | |
| 19 | Flight from Ashiya (1964) | Richard Widmark & George Chakiris |
2.30 | 26.2 | 26.20 | 103 | 63 | 00 / 00 | 53.1 | |
| 22 | Futureworld (1976) | Peter Fonda | 12.10 | 61.3 | 61.30 | 55 | 50 | 00 / 00 | 49.2 | |
| 22 | The Serpent (1973) | Henry Fonda | 2.40 | 14.8 | 14.80 | 115 | 63 | 00 / 00 | 45.7 | |
| 23 | Invitation to a Gunfighter (1964) | George Segal | 3.10 | 36.0 | 36.00 | 81 | 55 | 00 / 00 | 43.2 | |
| 24 | Villa Rides (1968) | Robert Mitchum & Charles Bronson |
3.40 | 28.2 | 28.20 | 86 | 56 | 00 / 00 | 41.1 | |
| 25 | Triple Cross (1966) | Christopher Plummer & Trevor Howard |
1.10 | 10.4 | 10.40 | 122 | 60 | 00 / 00 | 36.9 | |
| 26 | Port of New York (1949) | Scott Brady | 0.80 | 19.2 | 19.20 | 190 | 54 | 00 / 00 | 29.3 | |
| 27 | Adiós, Sabata (1970) | Dean Reed | 1.20 | 8.4 | 8.40 | 140 | 56 | 00 / 00 | 26.3 | |
| 28 | Return of the Magnificent Seven (1966) | Warren Oates | 3.20 | 31.9 | 31.90 | 73 | 46 | 01 / 00 | 24.2 | |
| 29 | The Ultimate Warrior (1975) | Max von Sydow | 2.40 | 12.7 | 12.70 | 107 | 51 | 00 / 00 | 19.3 | |
| 32 | Fuzz (1972) | Burt Reynolds & Raquel Welch |
9.10 | 57.6 | 57.60 | 44 | 36 | 00 / 00 | 19.1 | |
| 30 | Romance of a Horsethief (1971) | Eli Wallach | 1.90 | 12.2 | 12.20 | 127 | 50 | 00 / 00 | 17.8 | |
| 31 | The Long Duel (1967) | Trevor Howard | 1.30 | 11.7 | 11.70 | 127 | 49 | 00 / 00 | 17.1 | |
| 33 | Catlow (1971) | Leonard Nimoy | 2.00 | 13.0 | 13.00 | 121 | 49 | 00 / 00 | 16.8 | |
| 34 | The File of the Golden Goose (1969) | Edward Woodward | 1.50 | 11.2 | 11.20 | 122 | 47 | 00 / 00 | 13.9 | |
| 35 | The Double Man (1967) | Britt Ekland | 1.60 | 13.9 | 13.90 | 116 | 45 | 00 / 00 | 12.4 | |
| 36 | The Poppy Is Also a Flower (1966) | Trevor Howard & Rita Hayworth |
0.00 | 0.1 | 0.10 | 167 | 48 | 00 / 00 | 10.3 | |
| 37 | The Madwoman of Chaillot (1969) | Katharine Hepburn & Danny Kaye |
1.90 | 14.2 | 14.20 | 102 | 39 | 00 / 00 | 6.4 | |
| 37 | Death Rage (1976) | Martin Balsam | 0.30 | 1.5 | 1.50 | 157 | 40 | 00 / 00 | 4.3 |
Possibly Interesting Facts About Yul Brynner
1.Yuliy Borisovich Briner was born in Russia in 1920.
2. Yul Brynner and his mother emigrated to the United States in 1940. During World War 2, Brynner worked as a French-speaking radio announcer and commentator for the US Office of War Information, broadcasting propaganda to occupied France.
3. After the war Yul Brynner struggled as a stage actor. One of his few successes during this time period was appearing in the 1946 play Lute Song with Mary “Peter Pan” Martin.
4. In 1951, Yul Brynner, won the role of King Mongkut in the play The King and I. Brynner would play King Mongkut for the rest of his life….which turned out to be 4,625 performances over 30 plus years.
5. Yul Brynner won the Best Actor Oscar® for 1956’s The King And I. It was his only Oscar® nomination.
6. Yul Brynner and superheroes part 1: Marvel’s Stan Lee used his physical likeness (noticeably his bald head and intense stare) as the visual inspiration for the original illustrations of Professor Charles Xavier in the ”X-Men” comics…this was in 1963.
7. Yul Brynner and superheroes part 2: He was the visual inspiration for the original illustrations of the superhero Green Lantern/Abin Sur….this was in 1959.
8. Yul Brynner was married four times. He had four children.
9. Yul Brynner died on the same day as his The Battle on the River Neretva (1969) co-star Orson Welles: October 10, 1985.
10. Check out Yul Brynner‘s career compared to current and classic actors. Most 100 Million Dollar Movies of All-Time.
Steve’s Yul Brynner You Tube Video
If you do a comment….please ignore the email address and website section.
According to Yul Brynner’s son named Rock [I wonder what Bogie thought of HIM!] Yul “sold his billing”. That is to say that on top of his normal basic salary for a movie Yul would take 2nd billing or less if he was paid an extra $200,000 in the actual dollars of that time.
BRYNNER EP VIDEO 1-20 ENTRIES Great POSTERS I think are all the ones for Kings of the Sun , both ones for Taras Bulba, all of the ones for Solomon and Sheba [the 2nd consecutive film in which Yul had hair!] The Buccaneer, Invitation to a Gunfighter [along with Kings of the Sun my own fave Brynner movie in which Yul had the lead role] both foreign language ones for the Journey, Anastasia [it was Yul who apparently convinced Bergman to play the title role] 1st one for The King and I, and The Magnificent Seven.
Great STILLS I feel are (1) the very opening one in your video of Yul playing cards (2) jesting on set with Kirk (3) as Solomon (4) as Pancho Villa (5) the lobby card for The Brothers Karamazov. Originally in that one Monroe and not Maria Schell was to play Yul’s leading lady (6) Westworld (7) the dancing King (8) and (9) two iconic ones of Yul as Rameses (10) with McQueen and (11) Brynner with your favourite orator in Morituri.
The studio hyped it about when Morituri was released in 1965 that Brando had to be restrained from shaving his head so that he and Yul would be completely compatible co-stars
In a radio interview that I heard some years later Yul said that Marlon was one of his own all-time fave actors.
Unlike some stars back then Yul, whose peak period in movies was probably from 1956-1960, didn’t have a big career of 60 plus films and indeed Work Horse lists just 37 of them in the above table.
However your profile comprehensively covers Yul’s output and is easily worth a 97.5% to me.
You and the guy who would be invited to be part of MY Magnificent 7 if I ever formed one agree on 5 of Yul’ Top 6 best reviewed films. Bruce goes for The Journey in his 6 whereas instead you opt for a French film that I’ve never previously heard of and in which Yul is uncredited
“Moses’ God IS God!”
Hi Bob, thanks for the review, rating, info, trivia and comparison, much appreciated.
Glad you liked the posters, stills and lobby cards.
I decided to include all of Yul Brynner’s films on that video. IMDB lists one more, ‘Goodbye Again’ in which he played an extra in a nightclub scene.
Three Yul Brynner films scored 10 out of 10 from my sources – The Magnificent Seven, The Ten Commandments and Anastasia. Two more scored 9 – The King and I and Jean Cocteau’s The Testament of Orpheus in which he had an uncredited role.
No.1 at IMDB is The Ten Commandments, first at Rotten Tomatoes is The King and I, but neither could knock The 7 Magnificents off the top spot when all the scores were totaled.
Bruce and I have same top 2 on our charts. The Ten Commandments easily his biggest success.
Brynner and Orson Welles died on the same day October 10, 1985.
HI STEVE
Thanks for the feedback and additional in formation in relation to my Brynner post.
I am currently working on my next “review” of a Lensman video and it will probably come as no surprise to you that given the subject matter the exercise is proving even more of a “labour of love” than usual.
It will though be tomorrow and not toDAY that you receive the posts
Hello Bob, aaah ‘the thrill of it all’…’it’s a great feeling’ knowing that video subject is an idol of yours, looking forward to your review, maybe you should put up a ‘do not disturb’ sign on the door while you’re working on it and let us hope no ‘calamity’ befalls you until then. If it really pleases you ‘send me no flowers’ they make me sneeze.
HI STEVE
Well my grand daughter is named Emily JANE so let’s hope no calamity befalls her by the light of the silvery moon to interrupt my “opus” to you on the subject concerned.
It will be interesting to compare your ratings with those of The Man Who Knows Too Much.!
We’ve just discussed how Rock Hudson disliked exercise. Well so did Yul Brynner and he claimed that it was “humiliating” for a human being to have to go through the rituals of formal exercise.
In his heyday Yul was in great shape and when asked by a columnist how he maintained that shape he replied that he lead a very active life and his normal daily routine kept him in perfect shape without the need for a formal exercise regime.
Best POSTERS in Brynner video 40-21- Death Rage, raunchy one from Fuzz, File of the Golden Goose, Catlow, raunchy one for Surprise Package, 2 foreign language ones for Return of the Seven, Ultimate Warrior, Port of New York, Light at the End of the World and Sound and the Fury.
The release of the latter film was accompaninied by much hype over the fact that for once Brynner had hair in an on-screen role!
STILLS in Part One are sparse so ALL stills in your Brynner video will be included in my 2nd post.
Attached Steve’s Yul Brynner video to the page….my comment on his video.
“Nice update. I have not seen many of his movies….only 8. But I have seen #1 Magny 7….classic western #2 Ten Commandments….but it has been awhile since watching it #3 The King and I….his most famous role #4 Anastasia…solid movie but not a great movie #6 Westworld…the movie that introduced me to Yul #12 Invitation to a Gunfighter….an ok western #14 Solomon and Sheba….he took over for Tyrone Power…Yul with hair and #18 Kings of the Sun….has some pretty awesome stunts in this one. His 1956 year was incredible…..Ten Commandments, The King and I and Anastasia….what a trio of movies. Voted up and shared.”
Bruce, it’s amazing that 3 of the top 4 films on my video chart all came out in 1956, you could say it was downhill from there with the notable exception of his no.1 film – The Magnificent Seven. My tally 16, Flora 14 and Bruce 8.
Brynner looked fit and healthy but his weakness was smoking, since the age of 12!
It shortened his life. Thanks as always for commenting, appreciate the vote and share.
Hey Steve…I remember his anti-smoking commercial that came out right after his death…..pretty spooky stuff listening to him talking about what killed him. His 1956, is up there with Sidney Poitier’s 1967 and Claudette Colbert’s 1934 and some of the greatest single years for an actress or actor. Glad to share your video.
Hey Bob
1. Lots of great information here.
2. Like Myrna Loy said it took years to become an over night sensation. I think Yul can say the same.
3. I have not seen his Brando movie yet. Speaking of Brando….just checked out his restored One Eyed Jacks as well Heston as Shakespeare.
4. Cool about Yul selling his billings.
Good feedback as always.
1 BRUCE For a long time Yul’s publicists got away with the hype that he was an instant star in his first 3 films which were commercial blockbusters. However as your chart faithfully records his debut was actually in a supporting role in the 1949 Port of New York after which for some reason he made no more movies until 1956 and certainly in terms of box office from The Ten Commandments in 1956 until The Magnificent Seven in 1960 was a golden period for him after which his box office grosses for the most part dropped off as again you have accurately reflected in your chart. The star of Port of New York was as you have listed Scott Brady the brother of Lawrence Tierney who played the apparent Myrna Loy idolater Dillinger in the 1945 film of that name.
2 Consistent with what you have said in Possibly Interesting Facts Yul will always be associated with The King more than any other role and if I recall correctly he even spent the declining years of his career reprising The King on the stage. I see that you have of course included Morituri in Yul’s list of movies and there is a coincidence there in that I heard him say in a radio interview that Brando was his own favourite actor. In the same interview Yul was asked how much exercise he took to maintain that panther physique that women were said to so admire and he replied that he never took exercise as he thought it was a humiliating practice and he lead such a generally active everyday life that his daily routine automatically kept him in shape.
3 I’ve mentioned before that Yul’s son Rock Brynner said in a biography about his father that Yul habitually “sold his billing”. For example although Brynner had the title role in Taras Bulba he agreed to take 2nd billing to Curtis for an ADDITIONALl payment of $200,000 [about $1.6 million in today’s money]. Anyway I always like stuff about The King so I welcome this birthday rerun of Yul’s page -and I liked your coloured miniature from The King and I.