James Garner movies from best to worst
by philster8-45-336918 | created - 05 Jan 2023 | updated - 05 Jan 2023 | Public- Instant Watch Options
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1. The Great Escape (1963)
Approved | 172 min | Adventure, Drama, Thriller
Allied prisoners of war plan for several hundred of their number to escape from a German camp during World War II.
Director: John Sturges | Stars: Steve McQueen, James Garner, Richard Attenborough, Charles Bronson
Votes: 259,004 | Gross: $12.10M
2. Support Your Local Sheriff! (1969)
G | 92 min | Comedy, Western
In the old west, a man becomes a Sheriff just for the pay, figuring he can decamp if things get tough. In the end, he uses ingenuity instead.
Director: Burt Kennedy | Stars: James Garner, Joan Hackett, Walter Brennan, Harry Morgan
Votes: 12,702
3. The Americanization of Emily (1964)
Approved | 115 min | Comedy, Drama, Romance
An American Naval Officer's talent for living the good life in wartime is challenged when he falls in love and is sent on a dangerous mission.
Director: Arthur Hiller | Stars: James Garner, Julie Andrews, Melvyn Douglas, James Coburn
Votes: 5,698
4. Victor/Victoria (1982)
PG | 134 min | Comedy, Music, Romance
A struggling female soprano in 1934 Paris finally finds work after posing as a female impersonator, but it complicates her personal life when a visiting Chicago gangster finds himself inexplicably attracted to the seemingly male performer.
Director: Blake Edwards | Stars: Julie Andrews, James Garner, Robert Preston, Lesley Ann Warren
Votes: 23,679 | Gross: $21.93M
5. Skin Game (1971)
PG | 102 min | Comedy, Western
In 1857, con man Quincy Drew and his black friend Jason O'Rourke swindle slave owners into buying Jason, who's a free man, and later share the profits when Jason escapes captivity.
Directors: Paul Bogart, Gordon Douglas | Stars: James Garner, Louis Gossett Jr., Susan Clark, Brenda Sykes
Votes: 1,921 | Gross: $0.74M
6. Hour of the Gun (1967)
Approved | 100 min | Drama, Western
Marshal Wyatt Earp kills a couple of men of the Clanton gang in a fight. In revenge, Clanton's thugs kill the Marshal's brother. Thus, Wyatt starts to chase the killers together with his friend Doc Holliday.
Director: John Sturges | Stars: James Garner, Jason Robards, Robert Ryan, Albert Salmi
Votes: 4,598
7. The Children's Hour (1961)
Not Rated | 108 min | Drama, Romance
A rebellious student at a girls' school accuses two teachers of lesbianism.
Director: William Wyler | Stars: Audrey Hepburn, Shirley MacLaine, James Garner, Miriam Hopkins
Votes: 18,410
8. Sayonara (1957)
Not Rated | 147 min | Drama, Romance
A US Air Force major in Kobe confronts his own opposition to marriages between American servicemen and Japanese women when he falls for a beautiful performer.
Director: Joshua Logan | Stars: Marlon Brando, Ricardo Montalban, Patricia Owens, James Garner
Votes: 7,718 | Gross: $26.30M
9. 36 Hours (1964)
Approved | 115 min | Thriller, War
Germans kidnap an American Major and try to convince him that World War II is over so they can get details about the Allied invasion of Europe out of him.
Director: George Seaton | Stars: James Garner, Eva Marie Saint, Rod Taylor, Werner Peters
Votes: 4,760
10. The Notebook (2004)
PG-13 | 123 min | Drama, Romance
An elderly man reads to a woman with dementia the story of two young lovers whose romance is threatened by the difference in their respective social classes.
Director: Nick Cassavetes | Stars: Gena Rowlands, James Garner, Rachel McAdams, Ryan Gosling
Votes: 620,457 | Gross: $81.00M
11. Grand Prix (1966)
Approved | 176 min | Drama, Sport
American Grand Prix driver Pete Aron is fired by his Jordan-BRM racing team after a crash at Monaco that injures his British teammate, Scott Stoddard.
Director: John Frankenheimer | Stars: James Garner, Eva Marie Saint, Yves Montand, Toshirô Mifune
Votes: 10,506 | Gross: $20.85M
12. Murphy's Romance (1985)
PG-13 | 107 min | Comedy, Drama, Romance
Emma moves to a ranch with her son after a divorce and befriends the older Murphy, but things turn complicated when her ex shows up.
Director: Martin Ritt | Stars: Sally Field, James Garner, Brian Kerwin, Corey Haim
Votes: 7,061 | Gross: $30.76M
13. The Thrill of It All (1963)
Approved | 108 min | Comedy, Romance
A homemaker's sudden rise to fame as a soap spokesperson leads to chaos in her home life.
Director: Norman Jewison | Stars: Doris Day, James Garner, Arlene Francis, Edward Andrews
Votes: 5,906 | Gross: $11.78M
14. Duel at Diablo (1966)
Approved | 103 min | Drama, Thriller, Western
In Apache territory, a supply Army column heads for the next fort, an ex-scout searches for the killer of his Indian wife, and a housewife abandons her husband in order to rejoin her Apache lover's tribe.
Director: Ralph Nelson | Stars: James Garner, Sidney Poitier, Bibi Andersson, Dennis Weaver
Votes: 4,263
15. Marlowe (1969)
PG | 96 min | Crime, Drama, Mystery
A young woman from Kansas hires LA private detective Philip Marlowe to find her missing brother.
Director: Paul Bogart | Stars: James Garner, Gayle Hunnicutt, Carroll O'Connor, Rita Moreno
Votes: 4,017
16. Maverick (1994)
PG | 127 min | Action, Adventure, Comedy
Bret Maverick, needing money for a poker tournament, faces various comic mishaps and challenges, including a charming woman thief.
Director: Richard Donner | Stars: Mel Gibson, Jodie Foster, James Garner, Graham Greene
Votes: 119,100 | Gross: $101.63M
17. Move Over, Darling (1963)
Approved | 103 min | Comedy, Romance
After being lost at sea for several years, a missing wife thought long dead returns just after her husband has remarried.
Director: Michael Gordon | Stars: Doris Day, James Garner, Polly Bergen, Thelma Ritter
Votes: 6,490
18. Boys' Night Out (1962)
Unrated | 115 min | Comedy
Four men bored with their Thursday nights out from their wives (and mom) rent a love nest in New York City, equipped with a blonde. What they don't know is that she's writing a postgraduate thesis on sexual fantasies of urban men.
Director: Michael Gordon | Stars: Kim Novak, James Garner, Tony Randall, Howard Duff
Votes: 2,431
19. The Wheeler Dealers (1963)
Approved | 107 min | Comedy
A big-time Texas wheeler-dealer (who's actually Ivy league-educated, but plays dumb) runs out of money, and goes to New York City to raise $1.2 million.
Director: Arthur Hiller | Stars: Lee Remick, James Garner, Phil Harris, Chill Wills
Votes: 1,512
20. Support Your Local Gunfighter (1971)
G | 91 min | Comedy, Romance, Western
A con artist arrives in a mining town controlled by two competing companies. Both companies think he's a famous gunfighter and try to hire him to drive the other out of town.
Director: Burt Kennedy | Stars: James Garner, Suzanne Pleshette, Jack Elam, Harry Morgan
Votes: 6,268 | Gross: $0.55M
21. Fire in the Sky (1993)
PG-13 | 109 min | Biography, Drama, Fantasy
An Arizona logger mysteriously disappears for five days in an alleged encounter with a flying saucer in 1975. His co-workers endure ridicule and contempt as they are wrongly accused of murder.
Director: Robert Lieberman | Stars: D.B. Sweeney, Robert Patrick, Craig Sheffer, Peter Berg
Votes: 28,442 | Gross: $20.10M
22. My Fellow Americans (1996)
PG-13 | 101 min | Adventure, Comedy
Two former U. S. Presidents, hated rivals, join forces to expose the current, corrupt President at the risk of their lives.
Director: Peter Segal | Stars: Jack Lemmon, James Garner, Dan Aykroyd, John Heard
Votes: 15,910 | Gross: $22.29M
23. Cash McCall (1960)
Not Rated | 102 min | Drama, Romance
James Garner put in a winning performance as a similarly unreconstructed capitalist in the grip of merger mania.
Director: Joseph Pevney | Stars: James Garner, Natalie Wood, Nina Foch, Dean Jagger
Votes: 1,618
24. Space Cowboys (2000)
PG-13 | 130 min | Action, Adventure, Thriller
When retired engineer Frank Corvin is called upon to rescue a failing satellite, he insists that his equally old teammates accompany him into space.
Director: Clint Eastwood | Stars: Clint Eastwood, Tommy Lee Jones, Donald Sutherland, James Garner
Votes: 86,215 | Gross: $90.46M
25. They Only Kill Their Masters (1972)
PG | 97 min | Mystery, Romance, Thriller
California small town police chief investigates a suspicious death involving the victim's own dog that presumably killed its owner.
Director: James Goldstone | Stars: James Garner, Katharine Ross, Hal Holbrook, Harry Guardino
Votes: 1,241
26. Twilight (1998)
R | 94 min | Crime, Drama, Mystery
A retired detective accepts a simple task, unaware that it will tear open old, forgotten, but deadly wounds.
Director: Robert Benton | Stars: Paul Newman, Susan Sarandon, Gene Hackman, Reese Witherspoon
Votes: 14,167 | Gross: $15.03M
27. The Ultimate Gift (2006)
PG | 114 min | Drama, Family, Romance
A deceased billionaire leaves his spoiled adult grandson a series of odd tasks to perform in order to receive "the ultimate gift," with the resentful grandson having no idea what that might be.
Director: Michael O. Sajbel | Stars: Drew Fuller, James Garner, Abigail Breslin, Bill Cobbs
Votes: 20,442 | Gross: $3.44M
28. One Little Indian (1973)
G | 90 min | Comedy, Family, Western
On the run from the Cavalry, a man tries to disappear while accompanied by two camels and a runaway boy. His escape is made harder when he meets a widow and her daughter who may turn him in.
Director: Bernard McEveety | Stars: James Garner, Vera Miles, Pat Hingle, Morgan Woodward
Votes: 723
29. How Sweet It Is! (1968)
Not Rated | 99 min | Comedy
Photographer Grif Henderson is assigned a photo shoot in Paris. He decides to take his wife Jenny and his hippie son Davey with him on the shoot. Jenny unknowingly rents a house that ... See full summary »
Director: Jerry Paris | Stars: James Garner, Debbie Reynolds, Maurice Ronet, Terry-Thomas
Votes: 790
30. Divine Secrets of the Ya-Ya Sisterhood (2002)
PG-13 | 116 min | Drama
After years of mother-daughter tension, Siddalee receives a scrapbook detailing the wild adventures of the "Ya-Yas", her mother's girlhood friends.
Director: Callie Khouri | Stars: Sandra Bullock, Ellen Burstyn, Fionnula Flanagan, James Garner
Votes: 20,956 | Gross: $69.60M
31. Toward the Unknown (1956)
Approved | 115 min | Drama, History, Romance
At the dawn of supersonic flight in the 1950s, a group of Edwards Air Force Base experimental aircraft test pilots push themselves to the limit.
Director: Mervyn LeRoy | Stars: William Holden, Lloyd Nolan, Virginia Leith, Charles McGraw
Votes: 690
32. The Art of Love (1965)
99 min | Comedy
Struggling artist fakes his own death so his works will increase in value.
Director: Norman Jewison | Stars: James Garner, Dick Van Dyke, Elke Sommer, Angie Dickinson
Votes: 992 | Gross: $7.63M
33. Up Periscope (1959)
Approved | 112 min | Action, Drama, Romance
In 1942, Navy Lieutenant Kenneth Braden from the underwater demolition team is sent to a Japanese island to photograph secret radio codes.
Director: Gordon Douglas | Stars: James Garner, Edmond O'Brien, Andra Martin, Alan Hale Jr.
Votes: 2,254
34. HealtH (1980)
PG | 105 min | Comedy
A parody and satire of the U.S. political scene of the time, "HealtH" is set at a health-food convention at a Florida luxury hotel, where a powerful political organization is deciding on a new president.
Director: Robert Altman | Stars: Carol Burnett, Glenda Jackson, James Garner, Lauren Bacall
Votes: 935
35. Darby's Rangers (1958)
Approved | 121 min | Action, Drama, War
The lives, loves, and battles of fictional characters in the Army's First Ranger Battalion during WWII.
Director: William A. Wellman | Stars: James Garner, Etchika Choureau, Jack Warden, Edd Byrnes
Votes: 1,592
36. Shoot-Out at Medicine Bend (1957)
Passed | 87 min | Western
In Medicine Bend, a crooked businessman has the town mayor and sheriff in his pocket while his henchmen raid the wagon trains passing through the region.
Director: Richard L. Bare | Stars: Randolph Scott, James Craig, Angie Dickinson, Dani Crayne
Votes: 814
37. The Castaway Cowboy (1974)
G | 91 min | Comedy, Family, Western
A Texas cowboy is rescued at sea by a 12-year-old boy. While he waits to return home, he decides to help out his rescuer's family.
Director: Vincent McEveety | Stars: James Garner, Vera Miles, Robert Culp, Eric Shea
Votes: 907
38. Mister Buddwing (1966)
Approved | 100 min | Drama
An amnesiac (James Garner) wanders the streets of Manhattan trying to figure out who he is.
Director: Delbert Mann | Stars: James Garner, Jean Simmons, Suzanne Pleshette, Katharine Ross
Votes: 1,444
39. A Man Called Sledge (1970)
R | 93 min | Western
In the Old West, a gunfighting outlaw connives his way into a prison in hopes of getting his hands on a large shipment of gold stored there.
Directors: Vic Morrow, Giorgio Gentili | Stars: James Garner, Dennis Weaver, Claude Akins, John Marley
Votes: 1,529
40. A Man Could Get Killed (1966)
Approved | 97 min | Comedy, Thriller
In Lisbon, an American businessman is mistaken for a British agent with hilarious consequences.
Directors: Ronald Neame, Cliff Owen | Stars: James Garner, Melina Mercouri, Sandra Dee, Anthony Franciosa
Votes: 529
41. The Girl He Left Behind (1956)
Not Rated | 103 min | Comedy, Drama
Privileged college student Andy Shaeffer is a mama's boy who flunks out of school and is drafted by the army where he becomes a real man, to the astonishment of everyone.
Director: David Butler | Stars: Tab Hunter, Natalie Wood, Jessie Royce Landis, Jim Backus
Votes: 591
42. The Distinguished Gentleman (1992)
R | 112 min | Comedy, Crime
A conman discovers during a "job" that US Congress is where the money is. "Name recognition" gets him elected. Will he develop a conscience?
Director: Jonathan Lynn | Stars: Eddie Murphy, Lane Smith, Sheryl Lee Ralph, Joe Don Baker
Votes: 16,933 | Gross: $46.67M
43. Tank (1984)
PG | 113 min | Action, Comedy, Drama
Sergeant Major Zack arrives at a new army base with his wife, son and Sherman tank. One night at a bar he "stops" a pimp/deputy from beating a girl. The corrupt sheriff uses Zack's son for revenge and Zack uses his tank.
Director: Marvin J. Chomsky | Stars: James Garner, Shirley Jones, C. Thomas Howell, Mark Herrier
Votes: 4,682 | Gross: $14.13M
44. The Pink Jungle (1968)
Approved | 104 min | Action, Adventure, Comedy
A South American fashion photo shoot turns into a diamond mine seeking adventure for an American photographer and his model.
Director: Delbert Mann | Stars: James Garner, Eva Renzi, George Kennedy, Nigel Green
Votes: 414
45. Sunset (1988)
R | 102 min | Comedy, Crime, Drama
Tom Mix and Wyatt Earp team up to solve a murder at the Academy Awards in 1929 Hollywood.
Director: Blake Edwards | Stars: Bruce Willis, James Garner, Malcolm McDowell, Mariel Hemingway
Votes: 4,625 | Gross: $4.59M
46. The Fan (1981)
R | 95 min | Drama, Horror, Thriller
Douglas, a record salesman, is an obsessive fan of actress Sally Ross. When his letters are rejected, he strikes out at her and her loved ones.
Director: Ed Bianchi | Stars: Lauren Bacall, James Garner, Michael Biehn, Maureen Stapleton
Votes: 2,846
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