Want to know the best Elia Kazan movies? How about the worst Elia Kazan movies? Curious about Elia Kazan’s box office grosses or which Elia Kazan movie picked up the most Oscar® nominations? Need to know which Elia Kazan 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.
Elia Kazan (1909-2003) was an Oscar® winning director, producer, writer and actor. He is considered one of the most influential directors in Broadway and Hollywood history. He won two Best Director Oscars® and received a Honorary Oscar® in 1999. His IMDb page shows 21 directing credits from 1937-1976. This page ranks 19 Elia Kazan movies from Best to Worst in six different sortable columns of information. His 2 documentary short films were not included in the rankings.
Drivel part of the page: Today I had to babysit my house as a brand new heating and air condition unit were being installed (at a cost of 15K) into my house. Figuring this would be a good time to write a new page (normally I write after my little ones have gone to sleep) I sat down to write a new UMR page. At this point I could not figure out which person to do next. After some internal debate, I decided to knock another director off of my list of great directors to write about. Sitting on top of that list was Mr. Elia Kazdan. That fact and the fact Helakoski had recently requested a page on him….sealed the deal and we now have a Kazdan page.
Elia Kazan 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 Elia Kazan movies by the stars of his movies.
- Sort Elia Kazan movies by adjusted domestic box office grosses using current movie ticket cost (in millions)
- Sort Elia Kazan movies by yearly domestic box office rank
- Sort Elia Kazan 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 Elia Kazan movie received and how many Oscar® wins each Elia Kazan movie won.
- Sort Elia Kazan 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.
Stats and Possibly Interesting Things From The Above Elia Kazanl Table
- Ten Elia Kazan movies crossed the magical $100 million domestic gross mark. That is a percentage of 52.63% of his movies listed. Gentleman’s Agreement (1947) was his biggest box office hit.
- An average Elia Kazan movie grossed $121.70 million in adjusted box office gross.
- Using RottenTomatoes.com’s 60% fresh meter. 16 Elia Kazan movies are rated as good movies…or 84.21% of his movies. On the Waterfront (1954) is his highest rated movie while The Arrangement (1969) is his lowest rated movie.
- Thirteen Elia Kazan movies received at least one Oscar® nomination in any category…..or 64.42% of his movies.
- Nine Elia Kazan movie won at least one Oscar® in any category…..or 47.36% of his movies.
- An average Ultimate Movie Rankings (UMR) Score is 40.00. 15 Elia Kazan movies scored higher that average….or 78.94 of his movies. Gentleman’s Agreement (1947) got the the highest UMR Score while The Visitors (1972) got the lowest UMR Score.
Possibly Interesting Facts About Elia Kazan
1. Elias Kazantzoglou was born in the Fener district of Istanbul. He emigrated to the United States when he was four years old
2. Elia Kazan’s nickname was “Gadg“. That was short for gadget. He got the nickname because he was small, compact, and handy to have around.
3. Elia Kazan went to the Yale University School Of Drama for two years. He left Yale and found success as a New York theatrical director.
4. Elia Kazan was nominated for 7 Oscars®. He received 5 Best Director nominations, 1 Best Producer and 1 Best Screenplay nomination. He won Best Director Oscars® for 1947’s Gentleman’s Agreement and 1954’s On The Waterfront.
5. Elia Kazan directed 21 different actors in Oscar®-nominated performances: James Dunn, Celeste Holm, Gregory Peck, Dorothy McGuire, Anne Revere, Jeanne Crain, Ethel Barrymore, Ethel Waters, Karl Malden, Vivien Leigh, Kim Hunter, Marlon Brando, Anthony Quinn, Eva Marie Saint, Lee J. Cobb, Rod Steiger, Jo Van Fleet, James Dean, Carroll Baker, Mildred Dunnock and Natalie Wood. Dunn, Holm, Malden, Leigh, Hunter, Quinn, Brando, Saint and Van Fleet all won Oscars® for their performances in Kazan films.
6. Elia Kazan and Method Actors. He is the only person to direct James Dean, Marlon Brando, Montgomery Clift and Robert DeNiro.
7. Elia Kazan was married three times in his life and had 5 children.
8. Check out Elia Kazan‘s career compared to current and classic actors. Most 100 Million Dollar Movies of All-Time.
Academy Award® and Oscar® are the registered trademarks of the Academy of Motion Arts and Sciences.
PHIL/BRUCE
What on earth am I thinking about? as WH has already given us an adjusted domestic gross for Baby Doll on this Kazan page – $100.7 million. Problem solved! and we’ll just have to take Kazan’s word for it that the latter was not enough for the movie to turn a profit because of costs.
Anyway apologies for the oversight Bruce.
Hi
An awesome talent because apart from his film work, his achievement on Broadway was incredible. One of his best films is A Face in the Crowd, Patricia Neil is fantastic in it. I remember the night he got his honorary Oscar, some people refused to applaud, which is their entitlement to do so. It’s hard to know the rights and wrongs of what he did when you don’t live in them times, but I suppose when everyone looks back on their life, we’ve all made mistakes and done things we regret and Kazan was no different than the rest of us. I remember reading when he made Sea of Grass with Tracey and Hepburn, he found it very frustrating because every time he tried to direct Tracey, he just ignored him. It’s a film I haven’t seen but I must make a point of looking it up. And of course Street Car is fantastic, the two leads are two of the greatest performances ever on screen.
Because of all the controversy in the past, the AFI never gave him the life achievement, so i suppose there’s a price to everything. But he left an incredible legacy of work. Martin Scorsese done a brilliant documentary about him, it’s worth looking up.
Hey Chris.
1. Gotta admit I did almost zero research on his Broadway career….but that probably explains why he had so few movies….as he spent so much time working on stage versus movies.
2. I was surprised that A Face In The Crowd did not perform better at the box office…..but I agree Neil is awesome in that movie….as is Griffith. I actually had a few personal conversations with Griffith….and the only time we talked his acting career…A Face In The Crowd is the thing we talked about. P.S. The rest of the time we talked ….it was about how horrible the company I worked for was….and how he hoped we left the Outer Banks of North Carolina.
3. I agree they were entitled not to applaud…..but I think he deserved his Honorary Oscar….so few movies….but what a lasting impact on movies.
4. Sea of Grass…gets a big ok from me…..I just recently saw it….but it is quickly leaving my memory. Probably the least impressive Kate/Spence movie.
5. I have seen Streetcar three times now….and each time I have enjoyed it even less than the previous time. Glad you enjoy that one….but not thinking there will ever be a 4th viewing for me.
6. I will have to check out that Scorses documentary.
Thanks for sharing your thoughts on Mr. Kazan.