71 James Whitmore Movies, Ranked Best to Worst

Andy Dufresne is wrongly convicted and sentenced to two consecutive life terms in the Shawshank prison for the murders of his wife and her lover. The Shawshank Redemption depicts how Andy tackles the brutal confines of the prison, and also how he earns the respect of his fellow inmates.

A spaceship crash lands into an unknown planet. Three astronauts think that the planet has no intelligent life form. However, they soon come across a much more advanced society of apes that rule the planet. Humans, in this planet are reduced to slaves and are locked up. Astronaut Taylor has to escape to save his life but he comes across a startling discovery about the planet itself.

Released from prison, criminal Erwin ‘Doc’ Riedenschneider contacts a corrupt lawyer for financial backing before planning a major jewelry robbery. He hires a safe-cracker, a getaway driver and a gunman for the heist, which goes as planned. But an alarm results in shootout, killing one of them. What ensue is betrayal, deceit, murder and suicide, as the police hunt each one of them.

Battleground is an action war drama film which takes us to the time of the Second World War. The film revolves around a squad of the 101st Airborne Division, who are trapped in the besieged city of Bastogne, in Belgium, while while  against the German forces in the Battle of Bulge.

The film illustrates the American and Japanese perspectives about the events leading up to the Japanese air-raid on the Pearl Harbor naval base in 1941. US economic embargo results in strained relations with Japan, which leads the Japanese to plot an early morning surprise air-strike on Pearl Harbor. Though US intelligence succeeds in intercepting the Japanese messages, they are dismissed as implausible. 

Them! is a sci-fi horror film which revolves around common ants who mutate into giant man-eating monsters after the atomic tests in New Mexico. Meanwhile, General O’Brien, along with few others, attempts to take them down, and rescue any survivors.

Kiss Me Kate is a romantic comedy musical film which tells the story of Fred and Lilly, a divorced pair of actors who are brought together for a musical version of the Shakespearean play ‘The Taming of the Shrew’. Things get complicated when a quarrel breaks out between them on the opening night, which threatens the entire production.

Originally released in Italy as La polizia incrimina la legge assolve, it is an Italian-Spanish poliziottesco film, focusing on Vice Commissioner Belli’s fight against a powerful drug ring. To deter him, his opponents murder his daughter and beat up his girl friend; yet he is not ready give up. 

A local handyman saves a child from a fire. However, in the process, he disfigures his face due to which the townspeople start to avoid him.    

Oklahoma!

Based on an eponymous book by John Howard Griffin, the film follows the story of a White journalist, who darkens his skin to travel across Deep South. Traveling as a Black man in 1950s, he experiences the reality of Black life, facing racism from the Whites without actually provoking them and experiencing the anger of the Black people seeking justice. 

The movie follows Lt. Col. Paul W. Tibbets Jr, the commander of the Enola Gay, the bomber that dropped the atomic bomb on Hiroshima during WWII. The dangers of the mission, how devastating it was and most importantly the strict secrecy required for it put immense stress on Tibbets. His marriage with Lucey also begins getting affected due to it.

Where the Red Fern Grows is an adventurous story of an Ozarks boy, Stewart Petersen, who dreams of owning red-bone hound hunting dogs after listening to his grandfather, James Whitmore. The story revolves around the inseparable trio, loyalty and true friendship and their efforts to win the annual coon-hunt contest.

Treasury department agent, Frank Warren, is determined to bring down ruthless mobster, The Big Fellow. But, he struggles to make a case as informants keep getting murdered and there are too many corrupt police officers. When all hope seems lost, Frank finds unlikely help in one syndicate bookkeeper who might turn on the mob. 

Ann Wilson sees her husband David, a university chemistry professor, kissing another woman and in fury seeks divorce. At the advice of his friend Mike, David lies to Ann claiming that he is an FBI officer and was working on his mission. Ann is excited, a bit too much perhaps. What follows is a series of trouble where even the FBI, the CIA and the KGB get involved.

Abel and Max Rosenberg are circus acrobats but Max’s life turns upside down after Abel commits suicide. He faces several problems in his life including unemployment, depression, alcoholism, etc.

Frankie Dane, the leader of a slum youth gang, intends to take revenge on neighbor Mr. McAllister for humiliating him, and for reporting one of the gang members for carrying a zip gun. Social Worker Ben Wagner learns about his plan to kill McAllister, and tries without much success to reach out and talk to Frankie. Does Frankie finally takes his revenge?

Melinda is a sixteen year old girl who wishes to leave her hometown and explore the world some day. Although Melinda was born out of wedlock, her single mother Elizabeth insists that her father passed away when she was still an infant. However, when Melinda starts getting involved with a guy named Will, her mother thinks that she may have to reveal the truth after all.

Set in 1951, an up-and-coming Hollywood screenwriter, Peter Appleton, is accused of being a communist. An accident after getting drunk, results in amnesia. Found near town of Lawson, he is mistaken as the MIA son of the community. He brings life to the town and rebuilds movie theater, the Majestic. As he regains his memory, the authorities also come looking for him.  

Believing that he is born to fly, a private in the Army medical corps goes AWOL to take private lessons in flying and when the military police come looking for him, he escapes by parachuting out of the aircraft. Eventually he becomes a pilot and performs many heroic deeds. But his wife is worried about him, especially when is he chosen as test pilot for a new jet.  

Wandering gunman Chuka helps a Native-American Arapaho camp by giving them food. Later he escorts a stagecoach taking Mexican passengers Veronica Kleitz and her niece Helena Chavez to the U.S. Army fort of Colonel Stuart Valois. As the Colonel and the fort prepare for one final stand against the Arapahos, Chuka tries to save Veronica and her niece. 

The Command is a 1954 Western film, which tells the story of an inexperienced Captain Robert MacClaw, who is requested by his superior to lead a team of soldiers. Although he promises to try his best, a smallpox epidemic and conflict between his comrades makes his plans difficult. 

Sailor, Joel Shore, along with his wife, Priscilla, go in search of his whale hunter brother Mark who has been lost at sea. When they find him, he has become desperate and evil. When Mark starts pursuing a romantic relationship with Priscilla, a vicious love triangle develops in the middle of a violent mutiny. 

At a home in Georgia for troubled orphans, Les is a teen who stands up for meek kids to protect them from bullies. However, due to this, he is regarded as a troublemaker by the caretakers. He soon gets involved with a  convict who is planning an escape from a prison camp.

The Deep Six is a war drama film, which revolves around Navy Lieutenant Austin, who struggles to perform his duties while also observing his Quaker beliefs, during the Second World War.

Claudia Draper is a call girl who has been charged with the murder of a client. Her mother and her stepfather wants to have her declared insane, so that she can avoid being sent to jail. However, Claudia rejects this approach, since she doesn’t want to be put in a mental institution. Eventually the attorney hired by her parents is attacked by Claudia, and therefore a public defender named Aaron Levinsky takes on her case instead, and he tries to prove that she is not insane.

Told in eight episodes, the film covers different facets of American culture and spirit. It all begins with a professor being asked by a fellow passenger during a train journey if he loves America, to which he responds by counter-asking, “Which America”. The simple question leads to the unfolding of diverse layers of American ethos.   

Based on Richard Stark’s novel The Seventh, the movie follows a professional thief McClain as he, along with an old friend, plots to rob a football arena. They put together a team and successfully carry out the job. Things, though, take a darker turn when a murder takes place, the money goes missing, a corrupt detective appears and the gang members doubt McClain’s intention. 

Alison Kirbe, a working class woman living in London, receives a telegram from Texas, stating that she has inherited a livestock ranch. This becomes a news throughout the city, and as she prepares to sail for the US to claim her inheritance, she attracts the attention of three men. 

The Great Diamond Robbery is a comedy crime film which tells the story of Ambrose, who works as an assistant to a diamond cutter. He learns that his employer has invested his entire fortune in a gem, and helps a jewel thief to steal it, unintentionally.

Soon after convincing his wife Jane to quit her job, top executive Dick Harper loses his job due to a scam by Globodyne CEO Jack McCallister. They are forced into crime to pay bills but reconsider their options following run-ins with the law, and are determined to take revenge on McCallister after learning about his scheme.

This romantic drama film tells the story of Steve Latimer, a defense attorney, who had recently agreed to defend a gambler Victor Raimondi, in a trial. Things get interesting when Jane, Steve’s daughter gets acquainted with Victor, and they start feeling attracted to one another.

The Relic is a science fiction horror mystery film which revolves around a detective who teams up with an anthropologist to find a demonic force responsible for several murders in a Chicago museum. They face a race against time to track down the creature, before it starts killing again.

The coming-of-age movie is set during the height of the sexual revolution in the USA in the early 1970s. The movie tells the stories of students in the fictional Harrad College where they learn about sexuality and experiment with each other and the concept of free love. 

An astronaut who is scheduled to be the first man on the Moon, is bothered about the fact that his name sounds quite ordinary, and will not resonate throughout history.