75 Spencer Tracy Movies, Ranked Best to Worst

This is a dramatized version of 3rd Nuremberg trial for war crimes held by the US authorities after WWII. Four German judges, who officiated during the Nazi regime, are tried before Chief Trial Judge Dan Haywood for crimes against humanity. Haywood has the most challenging task of deciding whether they are guilty of international crimes or were observing the orders of their government. 

The film is based on the true facts of ‘Scopes Monkey Trial’ of 1925. Bertram Cates, a Tennessee science teacher is arrested for violating Butler Act by teaching Darwin’s theory of Evolution. The case attracts the attention of entire nation when the two formidable lawyers fight the case: the atheist lawyer Henry Drummond defends Cates, while evangelist and former presidential candidate Matthew Brady is the prosecutor. 

During the 1920s, a spoilt young man onboard an ocean liner falls into the sea by accident due to a prank. Luckily, he is picked up by a fishing boat. Now, he has no option but to adapt to the ways of the fishermen, if he wants to survive.  

Don "Wardaddy" Collier embarks on a mission with his crew of five members. The mission is sure to put many lives in danger. As they begin, they realize that the odds are against them, but they still decide to go on with the task of attacking the Nazi army.

Joanna is a young woman who was raised with liberal values. One day, when she brings home her fiance, who is an African-American widowed physician, her parent’s attitudes are challenged. 

When wealthy socialite Connie Allenbury is falsely accused of breaking up a marriage, she decides to sue the New York Evening Star for libel for $ 5 million. Unsure of what to do, Warren Haggerty, the managing editor, turns to former reporter Bill Chandler, hoping that he can help him. He tries to come up with a story to frame her, and make the false story seem true.

Bad Day at Black Rock is a mystery crime thriller drama film which tells the story of a one-armed stranger who comes to a small town. He knows about their terrible past which they want to keep hidden, even by violent means, is required.

This action adventure comedy film revolves around a group of greedy people who hear about a hidden stash of loot. Soon they embark on an adventurous journey through the countryside in search of the buried treasure. 

Adam and his wife Amanda who are both lawyers find themselves on the same case, on opposite sides. The case which involves a woman, who shot her cheating husband, turns their domestic life upside down.

Woman of the Year is a romantic comedy drama film which tells the story of Sam and Tess, two reporters working for a press who dislike each other. But eventually they fall for one another and get married. However, after Tess gets elected as ‘Woman of the Year’, her life gets busy and hectic and Sam begins to feel lonely.

Desk Set is a romantic comedy film which tells the story of a young woman named Bunny, who works at the reference library of the Federal Brodcasting Network. She feels bored with her relationship with Mike Cutler, a rising network executive. When a engineer named Richard Summer is hired to install an advanced machine at her library, she begins to fall for him.  

After the Pearl Harbor attack, Lieutenant Colonel James Doolittle of the US Army Air Force is forced to leave his pregnant wife behind, in order to take part in a top-secret mission. He warns his crew about the importance and danger of the mission, and tells them that they should opt out if they have to, especially if they have wives and families. It is soon revealed that the mission involves bombing five Japanese cities.

A death row prisoner tells Father Edward Flanagan that he would not have lived a life of crime only if he had a single friend in life. Therefore, Father Edward Flanagan makes the decision to build a home for young boys. Things go smoothly until he meets a very complicated child.

Blackie Norton hires Mary Blake as a singer in his bar named The Paradise Club. Over some time, Mary gains a lot of popularity. She is soon noticed by socialite Jack Burley and Maestro Baldini of the Tivoli Opera. They approach her and offer her an opportunity to do opera, but it seems that Blackie has her under a two-year contract. However, things turn sour between Blackie and Mary, when he makes up posters featuring her in tights, and she decides to break her contract and leave for the Tivoli.  

Bill takes pity on a starving woman named Trina, after meeting her in a city park. He takes her to a fancy restaurant, but after finishing, he causes a ruckus, as he has no money as well. The manager has no option but to let them go. After learning that Trina is homeless, he decides to allow her to stay in his ramshackle home. They soon fall in love, but things get complicated when Trina tells him that she is now pregnant.

Stanley Banks is a successful suburban lawyer whose daughter Kay announces casually that she is in love with a man named Buckley, and that she has accepted his proposal. Although this makes Stanley uneasy, he realizes that his daughter is now grown up, and this day is inevitable. He tries to deal with the emotional pain of separating from her, and does his best to arrange for the wedding.

Retired recovering alcoholic lawyer, James Curtayne, is persuaded into taking the case of young boy Johnny O'Hara who is falsely accused of murder. Because of his bad handling of the case, Johnny ends up being found guilty. James takes matters into his own hands to prove Johnny’s innocence with fatal consequences. 

Steve Grey, a famous New York, reporter pins the murder of corrupt businessman, Halford, on Halford’s partner, Henry Mander, who is sentenced to death. When Steve’s editor asks him to get an interview with Mander, the real truth comes out. 

Dr. Jekyll believes that every individual has a good side and an evil side, and to explore his evil side, he creates a potion that transforms him into Mr. Hyde, his dark and evil side, which kills Ivy, a woman who had expressed interest in Jekyll, and Sir Charles, the father of Jekyll’s fiancée.

Jim Lane is a test pilot, who lives a very dangerous life. During one of his flights, he is forced to make an emergency landing on a farmer’s field in Kansas. The farm belongs to the Barton family, and he meets and falls for their daughter Ann Barton. They impulsively decide to get married and to live in New York. However, Ann is upset by the fact that Jim always puts his work before her. She also begins to fear that she will become a widow, due to the dangerous nature of his work. 

Father Flanagan is the head of Boys Town home for troubled children. When his young protégé Whitey Marsh goes to Marysport reform school, the brutal truth of Marysport is revealed, where boys are physically abused. Father Flanagan exposes the school and saves the boys. 

Jessie Cassidy plans to escape the poverty at her home and pushes her boyfriend Eddie Miller to marry her. But Eddie is a crook and convinces Jessie to work as a shopgirl. When shipping tycoon John L. Hennessey falls in love with Jessie, Eddie proposes a devious plan to steal Hennessey’s money. 

Danny is a police officer who falls for a waitress named Helen. However, things get complicated when Helen’s sister, Kate, falls for Duke, the same gangster whom Danny is pursuing.

Ambitious Jim Carter joins Pop McWade’s carnival and works for a show called ‘Dante’s Inferno,’ making it a big attraction. He marries Pop’s niece Betty and they have a son. Carter bribes an inspector who proclaims the show pier as unsafe. When the pier crashes injuring Pop, Carter faces trial while Betty leaves him. Despite this, he starts a new floating casino. 

Teenager Ruth Gordon Jones wants to drop out of school and move to New York City to pursue a career as a theater actress. However, her father, a former sailor working a menial job, who was once forced to leave school to seek work, wants her to become an instructor and marry handsome Harvard student Fred Whitmarsh.

Starting with burning down his own business to fund little Edward's treatment from insurance money, Arnold Boult has continued to take desperate measures to protect his beloved son, even if it meant hurting people close to him. The situation takes a dire turn when he refuses to believe his wife's concerns that Edward has become alcoholic and immoral.

Right after the USA enters World War II, reporter John Royer secures the release of and enlists the help of his friend Carnaghan to smuggle much-needed rubber out of Japanese controlled Malaya. With a dangerous Japanese commander Tomura in pursuit, Royer and Carnaghan involve an old associate The Dutchman to help them.

Cass Timberlane, a middle-aged small-town judge with an immaculate reputation, falls in love with and marries Virginia ‘Jinny’ Marshland, a working-class girl, which creates ripples in his society. Feeling restless with the staid life, Jinny gets involved with Cass’s friend Bradd Criley, and leaving Cass, goes away with Bradd. Will she ever return to Cass? Can they share the same bond again?

This 1940 drama film revolves around a doctor who rescues a young woman while the latter tries to commit suicide due to a failed romance. The duo eventually get married, but in order to afford her expensive lifestyle, the doctor abandons his clinic services to the poor, and joins a famous hospital.  

Big City is an American drama film, which tells the story of Joe Benton, an independent taxi driver, who fights against corruption, and to stop his wife from being deported, after she is accused of murder. 

Golden is addicted to gambling, but he promises his wife that when he makes $ 200,000, he is going to quit it for good. However, when he loses a significant sum of money to a mobster, he has no other option but to pawn his wife’s jewelry.

The movie is a fictionalized retelling of the Pilgrims’ voyage on board the Mayflower, to North America to establish the Plymouth Colony. As a love triangle with tragic consequences develops between the Capt. Christopher Jones, Dorothy Bradford, and her husband William Bradford, the movie also provides a description of the voyage. 

Fisherman Dutch marries cannery worker Hattie, and quits his job to become the union leader; but a failed union strike leaves him jobless. Ashamed of his poverty, his pride makes him abandon Hattie, who then joins cannery boss Nick. As her love for Dutch never dies, she steals for him and gets a prison-term. Dutch, a changed person, waits for her return.  

The story focuses on the friendship between three prison convicts, Saint Louis, Dan and Steve. After his release, Steve heads for his hometown, where people are not aware of his criminal past. But in comes Frosby, a dishonest salesman, who blackmails him into taking part in a scheme to defraud the neighbors. When Louis and Dan learn about this, they escape from the prison to foil Frosby’s plan. 

Wanda is an actress from Canada, who wins a contest to go to Hollywood. She falls for the promises of two con men Smoothie and Limey. They make up a story that Wanda is the daughter of a British lord, and she is eventually noticed by a cynical and drunken director named Hal.

Marie is kidnapped and taken aboard a ship. However, she manages to escape, and begins a new life as a singer, in order to earn her safe passage back home. However, she gets involved in a plot to destroy the canal.

After finding Bill’s address book, Spike uses it to date women. When Bill and Spike eventually meet, they become friends. Things get interesting when they meet a woman named Goldie.    

Wilkie and Mitchell are trying their best to avoid being drafted into the Army during the First World War. They decide to stow away on a ship, unaware that it will lead them into the war zone.

How the West Was Won is an epic Western film which takes us to the 19th century, and covers several events such as the Gold Rush, the Civil War, as well as the building of the railroads.

Based on the novel of the same name by Ernest Hemingway, this adventure drama film tells the story of a Cuban fisherman who is ridiculed as he has been unable to catch anything for almost three months. Therefore, he vows to catch a legendary fish and sets out into the sea to prove his worth. Eventually, he is able to hook a huge marlin, but he is forced to battle the fish for three days and nights.  

Based on the early life of inventor Thomas Edison, the movie follows young Tom as his mischiefs and chemical experiments brand him as a troublemaker. Eventually, Tom earns the respect of the townspeople after using science to save a train from plunging into a river and helping a surgeon operate on his mother.