No matter you consider the concept of there being no extra film stars, one factor I feel we will all agree on is they do not make ’em like James Stewart any extra. One of many uncommon Hollywood stars whose off-screen persona lived as much as his on-screen pedigree, Stewart has so many nice film moments that it will be extremely tough to select a definitive best-of listing. We are able to, after all, listing our favourite Stewart roles, moments, and flicks, however the actor had such an esteemed, numerous, and prolific profession that everyone’s listing would certainly be strikingly completely different.
Whether or not you favor early-career “aw, shucks” Stewart or advanced, conflicted, late-career Stewart, the actor basically made one thing for everybody throughout his time within the highlight, which, because it occurs, spanned World Struggle II during which Stewart served as a pilot and commanding officer. From celebrated romantic comedies to celebrated Alfred Hitchcock movies and a number of the most critically acclaimed Westerns ever produced, Stewart displayed a novel vary that makes narrowing down his finest motion pictures nigh-on not possible.
In 2025, nonetheless, we’ve one thing that Stewart certainly by no means noticed coming: Rotten Tomatoes. Amid a tide of ever-increasing media, RT has develop into a helpful useful resource for these on the lookout for a technique to lower via the murk and resolve what’s really value watching. However the evaluate aggregator has additionally supplied us with a straightforward, although imperfect, technique to take inventory of any given actor or director’s profession, and in Stewart’s case, it is fascinating to see which of his movies managed to finesse the TomatoMeter into an ideal rating — and much more fascinating to see which of his movies did not obtain that standing.
James Stewart has a stellar Rotten Tomatoes document
Rotten Tomatoes is not only for checking whether or not a brand new movie fared effectively sufficient with the TomatoMeter to be value a watch. It additionally permits us to look again at a person’s profession and get an approximation of what could be thought-about their finest work. Within the case of Sean Connery, Rotten Tomatoes would have you ever consider that his most interesting movie is the forgotten Disney fantasy journey “Darby O’Gill and the Little Folks” (hey, I instructed you the system was imperfect). However that does not imply the positioning is solely ineffective on this regard — it has not less than given an ideal rating to the wonderful Andrew Garfield thriller “Purple Using: 1974.“
So we come to James Stewart, who, have been he alive right now, may stammer himself to self-implosion when confronted with such a factor as Rotten Tomatoes, particularly if he took a take a look at the positioning’s rating of his filmography and noticed sure of his motion pictures assigned cartoon splats. For our functions, nonetheless, it is fascinating to see which of his initiatives really managed to realize the elusive 100% critic rating, as a number of the movies you may anticipate to be on this unique membership simply missed out.
Stewart has 11 motion pictures with an ideal, 100% critic rating on the positioning, which is fairly darn spectacular by itself. I imply, Rotten Tomatoes maintains that there are solely two good motion pictures throughout the whole sci-fi style, so 11 for only one man? That is a real film star stat (both that or the entire RT rating system is not all that coherent a factor, however I digress). What made the lower? Absolutely “It is A Fantastic Life” or “Rear Window” is up there? How about “Vertigo” or “Mr. Smith Goes to Washington?” Nope.
James Stewart’s “good” movies are “Vivacious Woman,” “Bend of the River,” “The Man from Laramie,” “The Far Nation,” “Shenandoah,” “The Philadelphia Story,” “Winchester ’73,” “The Mortal Storm,” “Rose Marie,” “Anatomy of a Homicide,” and “The Bare Spur.” A wholesome mixture of genres, to make sure, however there are some obtrusive omissions, too. So, what is going on on?
James Stewart’s Rotten Tomatoes scores, defined
This is the factor with these “good” Rotten Tomato scores. Usually, the less critiques a film has, the upper the possibility of it gaining both a flat 0% or a full 100% rating. That is merely a by-product of how the positioning works. With a purpose to get an total share, every evaluate submitted to the positioning must be assessed as both constructive or unfavorable. What occurs when it is type of within the center? It nonetheless will get both a constructive or unfavorable label, with the RT curators tasked with ascertaining whether or not a movie is, because the web site explains, “mixed-positive or mixed-negative.” In different phrases, “a call must be made: is it Contemporary or is it Rotten?”
The ultimate share rating is a illustration of what number of reviewers discovered the movie “contemporary” and what number of discovered it “rotten.” So, whenever you solely have a handful of critiques and the movie is form of OK, that ensures a 100% rating merely as a result of paucity of critiques out there and the truth that the curators usually tend to simply label mentioned critiques “combined constructive.” In James Stewart’s case, he has a full 11 movies with a “good” rating, and I am afraid to say, fairly a number of of them aren’t very extensively reviewed. Certainly one of the perfect Civil Struggle motion pictures ever made, “Shenandoah,” for instance, has simply six critiques backing up its 100% ranking, and several other others are within the 10 to 12 vary.
That is typical of older movies, which did not instantly face the wrath of the web and its plentiful evaluate websites upon their debuts. Conversely, it is a part of the explanation a number of the actor’s extra well-liked motion pictures aren’t within the 100% membership, with “Rear Window” and its 98% primarily based on a wholesome 133 critiques. Likewise, “It is a Fantastic Life” earned 94% primarily based on 98 critiques. However Stewart’s 100-percenters aren’t solely made up of flicks with single-digit evaluate numbers. Actually, beloved rom-com “The Philadelphia Story” is especially spectacular, with a 100% rating primarily based on a large 105 critiques. Now that is a bonafide Contemporary ranking! Equally, 1959’s “Anatomy of a Homicide” has a full 53 critiques to its good rating, whereas “Winchester ’73” claims an honest 32 critiques.
With all that mentioned, 11 “good” motion pictures remains to be some form of achievement nonetheless you take a look at it, and there is no person in Hollywood historical past extra deserving that Stewart.
