James Stewart's 10 Best Movies, According To Rotten Tomatoes

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James Stewart is one of the most famous and decorated actors to ever work in Hollywood. After making his feature film debut in the 1935 release of The Murder Man, Stewart amassed 100 big and small screen credits over a six-decade career. In 1941, Stewart won an Oscar for Best Leading Performance in The Philadelphia Story. In 1985, Stewart received an honorary Academy Award for his 50-year contribution to cinema.

Stewart's most famous titles include Mr. Smith Goes to Washington, It's a Wonderful Life, Rear Window, Vertigo, Rope, Anatomy of a Murder, and many others. For more, here are James Stewart's 10 best movies, according to Rotten Tomatoes.

10 The Far Country (1954) 100%

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In Anthony Mann's western The Far Country, Stewart plays a cattle driver headed west during the gold rush at the turn of the 20th century.

When Jeff Webster (Stewart) hears of the gold prospects in the American west, he uses the opportunity to transport cattle from Wyoming to Washington state with plans to make money by selling beef. Through difficult travels, Webster contends with the thieving Gannon (John McIntire) while denying the advances of two women who fall in love with him.

9 The Naked Spur (1953) 100%

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As Howard Kemp in The Naked Spur, Stewart plays a wily bounty hunter out to capture a longtime criminal named Ben Vandergroat (Robert Ryan). Janet Leigh, Ralph Meeker, and Millard Mitchell costar.

In hot pursuit of Vandergroat and the $5,000 bounty put on him, Kemp reluctantly accepts the help of two men along the way. Jesse (Mitchell) is a veteran prospector, while Roy (Meeker) is a disgraced former soldier. As the two men near the reward money, greed drives a wedge between them.

8 After The Thin Man (1936) 100%

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The oldest movie of Stewart's to be ranked among his top 10, according to Rotten Tomatoes, belongs to After the Thin Man. The film costars Thin Man mainstay, Myrna Loy.

Plot-wise, the mystery concerns Nick's (William Powell) investigation of a new murder in San Francisco. When Nick visits Nora's family for New Year's Eve, they learn a cousin named Robert (Alan Marshall) has gone missing for three days. When Robert is found shot, his wife Selma (Elissa Landi) is accused of killing him.

7 Winchester '73 (1950) 100%

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The third Anthony Mann western to be included on this list so far belongs to Winchester '73, a movie about a stolen rifle that changes several hands throughout the story. Stewart plays Lin McAdam, a sharpshooter who wins the titular rifle in a shooting contest.

When the rifle is pilfered by the contest's runner-up, Dutch Henry Brown (Stephen McNally), Lin sets out to retrieve it. As the rifle moves from one owner to another, a violent showdown ensues in the end.

6 The Mortal Storm (1940) 100%

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In the WWII drama The Mortal Storm, the Jewish Roth family's quiet and peaceful life in the German alps is interrupted upon the rise of the Nazi party. When the family is broken up, close friend Martin (Stewart) is caught up in the collateral damage.

The movie was made one year prior to the U.S. entry into World War II. When Freya Roth learns of her fiancee's political affiliation with the Nazis, she leaves him for Martin, who opposes Nazi ideology.

5 The Man From Laramie (1955) 100%

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In The Man From Laramie, Stewart plays a mysterious drifter who comes to a new town in Apache territory where he ruffles the feathers of a powerful land baron and his evil son.

When Will Lockhart (Stewart) delivers supplies to the town of Coronado, he happens upon Dave (Alex Nicol), the ruthless rancher and son of landowner Alec (Donald Crisp). The longer Will sticks in town, the more he begins to change the hearts and minds of the oppressed locals, leading to a shift in power.

4 That's Entertainment (1974) 100%

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Stewart co-hosts and narrates the 1974 documentary That's Entertainment, a broad celebration of MGM's 50-year history of producing musical cinema.

In addition to Stewart, classic stars such as Fred Astaire, Gene Kelly, Bing Crosby, Frank Sinatra, Liza Minelli, Elizabeth Taylor, and many others discuss their favorite MGM musicals produced in the past. The Jack Haley Jr. film fuses archive footage from past musicals with contemporary interviews that honor them.

3 The Shop Around The Corner (1940) 100%

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In a plot that inspired the Tom Hanks and Meg Ryan rom-com, You've Got Mail, The Shop Around the Corner earned Stewart a Best Acting award by the National Board of Review.

Directed by Ernst Lubitsch, the film concerns Alfred (Stewart) and Klara (Margaret O'Sullivan), two coworkers at a Budapest gift shop who hate each other with a passion. However, through a series of anonymous letters written by each, the two begin to fall in love. The story originated as a stage play by Hungarian playwright Miklos Laszlo.

2 The Philadelphia Story (1940) 100%

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Stewart won an Academy Award for his leading performance in The Philadelphia Story, directed by George Cukor. The film was also awarded a Best Screenplay Oscar for writer Donald Ogden Stewart (no relation).

The high-society satire follows socialite Tracy Lord (Katharine Hepburn) and her ill-fated marriage to Dexter Haven (Cary Grant). When they get divorced and Tracy remarries for money, her wedding ceremony brings guest Macauley Connor (Stewart), a friend of her absent brother. As the ceremony approaches, Tracy is caught in a love triangle.

1 Anatomy Of A Murder (1959) 100%

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Otto Preminger's courtroom procedural Anatomy of a Murder earned seven Oscar nominations, four Golden Globes nods, and three BAFTAS nominations. However, it took away zero awards.

The plot revolves around the murder of a bartender by army lieutenant Fred Mannion (Ben Gazzara). When convicted of murder and brought to trial, the defendant's lawyer argues for a plea of temporary insanity. He claims that in the wake of the victim murdering his wife, the lieutenant lost himself in a fit of uncontrollable rage and killed the man without premeditation. Stewart plays Paul Biegler, the lawyer defending the accused.