65 Best James Stewart Movies Ranked Worst To Best

James Stewart — or Jimmy Stewart, to many of his fans — led a long and illustrious career that spanned six decades. Stewart got his start in the golden age of Hollywood in the 1930s and continued acting regularly into the 1970s before slowing down with semi-retirement in the '80s and giving a final voice-acting performance in 1991, just a few years before his death at the age of 89.

In his prime, James Stewart was one of Hollywood's biggest stars, with a unique voice and rhythm that set him apart from all of his contemporaries. He was often cast as the lovable leading man but played a handful of memorable supporting roles and anti-hero characters as well. From musicals to film noirs and everything in between, Stewart could do it all. His character was frequently a relatable everyman or a cowboy within the booming Western genre. He was also notable for his many performances as a member of the military, undoubtedly drawing on his distinguished career as an Air Force pilot during World War II, which earned him several medals and the rank of Brigadier General.

Beloved by critics and audiences alike, Stewart starred in many classic films over the years, ultimately receiving two BAFTA nominations, five Oscar nominations, and one Oscar win. In 1985, Stewart was awarded an honorary Oscar out of competition for "his fifty years of memorable performances" and for "his high ideals both on and off the screen." So when it comes to ranking his most memorable performances, have no fear: There's plenty of material to draw from.

"On Our Merry Way" is a 1948 comedy that boasts a distinguished cast but failed to impress critics or audiences. Burgess Meredith stars as a lowly newspaper employee who cons his way into a higher position that finds him interviewing a cavalcade of wacky characters, but unfortunately, the loose plot often comes across as too episodic for its own good. James Stewart co-stars alongside Henry Fonda as a pair of musicians interviewed by the lead character, while Fred MacMurray as a magician, Paulette Goddard as the lead's wife, Dorothy Lamour as an actress, and others make up the rest of the cast.

In addition to starring in the film, Burgess Meredith also served as producer, which led the New York Times to suggest "On Our Merry Way" may have been something of a vanity project. This was his second time producing, following up "The Diary of a Chambermaid" in 1946. After the negative reception of "On Our Merry Way," Meredith never produced another feature film throughout the rest of his lengthy career as an actor.

"Airport '77" is a thriller, made to capitalize on the disaster film trend that was massively popular at the time, and it was a follow-up to the earlier films "Airport" and "Airport '75." The first "Airport" film received positive reviews from critics, but the same could not be said of this disappointing sequel.

Just like the previous two films in the series, "Airport '77" is set aboard an in-flight airplane on which tragedy strikes. A private plane loaded with expensive artwork owned by a millionaire — played by James Stewart — is the setting this time around. After the plane is hijacked, it crashes and slowly sinks into the middle of the Bermuda Triangle, all while the people aboard the plane panic and search for a way to survive. The underwater setting could have made for a refreshing change of pace for the series, but audiences were left unconvinced.

Roger Ebert gave negative reviews to the entire "Airport" series and prompted readers with a challenge in his review for "Airport '77." Since he felt the plots were so silly and low-effort, he encouraged his readers to submit their own pitches for the next "Airport" sequel, with the winning entries being printed.

"Strategic Air Command" offered James Stewart a role that was perfectly tailored to his years of experience as a pilot in the Air Force. Stewart stars as a former WWII pilot who settles into a life as a professional baseball player before being called back to active service during the Cold War. His character's journey follows a similar trajectory to Stewart's own life, which found him returning to military service years after his stint in WWII to participate in the Vietnam War.

June Allyson also stars in "Strategic Air Command," as the wife of Stewart's character. The two had previously starred together in "The Glenn Miller Story," which was much more warmly received by critics and audiences alike. In a contemporary review published in Film Culture, Andrew George Sarris accused the film of serving as military propaganda in the vein of a recruitment poster and said that while the aerial photography of planes in flight was certainly impressive, the human drama on the ground was of a much lower caliber.

"Night Passage" is a Western from 1957 starring James Stewart and Audie Murphy as a pair of brothers on opposite sides of the law. Stewart and Murphy were familiar faces to the genre and both starred in many Westerns throughout their careers. Stewart plays a disgraced former railway worker who is given a second chance when he is hired as security aboard a payroll train loaded with cash. It's an especially dangerous job, as that particular payroll train has been robbed repeatedly for months. While performing his guard duties, he learns the unfortunate truth that his brother is one of the robbers and has earned a notorious reputation as a quickdraw outlaw.

During a time when some Westerns were still being released in black and white, "Night Passage" used its color presentation as a selling point and even made use of a brand new gimmick courtesy of the Technicolor company known as Technirama. This new camera format and presentation process was designed to create extremely wide images and retain a higher level of resolution, and was used primarily for epics such as "Spartacus," "Zulu," "Les Misérables," "The Big Country," and "El Cid." "Night Passage" was one of the first movies shot using the new Technirama format, but aside from this technical achievement, it otherwise fails to make much of an impact.

"Born to Dance" is a musical romantic comedy from 1936. James Stewart and Eleanor Powell star as a sailor and dancer who fall in love, but an unfortunate misperception leads to the release of photographs that make it look like the sailor is instead romantically involved with the dancer's top rival, played by Virginia Bruce. "Born to Dance" was directed by Roy Del Ruth, who made more than 100 movies throughout his career, many of which were musicals. 

"Born to Dance" is a largely forgotten film, overshadowed by Stewart's more famous performances. But the handful of critics who have weighed in on the film, however, have been unanimously positive. In a contemporary review of the film published in 1937 in Maclean's Magazine, critic Ann Ross wrote that "Born to Dance is in the top flight of musical shows, the comedy is funnier than usual, the music better, the stepping faster."

The deceptively titled "No Time for Comedy" is a comedy from 1940 starring the big-name duo of James Stewart and Rosalind Russell. Stewart plays a humble writer who finds success by writing a satirical play and ends up falling for the show's lead, played by Russell. The two get married and enjoy a string of successes until the seductive Amanda Swift, played by Genevieve Tobin, drives a wedge between them and sends the writer's career into a tailspin.

The story was adapted from a stage play written by S.N. Behrman, first produced just one year before the film adaptation. Behrman began his career as a journalist before finding a great deal of success as a playwright, just like the main character of "No Time for Comedy." The play was based largely on his own experiences writing for the stage, as he balanced his proclivity for comedy with the seriousness of the issues of the day.

1938's "Of Human Hearts" is a drama set in the 1800s, one of James Stewart's few non-Western period pieces. Walter Huston and Beulah Bondi play a reverend and his wife, while Stewart plays their rebellious son who aspires to be a doctor despite his parents' wishes. Stewart's character finds his abilities put to great use as a battlefield surgeon after the outbreak of the Civil War. Despite his commendable efforts to treat wounded soldiers, Stewart's character possesses many undesirable qualities and is, to a certain degree, the antagonist of the film, especially in regard to how he treats his parents.

Beulah Bondi received an Oscar nomination for her role. In addition to portraying Stewart's on-screen mother in "Of Human Hearts," she also played his mother in "Mr. Smith Goes to Washington," "Vivacious Lady," "It's a Wonderful Life," and the television series "The Jimmy Stewart Show." Also of note in the cast of "Of Human Hearts" are Gene Lockhart, Arthur Aylesworth, Sterling Holloway, and David Carradine (father of actors David, Keith, and Robert Carradine) as Abraham Lincoln.

"Firecreek," also known as "Fury at Firecreek," is another James Stewart Western from the late '60s. The setting of a small, poor town on the frontier and the premise of a kindly sheriff needing to defend his home from a gang of outlaws are both extremely familiar within the genre. In fact, the film's failure to set itself apart from the myriad other Westerns of the time is likely responsible for "Firecreek" being overlooked. It was a financial failure, earning back less than half of its production budget at the domestic box office.

Rather than offering a unique story, the main draw for "Firecreek" was its two lead stars — James Stewart and Henry Fonda — and, more specifically, how those stars were utilized. Stewart plays comfortably within his archetype but unleashes a seldom-seen fury in the film's latter half. Roger Ebert gave the film a positive review and compared Stewart favorably to the era's biggest Western star, John Wayne. "Wayne hath no fury like a Stewart scorned," he wrote in his review.

Fonda made an even bigger departure from his usual screen persona and marked a major shift in his career by taking on the role of the film's main villain. Prior to "Firecreek," Fonda had only played admirable good guys. In the same year, Fonda also played the villain in Sergio Leone's spaghetti western "Once Upon a Time in the West."

"The Big Sleep" is a 1978 adaptation of the Raymond Chandler novel of the same name. Chandler is often hailed as a master of the noir genre, and "The Big Sleep" was his first novel, published in 1939. The novel was also the introduction of one of the noir genre's defining characters: Private Eye Philip Marlowe. Marlowe would serve as the protagonist of ten of Chandler's novels and short stories, and would be played on the big screen by such actors as Humphrey Bogart, Elliot Gould, Powers Boothe, James Caan, Michael Gambon, James Garner, and, in the case of the 1978 adaptation of "The Big Sleep," by Robert Mitchum.

James Stewart costars as General Sternwood, the elderly man who hires Marlowe to investigate a complicated blackmail plot involving his daughters, gangsters, a missing husband, and professional assassins. This second adaptation of the classic noir story — directed by Michael Winner of "Death Wish" fame — updated the setting to the contemporary 1970s, swapped Los Angeles for London, and attempted to smooth over a couple of plot holes present in the previous version, but was considered by most critics to be an inferior film.

Here, we encounter yet another middling Western starring James Stewart. "Cheyenne Autumn" is a Western epic from the iconic director John Ford, who created dozens of highly acclaimed films throughout his career including "The Grapes of Wrath," "Stagecoach," and some of the best-remembered and well-liked Westerns on Stewart's filmography. It would be Ford's last Western, and although it received an Oscar nomination for cinematography, it was not a financial success.

The story of "Cheyenne Autumn" follows the Cheyenne tribe as they make a 1,500-mile trek back to their ancestral grounds after suffering many injustices at the hands of the U.S. Government. Richard Widmark stars as a cavalry officer ordered to prevent their journey and force them back onto their reservation land. The large cast also includes the likes of Edward G. Robinson, John Carradine, Sal Mineo, Karl Malden, Carroll Baker, Gilbert Roland, and many more. James Stewart and Arthur Kennedy play off each other as the real-life western legends Wyatt Earp and Doc Holliday respectively.

"The Jackpot" is a high-concept comedy from 1950. James Stewart plays a normal family man who wins the jackpot of a call-in radio trivia show, but his newfound riches make his life worse instead of better. The $24,000 jackpot is comprised of myriad prizes that prove to be a nightmare to manage and maintain, and the winnings require him to pay an exorbitant amount in taxes that he cannot afford.

The film was adapted from an article originally published in The New Yorker one year prior. Penning the screenplay for the adaptation was the husband and wife screenwriting duo of Henry and Phoebe Ephron. Henry and Phoebe were the parents of Delia and Nora Ephron, both of whom became the acclaimed screenwriters of movies like "When Harry Met Sally," "Sleepless in Seattle," "You've Got Mail," and "Julie & Julia." In the director's chair for "The Jackpot" was Walter Lang, the Oscar-nominated filmmaker behind "The King and I," "Cheaper by the Dozen," and "Call Me Madam."

"The Magic of Lassie" was the final true live-action movie of James Stewart's career to receive a theatrical release. It was the ninth movie in the long-running "Lassie" film franchise that began all the way back in 1943 with "Lassie Come Home," which was adapted from the novel of the same name written by Eric Knight. The story follows a similar plot to other "Lassie" movies involving the titular dog making her way home to her young owner. In this iteration, Stewart plays the boy's grandfather.

The box-office failure of "The Magic of Lassie" was at least partially responsible for the end of Stewart's acting character. As covered in Deadline, "James Stewart decided to retire from acting in 1978 at age 70 when The Magic of Lassie flopped," and he was quoted as saying, "I can't even open a dog movie." Technically, Stewart did appear in one additional feature film in 1981, the extremely obscure "A Tale of Africa," although his role in the film is purely serendipitous. Supposedly, Stewart just happened to be on a family vacation in Kenya after retiring from acting when co-directors Simon Trevor and Susumu Hani stumbled upon him and convinced him to appear in the movie.

"No Highway in the Sky" is a British thriller from 1951. James Stewart stars as an American engineer who becomes convinced that metal fatigue will cause a new model of aircraft to malfunction and fail in mid-air after reaching a certain number of flight hours. He attempts to convince the manufacturer to do a recall of the aircraft before disaster strikes, but nobody believes him. Matters are exacerbated when Stewart's character finds himself aboard one of the planes as it nears the number of flight hours he has determined will result in mechanical failure. By taking drastic action and refusing to back down, Stewart's character earns the respect of some while doubters begin to question his mental faculties.

The story was loosely based on the novel "No Highway" written by Nevil Shute, but it was changed considerably in translation onto the big screen. The most significant alteration was in regards to realism. The novel employs some supernatural elements, while the film adaptation stripped those elements away and presented the story as wholly realistic. "No Highway in the Sky" was the second collaboration between Stewart and director Henry Koster after "Dear Brigitte."

"The Cheyenne Social Club" is a western comedy from 1970 that makes use of James Stewart's advanced age as a part of the plot. The story follows Stewart's old cowboy character as he relocates to Cheyenne, Wyoming after he is unexpectedly bequeathed a business following the death of his estranged brother. The title, "The Cheyenne Social Club," is the name of the business, which the cowboy is dismayed to learn is a brothel. Before he can sell the establishment, he gets caught up in the middle of a violent altercation between a customer and the madam, which has a ripple effect that ensures more danger will be forthcoming.

Co-starring alongside Stewart was Henry Fonda. Stewart and Fonda were close friends in real life, having begun their careers in Hollywood at the same time and collaborating a number of times on-screen. A non-fiction book was even written about their friendship titled "Hank & Jim: The Fifty-Year Friendship of Henry Fonda and James Stewart." After Henry Fonda's death in 1982, James Stewart's public statement on the matter was: "I've just lost my best friend."

"The Cheyenne Social Club" found Stewart and Fonda under the direction of another fellow actor: Gene Kelly, the star of movies like "Singin' in the Rain," "Anchors Aweigh," "An American in Paris," and "Hello, Dolly!" This was Kelly's final feature film in the director's chair.

"Bell Book and Candle" is a romantic comedy from 1958 with a supernatural twist. Kim Novak stars as a witch who sets her sights on a publisher, played by James Stewart. Through the use of magic, she makes him leave his fiancée, played by Janice Rule, and fall in love with her instead. Ernie Kovacs and Jack Lemmon play major supporting roles as an author writing a book about witchcraft and the warlock brother of Novak's witch character, respectively. By the internal logic of the movie, falling in love with Stewart's character could result in the witch losing her powers, so she faces a dilemma as their relationship escalates.

The story of "Bell Book and Candle" was adapted from the stage play of the same name, which opened on Broadway in 1950. It was written by John Van Druten, who wrote dozens of successful plays throughout his career, many of which were eventually adapted for the silver screen. Penning the adapted screenplay for "Bell Book and Candle" was Daniel Taradash, the Oscar-winning screenwriter behind "From Here to Eternity."

"Ziegfeld Girl" is a 1941 musical set two decades earlier amidst the Roaring '20s. The title is a reference to the "Ziegfeld Follies," a massively popular Broadway musical show that first debuted in 1907. The real-life "Ziegfeld Follies" is used as the backdrop for this fictional story. The plot follows three young women, played by the high-profile trio of Hedy Lamarr, Lana Turner, and Judy Garland, as they get their big break by being cast as dancers in the latest production of the show. But as their careers are on the way up, their personal lives begin to suffer.

James Stewart stars as the male lead opposite the trio of women, and the film makes use of supporting turns from the likes of Jackie Cooper, Ian Hunter, and Tony Martin. The musical numbers for "Ziegfeld Girl" were handled by Busby Berkeley, one of the most innovative voices of the musical genre in the golden age of Hollywood. Berkeley directed and choreographed dozens of big screen musicals throughout his long career, often making multiple films per year.

"Mr. Hobbs Takes a Vacation" is a family-friendly comedy from 1962. James Stewart stars as the titular Mr. Hobbs who (you guessed it) takes a vacation. The straightforward plot follows Mr. Hobbs, his wife played by Maureen O'Hara (who would star alongside Stewart again four years later in "The Rare Breed"), and their children as they deal with the simple misadventures of a family beach vacation that doesn't quite go as planned.

Also of note in the cast are John McGiver, Reginald Gardiner, John Saxon, and the musician Fabian, who would act opposite James Stewart again in 1965 in "Dear Brigitte" made by the same director, Henry Koster. In a contemporary review published in The New York Times at the time of the film's release in 1962, film critic Bosley Crowther called the film a mixed bag that came off as an overall positive experience.

"Two Rode Together" is the second James Stewart Western on the list directed by acclaimed filmmaker John Ford. In a rare anti-hero role, Stewart plays a corrupt, alcoholic Texas Marshall who is hired by a man from the U.S. Army, played by Richard Widmark, to rescue a group of people who have spent years in captivity at the hands of a Comanche tribe. The two are able to negotiate the release of the captives, but they have been gone so long that they retain little memory of their earlier lives and struggle to reacclimate to their former society.

"Two Rode Together" earned a spot on the top 10 movies of 1961 list in the Cahiers du Cinema, the prestigious French publication run by the country's top critics, many of whom were highly acclaimed filmmakers in their own right, including François Truffaut, Éric Rohmer, and Jean-Luc Godard.

"How the West Was Won" is the penultimate collaboration between star James Stewart and director John Ford. What sets this film apart is that Ford was not the only director at the helm: There were actually four filmmakers directing different parts of the movie. "How the West Was Won" tells the sprawling saga of a frontier family that progresses through multiple decades and key moments in the history of the West from the Gold Rush to the Civil War.

The film is divided into five segments plus an epilogue, and John Ford, Henry Hathaway, and George Marshall shared the directing duties of individual segments, with Richard Thorpe lending an uncredited hand as well. The big selling point for "How the West Was Won" was its massive cast of big-name stars. Alongside Stewart in a lead role were the likes of Henry Fonda, John Wayne, Gregory Peck, Karl Malden, Lee J. Cobb, George Peppard, Debbie Reynolds, Eli Wallach, Richard Widmark, Carroll Baker, and many more.

"The Spirit of St. Louis" tells the true story of pioneering aircraft designer and pilot Charles Lindbergh, played on screen by James Stewart. The film tracks the lengthy period of his life that revolved around aviation with a special focus on his groundbreaking 1927 transatlantic flight from New York to Paris. The film was adapted from Lindbergh's own autobiography, for which Lindbergh won the Pulitzer Prize.

Acclaimed screenwriter and filmmaker Billy Wilder directed and co-wrote the big-screen adaptation of "The Spirit of St. Louis." Wilder was the man behind classics like "Sunset Blvd," "The Apartment," "Some Like it Hot," "Sabrina," and many more. He won six Academy Awards throughout his career plus an extra honorary award, and was nominated an additional 15 times for Oscars in the writing and directing categories. "The Spirit of St. Louis" was well-received by critics, with special praise being given to Stewart in the lead role, who spends most of the film putting on a captivating one-man show. If there is one major criticism to be leveled at "The Spirit of St. Louis," it is for its sanitized portrayal of Lindbergh. The film presents Lindbergh as a heroic patriot who can do no wrong, while in reality, he was a supporter of the Nazi party and an outspoken white supremacist.

"The Shootist" was James Stewart's final Western and one of the last films of his career. In "The Shootist," John Wayne stars as an elderly gunfighter who seeks out a final duel in which he feels he can die with dignity. Lauren Bacall plays the manager of a boarding house where Wayne's character takes up residence during his final days, and Ron Howard plays her son, who wants to learn the ways of the gunslinger. Stewart plays the doctor who has the heavy burden of informing Wayne's character that he has cancer and doesn't have long to live.

The production of "The Shootist" was notoriously difficult for Stewart, as he had an extremely difficult time getting his lines correct. His difficulties stemmed from his significant hearing loss, which caused him to miss cues: His hearing loss began during his time serving in WWII and continued to worsen over the years.

The swan-song storyline of "The Shootist" was perfectly suited to John Wayne's own life as an aging actor battling cancer and looking to go out on a high note. "The Shootist" was Wayne's final film, and he passed away of cancer just three years after the movie's release.

Following up "The Glenn Miller Story" is another biopic with James Stewart in the titular role. "The Stratton Story" is about the tumultuous life and career of Monty Stratton, who was one of the top players in major league baseball as a pitcher for the Chicago White Sox until an accident ripped his career away from him. While on a hunting trip, a misfire led to Stratton's leg being amputated. After a long recovery process, Stratton astonishingly made a successful return to baseball with the aid of a prosthetic leg, playing in the minor leagues.

June Allyson co-stars as Miller's wife who helps him recover from his injury and make his return to the sport he loves. "The Stratton Story" is the third and final film in which Stewart and June Allyson co-star as husband and wife after "Strategic Air Command" and "The Glenn Miller Story."

"It's a Wonderful Life" has endured as a timeless classic and as a staple of the yearly Christmas movie rotation. Stewart stars as George Bailey, a depressed man who wishes he had never been born and plans to commit suicide on Christmas Eve. Through cosmic intervention, George is taken on a voyeuristic trip through his life to show him how everyone would have been worse off if he were never born. "It's a Wonderful Life" was nominated for five Oscars (including best picture and best actor for Stewart), with director Frank Capra also nominated for his work on the film. This was the final of three films Stewart and Capra made together throughout their careers.

"It's a Wonderful Life" was a noteworthy film in Stewart's acting career, not just for its quality and all of the accolades it earned, but also because it was his first role after returning from serving in WWII. Stewart nearly quit acting altogether after serving in the war, but had his passion for the craft revitalized by the film.

1962's "The Man Who Shot Liberty Valance" is the highest-ranked collaboration between James Stewart and director John Ford. Stewart stars as Ransom Stoddard, an old senator who returns to the tiny frontier town of Shinbone where he spent some time many years previously. The main narrative of the story is told in flashback, as we see his younger days when he first arrived in town as a young lawyer.

After his stagecoach is stopped by the notorious outlaw Liberty Valance (Lee Marvin), and he is beaten nearly to death, Stoddard recovers in Shinbone with the help of a local working woman (Vera Miles) and the sheriff Doniphon, played by John Wayne. Though they find themselves at odds on most matters, Stoddard and Doniphon work together to take down Liberty Valance as he continues to terrorize the town. The complex themes and moments of subversion have led to high praise from critics, creating an extraordinary anti-western that deconstructs the genre John Ford, James Stewart, and John Wayne had all contributed so much to over the years.

"You Can't Take It with You" is another collaboration between James Stewart and director Frank Capra. Stewart stars as a stuffy banker's son who becomes engaged to a woman from an eccentric family full of wacky characters, like her fireworks-obsessed father and her ballerina sister. Jean Arthur, Lionel Barrymore, Ann Miller, and Edward Arnold flesh out the supporting cast.

The plot of "You Can't Take It with You" was adapted from the stage play of the same name written by George S. Kaufman and Moss Hart and first produced in 1936. The film is filled with romance and humor, and critics praised the film for being both hilarious and an extremely uplifting, feel-good ride. Frank Capra won the best director Academy Award for "You Can't Take It with You," and the film won for best picture. The movie was also nominated for Oscars in the editing, sound, cinematography, and writing categories, and earned an Oscar nomination for Spring Byington in the role of Penny Sycamore, the family matriarch.

"Mr. Smith Goes to Washington" is perhaps the most highly regarded collaboration between James Stewart and Frank Capra. Stewart stars in the titular role of Jefferson Smith, a young, naïve, and idealistic senator who holds true to his values in the face of pressure from his superiors and peers in politics, especially the unscrupulous Senator Paine, played by Claude Rains. The film builds to an impassioned filibuster given by Mr. Smith on the floor of the Senate, where he makes a stand against corruption.

Released in 1939, "Mr. Smith Goes to Washington" was a monumentally important film early on in Stewart's career. Stewart earned his first of five Oscar nominations for his role in the film, and the movie itself earned an impressive 11 Academy Award nominations total with one win in the best writing category for Lewis R. Foster. Many critics praised the film for its message, its heart, and Stewart's lead performance. In a contemporary review published in 1939, Photoplay Magazine wrote that "Stewart plays his ingenuous, sincere character with finesse."

Released in 1936, "After the Thin Man" is another important movie from early on in James Stewart's career. The film is a murder mystery in which famed detective Nick Charles and his wife Nora, played by the screen duo of William Powell and Myrna Loy, are tasked with finding the culprit of a series of murders committed at a dinner party on New Year's Eve. Stewart plays the key supporting role of David, the elusive killer.

"After the Thin Man" is a direct sequel to "The Thin Man" from two years prior, which would in turn be followed up by "Another Thin Man," "Shadow of the Thin Man," "The Thin Man Goes Home," and "Song of the Thin Man." William Powell and Myrna Loy starred in a total of six "Thin Man" movies over the course of 13 years, each film serving as a self-contained murder mystery. The foundation for the film series was taken from the novel of the same name written by acclaimed noir author Dashiell Hammett, who also wrote the source material for classics of the film noir genre like "The Glass Key" and "The Maltese Falcon."

"Shenandoah" is set in the town of Shenandoah, Virginia during the Civil War. James Stewart stars as a farmer who is forced to break his vow of neutrality after his son is falsely taken prisoner by Union soldiers. Things continue to escalate for the farmer as family members are slain while he is away from home.

Though the film borrows from historical events, of course, this particular Civil War story is entirely fictional. "Shenandoah" was written by James Lee Barrett, who also wrote Stewart's most poorly received movie, "Bandolero!," as well as the much better received "The Cheyenne Social Club." In the director's chair for both "Shenandoah" and "Bandolero!" was Andrew V. McLaglen. The writer-director team of Barrett and McLaglen made one of Stewart's best films, according to critics. In his review for Film Frenzy, critic Matt Brunson highlighted the film's nuanced stance on the Civil War as more complex than it might seem from the outset, writing "Ultimately, the movie is not anti-North or anti-South but anti-war."

"The Man From Laramie" is the second James Stewart and Anthony Mann Western in a row, released within the same year as their war film "Strategic Air Command." Stewart stars as a man who travels from Laramie, Wyoming to the town of Coronado, California, which is in the heart of territory controlled by the Apache tribe. Stewart's character gets mixed up in the lives of the locals and their various conflicts, but he is there with a singular purpose in mind: to find the man who has been selling rifles to the Apaches. His brother was killed by one of these rifles, and he considers the man who sold the rifles to be responsible for his death.

The story for "The Man From Laramie" was adapted from a Western serial published in The Saturday Evening Post, written by T.T. Flynn, an author of pulp detective stories and western shorts and novels. With a number of successful Westerns between them, critic Emmanuel Levy wrote, "This adult psychological Western represents one of the best collaborations between director Anthony Mann and star Jimmy Stewart."

"The Naked Spur" is the penultimate Western on the list and it again comes courtesy of director Anthony Mann. James Stewart stars as a bounty hunter following the trail of a killer with a $5,000 bounty on his head, played by Robert Ryan. The cast of this cat and mouse game is exceptionally small with Janet Leigh, Millard Mitchell, and Ralph Meeker comprising the entirety of the rest of the credited cast. Uneasy alliances form between the strangers, played by Meeker and Mitchell, who team up with Stewart to take down the killer. After at first mistaking him for a noble sheriff, the strangers demand a share of the bounty on Ryan's head, causing distrust and danger amongst the would-be allies.

Though the premise and setup of "The Naked Spur" might seem familiar within the broader Western genre, the screenplay written by Harold Jack Bloom and Sam Rolfe was praised for its characterizations and its dialogue especially. The script was nominated for Best Writing at the 1954 Academy Awards and was chosen for preservation by the National Film Board in 1997.

"Vivacious Lady" is a romantic comedy from 1938 that pairs up James Stewart and Ginger Rogers. Rogers was best known for musicals, both on the silver screen (often acting opposite Fred Astaire) and on the Broadway stage. While "Vivacious Lady" isn't a musical, the film does still make use of Rogers' musical talents. Rogers stars a nightclub singer who has a whirlwind romance with a college professor played by Stewart. The two quickly get married, causing trouble for the professor, as many of the people in his life do not approve of the singer.

The supporting cast of "Vivacious Lady" is rounded out by the likes of Charles Coburn, James Ellison, and frequent Stewart co-star Beulah Bondi. The film was nominated for two Oscars in the cinematography and sound categories and was also a special recommendation winner at the Venice Film Festival, where it had its Italian premiere. "Vivacious Lady" was made by acclaimed filmmaker George Stevens, who directed many major hits in the latter stage of his career including "Giant," "Shane," and "The Diary of Anne Frank." Stevens was nominated for nine Academy Awards throughout his career and won the best director Oscar twice.

Released in 1959, "Anatomy of a Murder" is a highly-effective melding of the film noir and courtroom drama genres. James Stewart stars as a lawyer tasked with defending a soldier, played by Ben Gazzara, who makes a temporary insanity plea for his killing of a bartender. Standing in opposition to them is the prosecuting attorney played by George C. Scott. Other notable actors in the supporting cast include Lee Remick, Eve Arden, Arthur O'Connell, Kathryn Grant, Murray Hamilton, and Joseph N. Welch as the judge. The original score was composed by jazz musician Duke Ellington, who also plays a supporting character in the film.

The story of "Anatomy of Murder" was adapted from the novel of the same name written by John Donaldson Voelker under the pseudonym Robert Traver. The novel was a bestseller when it was first published in 1958 and was quickly rushed into production, with the film adaptation hitting theaters by the following year. Producing and directing was Austrian filmmaker Otto Preminger, who was known for pushing the limits of censorship and the Hollywood Production Code of the time. "Anatomy of a Murder" was one of his most boundary-defying works. Preminger earned a best director Oscar for his work on the film, while James Stewart, Arthur O'Connell, and George C. Scott all earned Oscar nominations for their performances.