The 7 Best And 7 Worst Humphrey Bogart Movies Ranked

One of the most iconic actors from Hollywood's Golden Age in the 1930s and '40s is Humphrey Bogart, who appeared in 77 films across his career before his death in 1957. From portraying gangsters and detectives to boat captains and bar owners, Bogart became a darling to critics and audiences alike, earning the Academy Award for Best Actor in 1952 along with two other nominations. He was later named by the American Film Institute the biggest male screen legend of the 1900s. With such a prolific career, Bogart has several acclaimed performances that stand out amongst his impressive body of work and several that are perhaps best left to the history books.

Here are the seven best feature films starring Bogart, along with the seven worst, showcasing why exactly Bogart became such an enduring Hollywood figure who personified a new brand of cool. From his character actor roots to his big-time leading roles, Bogart brought a different kind of swagger to the big screen and redefined what a Hollywood movie star could truly be.

While Humphrey Bogart was a steady presence in gangster movies throughout the 1930s, he was the third-billed actor in the 1940 musical comedy "It All Came True," starring Ann Sheridan as aspiring singer Sarah Jane Ryan. Bogart plays Chips Maguire, a mobster who seeks refuge in Sarah Jane's boarding house and competes with his landlord, Tommy Taylor (Jeffrey Lynn), for Sarah Jane's affections. (Another role, as it happens, that George Raft turned down first.) As this love triangle escalates, the three work together to raise the funds necessary to save their boarding house from foreclosure.

Critics were not impressed by "It All Came True" (per Turner Classic Movies), feeling that the film was a mismatch of conflicting genres and cliches that were as befuddling as much as they were hackneyed and that the cast, though stacked, didn't always measure up. Reception to Bogart's deadpan performance as a tough guy caught in the middle of the musical antics was slightly better received and helped end his trend of starring in gangster movies. Following "It All Came True," Bogart only rarely returned to comedy, mostly inhabiting serious roles.

Humphrey Bogart took on a rare antagonist role for the 1947 mystery drama "The Two Mrs. Carrolls," playing a painter, Geoffrey Carroll, who holds a dark secret in an adaptation of the 1935 play of the same name by Martin Vale. After a young heiress named Sally Morton (Barbara Stanwyck) marries Geoffrey, she discovers her new husband is not all he appears, with suspicious circumstances surrounding his previous wife's death. With Sally's health mysteriously beginning to fail her, she becomes determined to learn Geoffrey's true intentions before it's too late.

Contemporary and modern reviewers alike deem Bogart miscast in his role as the murderous Geoffrey, with some critics describing him as visibly uncomfortable in his performance (per Turner Classic Movies). Bogart's discomfort with the role extended to his character's wardrobe in the film, with the actor firmly opposing that he wear painter's clothing that would compromise his tough-guy image. The transition to a big-screen villain failed to stick, and Bogart returned to largely heroic roles for the remainder of his career.

In 1948, Humphrey Bogart founded his own production company Santana Productions in an effort to self-produce his own projects free of larger studio interference. Santana Productions' first project was the 1949 Nicholas Ray film "Knock on Any Door," blending noir elements with courtroom drama stakes as it adapted Willard Motley's 1947 novel. Bogart plays lawyer Andrew Morton, who agrees to defend a troubled youth, Nick Romano (John Derek), facing capital punishment after being accused of murdering a police officer.

While Derek's fiery performance as Nick was praised by the critics, the overall film was regarded as a largely pretentious social commentary at the time of its release (per a 1949 New York Times review). Comparatively, some modern reviewers found Bogart's performance as Andrew, a smooth lawyer with his own personal history tied to Nick and his rough upbringing, heavy-handed but compelling. Permeated with overwrought melodrama and courtroom grandstanding, "Knock on Any Door" stands among Bogart's less memorable performances as his career took a new direction.

As test pilots pushed the boundaries of contemporary aviation in experimental aircraft, Humphrey Bogart took cues from this growing national interest in aeronautics for the 1950 film "Chain Lightning." Bogart plays veteran bomber pilot Matt Brennan who is approached to test fly an experimental jet fighter from Nome, Alaska to Washington, D.C. in record time. As Matt prepares for his fateful flight, he recalls his past military service during World War II and rekindles his romance with his wartime girlfriend Jo Holloway (Eleanor Parker).

"Chain Lightning" was criticized for its relatively bare-bones plot, with critics complimenting the aerial sequences while lambasting the lack of character development when its leads were back on terra firma. Bogart's turn as a cinematic test pilot was deemed satisfactory by contemporary critics, while veteran stunt pilot Paul Mantz served as the aerial director of photography on the film. "Chain Lightning" would be the final film Bogart starred in for Warner Bros., ending his 20-year partnership with the studio upon the project's completion.

While "Casablanca" quickly became one of Humphrey Bogart's biggest successes and a career-defining role for the celebrated actor, the subsequent movie "Sirocco" would fail to recapture the same cinematic magic. Bogart stars in the 1951 film as a war profiteer named Harry Smith who works as a black market arms dealer in 1925 Damascus providing weapons to Syrian freedom fighters against French colonial rule. As Smith becomes more deeply drawn into the bloody war for Syrian independence, he grows close to a local woman, Violetta (Märta Torén), who is romantically involved with French military officer Colonel Feroud (Lee J. Cobb).

With a local nightclub serving as the hotbed of wartime intrigue, "Sirocco" was read by many critics as a derivative attempt to take what made "Casablanca" work so well with significantly diminished returns. Bogart's performance was criticized as being repetitive and without the same level of emotional investment evident in his more popular roles. Formulaic and turgidly paced, "Sirocco" remains firmly in the shadow of "Casablanca," underscoring how special Bogart's previous classic truly was.

Though "M*A*S*H*" may be the most celebrated exploration of the Korean War from the perspective of a mobile army surgical hospital, it is predated in its subject matter over a decade by the 1953 film "Battle Circus." Humphrey Bogart stars as Major Jed Webbe, a chief surgeon who constantly places his life in harm's way to rescue and deliver crucial medical care to the wounded during the devastating war. Webbe is immediately smitten by a new nurse, Lieutenant Ruth McCara (June Allyson), though McCara is put off by Webbe's reputation and nebulous personal life back home.

While the wartime stakes and depiction of the bravery shown by U.S. Army medical personnel in the face of danger were praised by critics, the central love story was less warmly received (via a 1953 New York Times review). Critics felt the romance distracted from the story's stakes while also singling out Allyson as being miscast opposite Bogart amidst the wartime peril. For his part, Bogart got injured during the filming, severely burning his hand, with the incident left in the final film. "Battle Circus" would be the actor's sole project with MGM.

Humphrey Bogart's final collaboration with filmmaker John Huston was the 1953 movie "Beat the Devil," made as a sort of self-effacing parody in a nod to the duo's past work together on "The Maltese Falcon." Bogart plays Billy Dannreuther, a man struggling on hard times who falls in with a group of criminals to acquire uranium-rich land in East Africa in a scheme to restore his personal fortunes. However, before Billy and his illicit team can even make it to Africa, deception and betrayal threaten to derail their plans, replete with comedic overtones.

Bogart underplays the humor throughout "Beat the Devil," as Billy finds himself falling into one misunderstanding after the other as he carries out his harebrained scheme. Critics were relatively unimpressed with the movie, feeling its antics quickly wore thin and questioning the decision to veer from the literary source material by James Helvick. Bogart himself reportedly disliked the final film, having lost some of his own money towards financing it, claiming, "Only phonies like it" (per Roger Ebert). But even in "Beat the Devil," far from the highest caliber of Bogart performance, the actor exudes hard charisma and stoic charm, as he does in the best of them.