The Best 25 films of William Holden.
by jacobyjhn-18-315763 | created - 31 Aug 2011 | updated - 24 Jan 2015 | PublicWilliam Holden debuted in films at a very young age, in 1938 and went on to become one of the finest screen actors of all time. The films of William Holden dominated the 50's and Holden was the favorite actor of the great Billy Wilder, my favorite director and appeared in three of the very best of Wilder's wonderful films. From Sunset Boulevard to Stalag 17 to Picnic to Bridge on the River Kwai, William Holden was at the top of the list in the decade of the 50's. Here are 25 of his very best.
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1. Sunset Blvd. (1950)
Passed | 110 min | Drama, Film-Noir
A screenwriter develops a dangerous relationship with a faded film star determined to make a triumphant return.
Director: Billy Wilder | Stars: William Holden, Gloria Swanson, Erich von Stroheim, Nancy Olson
Votes: 236,356
2. The Bridge on the River Kwai (1957)
PG | 161 min | Adventure, Drama, War
British POWs are forced to build a railway bridge across the river Kwai for their Japanese captors in occupied Burma, not knowing that the allied forces are planning a daring commando raid through the jungle to destroy it.
Director: David Lean | Stars: William Holden, Alec Guinness, Jack Hawkins, Sessue Hayakawa
Votes: 233,230 | Gross: $44.91M
3. Network (1976)
R | 121 min | Drama
A television network cynically exploits a deranged former anchor's ravings and revelations about the news media for its own profit, but finds that his message may be difficult to control.
Director: Sidney Lumet | Stars: Faye Dunaway, William Holden, Peter Finch, Robert Duvall
Votes: 170,561
4. Stalag 17 (1953)
Not Rated | 120 min | Comedy, Drama, War
After two Americans are killed while escaping from a German P.O.W. camp in World War II, the barracks black marketeer, J.J. Sefton, is suspected of being an informer.
Director: Billy Wilder | Stars: William Holden, Don Taylor, Otto Preminger, Robert Strauss
Votes: 58,797
5. Picnic (1955)
Approved | 115 min | Drama, Romance
Emotions are ignited among the complacent townsfolk when a handsome drifter arrives in a small Kansas community on the morning of the Labor Day picnic.
Director: Joshua Logan | Stars: William Holden, Kim Novak, Betty Field, Susan Strasberg
Votes: 9,834
6. The Wild Bunch (1969)
R | 135 min | Action, Adventure, Drama
An aging group of outlaws look for one last big score as the "traditional" American West is disappearing around them.
Director: Sam Peckinpah | Stars: William Holden, Ernest Borgnine, Robert Ryan, Edmond O'Brien
Votes: 90,335 | Gross: $12.06M
7. The Country Girl (1954)
Unrated | 104 min | Drama, Music
A director hires an alcoholic has-been and strikes up a stormy relationship with the actor's wife, who he believes is the cause of all the man's problems.
Director: George Seaton | Stars: Bing Crosby, Grace Kelly, William Holden, Anthony Ross
Votes: 6,666
8. The Counterfeit Traitor (1962)
Not Rated | 140 min | Drama, History, Thriller
Blacklisted in modern day WW2, a Swedish oil trader opts to assist British Allies, by means of infiltrating and surveying Nazi Germany.
Director: George Seaton | Stars: William Holden, Lilli Palmer, Hugh Griffith, Carl Raddatz
Votes: 2,991
9. The Towering Inferno (1974)
PG | 165 min | Action, Drama, Thriller
At the opening party of a colossal, but poorly constructed, office building, a massive fire breaks out that threatens to destroy the tower and everyone in it.
Director: John Guillermin | Stars: Paul Newman, Steve McQueen, William Holden, Faye Dunaway
Votes: 48,231 | Gross: $116.00M
10. Born Yesterday (1950)
Not Rated | 103 min | Comedy, Drama, Romance
A tycoon hires a tutor to teach his lover proper etiquette, with unexpected results.
Director: George Cukor | Stars: Judy Holliday, William Holden, Broderick Crawford, Howard St. John
Votes: 12,411
11. The Bridges at Toko-Ri (1954)
Approved | 102 min | Drama, Romance, War
Set during the Korean War, a Navy fighter pilot must come to terms with with his own ambivalence towards the war and the fear of having to bomb a set of highly defended bridges. The ending of this grim war drama is all tension.
Director: Mark Robson | Stars: William Holden, Grace Kelly, Fredric March, Mickey Rooney
Votes: 6,331
12. Satan Never Sleeps (1962)
Approved | 125 min | Drama, History, War
During the Chinese Civil War of 1949, the Communists constantly harass the two priests of a remote Catholic mission outpost.
Directors: Leo McCarey, David W. Orton | Stars: William Holden, Clifton Webb, France Nuyen, Athene Seyler
Votes: 861
13. The Moon Is Blue (1953)
M/PG | 99 min | Comedy, Romance
Two aging playboys are both after the same attractive young woman, but she fends them off by claiming that she plans to remain a virgin until her wedding night. Both men determine to find a way around her objections.
Director: Otto Preminger | Stars: William Holden, David Niven, Maggie McNamara, Tom Tully
Votes: 2,517
14. Sabrina (1954)
Passed | 113 min | Comedy, Drama, Romance
A playboy becomes interested in the daughter of his family's chauffeur, but it's his more serious brother who would be the better man for her.
Director: Billy Wilder | Stars: Humphrey Bogart, Audrey Hepburn, William Holden, Walter Hampden
Votes: 70,313
15. The Horse Soldiers (1959)
Approved | 120 min | Adventure, Drama, Romance
In 1863, a Union outfit is sent behind Confederate lines in Mississippi to destroy enemy railroads but a captive southern belle and the unit's doctor cause frictions within ranks.
Director: John Ford | Stars: John Wayne, William Holden, Constance Towers, Judson Pratt
Votes: 11,649 | Gross: $1.75M
16. Golden Boy (1939)
Approved | 99 min | Drama, Romance, Sport
A poor young Italian man who is a virtuoso on the violin wishes to become a champion boxer to make a fortune for his family. But what is the road to success and happiness, and what is the price?
Director: Rouben Mamoulian | Stars: Barbara Stanwyck, Adolphe Menjou, William Holden, Lee J. Cobb
Votes: 2,181
17. Executive Suite (1954)
Passed | 104 min | Drama, Romance
When the head of a large manufacturing firm dies suddenly from a stroke, his vice presidents vie to see who will replace him.
Director: Robert Wise | Stars: William Holden, Barbara Stanwyck, June Allyson, Fredric March
Votes: 4,585
18. The World of Suzie Wong (1960)
Approved | 126 min | Drama, Romance
A businessman moves to Hong Kong to pursue a career as an artist and falls in love with a prostitute he hires as a model.
Director: Richard Quine | Stars: William Holden, Nancy Kwan, Sylvia Syms, Michael Wilding
Votes: 2,758 | Gross: $7.30M
19. Our Town (1940)
Not Rated | 90 min | Drama, Family, Romance
Change comes slowly to a small New Hampshire town in the early 20th century.
Director: Sam Wood | Stars: William Holden, Martha Scott, Fay Bainter, Beulah Bondi
Votes: 2,971
20. Alvarez Kelly (1966)
Approved | 116 min | Western
During the Civil War, Mexican cattleman Alvarez Kelly supplies the Union with cattle until Confederate Colonel Tom Rossiter's hungry men force Kelly to change his customers.
Director: Edward Dmytryk | Stars: William Holden, Richard Widmark, Janice Rule, Patrick O'Neal
Votes: 2,735
21. Union Station (1950)
Approved | 81 min | Crime, Drama, Film-Noir
A sharp-eyed woman spots a man with a gun on a train and her alert to the railroad police helps them in their search for a ruthless gang who have kidnapped a blind heiress.
Director: Rudolph Maté | Stars: William Holden, Nancy Olson, Barry Fitzgerald, Lyle Bettger
Votes: 2,725
22. The Key (1958)
Approved | 134 min | Drama, Romance, War
During World War II, successive tugboat British Captains sent on dangerous salvage missions pass-on the key to a home-port apartment, where a lonely Swiss-Italian young war-widow lives.
Director: Carol Reed | Stars: William Holden, Sophia Loren, Trevor Howard, Oscar Homolka
Votes: 1,642
23. The Proud and Profane (1956)
Not Rated | 111 min | Drama, Romance, War
In the Pacific during WWII, a Roman Catholic widow falls for a tough lieutenant colonel.
Director: George Seaton | Stars: William Holden, Deborah Kerr, Thelma Ritter, Dewey Martin
Votes: 654
24. Apartment for Peggy (1948)
Approved | 96 min | Drama, Romance
A retired professor rents his attic apartment to pregnant Peggy and her GI-Bill-student husband. The professor ponders if his life is no longer useful while the young couple faces the challenges shared with many WW II veterans' families.
Director: George Seaton | Stars: Jeanne Crain, William Holden, Edmund Gwenn, Gene Lockhart
Votes: 1,140
25. Love Is a Many-Splendored Thing (1955)
Approved | 102 min | Biography, Drama, Romance
A widowed Chinese-English doctor falls in love with a married American correspondent in Hong Kong during China's Communist Revolution.
Directors: Henry King, Otto Lang | Stars: William Holden, Jennifer Jones, Torin Thatcher, Isobel Elsom
Votes: 5,376
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