List Of Top 10 All Time Best Steve Martin Movies Along With Their Storyline
Stephen Glenn Martin is an American actor, comedian, writer, producer, and musician who was born on August 14, 1945. He has received five Grammy Awards, a Primetime Emmy Award, and an Honorary Academy Award from the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences at the 5th Annual Governors Awards in 2013.
Author:Elisa MuellerReviewer:Iram MartinsOct 06, 20213.3K Shares665.2K Views
Stephen Glenn Martin is an American actor, comedian, writer, producer, and musician who was born on August 14, 1945.
He has received five Grammy Awards, a Primetime Emmy Award, and an Honorary Academy Award from the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences at the 5th Annual Governors Awards in 2013.
He has won many awards, including the Mark Twain Prize for American Humor, the Kennedy Center Honors, and an AFI Life Achievement Award, among others. Martin was rated sixth among the top 100 stand-up comedians by Comedy Central in 2004.
Martin rose to fame as a writer for The Smothers Brothers Comedy Hour in the 1960s, and subsequently as a regular presenter on Saturday Night Live. Martin toured the country in the 1970s, performing his quirky, absurdist comic acts to sold-out crowds.
Martin has been a successful actor since the 1980s when he moved away from comedy and starred in films such as The Jerk (1979), Dead Men Don't Wear Plaid (1982), The Man with Two Brains (1983), Three Amigos, Little Shop of Horrors (both 1986), Roxanne, Planes, Trains, and Automobiles (both 1987), Dirty Rotten Scoundrels (1988), and L.A. Story (1988). In 1991,
He's also appeared in Parenthood (1989), the Father of the Bride films (1991–1995), and the Cheaper by the Dozen series (2003–2005) as the family patriarch. Only Murders in the Building, a Hulu comedy series, featured him in 2021.
Martin's other Broadway credits include the musical Bright Star (2016) and the comedy Meteor Shower (2017), both of which he wrote the book and lyrics for.
While he has played banjo since he was a child and has included music in his comedy routines since the beginning of his professional career, he has increasingly focused his career on music since the 2000s, acting less and spending more of his time playing banjo, recording, and touring with various bluegrass acts, including Earl Scruggs, with whom he won a Grammy for Best Country Instrumental Performance.
The Crow: New Songs for the 5-String Banjo (2009), his debut solo album, won the Grammy Award for Best Bluegrass Album.
List Of Best Steve Martin Movies You Must See
The Jerk (1979)
What better way to begin our list than with Steve Martin's very first leading role in a major motion picture?
Martin appears as Navin R. Johnson, the adopted son of black sharecroppers, in the 1979 film "The Jerk," directed by the great Carl Reiner, who is simply trying to find a sense of purpose in this strange world.
Johnson sets off on a quest to discover himself, whoever he may be, with no sense of rhythm or, indeed, no feeling of anything.
The Jerk, a wild trip through Hollywood, celebrity, fame, wealth, and hate of cans, with equally deranged supporting performances from Bernadette Peters, M. Emmett Walsh, and even director Carl Reiner, is unquestionably one of Martin's most absurdist works.
However, this bizarre comedy marked the start of Martin's long and illustrious career, and it is still regarded as one of his best performances.
The Jerk Official Trailer #1 - Steve Martin Movie (1979) HD
Shopgirl (2005)
Steve Martin is a renaissance guy in the finest sense of the word. Martin's oeuvre includes screenplays, stage plays, books, bluegrass CDs, musical theater compositions, and much more, in addition to the performances on this list.
One of these side projects, Martin's 2000 novella "Shopgirl," ultimately found its way into the cinematic realm, and he found himself not just adapting but also starring in the picture.
"Shopgirl," like most of Martin's later work, foregoes much of his early work's inane, ridiculous comedic antics in favor of a subtler, more nuanced sense of narrative. Even this stylistic shift is able to fall gracefully within Martin's renowned canopy.
"Shopgirl" catches Steve Martin's late-career humor in all its glory, telling the tale of a young artist (Claire Danes) caught between two ambitious men (Martin and the equally handsome Jason Schwartzman).
#969) SHOPGIRL (2005)
Dead Men Don't Wear Plaid (1982)
Steve Martin reunited with "The Jerk" director Carl Reiner to produce a comedy based on a concept so bold, adventurous, and shameless in its homage to vintage Hollywood that it's surprising it isn't discussed more in the pantheon of great comic blank checks.
Reiner and Martin set out to create a film noir tale patched together using fresh material combined with vintage pieces from classic detective films in 1982's "Dead Men Don't Wear Plaid," resulting in a collage of comic brilliance.
The true pleasure of "Dead Men Don't Wear Plaid" is following along with the game of how snippets from films like "The Killers," "The Big Sleep," and "The Postman Always Rings Twice" are altered and put together for the purpose of Martin's comic adventures.
If nothing else, "Dead Men Don't Wear Plaid" is a testimony to Steve Martin's comedic desire to elicit a chuckle.
Dead Men Don't Wear Plaid Official Trailer #1 - Steve Martin Movie (1982) HD
The Man With Two Brains (1983)
Martin continued to collaborate with comic icon Carl Reiner after breaking into Hollywood with "The Jerk," and the two created some hilarious genre parodies together.
In 1983's "The Man with Two Brains," for example, the pair took aim at science fiction in a brilliant parody that further established Martin as a master of comic stupidity.
Martin portrays Dr. Michael Hfuhruhurr, an elegantly named neurosurgeon who finds that his understanding of the mind extends to being able to speak with a woman's brain imprisoned in a jar (voiced by the oddly uncredited Sissy Spacek).
In the great tradition of Reiner/Martin collaborations, what follows is enough mayhem to keep you completely engrossed throughout such an obviously bizarre piece of cinema. The brilliance of "The Man with Two Brains" is watching how far Martin's humor can extend into the realm of genre-pastiche.
The Man with Two Brains (1983) Official Trailer - Steve Martin, Kathleen Turner Movie HD
Dirty Rotten Scoundrels (1988)
Dirty Rotten Scoundrels, directed by Frank Oz and starring Steve Martin, Michael Caine, and Glenne Headly, was released in 1988. Dale Launer, Stanley Shapiro, and Paul Henning wrote the script.
The Hustle, starring Anne Hathaway and Rebel Wilson, is a remake of the 1964 Marlon Brando/David Niven picture, Bedtime Story, which was also written by Shapiro and Henning.
The film depicts two con men vying to defraud a wealthy heiress of $50,000.
Lawrence Jamieson, played by Caine, is an educated and sophisticated con artist who creates intricate ruses to defraud wealthy ladies, whereas Freddy Benson, played by Martin, is a less polished, small-time American competitor. The setting is the French Riviera.
Dirty Rotten Scoundrels (1988) - Dinner With Ruprecht Scene (6/12) | Movieclips
Pennies From Heaven (1981)
"Pennies from Heaven," released in 1981, was a complete change for Steve Martin since it was his first venture into purely dramatic material.
After all, the film took a character who had previously served as a lightning rod for ridiculous, comic slapstick and plopped him smack-dab in the midst of a wonderfully serious piece of dramatic musical filmmaking that viewers were baffled by.
People were perplexed by this outlier of a picture, in which Martin and his co-stars were clearly and purposefully lip-synching to famous 1930s songs.
With the benefit of hindsight and the ability to see the film a Depression-era love story filled with twists, turns, and fantastically hummable tunes for the charming and sweet piece of filmmaking that Martin and his team hoped for back in the '80s, history has been much kinder to "Pennies from Heaven." It also features a dancing Christopher Walken.
Pennies From Heaven (1981) Official Trailer - Steve Martin, Christopher Walken Musical Movie HD
Father Of The Bride (1991)
The remake of the 1950 Vincente Minnelli classic, "Father of the Bride," is one of Martin's most lasting and financially successful comedies, updating the tale of a father unwilling to let go of his daughter before a momentous day for a new generation.
Martin brings his straight-man A-game to the table as he navigates the hurdles that come with wedding planning, with all the nerve and chaos you can imagine. Directed by Charles Shyer and co-written by Nancy Meyers, Martin brings his straight-man A-game to the table as he navigates the hurdles that come with wedding planning, with all the nerve and chaos you can imagine.
It's little surprise that this marital comedy became such a big hit, with quirky and unforgettable supporting performances from Diane Keaton, George Newbern, and Martin Short as the most bananas wedding planner you'll ever meet.
"Father of the Bride" was a great moment in Martin's career to shift into more paternal parts, which gave him a fresh lease on comic life, and it was so popular that it spawned a sequel four years later.
Father of the Bride trailer 1991
L.A. Story (1991)
The beloved fool returns to the romantic comedy genre in the aptly named "L.A. Story," starring and written by Steve Martin, as he navigates the City of Angels while searching for love, joy, and some sense of purpose in his dismal existence as a TV weatherman.
Martin takes on Los Angeles in all of its fake, pompous splendor, utilizing the city as the ideal backdrop to reflect his narrative of striving to achieve perfection in a location that may not be as beautiful as you believe it is, employing his signature combination of absurdism, sarcasm, and downright comedy.
Some may argue that writing and starring in as many films as Steve Martin has (almost 10) is a fool's errand, but "L.A. Story" is more evidence that this formula for comic success isn't going away anytime soon.
L.A. Story (1991) Official Trailer #1 - Steve Martin, Marilu Henner Movie HD
Grand Canyon (1991)
Lawrence Kasdan, the acclaimed screenwriter behind "The Empire Strikes Back," "Return of the Jedi," and "Raiders of the Lost Ark," has only directed a few films. However, unlike many of his franchise writing credits, he prefers to direct more intimate, personal tales about human connection, friendship, and romance.
This may be seen in films like "The Big Chill," "Mumford," and, most notably, "Grand Canyon," released in 1991. Steve Martin stars with Kevin Kline, Danny Glover, Mary-Louise Parker, and Mary McDonnell as an action movie director who pledges to rid his film of violence after becoming the victim of a brutal shooting.
"Grand Canyon" utilizes the linked experiences of different individuals to touch on our interrelated beauty and sorrow in profoundly affecting ways, culminating in a beautiful last journey to the eponymous natural spot.
Grand Canyon (1991) Trailer | Danny Glover | Kevin Kline
All Of Me (1984)
Body-swap comedy is nearly overused these days, but something about 1984's "All of Me" elevates the concept to new heights of absurdity.
Lily Tomlin appears as Edwina Cutwater, a billionaire who takes extraordinary and paranormal steps to guarantee she remains in our world after death, once again directed by longtime partner Carl Reiner. Unfortunately, her efforts backfire, and she ends herself sharing a body with none other than our old friend Steve Martin.
If the concept of "Steve Martin and Lily Tomlin inhabit the same body for 90 minutes" isn't enough to persuade you of this great comedy's comedic potential, who knows what would.
To be honest, it's a magnificent show to see, with everything rushing towards a dramatic climax of epic proportions.
"All of Me," another of Martin's early comedic efforts, solidified the kind of comic shenanigans he was capable of directing.
All Of Me (1984) Classic Trailer #1 - Steve Martin, Lily Tomlin Movie
What Is Steve Martin's Best Movie?
- Planes, Trains, and Automobiles (1987)
- Dirty Rotten Scoundrels (1988)
- Roxanne (1987)
- Three Amigos (1986)
- Sgt.
What Is Steve Martin's Funniest Movie?
According to Rotten Tomatoes ratings, his highest-rated film by reviewers is his 2018 Netflix comedy special "Steve Martin and Martin Short: An Evening You Will Forget for the Rest of Your Life." It's followed by 1991's "L.A. Story" and 1989's "Parenthood."
Why Is Steve Martin Famous?
Steve Martin (born August 14, 1945, in Waco, Texas, United States) is an American comedian, writer, and producer who started his career as a stand-up comedian and went on to star in films, television shows, Broadway productions, and books. Martin went to California's Long Beach State College.
Elisa Mueller
Author
Elisa Mueller, a Kansas City native, grew up surrounded by the wonders of books and movies, inspired by her parents' passion for education and film.
She earned bachelor's degrees in English and Journalism from the University of Kansas before moving to New York City, where she spent a decade at Entertainment Weekly, visiting film sets worldwide.
With over 8 years in the entertainment industry, Elisa is a seasoned journalist and media analyst, holding a degree in Journalism from NYU. Her insightful critiques have been featured in prestigious publications, cementing her reputation for accuracy and depth.
Outside of work, she enjoys attending film festivals, painting, writing fiction, and studying numerology.
Iram Martins
Reviewer
Iram Martins is a seasoned travel writer and explorer with over a decade of experience in uncovering the world's hidden gems. Holding a Bachelor's degree in Tourism Management from the University of Lisbon, Iram's credentials highlight his authority in the realm of travel.
As an author of numerous travel guides and articles for top travel publications, his writing is celebrated for its vivid descriptions and practical insights.
Iram’s passion for cultural immersion and off-the-beaten-path adventures shines through in his work, captivating readers and inspiring wanderlust.
Outside of his writing pursuits, Iram enjoys learning new languages, reviewing films and TV shows, writing about celebrity lifestyles, and attending cultural festivals.
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