Summary
- Bill Murray shines in both comedic and emotional performances, offering a unique blend of humor and depth in his roles.
- Murray’s collaborations with directors like Wes Anderson and Ivan Reitman have resulted in memorable and iconic performances.
- Murray often does his best work in supporting roles, like in Tootsie and Ed Wood.
In a career reaching back to the 1970s, Bill Murray has made plenty of great movies which have bolstered his credentials as one of the best comedic performers of his generation. Murray first shot to fame as an early cast member on Saturday Night Live. His starring role in the 1979 comedy Meatballs made him an even bigger star, and he went on to act in several brilliant comedies throughout the 1980s and 1990s.
As Murray has matured as an actor, he has delivered some performances that blend his deadpan comedy with raw emotionality. His best movies aren’t just hilarious. They’re also poignant and thoughtful in a way that some comedic actors might shy away from. Due to long-running collaborations with the likes of Ivan Reitman and Wes Anderson, Murray has a stellar list of credits.
Related Wes Anderson & Bill Murray To Reunite In Historic 10th Movie Collaboration
Auteur director Wes Anderson casts longtime collaborator Bill Murray again in his next movie, marking the pair’s tenth film collaboration.
10 What About Bob? (1991)
Bob “Bobby” Wiley
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What About Bob? Where to Watch
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Director Frank Oz Release Date May 17, 1991 Cast Bill Murray , Richard Dreyfuss , Julie Hagerty , Charlie Korsmo , Kathryn Erbe , Tom Aldredge
Bill Murray and Richard Dreyfuss make an unlikely duo in What About Bob, but Dreyfuss is the perfect foil for Murray. While Dreyfuss’ Leo is consumed by rage, Murray can play the obnoxious but somehow lovable associate. What makes their dynamic even funnier is that Leo is alone in his anger. Every other character sees Bob as a harmless, mild-mannered man. Only Leo sees him for the nuisance he truly is.
Murray and Dreyfuss famously struggled to get along while working together on
What About Bob,
but this gives the movie even more of a spark.
Murray and Dreyfuss famously struggled to get along while working together on What About Bob, but this gives the movie even more of a spark. The fact that there is a layer of genuine animosity beneath Dreyfuss’ impassioned rants elevates his performance. Similar movies might conclude with the two men putting aside their differences and forming a new understanding. What About Bob ends with Leo hating Bob just as much as ever, which is the perfect punch line.
9 The Life Aquatic With Steve Zissou (2004)
Steve Zissou
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The Life Aquatic with Steve Zissou Where to Watch
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Director Wes Anderson Release Date December 25, 2004 Cast Bill Murray , Owen Wilson , Cate Blanchett , Anjelica Huston , Willem Dafoe , Jeff Goldblum
Bill Murray has earned his place among Wes Anderson’s regular cast of performers, alongside the likes of Owen Wilson, Jason Schwartzman and Tilda Swinton. However, he doesn’t always have major roles in Wes Anderson’s movies. He plays memorable bit parts in The Grand Budapest Hotel, The French Dispatch and Fantastic Mr. Fox, among others. The Life Aquatic With Steve Zissou puts him in the spotlight.
In a story filled with mythical beasts and comedic non sequiturs, Murray’s performance gives
The Life Aquatic
a relatable human core.
Murray’s likable performance is vital to the appeal of The Life Aquatic. The melancholic comedy adventure represented a big leap forward in Anderson’s quirky style. Unlike The Royal Tenebaums and Rushmore, The Life Aquatic doesn’t even try to appear as though it could take place in the real world. In a story filled with mythical beasts and comedic non sequiturs, Murray’s performance gives The Life Aquatic a relatable human core.
8 Tootsie (1982)
Jeff Slater
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Tootsie
Director Sydney Pollack Release Date December 17, 1982 Cast Dustin Hoffman , Jessica Lange , Teri Garr
Tootsie has held up surprisingly well for a crossdressing gender comedy made over 40 years ago. It doesn’t poke fun at the differences between men and women. Instead, it’s about the differences between how men and women are treated. When Dustin Hoffman’s character begins the charade that he is a woman to advance his character, he suddenly realizes what all women have been dealing with, and he doesn’t care for it.
Bill Murray puts in a likable performance as Michael’s best friend. His deadpan tone helps to keep the absurdity of the plot fresh long after it should run out of juice.
Bill Murray puts in a likable performance as Michael’s best friend. His deadpan tone helps to keep the absurdity of the plot fresh long after it should run out of juice. While Hoffman is all manic energy and constant turmoil, Murray takes everything in his stride, occasionally offering a great one-liner that only makes everyone else more stressed. Removing his character wouldn’t affect the plot too much, but it would ruin Tootsie in other ways.
7 Ed Wood (1994)
Bunny Breckinridge
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Ed Wood Where to Watch
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Director Tim Burton Release Date October 7, 1994 Cast Johhny Depp , Sarah Jessica Parker , George “The Animal” Steele , Patricia Arquette , Martin Landau , Bill Murray
Ed Wood was a box office flop when it came out, but Tim Burton’s Hollywood biopic has amassed a cult following. Johnny Depp stars as the titular director of Plan 9 From Outer Space and other duds, who has become known as the worst director of all time. The story is mainly about his struggles to succeed in the movie industry and his friendship with an aging Bela Lugosi, but Bill Murray has a memorable role as Bunny Breckinridge, Ed’s close friend and collaborator.
Murray isn’t the star, but he is impossible to ignore whenever he does saunter into view.
Bunny Breckinridge’s real-life story is just as fascinating as Ed Wood’s, and his character alludes to plenty of more interesting adventures that take place off-screen. One of Ed Wood‘s funniest moments features Bunny recounting his nightmarish trip to Mexico, delivered with Murray’s unmistakable deadpan style. Murray isn’t the star, but he is impossible to ignore whenever he does saunter into view.
6 Stripes (1981)
John Winger
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Stripes Where to Watch
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Director Ivan Reitman Release Date June 25, 1981 Cast Bill Murray , Harold Ramis , Warren Oates , P.J. Soles , Sean Young , John Candy
Stripes pairs Bill Murray with Harold Ramis three years before they starred in Ghostbusters, and it results in another brilliant comedy. The duo enlist in the army when they suddenly realize that they have no career prospects and no security, but they are soon thrust into an intense international conflict that they are woefully underprepared for. John Candy also has a memorable role as an impressionable fellow recruit.
Stripes
spends a lot of time in basic training, with the movie resembling a campus comedy at times.
Stripes spends a lot of time in basic training, with the movie resembling a campus comedy at times. This makes it even more surprising when the newly graduated soldiers find themselves in a firefight with the Soviet army in Czechoslovakia. Stripes is always too lighthearted to sustain any real feeling of danger. Instead, the battle scenes are an extension of the college comedy atmosphere.
5 Caddyshack (1980)
Carl Spackler
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Caddyshack Where to Watch
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Director Harold Ramis Release Date July 25, 1980 Cast Chevy Chase , Rodney Dangerfield , Ted Knight , Michael O’Keefe , Bill Murray , Sarah Holcomb
Many of Bill Murray’s funniest characters are very intelligent people with a cocky streak. Carl Spackler is the polar opposite, but Murray pulls it off with ease. Carl is the overzealous but dim-witted greenskeeper in Caddyshack. While other characters take the spotlight, Carl wages war on a gopher. His commitment to his crusade and Murray’s delightfully oddball performance make Carl a hilarious sideshow.
Caddyshack
gets the best out of its great cast, making it one of the best sports comedies of all time.
Caddyshack is filled with great quotes. The comedy also stars Chevy Chase and Rodney Dangerfield, the legendary stand-up comedian. The three men manage to get plenty of laughs without stepping on each other’s toes, since their roles are so different. Caddyshack gets the best out of its great cast, making it one of the best sports comedies of all time. The explosion scene at the end typifies the movie’s approach to fun-loving nonsense.
4 Rushmore (1998)
Herman J. Blume
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Rushmore
Director Wes Anderson Release Date December 11, 1998 Cast Jason Schwartzman , Bill Murray , Olivia Williams , Seymour Cassel , Brian Cox , Mason Gamble , Sara Tanaka
Bill Murray’s first collaboration with Wes Anderson remains his most iconic. In Rushmore, he plays an industrialist who becomes love rivals with a 15-year-old boy. Murray plays this spiteful feud completely straight, running over a teenager’s bicycle without a hint of rage. Eventually, Blume and Max forge a deeper understanding of one another, and Rushmore‘s sidesplitting comedy melts away to reveal a tender core.
Rushmore
is arguably Wes Anderson’s most grounded and emotional movie, and the relationship between Bill Murray and Jason Schwartzman is key to this.
Rushmore is arguably Wes Anderson’s most grounded and emotional movie, and the relationship between Bill Murray and Jason Schwartzman is key to this. Blume represents the kind of wealth and class that Max desperately aspires to. He belongs in all the spaces that Max doesn’t, but he still isn’t happy. Murray is the calm at the eye of the storm as Blume’s life disintegrates all around him.
3 Lost In Translation (2003)
Bob Harris
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Lost in Translation Where to Watch
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Director Sofia Coppola Release Date October 3, 2003 Cast Fumihiro Hayashi , Bill Murray , Anna Faris , Giovanni Ribisi , Scarlett Johansson , Catherine Lambert
Bill Murray received an Oscar nomination for Lost in Translation, and Sofia Coppola’s masterpiece notched three other nominations. Murray stars as a washed-up actor appearing in an advertising campaign in Tokyo when he meets another disillusioned American, the young newlywed Charlotte, played by Scarlett Johansson. Together, Bob and Charlotte explore the city as they find solace from their disappointing lives.
Lost in Translation
‘s unforgettable ending presents its biggest riddle, as Bob whispers something inaudible to Charlotte before they part ways, perhaps forever.
Lost in Translation asks the audience to fill in the gaps, as Bob and Charlotte’s unusual relationship defies simplistic categorization. They each represent something that the other needs, although it never seems certain that they will abandon their lives in order to be together. Lost in Translation‘s unforgettable ending presents its biggest riddle, as Bob whispers something inaudible to Charlotte before they part ways, perhaps forever.
2 Ghostbusters (1984)
Dr. Peter Venkman
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Ghostbusters Where to Watch
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Director Ivan Reitman Release Date June 8, 1984 Cast Bill Murray , Dan Aykroyd , Sigourney Weaver , Harold Ramis , Ernie Hudson , Rick Moranis
Although the Ghostbusters franchise has now accumulated over a billion dollars with five movies, the original is still the best. While later entries have leaned further into sci-fi spectacle and horror, the first movie perfects the blend of paranormal adventure and comedy. Ghostbusters is a movie about saving the world from the dark cloud of evil, but it’s also about a group of friends hanging out and trying to kickstart their unusual career.
Although the
Ghostbusters
franchise has now accumulated over a billion dollars with five movies, the original is still the best.
Bill Murray plays Dr. Peter Venkman, the straight-faced member of the team who acts as the perfect counterweight to Ray Stantz and Egon Spengler’s excitable nature. Murray comes away with a disproportionate number of the movie’s best quotes, mostly because his character never appears to be taking anything as seriously as the other characters. Venkman is a romantic and a showman who helps Ghostbusters feel like a workplace comedy when things threaten to get too melodramatic.
1 Groundhog Day (1993)
Phil
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Groundhog Day Where to Watch
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Director Harold Ramis Release Date February 11, 1993 Cast Bill Murray , Andie MacDowell , Chris Elliott , Stephen Tobolowsky , Brian Doyle-Murray , Marita Geraghty
Groundhog Day probably wouldn’t work without a charming central performance, but Bill Murray is in immaculate form. The time loop comedy follows Phil, a misanthropic weather reporter who simply wants to report on the actions of a rodent and leave town immediately. Fate has other plans for him, and through some unknown force, be it divine intervention or a scientific anomaly, Phil is cursed to repeat the same day over and over again.
Groundhog Day
manages to keep the same events fresh and interesting, because the story is all about Phil’s journey in dealing with his predicament.
Groundhog Day manages to keep the same events fresh and interesting, because the story is all about Phil’s journey in dealing with his predicament. He has moments of abject despair, and other days when he plays around in his surroundings, since he knows there will be no repercussions for his actions. Groundhog Day‘s ending never reveals the reason behind Phil’s cosmic imprisonment, but it delivers a beautiful final act to his strange adventure.