Josh Brolin is the Oscar-nominated actor who has jumped back and forth between prestige projects and big studio titles, including his most famous role as the big purple bad guy Thanos in “Avengers: Infinity War” (2018) and “Avengers: End Game” (2019). Let’s take a look back at 16 of his greatest films, ranked worst to best.
It was over three decades ago that the teenage Brolin made his film debut in “The Goonies” (1985) but it is only in the last 10 years or so that he has risen to the top of the list of respected actors and become a full-out movie star. As Brolin himself joked on an episode of “Inside the Actor’s Studio,” he got everything wrong for the first half of his career and only recently started getting it right. Brolin is perhaps being too hard on himself since he has had a very steady rise in show business and slowly developed into a more and more respected actor.
The son of actor James Brolin and stepson of entertainment icon Barbra Streisand, Brolin actually left Hollywood and film acting for a number of years following his debut because he was so upset with how bad his acting was in a little seen film called “Thrashin.” He retreated to Rochester, NY and appeared in regional theater where he learned to improve his skills from fellow actor Anthony Zerbe.
Brolin slowly started working again on television and had a three-year run on the TV series “The Long Riders.” His film career started up again in full force in the late 1990s with supporting roles. He scored a success on the New York stage when he replaced Philip Seymour Hoffman in the cast of “True West” at the Circle in the Square Theater on Broadway.
It all came together with his starring role in Joel Coen and Ethan Coen‘s Oscar-winning masterpiece “No Country for Old Men” (2007), which was quickly followed by a Best Supporting Actor nomination for Gus Van Sant‘s “Milk” (2008). So better late than never, as they say.
Tour our photo gallery of Brolin’s 16 greatest films, and see if your favorite tops the list.
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16. THE DEAD GIRL (2006)
Image Credit: Courtesy of First Look Director and Writer: Karen Moncrieff. Starring Toni Collette, Brittany Murphy, Rose Byrne.
This complex film which tells five different stories all centering on a murdered young woman (Murphy) features Brolin in one of his key supporting roles prior to his full out movie stardom. Brolin plays a john of the title character’s whose life has sunk to such a level that she has to turn to prostitution.
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15. EVEREST (2015)
Image Credit: Universal/Kobal/REX/Shutterstock Director: Baltasar Kormákur. Writers: William Nicholson and Simon Beaufoy. Starring Jason Clarke, Jake Gyllenhaal, Robin Wright.
Brolin plays a doctor and amateur mountain climber in this true-life story of a horrible blizzard in 1996 that stranded a bunch of people trying to climb the tall peak. The film features amazing scenery and a suspenseful plot of survival and endurance.
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14. GRINDHOUSE (2007)
Image Credit: Dimension Films/A Band Apart/Kobal/REX/Shutterstock Directors: Robert Rodriguez, Eli Roth, Quentin Tarantino, Edgar Wright, Rob Zombie. Writers: Rob Zombie, Edgar Wright, Jeff Rendell, Eli Roth, Quentin Tarantino, Rob Cotterill, Jason Eisener, John Davies. Starring Bruce Willis, Kurt Russell, Rose McGowan.
Brolin has a key role in this compilation and salute to old exploitation films that used to populate cheap movie theaters. While the violence and over the top action turned off some viewers Brolin does well with his screen time alongside a nearly all-star cast.
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13. ONLY THE BRAVE (2017)
Image Credit: Moviestore/REX/Shutterstock Director: Joseph Kosinski. Writers: Ken Nolan and Eric Warren Singer. Starring Miles Teller, Jeff Bridges, Jennifer Connelly.
This story of an Arizona firefighter’s quest to train his own team of forest fire fighters opened last year to genuinely strong reviews but failed to make much of an impact at the box office. The Toronto Star singled out Brolin as being “superb and sublime as the gruff Marsh, a man quietly battling his own inner demons.”
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12. IN THE VALLEY OF ELAH (2007)
Image Credit: Warner Independent Pictures/Kobal/REX/Shutterstock Director and writer: Paul Haggis. Starring Tommy Lee Jones, Charlize Theron, James Franco.
Mostly remembered for its surprise Best Actor Oscar nomination for star Tommy Lee Jones, this story about a father searching for answers to his son’s disappearance was part of Brolin’s stellar output in 2007. The actor got to literally play both good cop and bad cop this year since in this film he plays a sheriff as honorable as his character in “American Gangster” was dishonorable.
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11. THE GOONIES (1985)
Image Credit: Warner Bros/Kobal/REX/Shutterstock Director: Richard Donner. Writers: Chris Columbus and Steven Spielberg. Starring Sean Astin, Martha Plimpton, Corey Feldman.
Few actors get the chance to hit it big the first time out but that happened to Brolin in his debut film. While the film was a box office success it received mixed reviews upon its first release. Cable TV was quite kind to the film though and as a generation grew up having the film as a treasured memory. The constant cable repetition helped it reach near beloved status by fans. The film was actually loosely taken from an old episode of the “Little Rascals” or “Our Gang Comedies” as they were variously known so the parents of the kids who grew up on “The Goonies” may have found the story a bit familiar from their own childhood. As the only teenage principle character among the child cast Brolin shone as the kind of stalwart big brother most kids dream of having.
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10. HAIL, CAESAR (2016)
Image Credit: Universal/Working Title/Kobal/REX/Shutterstock Directors and Writers: Joel and Ethan Coen. Starring: George Clooney, Frances McDormand, Scarlet Johansson.
Brolin reteamed with his long-time collaborators the Coen brothers only this time he had the lead role in this tale of the 1950s Hollywood studio age. Brolin plays a “fixer” who is called upon to handle the various problems and scandals his actor clients find themselves involved in. As the calm in the center of many storms Brolin is suave and dignified as he tries to iron out the problems his clients get themselves into.
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9. AMERICAN GANGSTER (2007)
Image Credit: Snap Stills/REX/Shutterstock Director: Ridley Scott. Writer: Steve Zaillian. Starring Denzel Washington, Russell Crowe, Ruby Dee.
The year 2007 was one that really put Brolin in the big leagues with four performances in major films. The big draw on this particular film was to see titans Denzel Washington and Russell Crowe go mano a mano but Brolin more than holds his own as a sinister and corrupt New York City police detective. Ruby Dee got the film’s only acting Oscar nomination but critics referred to Brolin’s 2007 list of films as “career defining.”
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8. FLIRTING WITH DISASTER (1996)
Image Credit: Miramax/Kobal/REX/Shutterstock Director and writer: David O. Russell. Starring Ben Stiller, Mary Tyler Moore, Lily Tomlin.
After working primarily on television for the decade after “The Goonies” Brolin returned to the big screen as yes, another police officer in this first major star-studded film from David O. Russell. This is a bit of a different situation since as the story evolves we begin to see that Brolin and has police partner (Richard Jenkins) are more than just police partners but romantic partners as well. The likes of comedy legends such as Mary Tyler Moore, Lily Tomlin, Alan Alda get the majority of the laughs in this film but Brolin more than holds his own.
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7. TRUE GRIT (2010)
Image Credit: Lorey Sebastian/Skydance Prods./Kobal/REX/Shutterstock Directors and writers: Joel and Ethan Coen. Starring Jeff Bridges, Hailee Steinfeld, Matt Damon.
The original version of “True Grit” won an Oscar for John Wayne in 1969 and Bridges received a nomination for this version in the same role. This version by the Coen brothers followed the original novel more closely than it did the previous film version. Brolin plays the murderer of the father of the teen age girl at the center of the film. He makes the role his own and avoids the pitfalls of making the character too much of a mustache twirling stereotypical villain.
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6. SICARIO (2015)
Image Credit: ©The Moviestore Collection Ltd/REX/Shutterstock Director: Denis Villeneuve. Writer: Taylor Sheridan. Starring Emily Blunt, Benicio Del Torro, Jon Bernthal.
Brolin often seems cast as law enforcement officials and “Sicario” is not an exception to this pattern. Here he plays a Department of Justice official working on the drug war along the US Mexico border. The Philadelphia Inquirer praised his work here and said: Josh Brolin, as an enigmatic U.S. agent with a world-weary cynicism and a black-ops vibe, provides at least a dose of (very) dark humor to the proceedings. The success and acclaim of this film enabled its director Denis Villeneuve to take on bigger projects in the coming years such as “Arrival” and “Blade Runner 2049.”
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5. AVENGERS: INFINITY WAR (2018) and AVENGERS: ENDGAME (2019)
Image Credit: Marvel Brolin is absolutely chilling as Thanos, the big purple bad guy who gives the Avengers a run for their money in this back-to-back finale to the Marvel cinematic universe (well, phase one at least). When his plan to wipe out half of the human population by gathering all of the infinity stones proves successful, our favorite superheroes must band together to reverse his evil plans. That Brolin is able to emote through a layer of CGI magic is not just a testament to the visual effects artists, but to his abilities as a performer as well.
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4. W. (2008)
Image Credit: Snap Stills/REX/Shutterstock Director: Oliver Stone. Writer: Stanley Weiser. Starring Richard Dreyfuss, Jeffrey Wright, Scott Glenn.
Brolin received some award attention for this biopic of the 43rd U.S. President. Oliver Stone and his films are usually lightning rods for controversy and this film was no exception. The only surprise about this film may be that the notoriously liberal Stone made a film that was much more sympathetic to the president than had been expected. Regardless of politics Brolin has one of his most demanding roles as it follows Bush through his college days, his battle with alcohol, his father’s presidency and his own extremely close election to the presidency where the vote was so close that the Supreme Court had to rule on the results. Brolin plays the president as a real man and doesn’t fall into simple mimicry as had been done so often and so successfully on various comedy shows.
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3. INHERENT VICE (2014)
Image Credit: Wilson Webb/Ghoulardi Film Company/Warner Bros./Kobal/REX/Shutterstock Director and writer: Paul Thomas Anderson. Starring Joaquin Phoenix, Owen Wilson, Maya Rudolph.
Perhaps one of Paul Thomas Anderson’s most divisive films, this film was on the top of some critic’s 10 Best Lists but it also had many detractors as did the book by controversial author Thomas Pynchon. The film was a big success for Brolin though. His performance as an L.A.P.D. detective earned him nominations from a number of critic’s groups such as the Broadcast Film Critics Association Award for Best Supporting Actor, Chicago Film Critics Association, Detroit Film Critics Society, Online Film Critics Society Award, St. Louis Gateway Film Critics, Toronto Film Critics Association Award.
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2. MILK (2008)
Image Credit: Focus/Kobal/REX/Shutterstock Director: Gus Van Sant. Writer: Dustin Lance Black. Starring Sean Penn, James Franco, Emilie Hirsch.
Brolin received his first Oscar nomination as well as the New York Film Critic’s Award and the National Board of Review award as Best Supporting Actor of 2008 for this highly acclaimed biopic of the gay rights activist and San Francisco city official Harvey Milk. The film won Oscars for Sean Penn as Best Actor for the title role as well as one for Dustin Lance Black for his original screenplay. Brolin plays Dan White a fellow San Francisco politician who eventually murders Milk and Mayor George Moscone.
The role of Dan White is an extremely complicated one. While White became infamous for his defense tactic claim that he was driven to do what he did because of eating too much junk food (laughingly labeled in the media as “the Twinkie defense”) there was great speculation that White was a closeted gay man himself and that Harvey Milk’s campaign for gay rights set off some conflict in White.
Brolin excellently plays all these aspects of this complex character. One of the most poignant aspects of the film is when Milk expresses his concern over White saying to a friend that he can see the fear in White’s eyes and he recognizes that as the fear that most gay men of this area felt. Brolin displays both the pompous bluster of the increasingly unhinged White but also nicely conveys the vulnerability that Penn’s character sees in White’s conflicted psyche.
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1. NO COUNTRY FOR OLD MEN (2007)
Image Credit: Snap Stills/REX/Shutterstock Directors and writers: Joel and Ethan Coen. Starring Tommy Lee Jones, Javier Bardem, Woody Harrelson.
Brolin was among the ensemble of actors in this the most Oscar awarded of the Coen brother’s films. The movie won four Oscars for Best Picture, Best Director and Adapted Screenplay for the brothers and Best Supporting Actor for Javier Bardem. Brolin has a pivotal role in the film as a hunter who finds two million dollars that belonged to two murdered drug dealers. His stealing the money sets off the rest of the film’s plot. The cast in this film is uniformly working at the top of their game and Brolin is no exception to that.
