64 Roy Scheider Movies, Ranked Best to Worst

Steven Spielberg’s Jaws is adapted from the popular 1974 novel by Peter Benchley. When a killer shark attacks a vacationer at the Amity Island, police chief Martin Brody wants to close down the beaches but Mayor Vaughn is against it. However, with the shark continuing its killing spree, Brody teams up with a marine biologist and a professional shark hunter to hunt down the beast.

New York City detectives Jimmy ‘Popeye’ Doyle and Buddy ‘Cloudy’ Russo hatch a plan to bring down drug lord Alain Charnier, who leads the world’s biggest heroin-smuggling syndicate. They must however contend with Charnier’s unlimited resources, Salvatore ‘Sal’ Boca and lawyer Joel Weinstock. 

Joe Gideon leads a very chaotic life and due to excessive sex and drugs, he eventually suffers a heart attack. The three women in his life do their best to save his life.

Thomas Levy, a history student and long-distance runner, is unaware of the fact that his older brother is a government agent chasing down a Nazi war criminal, until the latter is murdered, and Thomas finds himself in the middle of a dangerous international plot involving stolen jewels, Nazis and government spies. 

This 4-part biographical drama-film, a tribute to the life and work of celebrated Japanese writer Yukio Mishima, portrays his journey from a sickly child to an acclaimed author and radical traditionalist, and finally, depicts the spectacular last day of his life. The narration is interspersed with dramatized sections of his novels that run parallel to the events of his life.

The sequel to 2001: A Space Odyssey follows Dr. Heywood Floyd and his teammates as they set out on a joint US-Soviet space mission to Jupiter. The astronauts have to reactivate U.S.S. Discovery’s AI computer, H.A.L. 9000, to find out the cause of Discovery’s failure. They also need to unravel the mystery of the mammoth black monolith in Jupiter’s orbit. 

Tom Gruneman, an executive working for a chemical company in Pennsylvania, goes missing. Although the police try to find him, they eventually fail and eventually detective John Klute is hired to investigate the disappearance. Klute has only one lead: a prostitute. However, he is unaware of the fact that her life is in danger as well.

Buddy Manucci is a police officer in New York City, who operates an unconventional team named ‘The Seven-Ups’, which uses drastic and unconventional measures to bring criminals to justice. Things get ugly when one of his contacts uses a classified police list to kidnap mobsters and hold them for ransom. Things get worse when one of the ‘Seven-Up’ cops is killed as a result of this.   

Blue Thunder is an action thriller film which revolves around a brave and honorable police officer in Los Angeles named Frank Murphy. He is chosen to test run Blue Thunder, a high-tech experimental attack helicopter. While flying Blue Thunder, Murphy and his partner discover that it is going to be used for mass surveillance which could lead to sinister implications.

Sadiel, a rebel leader in a North African state, takes refuge in Switzerland during the aftermath of a coup. After Colonel Kassar contacts the French security services for their help in capturing him, Sadiel, is lured to Paris, allegedly for a television show. 

French hit-man, Lucien Bellon, is sent to Los Angeles to kill a mobster, Kovacs. As he completes the contract, Bellon realizes that he is being hunted by another contract killer, Lenny. Trapped in a foreign country, with a hit-man and the police after him, and with only bar waitress Nancy to help him, Bellon has to find the mastermind behind the conspiracy. 

The Rainmaker is a legal drama film, revolving around an inexperienced young lawyer, who agrees to fight for a helpless boy dying from leukemia, after the insurance company refuses to pay for his operation that would save his life. 

Puzzle of a Downfall Child is a drama film which revolves around a former fashion model whose life has gone into a downward spiral due to her drug use and nervous breakdown. When Aaron Reinhardt decides to make a film on her, she recalls her empty life of drugs, alcohol and sex.

Naked Lunch is a 1991 drama film revolving around a pest exterminator, who kills his wife accidentally, after he develops an addiction to the substances he uses to kill insects. He eventually gets involved in a secret government plot.    

Harry Mitchell is a businessman in Los Angeles, who is living quite a luxurious life. But his life is turned upside down when three masked blackmailers appear with a video tape of Harry with his young mistress. They demand money from Harry, but he instead decides to turn them against one another.

Loving is an American comedy drama film, revolving around Brooks Wilson, who doesn’t know who is more important in his life, his wife, daughters or his mistress. He tries to untangle the knots in his personal life, while also dreaming about a  career break. 

Sports Illustrated writer, George Plimpton, has tried his luck in professional sports like boxing and baseball and then written about his experience. Buoyed by his editor, he joins the NFL team, Detroit Lions, for his next story. What follows is a comically disastrous adventure. 

Based on a Marvel Comics character, The Punisher is the story of Frank Castle, an undercover agent whose entire family is wiped out at a family reunion by a vengeful mobster Howard Saint, while Castle is left for dead. Embittered by inadequacy of law, Castle turns Vigilante, starting a one-man war against criminals. According to him, he doesn’t pursue revenge, but punishment.  

Romeo is Bleeding is a crime thriller film which tells the story of Jack Grimaldi, a homicide detective with the NYDP who seems to have the perfect life.  However, actually he is quite corrupt, and works for a Mafia boss named Don Falcone in exchange for large cash bribes. Things get complicated when he is tasked to kill Mona, an assassin, who single-handedly takes on the cops and the mafia.

Scott Blair is a publisher who finds himself involved in a conspiracy after receiving manuscripts from a Russian scientist claiming that the entire Russian nuclear programme is a sham. He begins his own investigation to learn the truth.

Stiletto is a crime drama film which revolves around a rich playboy who also has a secret life, i.e. he is a professional hitman for the Mafia. However, when it is time for him to retire, his former employers decide to eliminate him as he knows way too much about them.