M. Emmet Walsh’s Typical Vibe
Signature vibe

Highest-ranked title
Highest-ranked title
M. Emmet Walsh has 40 titles in the CriticCrunch catalog across a career spanning the 1970s through the 2020s. 1 sits in the Top 1% of all titles we track — including Blade Runner.
Recurring themes

No Retreat, No Surrender
1986
Action · Comedy

The Last Dragon
1985
Action · Comedy

Running Scared
1986
Comedy · Crime

Any Which Way You Can
1980
Action · Adventure

Enter the Ninja
1981
Action · Crime

Beverly Hills Cop
1984
Comedy · Crime

K-9
1989
Action · Comedy

Blind Fury
1989
Action · Thriller

Ordinary People
1980 · Movie · Actor
Top 16%MGM+ · Included

Blood Simple
1985 · Movie · Actor
Top 18%Max · Included

The Odd Life of Timothy Green
2012 · Movie · Actor
Top 18%Disney+ · Included

The Jerk
1979 · Movie · Actor
Top 24%Prime Video · Included

Calvary
2014 · Movie · Actor
Top 30%Prime Video · Included

Fletch
1985 · Movie · Actor
Top 31%Netflix · Included

In the smog-choked dystopian Los Angeles of 2019, blade runner Rick Deckard is called out of retirement to terminate a quartet of replicants who have escaped to Earth seeking their creator for a way to extend their short life spans.
Dir. Ridley Scott · With Harrison Ford, Rutger Hauer, Sean Young

In the small town of Rockwell, Maine in October 1957, a giant metal machine befriends a nine-year-old boy and ultimately finds its humanity by unselfishly saving people from their own fears and prejudices.
Dir. Brad Bird · With Jennifer Aniston, Harry Connick Jr., Vin Diesel

Beth, Calvin, and their son Conrad are living in the aftermath of the death of the other son. Conrad is overcome by grief and misplaced guilt to the extent of a suicide attempt. He is in therapy. Beth had always preferred his brother and is having difficulty being supportive to Conrad. Calvin is trapped between the two trying to hold the family together.
Dir. Robert Redford · With Donald Sutherland, Mary Tyler Moore, Judd Hirsch

The owner of a seedy small-town Texas bar discovers that one of his employees is having an affair with his wife. A chaotic chain of misunderstandings, lies and mischief ensues after he devises a plot to have them murdered.
Dir. Joel Coen · With John Getz, Frances McDormand, Dan Hedaya

A childless couple bury a box in their backyard, containing all of their wishes for an infant. Soon, a child is born, though Timothy Green is not all that he appears.
Dir. Peter Hedges · With Jennifer Garner, Joel Edgerton, CJ Adams

After discovering he's not really black like the rest of his family, likable dimwit Navin Johnson sets off on a hilarious misadventure that takes him from rags to riches and back again. The slaphappy jerk strikes it rich, but life in the fast lane isn't all it's cracked up to be and, in the end, all that really matters to Johnson is his true love.
Dir. Carl Reiner · With Steve Martin, Bernadette Peters, Catlin Adams

After being released on parole, a burglar attempts to go straight, get a regular job, and just go by the rules. He soon finds himself back in jail at the hands of a power-hungry parole officer.
Dir. Ulu Grosbard · With Dustin Hoffman, Theresa Russell, Gary Busey

After being threatened during a confession, a good-natured priest must battle the dark forces closing in around him.
Dir. John Michael McDonagh · With Brendan Gleeson, Chris O'Dowd, Kelly Reilly

When investigative reporter Irwin "Fletch" Fletcher goes undercover to write a piece on the drug trade at a local beach, he's approached by wealthy businessman Alan Stanwyk, who offers him $50,000 to murder him. With sarcastic wit and a knack for disguises, Fletch sets out to uncover Stanwyk's story.
Dir. Michael Ritchie · With Chevy Chase, Tim Matheson, Dana Wheeler-Nicholson

A weak con man panics when he learns he's going to prison for fraud. He hires a mysterious martial arts guru who helps transform him into a martial arts expert who can fight off inmates who want to hurt or love him.
Dir. Rob Schneider · With Rob Schneider, David Carradine, Jennifer Morrison

When she receives word that her longtime platonic pal Michael O'Neal is getting married to debutante Kimberly Wallace, food critic Julianne Potter realizes her true feelings for Michael -- and sets out to sabotage the wedding.
Dir. P.J. Hogan · With Julia Roberts, Dermot Mulroney, Cameron Diaz

Nick is desperate, holed up in a cheap hotel, suffering from an ulcer and convinced that a local mob boss wants him killed. Terrified, he calls Mikey, his friend since childhood and a fellow gangster. So begins a long night…
Dir. Elaine May · With Peter Falk, John Cassavetes, Ned Beatty

An L.A. District Attorney attempts to take an unwilling murder witness back to the United States to testify against a top-level mob boss. Frantically attempting to escape two deadly hitmen sent to silence her, they board a Vancouver-bound train only to discover that the killers are onboard with them. For the next 20 hours, as the train hurls through the beautiful but isolated Canadian wilderness, a deadly game of cat and mouse ensues in which their ability to tell friend from foe is a matter of life and death.
Dir. Peter Hyams · With Gene Hackman, Anne Archer, James B. Sikking

Carnivorous aliens arrive unannounced at a Kansas family farm; two intergalactic bounty hunters soon follow, determined to blow them off the planet.
Dir. Stephen Herek · With Dee Wallace, M. Emmet Walsh, Billy Green Bush

An account of the revolutionary years of the legendary American journalist John Reed, who shared his adventurous professional life with his radical commitment to the socialist revolution in Russia, his dream of spreading its principles among the members of the American working class, and his troubled romantic relationship with the writer Louise Bryant.
Dir. Warren Beatty · With Warren Beatty, Diane Keaton, Edward Herrmann

Charlie and his troublesome cousin Paulie decide to steal $150,000 in order to back a "sure thing" race horse that Paulie has inside information on. The aftermath of the robbery gets them into serious trouble with the local Mafia boss and the corrupt New York City police department.
Dir. Stuart Rosenberg · With Eric Roberts, Mickey Rourke, Daryl Hannah

Self-made millionaire Thornton Melon decides to get a better education and enrolls at his son Jason's college. While Jason tries to fit in with his fellow students, Thornton struggles to gain his son's respect, giving way to hilarious antics.
Dir. Alan Metter · With Rodney Dangerfield, Sally Kellerman, Burt Young
A psychiatrist makes multiple trips through time to save a woman that was murdered by her brutal husband.
Dir. Louis Morneau · With Jim Belushi, Kylie Travis, Shannon Whirry

Police chief Xavier Quinn investigates the gruesome murder of Donald Pater, one of the wealthiest residents on a Caribbean island. He was found decapitated in his Jacuzzi. Although the local political establishment, especially crooked Governor Chalk, insists that small-time thief Maubee is responsible, Xavier has his doubts. This view is complicated by the police chief's personal history with Maubee: The men have been friends since childhood.
Dir. Carl Schenkel · With Denzel Washington, James Fox, Mimi Rogers
A rookie cop goes undercover to infiltrate a gang of car thieves led by smooth and charming Ted. The rookie becomes too involved and starts to enjoy the thrill and lifestyle of the game, and becomes romanticly involved with the leaders sister.
Dir. Peter Werner · With Charlie Sheen, D. B. Sweeney, Lara Harris
When their only daughter Blair leaves the family nest, Luther and Nora Krank decide to book an island cruise to beat the yuletide blues and just skip the holidays. But their decision to boycott tradition has the whole neighborhood in an uproar, and when Blair calls on Christmas Eve to announce a surprise visit with her new fiancée, the Kranks have just twelve hours to perform a miracle and pull themselves and their neighbors together to throw the best celebration ever!
Dir. Joe Roth · With Tim Allen, Jamie Lee Curtis, Dan Aykroyd

As a fan of Albert Camus and Jean-Luc Godard, teenage Nick Twisp is definitely out of his element when his mother and her boyfriend move the family to a trailer park. When a pretty neighbor named Sheeni plays records by French crooners, it's love at first sight for frustrated and inexperienced Nick. Learning that she is dating someone, Nick launches a hilarious quest to find his way into Sheeni's heart -- and bed.
Dir. Miguel Arteta · With Michael Cera, Portia Doubleday, Jean Smart

Returning from a hunting trip in the forest, the Henderson family's car hits an animal in the road. At first they fear it was a man, but when they examine the "body" they find it's a "bigfoot". They think it's dead so they decide to take it home (there could be some money in this). As you guessed, it isn't dead. Far from being the ferocious monster they fear "Harry" to be, he's a friendly giant.
Dir. William Dear · With John Lithgow, Melinda Dillon, Don Ameche

Morris "Mud" Himmel has a problem. His parents desperately want to send him away to summer camp. He hates going to summer camp, and would do anything to get out of it. Talking to his friends, he realizes that they are all facing the same sentence: a boring summer camp. Together with his friends, he hatches a plan to trick all the parents into sending them to a camp of their own design.
Dir. Jonathan Prince · With Jonathan Jackson, Andrew Keegan, Marnette Patterson

American servicemen are still being held captive in Vietnam and it's up to one man to bring them home in this blistering, fast-paced action/adventure starring martial arts superstar Chuck Norris. Following a daring escape from a Vietnamese POW camp, Special Forces Colonel James Braddock (Norris) is on a mission to locate and save remaining MIAs.
Dir. Joseph Zito · With Chuck Norris, M. Emmet Walsh, David Tress

A reformed criminal's attempt at going straight is derailed when he reunites with his sanity-testing twin brother on a road trip for the score of a lifetime. Dodging bullets, the law, and an overbearing mother along the way, they must heal their severed family bond before they end up killing each other.
Dir. Max Barbakow · With Josh Brolin, Peter Dinklage, Glenn Close
A Soviet commando is sent to eliminate a rebel leader in Africa. Soon he finds himself doubting his mission.
Dir. Joseph Zito · With Dolph Lundgren, M. Emmet Walsh, Al White
Shattered illusions are hard to repair -- especially for a good-hearted zebra named Stripes who's spent his life on a Kentucky farm amidst the sorely mistaken notion that he's a debonair thoroughbred. Once he faces the fact that his stark stripes mark him as different, he decides he'll race anyway. And with help from the young girl who raised him, he just might end up in the winner's circle.
Dir. Frederik Du Chau · With Frankie Muniz, Hayden Panettiere, Bruce Greenwood

A small-town loser determines to have one more shot at the big time by winning a football game.
Dir. Roger Spottiswoode · With Robin Williams, Kurt Russell, Pamela Reed

as Bill Wilcox
Jesse becomes reunited with Willy three years after the whale's jump to freedom as the teenager tries to rescue the killer whale and other orcas from an oil spill.
Dir. Dwight H. Little · With Jason James Richter, Michael Madsen, Jayne Atkinson
Top Collaborators
Directors with 2+ shared titles, ranked by frequency