Donald Sutherland Has Three 'Perfect' Movies On Rotten Tomatoes, But They Aren't His Best

When it comes to undisputed cinematic classics, there are several films that have cemented their standing amid the greatest ever made. "Citizen Kane," "The Godfather," "Dinosaurs: Giants of Patagonia." What's that? You've never heard of "Dinosaurs: Giants of Patagonia?" I'm not sure what you philistines have been watching but I'll have you know this short film currently holds a prestigious 100% score on Rotten Tomatoes.

Yes, the website that has made a business out of slapping percentage scores on art has decreed that "Dinosaurs: Giants of Patagonia" is one of a handful of films worthy of the elusive "perfect" score. That means it sits alongside James Cameron's seminal 1984 effort "The Terminator" and Andrei Tarkovsky's 1979 masterpiece "Stalker," both of which also hold 100% ratings and coincidentally are the only two perfect sci-fi movies ever made according to RT (along with two of the "Toy Story" movies).

Why is any of this important? Well, it's not really. But it is interesting that "Dinosaurs: Giants of Patagonia" also happens to be one of the "perfect" films Donald Sutherland has been associated with. The legendary actor of incredible range sadly passed away this year, but he can rest easy knowing he managed to attain the prestigious 100% RT score not once but three whole times. It's a shame none of those films are actually his best, but still...

Rotten Tomatoes isn't just for individual movies. You can also look up actors and directors and get a good overview of how their work has fared over the years. In the case of Tim Burton, doing so reveals he didn't even direct his highest-rated film, which should go some way towards letting you know how seriously to take any of this. Similarly, for Donald Sutherland, Rotten Tomatoes' ranking of the man's work shows that one of his highest-rated efforts was a short film for which he provided the voiceover — yep, "Dinosaurs: Giants of Patagonia."

But surely the esteemed star of such cinematic marvels as "Don't Look Now" would not want his legacy to be defined by taking "an in-depth look at the world of some of the largest dinosaurs." Fortunately, RT has also bestowed the hallowed 100% rating on a further two of his movies. Unfortunately, those movies are "Dr. Terror's House Of Horrors" and "Path To War." The former is a 1965 British anthology horror film in which Sutherland appears during the "Vampire" section as a doctor who's forced to stake his French bride after finding out she's a bloodthirsty creature of the night. The latter is a 2002 HBO TV movie which features Sutherland as presidential advisor Clark M. Clifford in what RT states is a "dramatization of the decision-making behind the Johnson administration's escalation of the Vietnam War in the mid 1960s." (No, shockingly, I have not seen "Path to War.")

Meanwhile, the enduringly brilliant and indelibly disturbing "Don't Look Now" currently enjoys a 93% rating. So what on earth is going on in a world where a truly artful Giallo-infused horror classic is ranked lower than a short film featuring awkwardly-animated low-res CGI T-Rexes?

Any film fan will surely be aware of the phenomenon whereby a film debuts on Rotten Tomatoes with a surprisingly robust percentage score before seeing said score whittled down as more and more reviews come in. It happened with the truly dismal "Winnie the Pooh: Blood and Honey 2," which arrived on RT with an unbelievable 100% score, only for that to plummet as more critiques were aggregated. The film currently sits at 46% on the site.

For whatever reason, then, the chance of getting a high RT score increases when there are only a handful of reviews available. This also works in the other direction, too, with movies often managing to achieve the equally elusive 0% rating due to a paucity of reviews — as is the case with the seven worst John Travolta movies (although quite a few of those actually do have a decent amount of reviews, so...)

RT works by simply aggregating reviews and assigning a percentage score based on how many are positive and how many are negative. In the case of "Don't Look Now," its 93% rating is based on a healthy 83 reviews. In the case of "Dinosaurs: Giants of Patagonia," its 100% rating is based on seven. "Path to War," meanwhile, has 100 reviews, while "Dr. Terror's House of Horrors" has five. So, you might be starting to see why Rotten Tomatoes' rankings of actors' work isn't perhaps the most helpful gauge. In the meantime, might we suggest watching some of Sutherland's actual best work, such as the acclaimed 1970s drama "Klute" (which coincidentally helped inspire 2022's "The Batman").