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J. Lee Thompson Movies

Want to know the best J. Lee Thompson movies?  How about the worst J. Lee Thompson movies?  Curious about J. Lee Thompson box office grosses or which J. Lee Thompson movie picked up the most Oscar® nominations? Need to know which J. Lee Thompson movie got the best reviews from critics and audiences and which got the worst reviews? Well, you have come to the right place…. because we have all of that information and much more.

J. Lee Thompson (1914-2002) was an Oscar-nominated English director. Thompson was most famous for directing The Guns of Navarone and Cape Fear.  He ended his career by directing many movies with Charles Bronson.  His IMDb page shows 49 directing credits from 1950 to 1989. This page will rank J. Lee Thompson movies from Best to Worst in six different sortable columns of information. To do well in the rankings, a movie needed to do well at the box office, be liked by both critics and audiences and earn some award recognition.

J. Lee Thompson Movies Ranked In Chronological Order With Ultimate Movie Rankings Score (1 to 5 UMR Tickets) *Best combo of box office, reviews, and awards.

Year Movie (Year) Rating S
Year Movie (Year) Rating S
1961 The Guns of Navarone (1961)
AA Best Picture Nom
AA Best Director Nom
1962 Taras Bulba (1962)
1964 What a Way To Go! (1964)
1962 Cape Fear (1962)
Director
1975 The Reincarnation of Peter Proud (1975)
Director
1972 Conquest of the Planet of the Apes (1972)
1969 MacKenna's Gold (1969)
1963 Kings of the Sun (1963)
1959 Tiger Bay (1959)
Director
1959 North West Frontier (1959)
1965 John Golfarb Please Come Home (1965)
Director
1969 The Chairman (1969)
1973 Battle for the Planet of the Apes (1973)
1978 The Greek Tycoon (1978)
1966 Eye of the Devil (1966)
1985 King Solomon's Mines (1985)
1965 Return from the Ashes (1965)
Director
1981 Happy Birthday To Me (1981)
1979 The Passage (1979)
Director
1960 I Aim At The Stars (1960)
Director
1974 Huckleberry Finn (1974)
Director
1984 The Evil That Men Do (1984)
1976 St. Ives (1976)
1986 Firewalker (1986)
1970 Brotherly Love/Country Dance (1970)
Director
1986 Murphy's Law (1986)
1968 Before Winter Comes (1968)
Director
1984 The Ambassador (1984)
1980 Cabo Blanco (1980)
1983 10 to Midnight (1983)
1977 The White Buffalo (1977)
Director
1987 Death Wish 4: The Crackdown (1987)
1988 Messenger of Death (1988)
1989 Kinjite (1989)
Director

J. Lee Thompson Movies Can Be Ranked 6 Ways In This Table

The really cool thing about this table is that it is “user-sortable”. Rank the movies anyway you want.

  • Sort J. Lee Thompson movies by co-stars of her movies.
  • Sort J. Lee Thompson movies by adjusted domestic box office grosses using current movie ticket cost (in millions)
  • Sort J. Lee Thompson movies by yearly domestic box office rank
  • Sort J. Lee Thompson movies how they were received by critics and audiences.  60% rating or higher should indicate a good movie.
  • Sort by how many Oscar® nominations each J. Lee Thompson movie received and how many Oscar® wins each J. Lee Thompson movie won.
  • Sort J. Lee Thompson movies by Ultimate Movie Rankings (UMR) Score.  UMR Score puts box office, reviews, and awards into a mathematical equation and gives each movie a score.
R Movie (Year) UMR Co-Star Links Adj. B.O. Worldwide (mil) Review Oscar Nom / Win UMR Score
R Movie (Year) UMR Co-Star Links Actual B.O. Domestic (mil) Adj. B.O. Domestic (mil) Adj. B.O. Worldwide (mil) B.O. Rank by Year Review Oscar Nom / Win UMR Score S
1 The Guns of Navarone (1961)
AA Best Picture Nom
AA Best Director Nom
Gregory Peck &
David Niven
37.10 627.4 1,206.60 3 84 07 / 01 99.3
3 Taras Bulba (1962) Tony Curtis &
Yul Brynner
9.70 161.9 161.90 25 67 01 / 00 89.5
2 What a Way To Go! (1964) Shirley MacLaine &
Paul Newman
17.40 231.8 376.60 6 51 02 / 00 88.5
4 Cape Fear (1962)
Director
Gregory Peck &
Robert Mitchum
5.00 83.3 83.30 51 85 00 / 00 86.9
5 The Reincarnation of Peter Proud (1975)
Director
Michael Sarrazin 19.70 120.1 120.10 36 65 00 / 00 83.3
6 Conquest of the Planet of the Apes (1972) Roddy McDowall &
Don Murray
13.60 100.3 100.30 27 53 00 / 00 71.6
9 MacKenna's Gold (1969) Gregory Peck &
Omar Sharif
8.90 78.0 78.00 31 57 00 / 00 67.3
10 Kings of the Sun (1963) Yul Brynner &
George Chakiris
4.60 66.4 66.40 57 58 00 / 00 64.9
7 Tiger Bay (1959)
Director
John Mills 0.90 18.2 18.20 149 72 00 / 00 63.5
8 North West Frontier (1959) Kenneth More &
Lauren Bacall
1.10 23.8 23.80 138 70 00 / 00 62.2
12 John Golfarb Please Come Home (1965)
Director
Shirley MacLaine &
Peter Ustinov
7.00 86.1 86.10 43 48 00 / 00 59.8
11 The Chairman (1969) Gregory Peck &
Anne Heywood
7.10 62.9 62.90 39 54 00 / 00 56.8
13 Battle for the Planet of the Apes (1973) Roddy McDowall &
Claude Akins
12.10 85.6 85.60 32 46 00 / 00 55.1
16 The Greek Tycoon (1978) Anthony Quinn &
Jacqueline Bisset
14.70 78.4 78.40 48 44 00 / 00 47.5
13 Eye of the Devil (1966) David Niven &
Sharon Tate
1.30 14.9 14.90 115 64 00 / 00 47.4
18 King Solomon's Mines (1985) Sharon Stone &
Herbert Lom &
John Rhys-Davies
15.10 53.0 53.00 56 51 00 / 00 45.4
14 Return from the Ashes (1965)
Director
Maximilian Schell 0.10 1.6 1.60 153 67 00 / 00 45.4
19 Happy Birthday To Me (1981) Melissa Sue Anderson &
Glenn Ford
10.60 47.7 47.70 75 52 00 / 00 44.2
18 The Passage (1979)
Director
James Mason &
Anthony Quinn
2.90 14.4 14.40 93 62 00 / 00 44.0
20 I Aim At The Stars (1960)
Director
Curd Jürgens 0.10 2.5 2.50 155 65 00 / 00 41.9
21 Huckleberry Finn (1974)
Director
Paul Winfield 3.30 22.3 22.30 79 56 00 / 00 34.4
24 The Evil That Men Do (1984) Charles Bronson &
José Ferrer
13.10 48.7 48.70 66 47 00 / 00 33.4
23 St. Ives (1976) Charles Bronson &
Jacqueline Bisset
7.00 40.9 40.90 73 49 00 / 00 32.4
25 Firewalker (1986) Chuck Norris &
Louis Gossett Jr.
14.50 48.9 48.90 55 46 00 / 00 31.5
22 Brotherly Love/Country Dance (1970)
Director
Peter O'Toole 0.80 6.1 6.10 151 59 00 / 00 30.3
26 Murphy's Law (1986) Charles Bronson &
Kathleen Wilhoite
9.90 33.5 33.50 68 49 00 / 00 28.0
27 Before Winter Comes (1968)
Director
John Hurt 0.30 2.7 2.70 175 55 00 / 00 21.9
28 The Ambassador (1984) Rock Hudson &
Robert Mitchum &
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1.50 5.6 5.60 146 52 00 / 00 17.8
29 Cabo Blanco (1980) Charles Bronson &
Jason Robards
2.00 9.5 9.50 140 47 00 / 00 13.2
30 10 to Midnight (1983) Charles Bronson &
Lisa Eilbacher
7.20 28.5 28.50 72 38 00 / 00 10.3
33 The White Buffalo (1977)
Director
Charles Bronson &
Jack Warden
4.10 22.7 22.70 92 38 00 / 00 8.1
32 Death Wish 4: The Crackdown (1987) Charles Bronson &
John P. Ryan
6.90 22.0 22.00 95 38 00 / 00 8.0
31 Messenger of Death (1988) Charles Bronson &
John Malkovich
3.10 9.4 9.40 148 42 00 / 00 7.6
34 Kinjite (1989)
Director
Charles Bronson 3.40 10.8 10.80 127 34 00 / 00 2.8

J. Lee Thompson Adjusted World Wide Box Office Grosses
Movie (Year) UMR Co-Star Links World-Wide Box Office Adjusted (mil) S
Movie (Year) UMR Co-Star Links World-Wide Box Office Adjusted (mil) S
The Guns of Navarone (1961)
AA Best Picture Nom
AA Best Director Nom
Gregory Peck &
David Niven
1,206.60
What a Way To Go! (1964) Shirley MacLaine &
Paul Newman
376.60

Check out J. Lee Thompson‘s career compared to current and classic actors.  Most 100 Million Dollar Movies of All-Time

Academy Award® and Oscar® are the registered trademarks of the Academy of Motion Arts and Sciences.  Golden Globe® and Emmy® are registered trademarks.  

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1 thought on “J. Lee Thompson Movies”

  1. Flora Breen Robison says:
    November 20, 2023 at 1:03 pm

    I have seen 14 J. Lee Thompson movies. Four of these are Gregory Peck movies.

    The HIGHEST ranked movie I have seen is The Guns of Navarone.

    The highest ranked movie I have NOT seen is Taras Bulba

    The LOWEST ranked movie I have seen is Deathwish 4

    Favourite J. L. Thompson movies:

    The Guns of Navarone – my favourite film, period
    Cape Fear
    Tiger Bay
    MacKenna’s Gold

    Reply

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