Burt Lancaster Movies

Shirley Jones and Burt Lancaster both won Oscars for 1960's Elmer Gantry.
Shirley Jones and Burt Lancaster both won Oscars for 1960’s Elmer Gantry.

Want to know the best Burt Lancaster movies?  How about the worst Burt Lancaster movies?  Curious about Burt Lancaster’s box office grosses or which Burt Lancaster movie picked up the most Oscar® nominations? Need to know which Burt Lancaster 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.

Burt Lancaster (1913-1994)  was an American film actor noted for his athletic physique, blue eyes, and distinctive smile.  During his long career he was nominated for four Best Actor Oscars®. He won the Oscar® for his performance in 1960’s Elmer Gantry.  He was also nominated for five Best Actor Golden Globes®.  AFI (American Film Institute) listed Lancaster on their Top 50 Screen Legends list.  He was ranked as the 19th greatest actor.

His IMDb page shows 87 acting credits from 1946-1991. This page will rank Burt Lancaster movies from Best to Worst in six different sortable columns of information. Television appearances, cameos and his straight to DVD movies were not included in the rankings.

Burt Lancaster and Tony Curtis in 1957's Sweet Smell of Success
Burt Lancaster and Tony Curtis in 1957’s Sweet Smell of Success

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

Burt Lancaster 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 Burt Lancaster movies by co-stars of his movies
  • Sort Burt Lancaster movies by adjusted domestic box office grosses using current movie ticket cost (in millions)
  • Sort Burt Lancaster movies by yearly box office rank
  • Sort Burt Lancaster movies by how they were received by critics and audiences.  60% rating or highis should indicate a good movie.
  • Sort by how many Oscar® nominations and how many Oscar® wins each Burt Lancaster movie received.
  • Sort Burt Lancaster 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.
  • Use the sort and search buttons to make this a very interactive table…for example you want to just see the Kirk Douglas/Lancaster movies….just type in Kirk in the search box and the 5 movies will pop right up.

Stats and Possibly Interesting Things From The Above Burt Lancaster Table

  1. Twenty-five Burt Lancaster movies crossed the magical $100 million domestic gross mark.  That is a percentage of 37.31% of his movies listed. Airport (1970) was his biggest box office hit.
  2. An average Burt Lancaster movie grossed $100.00 million in adjusted box office gross.
  3. Using RottenTomatoes.com’s 60% fresh meter.  53 Burt Lancaster movies are rated as good movies…or 79.10% of his movies.  Sweet Smell of Success (1957) is his highest rated movie while Vengenance Valley (1951) is his lowest rated movie.
  4. Twenty Burt Lancaster movies received at least one Oscar® nomination in any category…..or 29.85% of his movies.
  5. Seven Burt Lancaster movies won at least one Oscar® in any category…..or 10.44% of his movies.
  6. An average Ultimate Movie Rankings (UMR) Score is 39.86.  43 Burt Lancaster movies scored higher that average….or 64.17% of his movies.  From Here to Eternity (1953) got the the highest UMR Score while Executive Action (1973) got the lowest UMR Score.
Burt Lancaster and Deborah Kerr in one of the most famous movie kisses of all time...in 1953's From Here To Eternity
Burt Lancaster and Deborah Kerr in one of the most famous movie kisses of all time…in 1953’s From Here To Eternity

Possibly Interesting Facts About Burt Lancaster

1. Burt Lancaster was born Burton Stephen Lancaster in Manhatten, New York City.

2. Burt Lancaster starred with Kirk Douglas seven movies…. Victory at Entebbe (1976), Tough Guys (1986), Seven Days in May (1964), The List of Adrian Messenger (1963), I Walk Alone (1948), Gunfight at the O.K. Corral (1957) and The Devil’s Disciple (1959).  Victory at Entebbe (tv movie) and The List of Adrian Messenger (cameo role) did not make our rankings.

3. Burt Lancaster was married three times.  He had 5 children (3 daughters and two sons).  One of his sons, Bill Lancaster, wrote the screenplay for 1976’s The Bad News Bears. It was based on his experience of being coached by his father.  The coach played by Walter Matthau was based on Burt, who was known for his grumpiness.

4. Burt Lancaster’s production company, Hecht Hill Lancaster, produced 1955’s Marty…..which won the Oscar® for Best Picture.

5. Burt Lancaster directed two movies in his career….The Kentuckian and The Midnight Man.

6. The first film Burt Lancaster directed is also the first film Walter Matthau ever appeared in….1955’s The Kentuckian

7. Burt Lancaster appeared nude in 1968’s The Swimmer.

8. For another very interesting tribute to Burt Lancaster check out this page by Lary Wallace….. Burt Lancaster.

9. Roles Burt Lancaster turned down, auditioned for or was seriously considered for:  Ben-Hur (Charlton Heston role), Old Gringo (Gregory Peck role), Patton (George C. Scott role), The Poseidon Adventure (Gene Hackman role) and Under Capricorn (Joseph Cotten role) and The Wild Bunch (William Holden role).

10. Check out Burt Lancaster‘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.

For comments….all you need is a name and a comment….please ignore the rest.

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126 thoughts on “Burt Lancaster Movies”

  1. Another actor that was died before I could walk, that being said I have seen a few of his movies, nice page. Voted up

    Reply

    1. Thanks for the comment AlabamaGirl, classic actors make classic movies, Lancaster has classics from the 1940s and the 1980s, which is not too old. Thanks for the compliment.

      Reply

  2. Great page cogerson! I feel out of the loop with Burt, I can’t recall seeing any of his movies! Must have been before my time. Haha! Glad your back and keep ’em coming. How about a pulse next as a belated birthday gift 🙂 voted all of the above!!!!

    Reply

    1. Thank you Sunshine…more actors with pulses coming soon….Lancaster was a great actor….he was outstanding in Field of Dreams which co-stars Kevin Costner. Thanks for the compliment and for stopping by.

      Reply

  3. Seven Days In May with Kirk Douglas was a very good film, saw it last during the winter on TV. Great plot and acting. I have seen so many of his movies – such a shame he had a tough time at the end of his life. GREAT PAGE COGERSON…

    Reply

    1. I agree with you Bern1960, Seven Days in May is a great movie. Thanks for the compliment on my page.

      Reply

  4. Lancaster fans: Check out my biography, BURT LANCASTER: AN AMERICAN LIFE (Knopf 2000; DaCapo paperback 2001). NYTimes, LATimes, SF Chronicle Best Book of 2000. Full of production stories behind all his greatest (and not so great) movies, plus his fascinating productive life. His widow was a huge help and remains a good friend.

    Reply

    1. Hey Kate Buford….Wow!….I found your book while I was doing the research on this page and I read your book and used it many times when searching for information on some of his older movies that were not as successful as well as his early 1970s career, your book provided an awesome look into his life….I thought it was a great read…..and I really appreciate you commenting on my page.

      Reply

  5. .well you are such a treasure to us here at Hubpages with your love of movies, your knowledge and your passion … it’s like waking up on Christmas morning when I come here …..and find Burt Lancaster … under my tree …..

    Reply

    1. Thanks for the great compliment epigramman, I am glad you like my Burt Lancaster page….if you have any actors/actresses that you would like to see in any future pages…just let me know….I would say the last 25 pages I have done have come from requests….thanks again for the great compliments.

      Reply

      1. Hey hinton, that is interesting about you getting Lancaster and Peck confused, but they both hit the big time at the same time(mid 1940s) and they both were older character actors in the 80s. I can also watch Field of Dreams over and over, I have not seen it since my father passed away, I am sure I will be misty eyed the next time I watch the ending. Thanks for the comments

        Reply

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