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”

  2. @Cogerson…Burt and Kirk in “Tough Guys” was a riot! Lancaster’s “Sweet Smell of Success” was great. I also have “From Here to Eternity”, with the best beach kiss ever, and “Castle Keep”, a different egg, as well as “The Rainmaker”, “Elmer Gantry”, and “Run Silent Run Deep”, “Gun Fight at the O.K. Corral”, and “Field of Dreams”. He was tremendous in “Birdman of Alcatraz”.

    Never could figure out why we had the Lancaster, Douglas, Wayne, Peck, Bogart, Grant, Widmark, Cagney, etc. fellows all together; then no one was quite the same afterwards. I like Cruise and Hanks and a few, but…

    Your movie pages are outstanding on old and new Hollywood, though. Fantastic information! Thanks!

    Reply

    1. Hey Barbsbitsnpieces. Lancaster was a great actor and helped many people receive Oscars for acting….he co-starred in Shirly Booth’s Oscar winning performance in Come Back Little Sheba, with Anna Magnani’s Oscar winning performance’s in The Rose Tattoo, with Frank Sinatra and Donna Reed’s winning performances in From Here To Eternity, and David Niven’s Oscar winning performance in Seperate Tables.

      As for the old actors for the new actors…..I think time well be kind to the new actors like Leonardo Dicaprio, Robert DeNiro, Denzel Washington, Hanks, and others.

      I greatly appreciate all the comments you have put on my classic actor hubs…thanks for checking them out.

      Reply

      1. @Cogerson…Yes, Lancaster was a catalyst for many Oscars for other people. I’m sure all of Hollywood was dying to act with him!

        I can’t disagree with your thoughts about DiCaprio, DeNiro, Washington, and I’d throw in Pacino, along with the other two I mentioned before — Hanks and Cruise. Cruise, especially, already has been overlooked for an Oscar for some great parts — “Born On the Fourth of July” (wow!), “Top Gun”, and

        “Rainman”.

        They are good, very good…I guess maybe it’s the timeframe I grew up in that spawned my love for the long gone by stars. They seemed bigger than life then! And that’s why I enjoy your pages!

        Reply

        1. Hey Barbsbitnpieces, about two years ago I went on a “Watch all the movies that won major Oscars binge….I was so surprised about how many movies starred Lancaster and Gregory Peck that I kept having to watch….I really did not want to watch The Rose Tattoo….but Lancaster blew me away with that role….anyway when I got through watching most of those Oscar winners I had an entire new respect for Lancaster, Peck and Bette Davis.

          I think you have a great timeframe that you grew up in…lots of great stars and movies. Glad my pages take you down memory lane.

          Reply

  3. Ooo.. such a good one. Great hub on a classic. Sweet Smell of Success is one of his most intense roles. I had a hard time getting into the first fifteen mins. of The Leopard. Lancaster was going to be a hub of mine, but it would’ve paled in comparison. Great job, once again friend.

    Best, Matt D

    Reply

    1. Thanks for the great compliment Matt D. After doing this hub, I ordered Sweet Smell of Success from Netflix, it is supposed to be here on Tuesday….as for The Leopard….I just saw a Clint Eastwood commercial where he was talking about how much The Leopard influenced him. I appreciate your comments.

      Reply

        1. I don’t know if it is good or not….he(Clint) was talking about how good it was….evidently the film society just saved the movie and now it is coming out on Blu-Ray..

          Reply

  4. The first movie I saw with him was Tough Guys, after that one I started seeking out some of his movies, especially with Kirk Douglas. I know they were in The List of Adrian Messenger together, but I could not find it on your hub. Ncie page as always.

    Reply

    1. Hey YankeesRule…Lancaster has a cameo in the movie which is why it is not included in the movie….good catch though…List of Adrian Messenger is a very good movie….and they used stars in heavy makeup and only during the credits do you realize who they were….I think it would make an excellent remake.

      Reply

  5. For some reason I have always gotten him confused with Gregory Peck, even when scanning through this list I was looking for the To Kill A Mockingbird. Field of Dreams is a movie I can watch over and over, Lancaster picked a good role to end his career with.

    Reply

    1. Thanks for the comment. Peck and Lancaster are from the same era….so I can see why you have them mixed up.

      Reply

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