So we got a requested to do a Lee Van Cleef page….and we failed miserably…but we figured we would share the box office grosses we did find on Mr. Lee Van Cleef. His spaghetti westerns proved almost impossible to find box office information on….that is of course….unless the movie starred Clint Eastwood.
- Arena (1953) $32.40 million in adjusted domestic box office
- Armed Response (1986) $8.10 million in adjusted domestic box office
- Barquero (1970) $10.80 million in adjusted domestic box office
- Beast From 20,000 Fathoms, The (1953) $95.80 million in adjusted domestic box office
- Bravados, The (1958) $88.30 million in adjusted domestic box office
- Code Name: Wild Geese (1986) $1.40 million in adjusted domestic box office
- Conqueror, The (1956) $197.10 million in adjusted domestic box office
- Day of the Badman (1958) $12.00 million in adjusted domestic box office
- Escape From New York (1981) $76.60 million in adjusted domestic box office
- For a Few Dollars More (1965) $88.80 million in adjusted domestic box office
- Good, the Bad and the Ugly, The (1966) $191.60 million in adjusted domestic box office
- Gunfight at the OK Corral (1957) $202.10 million in adjusted domestic box office
- Gypsy Colt (1954) $37.80 million in adjusted domestic box office
- High Noon (1952) $144.80 million in adjusted domestic box office
- It Conquered The Word (1956) $26.30 million in adjusted domestic box office
- Kansas City Confidential (1952) $23.00 million in adjusted domestic box office
- Lonely Man, The (1957) $34.40 million in adjusted domestic box office
- Man Who Shot Liberty Valance, The (1962) $114.00 million in adjusted domestic box office
- Octagon, The (1980) $61.50 million in adjusted domestic box office
- Pardners (1956) $157.70 million in adjusted domestic box office
- Posse From Hell (1961) $15.80 million in adjusted domestic box office
- Ride Lonesome (1959) $38.10 million in adjusted domestic box office
- Stranger and the Gunfighter, The (1975) $23.10 million in adjusted domestic box office
- Ten Wanted Men (1955) $46.30 million in adjusted domestic box office
- Tin Star, The (1957) $40.90 million in adjusted domestic box office
- Tribute to a Bad Man (1956) $52.20 million in adjusted domestic box office
- Tumbleweed (1953) $36.00 million in adjusted domestic box office
- Untamed Frontier (1952) $63.90 million in adjusted domestic box office
- Vengeance (1977) $5.30 million in adjusted domestic box office
- Vice Squad (1953) $16.00 million in adjusted domestic box office
- Young Lions , The (1958) $179.80 million in adjusted domestic box office
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1 In the 1953 western Tumbleweed that was the name of Audie Murphy’s horse and whilst it looked like the proverbial ‘broken down old nag’ it actually had the speed, strength and agility of Gene Autry’s Champion and Roy Rogers’ Trigger rolled into one! Thus Murphy was constantly able to out run and outflank his pursuers in the film and one chase ended with Tumbleweed taking Murphy down a steep bank that the horse sensed the other horses could not negotiate. Most of the pursuing riders accepted that and drew back but Lee Van Cleef made his horse plunge headlong down the bank after Murphy and Tumbleweed so that Lee and his horse ended up in a heap at the bottom of the drop to gales of laughter from the audience
2 Repetitively in t950s western after western Lee would play the most unpleasant and even uninteresting characters, usually villains, that you could imagine and they were always put down or humiliated in one form or another by the hero so that I who was very familiar with his 1950s screen persona would have given you odds of a 1000 to 1 at that time that he would be the very last of the supporting actors of those days to achieve any kind of stardom. Had I been a movie studio talent scout for stars I would have chased Van Cleef away and possibly gone down in notoriety as someone with the judgement of the clown who told Gable his ears were too big. It goes to show the wisdom of the Duke’s statement when he was warned in a film that it was certain that the bad guy was so fast that the Duke had no chance in beating him to the draw and the Duke replied, “Nothing’s that certain.”
3 Contrary to his normally uncouth screen persona Van Cleef in private life was anything but that. Not only did he run his own interior decoration business but he had a talent for painting apparently mainly of sea and landscapes. Guys like he who came up the hard way to obtain their stardom deserve to be recognised so bring on your full UMR page whenever you can Bruce as it will certainly be of nostalgic interest to me.
Hey Bob….thanks for the information on Tumbleweed and LVC…..especially on how he was viewed during his many 1950s movies. Well good thing for The Good, The Bad and The Ugly fans that you were not in charge and chased away Angel Eyes from that movie. One day I will finish up his page…..it has been a long week of work…and my energy levels at night….have been quickly diminishing. Good stuff as usual.
Bruce, you could have done a Van Cleef page based on ratings only with the box office figures in a separate box but I know you don’t like that sort of thing. I think in special cases like for instance – Christopher Lee – you could have a special page on his highest rated films and in the first paragraph simply mention that the page is incomplete and you will be adding box office figures as you find them. This way you can add many more famous actors to your index page and have them standing by for more stats in the future.
I’ve seen 16 of the 31 Lee Van Cleef films you’ve listed. Favorites include – Good, the Bad and the Ugly, For a Few Dollars More, Gunfight at the OK Corral, High Noon, Liberty Valance, The Beast from 20,000 Fathoms and Escape from New York.
Good to see TGTBATU was a sizable hit in adjusted dollars, must be the highest grossing spaghetti western of them all, it’s my favorite Sergio Leone movie.
It is sad to see westerns legend Lee Van Cleef get a smaller page than other far less known actors on the UMR but that’s the way it is. Vote Up!
Hey Steve…well your tally doubles my tally as I have only seen 8 of these movies. As for “It is sad to see westerns legend Lee Van Cleef get a smaller page…”…I plan on doing a full UMR page on him….I tried to do it last night…..but sleep caused me to stop researching the critic/audience side as well as the Oscar side….but I will give Mr. Van Cleef his very own UMR page….versus this UMR post. Just last night…I felt I need to get this information to Top Billed pretty quickly…since he is working on a LVC page.
Good suggestions for Christopher Lee, Peter Cushing, Boris Karloff and others..one day I will do a page like that for sure….and I will give you proper credit for the suggestion.
I have actually seeen and enjoyed all 7 of the movies you mentioned as your favorites….The Good, The Bad and The Ugly is one of my favorite movies of all-time….and who does not appreciate Escape From New York….how is that movie now over 35 years old?
Thanks for sharing these awesome suggestions and movie thoughts.