Want to know the best John Sturges movies? How about the worst John Sturges movies? Curious about John Sturges box office grosses or which ohn Sturges movie picked up the most Oscar® nominations? Need to know which John Sturges movie got the best reviews from critics and audiences? Well you have come to the right place….because we have all of that information.
John Sturges (1910-1992) was an American Oscar®-nominated director and producer. Primarily known for his action movies he directed movies from in the 1940s, 1950s, 1960s and 1970s. His IMDb page shows 44 directing credits from 1946 to 1978. This page will rank 42 John Sturges movies. Movies will be ranked from Best to Worst in six different sortable columns of information. His one documentary and his one uncredited credits were not included in the page.
Drivel part of the page: The other day I re-watched John Sturges’ Joe Kidd. After a promising start, the movie really went off the rails in the final 1/3 of the movie. I actually think the final 30 minutes might be the worst Clint Eastwood finale ever. So with a John Sturges movie rattling around in my head… I decided to honor Hot Ham’s request and do a John Sturges UMR page.
John Sturges 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 John Sturges movies by co-stars of his movies
- Sort John Sturges movies by adjusted domestic box office grosses using current movie ticket cost (in millions)
- Sort John Sturges movies by yearly domestic box office rank
- Sort John Sturges movies how they were received by critics and audiences. 60% rating or higher should indicate a good movie
- Sort by how many Oscar® nominations and how many Oscar® wins each John Sturges movie received.
- Sort John Sturges 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.
Stats and Possibly Interesting Things From The Above John Sturges Table
- Five John Sturges movies crossed the magical $100 million domestic gross mark. That is a percentage of 11.90% of his movies listed. Gunfight at the OK Corral (1957) was his biggest box office hit.
- An average John Sturges movie grosses $55.90 million in adjusted box office gross.
- Using RottenTomatoes.com’s 60% fresh meter. 15 of John Sturges movies are rated as good movies…or 35.71% of his movies. The Great Escape (1963) was his highest rated movie while Right Cross (1950) was his lowest rated movie.
- Ten John Sturges movies received at least one Oscar® nomination in any category…..or 23.80% of his movies.
- Two John Sturges movies won at least one Oscar® in any category…..or 4.76% of his movies.
- An good Ultimate Movie Ranking (UMR) Score is 40.00. 12 John Sturges movie scored higher that average….or 28.57% of his movies. Gunfight at the OK Corral (1957) got the the highest UMR Score while Chino (1973) got the lowest UMR Score.
Possibly Interesting Facts About John Sturges
- John Elliott Sturges was born in Oak Park, Illinois in 1910.
2. John Sturges started his career in Hollywood as an editor in 1932. During World War II, he directed documentaries and training films for the United States Army Air Forces.
3. After World War II, John Sturges signed a movie contract with Columbia Pictures….where he directed “B” movies. After his Columbia contract ended he signed with MGM…where he directed “bigger budgeted B movies”.
4. John Sturges once met Akira Kurosawa, who told him that he loved The Magnificent Seven (which was a remake of Kurosawa’s Seven Samurai). Sturges considered this the proudest moment of his professional career.
5. John Sturges was nominated for one Oscar®. He received a Best Director Oscar® nomination for 1955’s Bad Day At Black Rock.
6. John Sturges directed Steve McQueen 3 times. It would have been four….but Sturges left the production of 1971’s Le Mans because McQueen was too hands on all aspects of the movie making process.
7. John Sturges is the last director to direct Clint Eastwood in a western. The movie was 1972’s Joe Kidd. Eastwood and Sturges did not get alond during filming.
8. John Sturges was married two times. He had two children.
9. John Sturges directed two actors to Oscar® nominations: Louis Calhern for Best Actor in 1950’s The Magnificent Yankee and Spencer Tracy for Best Actor in 1955’s Bad Day at Black Rock and 1958’s The Old Man and the Sea.
10. Check out John Sturges‘ career compared to current and classic actors. Most 100 Million Dollar Movies of All-Time.
For comparion check out Steve Lensman’s John Sturges You Tube video.
If you do a comment….please ignore the email address and website section.
I have seen 21 of these films.
The highest ranked film I have seen is Number 1: The Great Escape.
The lowest ranked film I havev seen is Seargents 3.
The highest ranked film I have not seen is 11: Joe Kidd.
My 5 favourites movies are:
The Great Escape
The Magnifcent Seven
Gunfight at OK Corral
Bad Day at Black Rock
The Law and Jake Wade
Great to see another director page.
Hey Flora…thanks for stopping by. Currently you are on top of the tally contest. Your 21 is ahead of Lupino’s 18, Steve’s 15 and my 12.
I have seen and really enjoyed your Top 5….I really enjoyed The Law and Jake Wade….your boy Widmark in that one is amazing.
You are not missing anything by not seeing Joe Kidd.
Good feedback.
This is an interesting director. I have seen 18 of his movies, and I always loved his low budget films like Stanwyck’s Jeopardy or Mystery Street featuring an amusing supporting performance by Elsa Lanchester.. June Allyson in Right Cross is pretty boring, but as a Monroe completist I know that one too, of course. Kind Lady is an interesting little film with Ethel Barrymore in a starring role, but as with many remakes, I prefer the ’35 version with Aline MacMahon and Basil Rathbone. Bad Day at Black Rock is considered a classic nowadays, and I agree. Old man and the Sea is one of those movies that are not easy to watch, but it rewards its viewer with a stunning performance by Spencer Tracy. By Love Possessed has Sturges trying to be Douglas Sirk, and the result is so/so. It still has Lana Turner and Susan Kohner, both in more rewarding roles in Sirk’s original Imitation of Life. I always liked Laurence Harvey and France Nuyen in Tamiko and Ice Station Zebra is a pretty good actioner. Of his westerns, my fav is Gunfight at the OK Corall. Satan Bug, Capture, Underwater, Escape from Fort Bravo are worth being watched once, too, but imo don’t ask for encores. The Great Escape is, of course, also a favorite! As I said, an interesting director with lots of different movies from many different genres!
Hey Lupino
1. Thanks for the feedback.
2. Tally count so far….Flora 21, you 18, Steve Lensman 15 and poor little old me at 12.
3. I had never heard of Mystery Street….so I was very shocked when it got such a strong review scores.
4. Sturges helped Tracy get two Oscar nominations…his performances in Old Man…and Bad Day….are among the best in Tracy’s long career.
5. Escape From Fort Bravo….was average at best in my opinion.
6. The Great Escape is my favorite as well.
Good stuff!
I knew he had some great movies, but seeing them altogether is really impressive. The Great Escape, The Magnificent Seven and Gunfight at the OK Coral are ones I watch all the time.
Hey SteinHOF…your Top 3 match Steve Lensman’s perfectly. I agree seeing his career listed on this table is pretty impressive.
an underappreciated director
Hey Zach…I agree with you. Thanks for the visit and the comment.
Three of my top favorite movies were directed by John Sturges – Gunfight at the OK Corral, The Magnificent Seven and The Great Escape. Good to see a page on Sturges at UMR.
I’ve seen 15 of the 42 films listed here, I expected more. Other favorites include – Marooned, Ice Station Zebra, The Eagle Has Landed, Last Gun from Train Hill and Black Day at Bad Rock.
I don’t think I’ve seen The Old Man and the Sea.
Looking at the trivia, nice to know Kurosawa enjoyed the western remake of Seven Samurai. I like both movies a lot but if I had to choose I’ll go with Sturges cowboy classic, what can I say, I love westerns. I wasn’t impressed with the recent remake by Antoine Fuqua.
Thanks for the video link, much appreciated. My top 3 is similar to your critics top 3, slightly different order.
Another top movie page Bruce and it makes a nice change to see some film directors getting the spotlight here. Voted Up!
Hey Steve
1. Thanks for stopping by our latest page.
2. Three of your favorite movies directed by one guy…that is pretty impressive.
3. So your tally is 15….well that tops me by 3 movies.
4. Of all the favorites you listed…I enjoyed all of them too….though I have not seen Last Train From Gun Hill…..I will see if I can track that one down.
5. I actually saw a The Eagle Has Landed with my dad…..he really liked that movie too.
6. I also was not impressed with Magnificent 7 redo either.
7. Glad our pages/videos are close in the ratings/rankings.
Enjoyable to read feedback.