Want to know the best Steve McQueen movies? How about the worst Steve McQueen movies? Curious about Steve McQueen’s box office grosses or which Steve McQueen movie picked up the most Oscar® nominations? Need to know which Steve McQueen movie got the best reviews from critics and audiences? Well you have come to the right place….because we have all of that information.
Steve McQueen (1930-1980) became a major star in the early 1960s. During a 14 year time period he made classic movies like The Magnificent Seven, Bullitt, Papillon, The Sand Pebbles, The Towering Inferno and my favorite The Great Escape. By the middle of the 1970s he was no longer making movies.
In 1980 he released his final two movies Tom Horn and The Hunter. However at the age of 50 he passed away after a battle with cancer. Steve McQueen’s role in The Sand Pebbles was the only time he was nominated for an Academy Award®. He did receive 4 Golden Globe® nominations. Those films were Love With The Proper Stranger, Papillon, The Sand Pebbles and The Reivers.
His IMDb page shows 41 acting credits from 1953-1980. This page will rank 26 Steve McQueen movies from Best to Worst in six different sortable columns of information. Cameos, television appearances, straight to DVD movies and shorts were not included in the rankings.
Steve McQueen 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
1966
The Sand Pebbles (1966)
AA Best Picture Nom
AA Best Actor Nom
1968
Bullitt (1968)
1963
The Great Escape (1963)
1974
The Towering Inferno (1974)
AA Best Picture Nom
1972
The Getaway (1972)
1973
Papillon (1973)
1963
Love with the Proper Stranger (1963)
1968
The Thomas Crown Affair (1968)
1969
The Reivers (1969)
1960
The Magnificent Seven (1960)
1965
The Cincinnati Kid (1965)
1966
Nevada Smith (1966)
Uncredited Role
1971
Le Mans (1971)
1959
Never So Few (1959)
1958
The Blob (1958)
1962
Hell is for Heroes (1962)
1961
The Honeymoon Machine (1961)
1972
Junior Bonner (1972)
1980
The Hunter (1980)
1980
Tom Horn (1980)
1963
Soldier in the Rain (1963)
1962
The War Lover (1962)
1965
Baby the Rain Must Fall (1965)
1959
The Great St. Louis Bank Robbery (1959)
1978
An Enemy of the People (1978)
1958
Never Love a Stranger (1958)
Steve McQueen 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 by Steve McQueen’ co-stars of his movies.
- Sort Steve McQueen movies by adjusted domestic box office grosses using current movie ticket cost…(in millions)
- Sort Steve McQueen movies by yearly domestic box office rank
- Sort Steve McQueen 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 Steve McQueen movie received.
- Sort Steve McQueen 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 table very interactive
| 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 Sand Pebbles (1966) AA Best Picture Nom AA Best Actor Nom |
Candice Bergen | 33.80 | 330.7 | 330.70 | 3 | 83 | 08 / 00 | 99.2 | |
| 3 | Bullitt (1968) | Robert Duvall | 54.30 | 446.7 | 446.70 | 2 | 87 | 02 / 01 | 98.9 | |
| 4 | The Great Escape (1963) | James Garner & Charles Bronson |
15.80 | 197.7 | 197.70 | 13 | 89 | 01 / 00 | 98.8 | |
| 2 | The Towering Inferno (1974) AA Best Picture Nom |
Paul Newman & William Holden |
114.80 | 662.1 | 662.10 | 2 | 69 | 08 / 03 | 98.3 | |
| 5 | The Getaway (1972) | Ali MacGraw & Directed by Sam Peckinpah |
54.50 | 345.9 | 345.90 | 7 | 77 | 00 / 00 | 96.9 | |
| 6 | Papillon (1973) | Dustin Hoffman | 68.20 | 415.3 | 415.30 | 4 | 75 | 01 / 00 | 96.6 | |
| 7 | Love with the Proper Stranger (1963) | Natalie Wood | 10.10 | 127.1 | 127.10 | 26 | 81 | 05 / 00 | 93.0 | |
| 8 | The Thomas Crown Affair (1968) | Faye Dunaway | 17.90 | 146.9 | 146.90 | 17 | 70 | 02 / 01 | 91.2 | |
| 10 | The Reivers (1969) | Sharon Farrell | 24.30 | 184.4 | 184.40 | 12 | 58 | 02 / 00 | 90.7 | |
| 9 | The Magnificent Seven (1960) | Yul Brynner & James Coburn |
6.40 | 100.4 | 546.80 | 44 | 85 | 01 / 00 | 90.5 | |
| 11 | The Cincinnati Kid (1965) | Edward G. Robinson & Ann-Margret |
9.70 | 102.8 | 102.80 | 27 | 79 | 00 / 00 | 88.3 | |
| 12 | Nevada Smith (1966) Uncredited Role |
Karl Malden & Brian Keith |
13.80 | 134.8 | 134.80 | 23 | 66 | 00 / 00 | 87.4 | |
| 13 | Le Mans (1971) | Siegfried Rauch | 16.70 | 108.9 | 108.90 | 18 | 64 | 00 / 00 | 82.8 | |
| 14 | Never So Few (1959) | Frank Sinatra | 8.40 | 151.4 | 151.40 | 27 | 49 | 00 / 00 | 82.2 | |
| 16 | The Blob (1958) | Aneta Corsaut | 6.00 | 107.8 | 107.80 | 42 | 59 | 00 / 00 | 79.6 | |
| 15 | Hell is for Heroes (1962) | James Coburn & Bob Newhart |
3.70 | 53.4 | 53.40 | 65 | 75 | 00 / 00 | 79.2 | |
| 18 | The Honeymoon Machine (1961) | Jim Hutton | 5.10 | 74.9 | 74.90 | 45 | 59 | 00 / 00 | 70.9 | |
| 17 | Junior Bonner (1972) | Directed by Sam Peckinpah | 5.60 | 35.4 | 35.40 | 61 | 71 | 00 / 00 | 70.5 | |
| 19 | The Hunter (1980) | Eli Wallach | 19.30 | 80.2 | 80.20 | 36 | 56 | 00 / 00 | 69.1 | |
| 19 | Tom Horn (1980) | Linda Evans & Slim Pickens |
10.20 | 42.4 | 42.40 | 71 | 66 | 00 / 00 | 66.6 | |
| 21 | Soldier in the Rain (1963) | Jackie Gleason | 2.70 | 34.1 | 34.10 | 73 | 68 | 00 / 00 | 65.9 | |
| 22 | The War Lover (1962) | Robert Wagner | 3.10 | 45.2 | 45.20 | 76 | 62 | 00 / 00 | 61.6 | |
| 23 | Baby the Rain Must Fall (1965) | Lee Remick | 3.50 | 37.1 | 37.10 | 71 | 56 | 00 / 00 | 46.9 | |
| 25 | The Great St. Louis Bank Robbery (1959) | Crahan Denton | 2.10 | 37.6 | 37.60 | 107 | 54 | 00 / 00 | 43.0 | |
| 24 | An Enemy of the People (1978) | Charles Durning | 0.10 | 0.5 | 0.50 | 160 | 65 | 00 / 00 | 40.4 | |
| 26 | Never Love a Stranger (1958) | John Drew Barrymore | 1.20 | 21.3 | 21.30 | 131 | 43 | 00 / 00 | 12.3 |
Famous Steve McQueen miscues.
1. When offered his role in The Blob, he had two choices. (1) Three thousand dollars for his performance or (2) 10% of the profits. McQueen took the three thousand dollars. The Blob was an unexpected hit. Costing McQueen millions of dollars.
2. Turned down the lead male role in Breakfast At Tiffany’s.
3. Turned down the chance to be in Frank Sinatra’s Ocean’s Eleven.
4. Turned down the chance to be the Sundance Kid, in Butch Cassidy and The Sundance Kid. He wanted to be higher billed than Paul Newman.
5. Turned down the lead male role in Apocalypse Now.
6. Turned down the lead male role in Close Encounter of the Third Kind.
7. Turned down the lead male role in The French Connection.
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Hi, Bruce.
I just finished watching PAPILLON. I had recorded it overnight on TCM and mentioned that I was going to watch it. I was warned about the brutality in it. Good thing too as it is rated only PG. I loved this movie. I would not have attempted to watch it if it did not star Steve McQueen.
I have now seen 20 of his movies.
Hey Flora….very cool. Papillon is a good movie….but not a fun movie to watch. McQueen gives his best performance in this one…at least in my humble opinion. 20 is 3/4 of his movies. I am at 23…but have to admit I barely remember a couple of his non-classics that I saw once back in the 1980s…..movies like The Honeymoon Machine come to mind. Thanks for the mini-review of Papillon.
Nice update to one of the greats. I’ve seen 16 of the 26 films you’ve listed. Good to see The Towering Inferno at the top of the box office chart, watched it again a few weeks ago, a big blockbuster movie in it’s time. I think I wrote a hub on it. I’ll be watching The Great Escape at Easter as usual.
Thanks for the visit Steve….I am beginning to get real happy with how the website is starting to look. I have seen 15 for sure. I am doubting my memory if I have seen Love With A Proper Stranger….so I did not include it on my tally count.
Oh, and speaking of classic movies, I havereferenced you in my latest hub “Hitchcock’s British Movie Career” for letting me know about Claire Greet being in the most films.
Oh, and speaking of classic movies, I havereferenced you in my latest hub “Hitchcock’s British Movie Career” for letting me know about Claire Greet being in the most films.
After putting two MCQueen films in my list of favourite sports films, despite not loving Junior Bonner overall compared to his other movies, I just had to stop by McQueen’s hub next.
Here are my favourite McQueen movies listed in alphabetical order:
Bullitt
The Cincinnati Kid
The Great Escape
The Great St. louis Bank Robbery-the extras in the bank were played by real bank customers and security gaurds and cops
Hell is for Heroes-big screen debut of Bob Newhart, “the ButtonDowned Mind.”
The Thomas Crowne Affair
The Towering Inferno-a bit of sillyness on my part
The Magnificent Seven
Wow another early page from me…I remember when I published this page I thought it was an awesome layout….now months later, my first thought is…I have to fix this page. McQueen has a great average for you..you listed 8 of 26 movies….I have 4 of the 8 you mention on Blu-Ray and all of them on regular DVD…..McQueen was the man…..my dad actually got to meet him years ago before he was super famous….he was just somewhat famous back then….My favorite McQueen movie is easily The Great Escape…..I can watch that over and over…thanks for the comments.
I loved him in the movie The Getaway. Also soldier in the Rain with Jackie Cleason.
Personally I hated the movie Sand Pebbles. All the good people died, it was depressing.
I agree with you about The Getaway ruffridyer…..as for Soldier in the Rain….that is a very strange movie….I do not think McQueen playing a “slow” character was one of his strengths….McQueen and Gleason had a difficult co-existing on the set of Soldier in the Rain. Sand Peebles would be much better if they would have edited out about 90 minutes out the movie….I am not sure how long the movie is, but I remember watching it on a VHS tape many years ago, and kept pulling the tape out trying to figure out how much longer the movie had left….thanks for stopping by