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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great escape,seen the film so many times.simply love it.and steve.
Hey christine…I love The Great Escape….so I agree with your comment 100%.
I know you are more interested right now in father’s Day. You should be. But I point out that this page dos not have any co-stars listed in it. Maybe change that some time. 🙂
Yep McQueen’s page needs an update. Which would include the co-stars…and the new way to calculate UMR score and Box Office grosses…..he will be flipped soon…though Newman is going first…I bet he does not like that…lol
No. Newman has no co-stars in his either. Fight in Heaven. LOL!
Your story about your Dad and Steve McQueen inspired me to watch a new to me Steve McQueen movie that I had recorded. I watched Baby the Rain Must Fall for the first time. I don’t want to spoil the film for anyone. I can say that he does not die in the film. But it is devastating. His character is told that he is worthless and was never worth anything. How can you tell any human being that?
Well, now I can cross another movie off of my Steve McQueen list of to-see at least once.
I will watch it again if it happens to be on TV, but I didn’t keep it recorded. I deleted it. Too sad.
My new total is 24 films.
I still have not been able to watch The Sand Pebbles all the way through because it is so violent despite my love of the cast. I’ve tried about 10 times to watch it and I never can.
I wold love to see the Blob. He really made a financial mistake when he took a salary and not a percentage of the profits.
Glad my McQueen story inspired you. 24 is pretty impressive….you got me beat…as I am at 23…..and I thought I was a huge McQueen fan. The Blob is a fun movie….a still an enjoyable movie watching experience 60 years later.
I totally want to watch Steve McQueen movie tonight. I watch Wanted Dead or Alive on MeTV
Someone asked on FB which of the TV western good guys you would choose. I said it was an impossible question and I could not chose. I’d love them all…..
Hey, Bruce.
I have now been officially approved to belong to the closed FB page Steve McQueen King of Cool Page. Great. I have made a promise to myself which I will stare here that will never mention the name Yul Brynner in that group.
I am a member of that FB page too. Yul and Steve did not get along at all. Probably a case of them being too much alike.
Yes, I think so. They saw each other as threats.
Cool!
STATE here. Gee. Bad typing.
By the way, I have seen 23 of these films. Still have Baby the rain must fall recorded and waiting for me.
Insomnia is great, isn’t. After 11pm now . I have to get up early tomorrow….
Enjoy your day.