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.

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126 thoughts on “Burt Lancaster Movies”

  1. Susan Harrison who co-starred with Burt Lancaster in Sweet Smell of Success as his sister has died. She was 80.

    Reply

    1. Hey Flora….sad news about Susan Harrison. Sweet Smell of Success was one of Steve latest videos second ranked movie. Not thinking many people connected to that classic movie are still around. RIP Ms. Harrison.

      Reply

  2. Hi Steve,

    Thanks for upgraded Burt Lancaster Highest Rated Movies video, an excellent piece of work reflecting the impressive career of my favorite classic actor. I note that a number of your ratings have gone down as compared to your top 30 Lancaster video, while a few have gone up, but overall, having seen in total 46 Lancaster movies to date, I find this video provides a very good reflection of the relative critical value of his films. I have often seen the Leopard ranking somewhat higher than you indicate, and Elmer Gantry somewhat lower (if you do not account for academy awards wins and nominations). I particularly like some of the posters and stills from Lancaster’s film noir period (1946-1949 – agree, Ava Gardner was gorgeous in The Killers); His Majesty O’Keefe and The Crimson Pirate; Burt and Kirk goofing off on the set of OK Corral, and the majestic dance scene in The Leopard. One film it seems you may have missed is All My Sons, co-starring Edward G. Robinson, with Lancaster in an early dramatic role. I think it would rate somewhere around 7 on your scale.

    Bob gets no argument from me in terms of the facts and figures supporting that Lancaster was a bigger star than Kirk Douglas, though a 2 spot difference on the AFI list is probably not very significant anyway. I take it that you do not disagree, but have a slight personal preference for Kirk, which I can relate to as I would certainly include him within my top 10 favorite stars, if not top 5, and Spartacus is also one of my favorite films. (Just notice you completed a top 50 video on Douglas).

    You may remember that I listed Lancaster as #15 on my male screen legend list. I tried to be as objective as possible about this ranking, but I have no doubt my objectivity was slightly shadowed by my great admiration for Lancaster, as I feel that from all major stars, he most distinguished himself in both riveting action roles and diverse, outstanding dramatic performances. Furthermore, if one were to consider just the number of critically acclaimed films, I think Lancaster would be among the top 6 or 7 male stars, along with Stewart, Bogart, Tracy, Fonda, and maybe Grant and Cooper – and your ratings seem to support this.

    Bob and yourself have mentioned Lancaster’s recognition of Montgomery Clift’s talent, and this is true. But I have read that, around the same period (the early 50s), Lancaster also admired and may even have been envious of Marlon Brando. He apparently worked hard to earn the same level of recognition by seeking out challenging dramatic roles. Indeed, until his performances in Come Back Little Sheba and From Here to Eternity, Lancaster had not really achieved critical recognition, being associated with his tough, not-too-smart hoods of his film noir thrillers or the acrobatic action hero of his shawbuckling adventures. However, by taking control over his career and forming his own production company, Lancaster increasingly diversified his range through notable dramatic roles, so that by the early 1960s, he was one of Hollywood’s most distinguished stars. Though from the late 1960s, his films were generally less successful, in his graying years, he would regularly stand out in unique characterizations that confirmed him as a legendary figure (such as in Atlantic City, 1900, Local Hero, Fields of Dreams).

    I like many of Lancaster’s films but my ultimate favorites are: The Killers, From Here to Eternity, Sweet Smell of Success, Judgment at Nuremberg (though he had a relatively smaller role), Birdman of Alcatraz, The Train, and Atlantic City. While he won and I think deserved his Academy Award for Elmer Gantry, I feel his best performances were in Sweet Smell of Success, Birdman of Alcatraz, The Leopard, and perhaps best of all, in Atlantic City.

    Reply

    1. Great post Phil, Bob is getting some serious competition on these epic reviews.

      Like I told Bob, Burt and Kirk are equal in my eyes… but than again Kirk does have Spartacus in his corner… Burt has a better score average, looking at my reply to Bob, Burt has 8 films scoring 10 out of 10, and 11 more scoring 9 out of 10. Wow, that is impressive. 19 films rated 9 or more from various sources. I don’t think Kirk can match that.

      The fact that Burt wasn’t a classically trained actor and was originally a circus acrobat makes his achievements and respect from his peers even more impressive.

      Reply

  3. HI MOSES

    1 I was naturally disappointed that once again you “didn’t care about how many facts figures and quotes I provided” and therefore gave Kirk the slight edge over Burt as a legend.

    2 I’ll not try to convince you to change your mind as you will see that Phil has scolded us both for revising our initial actress legends lists so best to be on the safe side and stick with our initial decisions about all rankings now and in future.

    3 By the way I am also disappointed that whereas you included yourself on your male legends list you ignored ME. Have a good weekend. RAMESES the 2nd

    Reply

    1. Bob, not sure what you’re saying here. We need a translator. Anyone??

      I can decipher part of your message, Phil scolding us for changing our minds on the top 25 actresses, I’ll check his post in a mo.

      Where did I say I didn’t care about your facts and figures… oh I see in that Jane Russell post where you were trying to convince me Jane was more legendary than Ava. Going by breast measurements, she sure was.

      I like both Burt and Kirk equally, but the latter did make one of my all time favorite films – Spartacus. And Burt gave us Moses The Lawgiver… which wasn’t quite as good.

      Your third paragraph is where you really lost me.

      Reply

      1. HI STEVE

        Sorry about the confusion in para 3 and I can see where you are coming through but I obviously wrongly felt that my little joke was self evidence. You are Moses/Chuck who is on your list and I am Rameses/ Yul who is not on your list. I was obviously trying to be too cleaver by half but I am sure you will accept my apologies.

        Reply

        1. Bob, I still don’t have a clue what you’re saying…. anyone?

          I’m kidding. So if I’m Moses and you’re Rameses, who’s playing the wicked Hebrew Dathan? Don’t answer that. 😉

          Reply

  4. 1 HI MO In an interview Burt personally conceded that the only actor that he was ever frightened of competing with on screen was Montgomery Clift. Confirmation of that comes from other sources with for example one biographer claiming that Burt was running scared when making From Here to Eternity in case Monty out-acted him and Lancaster couldn’t wait to get to the see the rushes of each day’s shooting to assure himself that he was holding his own with Monty.

    2 POSTERS I most preferred are Rose Tattoo, Vera Cruz [2nd one] Run Silent Run Deep, foreign language one for The Professionals, The Swimmer [extrovert Burt laughingly outran a horse in that one] Come Back little Myrna, Birdman of Alcatraz [we didn’t know at the time but that movie was the start of Burt’s decline as a consistent top box office star]Brute Force, Atlantic City [a wow with the critics but “The only people who went to see it were myself and Kirk Douglas’ family” said Burt] Elmer gantry and the foreign language on for From here to Eternity.

    3 I liked almost all of the STILLS (1) Burt and Gary in Vera Cruz (2) Burt relaxing on the set of Gunfight with Kirk, the two Legends in their prime. Those were the days! (3) Burt holding a gun on Claudia (4) “Gather round lads and lasses for the last voyage of the Crimson Pirate!” (5) with Kirk again in 7 Days in May [my personal favourite Lancaster/Douglas joint film (6) waltzing in The Leopard (8) with Ava Lensman in The Killers (7) Burt and Bernie sweetly smelling success [the film that got critics to regard Curtis as more than just a pretty boy with a stylish haircut – back then we boys would go into the barber’s shop and ask for a “Tony” and (8) Burt as the Birdman.

    4 You and Bruce agree on 6 of Burt’s 10 best reviewed movies. You are far apart in your rankings of From Here to Eternity [you No 1 and him No 12] and Atlantic City [you No 6, WH No 17]. Your Burt video was another 98% rated one in my notes. Now will all those who don’t like facts and figures please turn away!

    5 BURT’S RECORD IN QUIGLEY ANNUAL POLLS

    • 1950 – 16th (US)
    • 1951 – 25th (US)
    • 1952 – 24th (US)
    • 1953 – 17th (US)
    • 1954 – 13th (US), 7th (UK)
    • 1955 – 16th (US)
    • 1956 – 4th (US), 3rd (UK)
    • 1957 – 15th (US), 3rd (UK)
    • 1958 – 20th (US)
    • 1960 – 19th (US)
    • 1961 – 11th (US)
    • 1962 – 10th (US)

    Reply

    1. Hi Bob, thanks for reviewing the other half of my expanded Burt Lancaster video, appreciate the rating, info, trivia, comparison and stats!

      Glad you liked the posters and stills.

      Doesn’t Ava look stunning in those photos? A movie goddess. And no she doesn’t have to have first billing in some south seas adventure with a b-movie supporting actor to gain respect from movie buffs, a leading lady in big movies with big movie stars is more than enough to make Ava a memorable Hollywood movie star. 🙂

      Eight Burt Lancaster films scored 10 out of 10 from my sources, they are –

      From Here To Eternity
      Sweet Smell of Success
      Killers ,The
      Judgement at Nuremberg
      Elmer Gantry
      Atlantic City
      Train ,The
      zz-Italy – Leopard ,The

      11 more scored 9 out of 10 including Field of Dreams, Local Hero and Brute Force, that’s quite impressive and I think it beats his buddy Kirk’s total score average.

      Highest rated at IMDB is Judgment at Nuremberg followed by Sweet Smell of Success, tops at Rotten Tomatoes and the UMR critics chart is Sweet Smell of Success followed by The Leopard. Burt’s biggest hit is Airport.

      Burt on Kirk – “We both came from humble beginnings. We were both young, brash, cocky, arrogant. We knew everything, were highly opinionated. We were invincible. Nobody liked us.”

      Burt on Monty Clift – “The only time I was ever really afraid as an actor was that first scene with Clift. It was my scene. I was the sergeant, I gave the orders, he was just a private under me. Well, when we started, I couldn’t stop my knees from shaking. I thought they might have to stop because my trembling would show. I was afraid he was going to blow me right off the screen.”

      Reply

      1. HI STEVE

        1 Thanks for the feedback and for a guy who tells me he won’t be influenced by MY quotes you can sure lay out some of your own but I liked them.

        2 Your one From Burt about Monty bears out the stories that I have recounted suggesting he was running scared of Clift but you’ve got to give Lancaster credit for the courage, honesty and modesty in admitting it.

        3 No wonder nobody liked Burt and Kirk. According to Kirk when they arrived on the set of Gunfight at OK Corral they examined the script, tore it up in front of the script writers and telling everyone they were not to be disturbed they secluded themselves in a tent and rewrote the document.

        4 Ava doesn’t seem to think she had, in the final analysis at least, the glittering career that you depict for her. According to close friend Stewart Granger the final time that he visited her at her home she was depressed and seemed to have given up not just on the movies but on life generally.

        5 Certainly her final times were not happy ones and she died at just 67 after battling with health problems including two strokes which caused her to be partially paralysed and bed ridden. Regardless of whether you or I are right about her precise place in the pecking order of legends the last word is with poet Thomas Gray and his morbid observation that “The paths of glory lead but to the grave.”

        6 Get back to you tomorrow about the Great Alan a star for whom personally the description legend might well have been invented

        Reply

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