Biography
John MacDonald Badham is an English-born American director of film and television, best known for the films Saturday Night Fever (1977), Blue Thunder (1983), WarGames (1983), Short Circuit (1986), and Stakeout (1987). Badham worked in television for years, before his breakthrough in 1977 with Saturday Night Fever, a massive worldwide hit starring John Travolta. WarGames (1983), starring Matthew Broderick, is his other signature film, renowned for its take on popular Cold War fears of nuclear te...
Known For
Complete Filmography

Romantic Mysticism: The Music of Billy Goldenberg
2022
as Self - Director / Associate Producer
A career overview of tv/film composer Billy Goldenberg.

Meatballs
2022
Director
a short film

In Search of Tomorrow
2022
as Self - Interviewee
A nostalgic journey through ’80s Sci-Fi-films, exploring their impact and relevance today, told by the artists who made them and by those who were ins...
King of my Kind: John Badham Remembers Dracula
2019
An interview with John Badham.

Becoming Iconic
2018
as Self
Baker's journey in completing Nicolas Cage's "Inconceivable" and exclusive interviews with top directors recounting their experiences with their first...

Saturday Night Fever: The Ultimate Disco Movie
2017
as Self
John Travolta, Barry Gibb and the Saturday Night Fever cast and crew tell the story behind the mega-hit film. Bruno Tonioli goes through the disco ste...
Tromatized: Meet Lloyd Kaufman
2009
as Himself
A portrait of legendary American film company Troma, Inc., an independent New York-based production house that has specialized in Z-films for over 30 ...

The Long Shadow of Dirty Harry
2008
as Self
An in-depth look at Dirty Harry (1971), featuring interviews with such film artists as Michael Madsen, 'Hal Holbrook', John Milius, 'Shane Black' and ...

The Business End: Violence in Cinema
2008
as Self
An unflinching look at the ongoing debate on violence in movies and its effect on the audience.

The Craft of Dirty Harry
2008
as Self
A look at the cinematographers, editors, musicians, production designers and other talent of the Dirty Harry series.

Spine Tingler! The William Castle Story
2007
as Self
Chronicles the last great American showman, filmmaker William Castle, a master of ballyhoo who became a brand name in movie horror with his outrageous...
Ride with the Angels: Making 'Blue Thunder'
2006
as Self
Making of 'Blue Thunder'

The Revamping of Dracula
2004
as Self
A behind-the-scenes look at the making of "Dracula" (1979).

Evel Knievel
2004
Director
Legendary daredevil Robbie "Evel" Knievel (George Eads) is profiled in this action-packed biopic helmed by John Badham. Long before extreme sports bec...

Footsteps
2003
Director
Daisy Lowendahl is a best-selling suspense novelist who finds herself at her isolated beach house with a local young fan who knows almost everything a...

Obsessed
2002
Director
A woman claims she had an affair with a married neurosurgeon and stands trial for allegedly harassing him.

Brother's Keeper
2002
Director
The FBI sought the help of Lucinda Pond, a former agent of the body, to try to locate the author of a series of murders that allegedly may have commit...

The Last Debate
2000
as Don Beard
A presidential debate, unconfirmed rumors and four reporters who take the political process into their own hands. With the election only a week away, ...

The Last Debate
2000
Director
A presidential debate, unconfirmed rumors and four reporters who take the political process into their own hands. With the election only a week away, ...

The Jack Bull
1999
Director
The Jack Bull tells the story of Myrl Redding, a Wyoming horse trader who clashes with Henry Ballard, a fellow rancher, after Ballard abuses two of My...

Floating Away
1998
Director
After losing custody of her infant child to her domineering husband, a distressed woman's cross country search for family becomes a journey of self di...

Incognito
1997
Director
Harry Donovan is an art forger who paints fake Rembrandt picture for $500,000. The girl he meets and gets into bed with in Paris, Marieke, turns out t...

Nick of Time
1995
Director, Producer
An ordinary man is suddenly forced into a plot to kill a politician in exchange for his kidnapped daughter's freedom.

Drop Zone
1994
as Yacht Captain (uncredited)
A daring prison break from an airliner at 30,000 feet leaves U.S. Marshal Pete Nessip mourning a brother and gunning for revenge. After being ordered ...

Drop Zone
1994
Director, Executive Producer
A daring prison break from an airliner at 30,000 feet leaves U.S. Marshal Pete Nessip mourning a brother and gunning for revenge. After being ordered ...

Another Stakeout
1993
Director, Executive Producer
A pair of immature detectives are joined by a pesky assistant district attorney in staking out a lakeside home where an important Mafia trial witness ...

Dragon: The Bruce Lee Story
1993
Executive Producer
This film is a glimpse into the life, love and the unconquerable spirit of the legendary Bruce Lee. From a childhood of rigorous martial arts training...

Point of No Return
1993
as Room-Service Waiter
Hardened criminal Maggie Hayward's consistent violence, even in police custody, ends in the execution chamber. However, top-secret US government agent...

Point of No Return
1993
Director
Hardened criminal Maggie Hayward's consistent violence, even in police custody, ends in the execution chamber. However, top-secret US government agent...

Mood Indigo
1993
Executive Producer
Suspense tale -- a pilot to a prospective series -- involving a criminal psychologist, struggling to rebuild his life after his wife is brutally murde...

The Hard Way
1991
Director
Seeking to raise his credibility as an actor and to land a role as a tough cop on a new show, Hollywood action star Nick Lang works a deal with New Yo...

Bird on a Wire
1990
Director
An FBI informant has kept his new identity secret for 15 years. Now an old flame has recognised him, and the bad guys are back for revenge.

Disorganized Crime
1989
Executive Producer
Lou Diamond Phillips and Fred Gwynne team up with a gang of professional criminals who have everything it takes to rob a bank. The only things they do...

Stakeout
1987
Director, Producer
Two detectives observe an escaped convict's ex-girlfriend, but complications set in when one of them falls for her.

Short Circuit
1986
Director
After a lightning bolt zaps a robot named Number 5, the lovable machine starts to think he's human and escapes the lab. Hot on his trail is his design...

American Flyers
1985
Director
When Dr. Marcus Sommers realizes that he and his troubled, estranged brother David may be prone a fatal brain disease that runs in their family, he de...

WarGames
1983
Director
High school student David Lightman has a talent for hacking. But while trying to hack into a computer system to play unreleased video games, he unwitt...

Blue Thunder
1983
Director
Los Angeles, California. Officer Murphy, a veteran Metropolitan Police helicopter pilot suffering from severe trauma due to his harsh experiences duri...

Whose Life Is It Anyway?
1981
Director
Ken Harrison is an artist that lives to make sculptures. One day he is involved in a car accident, and is paralyzed from his neck down. All he can do ...

Dracula
1979
Director
Romanticized adaptation of Bram Stoker's 1897 classic. Count Dracula is a subject of fatal attraction to more than one English maiden lady, as he seek...

Saturday Night Fever
1977
as Pedestrian #1 (uncredited)
Tony spends his Saturdays at a disco where his stylish moves raise his popularity among the patrons. But his life outside the disco is not easy and th...

Saturday Night Fever
1977
Director
Tony spends his Saturdays at a disco where his stylish moves raise his popularity among the patrons. But his life outside the disco is not easy and th...

The Bingo Long Traveling All-Stars & Motor Kings
1976
Director
Top baseball pitcher Bingo Long is fed up with how his Negro League team owner treats him, so he forms his own lineup, recruiting big-hitting Leon Car...

The Keegans
1976
Director
A professional football player is accused of murdering the man who attacked his sister. His brother, an investigate reporter, sets out to prove his br...

The Godchild
1974
Director
Three Union POWs fleeing across the desert to escape both their Confederate pursuers and rampaging Apaches come across a dying woman and her infant ch...

Reflections of Murder
1974
Director
The wife and mistress of the abusive headmaster of a boy's school plot and carry out his murder. They dump his body in the murky swimming pool at the ...

The Gun
1974
Director
The odyssey of an American handgun and the dramatic way it reshapes the lives of its various owners.

The Law
1974
Director
An examination of the workings of a big city's legal system as seen through the eyes of people involved in a sensational murder trial.

Rex Harrison Presents Stories of Love
1974
Director
Pilot for a proposed television anthology series with stories about love, either dramatic or comedic. In this pilot, there were three different segmen...

Isn't It Shocking?
1973
Director
A small-town sheriff is confronted with the deaths of local senior citizens and strange goings-on in his town.
The Impatient Heart
1971
Director
A social worker has problems in her private life.

A Clear and Present Danger
1970
Associate Producer
The son of a U.S. Senator takes on the cause of clean air when a friend dies of emphysema.

Dial Hot Line
1970
Associate Producer
The head of a psychiatric telephone hotline inspires his associates to get out of the office and into the streets to help people with psychiatric prob...

Night Gallery
1969
Associate Producer
This anthology telefilm aired on NBC on November 8, 1969, and tells three strange tales: "The Cemetery," directed by Boris Sagal; "Eyes," directed by ...

Deadlock
1969
Producer's Assistant
The murder of a journalist, coming shortly after the killings of a black teenager and a white cop, threatens to inflame passions in the city. To preve...