John Frankenheimer

John Frankenheimer

1930-02-19 New York City, New York, USA 67 Credits

Biography

John Michael Frankenheimer (February 19, 1930 – July 6, 2002) was an American film and television director known for social dramas. He won four consecutive Emmy Awards in the 1990s for the television movies Against the Wall, The Burning Season, Andersonville and George Wallace, which also received a Golden Globe award. He was considered one of the last remaining directors who insisted on having complete control over all elements of production, making his style unique in Hollywood. His 30 featur...

Known For

Filter by:

Complete Filmography

Val

Val

2021

as Self (archive footage)

7.2
Acting

For over 40 years Val Kilmer, one of Hollywood’s most mercurial and/or misunderstood actors has been documenting his own life and craft through film a...

Steve McQueen: The Lost Movie

Steve McQueen: The Lost Movie

2021

as Self (archive footage)

7.2
Acting

The story of the abandoned production of 'Day of the Champion', a movie about Formula 1 which was set to film in 1966.

Steve McQueen: The Man & Le Mans

Steve McQueen: The Man & Le Mans

2015

as Self (archive footage)

7.2
Acting

Steve McQueen: The Man & Le Mans interweaves stunning newly discovered footage and voice recordings with original interviews. It is the true story of ...

Lost Soul: The Doomed Journey of Richard Stanley's Island of Dr. Moreau

Lost Soul: The Doomed Journey of Richard Stanley's Island of Dr. Moreau

2014

as Self (archive footage)

6.7
Acting

The story of the insane scandals related to the remake of “Island of Dr. Moreau” —originally a novel by H. G. Wells—, which was brought to the big scr...

The Butterfly Effect 2

The Butterfly Effect 2

2006

In Memory Of

4.9

After his girlfriend, Julie, and two best friends are killed in a tragic auto accident, Nick struggles to cope with his loss and grief. Suffering from...

Pushing the Limit: The Making of Grand Prix

Pushing the Limit: The Making of Grand Prix

2006

as Self (archive footage)

Acting
Ronin: Filming in the Fast Lane

Ronin: Filming in the Fast Lane

2004

as Self

Acting

A behind-the-scenes featurette that focuses on John Frankenheimer's approach to the 1998 film "Ronin."

Exorcist: The Beginning

Exorcist: The Beginning

2004

In Memory Of

5.4

Years before Father Merrin helped save Regan MacNeil’s soul, he first encounters the demon Pazuzu in East Africa.

Path to War

Path to War

2003

Director, Executive Producer

6.7
Directing Producing

A powerful drama of soaring ambition and shattered dreams that takes a provocative insider's look at the way the USA goes to war—as seen from inside t...

Reel Radicals: The Sixties Revolution in Film

2002

as Self (uncredited)

Acting

illustrates how directors pushed boundaries and altered the art of filmmaking during the turbulent, swinging 1960s. Narrated by Woody Harrelson, "Reel...

Jazz Seen

Jazz Seen

2001

as Self

Acting

"Jazz Seen" is an exploration of the life of William Claxton, whose photographs turned the world of jazz on its keen and perceptive ear. Various jazz ...

Ambush

Ambush

2001

Director

6.5
Directing

While escorting an elderly man to an undisclosed location, The Driver is confronted by a van full of armed men and is warned that the old man has stol...

Reindeer Games

Reindeer Games

2000

Director

5.7
Directing

After assuming his dead cellmate's identity to get with his girlfriend, an ex-con finds himself the reluctant participant in a casino heist.

The General's Daughter

The General's Daughter

1999

as General Sonnenberg

6.4
Acting

When the body of Army Capt. Elisabeth Campbell is found on a Georgia military base, two investigators, Warrant Officers Paul Brenner and Sara Sunhill,...

Ronin

Ronin

1998

Director

7.0
Directing

A briefcase with undisclosed contents – sought by Irish terrorists and the Russian mob – makes its way into criminals' hands. An Irish liaison assembl...

George Wallace

George Wallace

1997

Director, Producer

6.8
Directing Producing

George Wallace is a 1997 television film starring Gary Sinise as George Wallace, the former Governor of Alabama. It was directed by John Frankenheimer...

The Island of Dr. Moreau

The Island of Dr. Moreau

1996

Director

4.9
Directing

A plane crash surviving attorney stumbles upon a mysterious island and is shocked to discover that a brilliant scientist and his lab assistant have fo...

Andersonville

Andersonville

1996

Director, Executive Producer

6.6
Directing Producing

This lengthy docudrama records the harrowing conditions at the Confederacy's most notorious prisoner-of-war camp. The drama unfolds through the eyes o...

Yul Brynner: The Man Who Was King

Yul Brynner: The Man Who Was King

1995

as Self

8.5
Acting

There is only one Yul Brynner. No other actor had his looks, his range of talents, his energy and his capacity to draw others into the spell of his ch...

The Burning Season

The Burning Season

1994

Director, Producer

6.2
Directing Producing

Based on the true story of a Brazilian rubber tapper who leads his people in protest against government and developers, who want to cut down their par...

Against the Wall

Against the Wall

1994

Director

6.1
Directing

In 1971, a warden at Attica Penitentiary is caught up in a hostage crisis when inmates take over the prison to demand better living conditions.

Year of the Gun

Year of the Gun

1991

Director

5.0
Directing

American novelist David Raybourne accidentally becomes entangled in the Red Brigade's terrorist plan to kidnap Italian Premier Aldo Moro during a rese...

The Fourth War

The Fourth War

1990

Director

5.1
Directing

Cold War adversaries Col. Jack Knowles and his Russian counterpart, Col. Valachev, are stationed on opposite sides of the German-Czech border. Both me...

Dead Bang

Dead Bang

1989

Director, Screenplay

6.3
Directing Writing

Los Angeles homicide detective Jerry Beck searches for the murderer who killed a police officer on Christmas Eve. The investigation takes Beck inside ...

Riviera

1987

Director

Directing

TV-movie directed by Alan Smithee (John Frankenheimer).

52 Pick-Up

52 Pick-Up

1986

Director

6.0
Directing

Harry Mitchell is a successful Los Angeles manufacturer whose wife is running for city council. His life is turned upside down when three blackmailers...

The Holcroft Covenant

The Holcroft Covenant

1985

Director

5.5
Directing

A man who was a confidant of Adolf Hitler dies and leaves a fortune to make amends for his Nazi past—but his son has to search the world to find it.

The Rainmaker

The Rainmaker

1982

Director

6.7
Directing

Traveling rainmaker Starbuck arrives at the drought-ridden Curry place, promising rain for the farm and perhaps a romance for 'spinster sister' Lizzie...

The Challenge

The Challenge

1982

Director

6.0
Directing

Rick, a down-and-out American boxer, is hired to transport a sword to Japan, unaware that the whole thing is a set up in a bitter blood-feud between t...

Prophecy

Prophecy

1979

Director

5.5
Directing

When a dispute occurs between a logging operation and a nearby Native American tribe, Dr. Robert Verne and his wife, Maggie, are sent in to mediate. C...

Black Sunday

Black Sunday

1977

Director

6.7
Directing

An Israeli anti-terrorist agent must stop a disgruntled Vietnam vet cooperating in a Black September PLO plot to commit a terrorist attack at the Supe...

French Connection II

French Connection II

1975

Director

6.8
Directing

"Popeye" Doyle travels to Marseilles to find Alain Charnier, the drug smuggler that eluded him in New York.

99 and 44/100% Dead

99 and 44/100% Dead

1974

Director

4.7
Directing

Uncle Frank Kelly calls on Harry Crown to help him in a gang war. The war becomes personal when Harry's new girlfriend is kidnapped by Uncle Frank's e...

The Iceman Cometh

The Iceman Cometh

1973

Director

6.1
Directing

Set in 1912, inside a dive bar named The Last Chance Saloon, its destitute patrons eagerly await the arrival of Hickey, who arrives annually and props...

Impossible Object

Impossible Object

1973

Director

4.9
Directing

Harry is a married writer who has an affair with a woman whose husband knows that she is unfaithful. As a result of his work, Harry has trouble distin...

The Horsemen

The Horsemen

1971

Director, Producer

6.5
Directing Producing

In Afghanistan, the ruthless sport of buzkashi is a game of great pride. When Uraz breaks his leg and loses a spirited match, he brings shame to his v...

I Walk the Line

I Walk the Line

1970

Director

5.8
Directing

Henry Tawes, a middle-aged sheriff in a rural Tennessee town, is usually the first man to criticize others for their bad behavior. Miserable in his ma...

The Gypsy Moths

The Gypsy Moths

1969

Director

6.1
Directing

Three skydivers and their travelling thrill show barnstorm through a small midwestern town one Fourth of July weekend.

The Extraordinary Seaman

The Extraordinary Seaman

1969

Director

2.6
Directing

Marooned sailors discover a World War II ship haunted by its late captain.

The Sky Divers

1969

as Self

Acting

A behind-the-scenes, promotional short about the making of the feature film The Gypsy Moths (1969), which extensively features free fall skydiving.

The Fixer

The Fixer

1968

Director

5.8
Directing

Set in tsarist Russia around the turn of the century and based on a true story of a Russian Jewish peasant Yakov Bog who was wrongly imprisoned for a ...

Lionpower from MGM

Lionpower from MGM

1967

4.5
Acting

"Lionpower from MGM" (1967) is an exciting 60's promotional short subject, which showcases MGM's releases for the 1967-68 film season under a "five se...

Grand Prix: Challenge of the Champions

1966

as Self

Acting

A short making of feature about the 1966 John Frankenheimer movie Grande Prix

Grand Prix

Grand Prix

1966

Director, Writer, Executive Producer

7.2
Directing Writing Producing

The most daring drivers in the world have gathered to compete for the 1966 Formula One championship. After a spectacular wreck in the first of a serie...

Seconds

Seconds

1966

Director, Co-Executive Producer

7.3
Directing Producing

An unhappy middle-aged banker agrees to a procedure that will fake his death and give him a completely new look and identity; one that comes with its ...

The Train

The Train

1964

Director

7.5
Directing

As the Allied forces approach Paris in August 1944, German Colonel Von Waldheim is desperate to take all of France's greatest paintings to Germany. He...

Seven Days in May

Seven Days in May

1964

Director, Co-Executive Producer

7.3
Directing Producing

A U.S. Marine Corps colonel alerts the president of a planned military coup against him.

The Manchurian Candidate

The Manchurian Candidate

1962

Producer, Director

7.5
Producing Directing

Near the end of the Korean War, a platoon of U.S. soldiers is captured by communists and brainwashed. Following the war, the platoon is returned home,...

Birdman of Alcatraz

Birdman of Alcatraz

1962

Director

7.5
Directing

After killing a prison guard, convict Robert Stroud faces life imprisonment in solitary confinement. Driven nearly mad by loneliness and despair, Stro...

All Fall Down

All Fall Down

1962

Director

6.2
Directing

Ralph and Annabell Willart are a feuding couple who are constantly bickering over their worthless, good-for-nothing son Berry-Berry. When Berry-Berry ...

The Young Savages

The Young Savages

1961

Director

6.4
Directing

A district attorney investigates the racially charged case of three teenagers accused of the murder of a blind Puerto Rican boy.

The Snows of Kilimanjaro

The Snows of Kilimanjaro

1960

Director

Directing

A writer reflects on his life as he lies dying from an infection after a safari in the shadow of Mount Kilimanjaro, after Earnest Hemingway's short st...

The Fifth Column

The Fifth Column

1960

Director

9.5
Directing

A TV film made as part of The Buick-Electra Playhouse.

Startime: The Turn of the Screw

Startime: The Turn of the Screw

1959

Director, Producer

Directing Producing

A governess put in charge of two young children begins to see the ghost of her dead predecessor.

For Whom the Bell Tolls

For Whom the Bell Tolls

1959

Director

Directing

During the Spanish Civil War, an American allied with the Republicans finds romance during a desperate mission to blow up a strategically important br...

Old Man

Old Man

1958

Director

Directing

In the South, convicts get a temporary release to help during a flood.

Days of Wine and Roses

Days of Wine and Roses

1958

Director

7.0
Directing

An alcoholic falls in love with and gets married to a young woman whom he systematically addicts to booze so they can share his "passion" together.

Bomber's Moon

Bomber's Moon

1958

Director

Directing

A hard-hearted Colonel loses many men in his group's bombing missions over World War Two Germany, but keeps on going and won't tolerate lightly a youn...

A Town Has Turned to Dust

A Town Has Turned to Dust

1958

Director

Directing

The weakling sheriff of a small southwestern town allows a Mexican teenager to be lynched by a local mob for a crime he may not have committed.

The Death of Manolete

The Death of Manolete

1957

Director

Directing

The story of the last hours in the life of Spain's most celebrated matador.

The Last Tycoon

The Last Tycoon

1957

Director

Directing

Based off the F. Scott Fitzgerald novel of the same title, a movie producer is slowly working himself to death.

The Comedian

The Comedian

1957

Director

9.0
Directing

Sammy Hogarth, a vaudeville comedian who now has his own TV show, is a ruthless egomaniac who demands instant obedience from his staff and heaps abuse...

The Young Stranger

The Young Stranger

1957

Director

5.8
Directing

The lack of communication between a wealthy film producer and his troubled teenage son after the boy is involved in an altercation at a movie theater ...

The Ninth Day

The Ninth Day

1957

Director

Directing

After World War III a small group of people live in the desert. A young man tries to run away, hoping to find other communities of survivors, but is t...

Eloise

Eloise

1956

Director

Directing

It's not so much that Eloise is a mischievous child, but the darnedest things do happen when she's around.

Rendezvous in Black

Rendezvous in Black

1956

Director

Directing

Johnny Marr's fiancee is killed by a whiskey bottle thrown from an airplane. Marr seeks revenge by killing the loved ones of the passengers on the fli...

Forbidden Area

Forbidden Area

1956

Director

7.5
Directing

Why are so many B-99 bombers from Hibiscus Air Base crashing or simply disappearing? Colonel Price comes up with a terrifying explanation, but will an...