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
Complete Filmography

Val
2021
as Self (archive footage)
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
2021
as Self (archive footage)
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
2015
as Self (archive footage)
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
2014
as Self (archive footage)
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
2006
In Memory Of
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
2006
as Self (archive footage)

Ronin: Filming in the Fast Lane
2004
as Self
A behind-the-scenes featurette that focuses on John Frankenheimer's approach to the 1998 film "Ronin."

Exorcist: The Beginning
2004
In Memory Of
Years before Father Merrin helped save Regan MacNeil’s soul, he first encounters the demon Pazuzu in East Africa.

Path to War
2003
Director, Executive Producer
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)
illustrates how directors pushed boundaries and altered the art of filmmaking during the turbulent, swinging 1960s. Narrated by Woody Harrelson, "Reel...

Jazz Seen
2001
as Self
"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
2001
Director
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
2000
Director
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
1999
as General Sonnenberg
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
1998
Director
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
1997
Director, Producer
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
1996
Director
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
1996
Director, Executive Producer
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
1995
as Self
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
1994
Director, Producer
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
1994
Director
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
1991
Director
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
1990
Director
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
1989
Director, Screenplay
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
TV-movie directed by Alan Smithee (John Frankenheimer).

52 Pick-Up
1986
Director
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
1985
Director
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
1982
Director
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
1982
Director
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
1979
Director
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
1977
Director
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
1975
Director
"Popeye" Doyle travels to Marseilles to find Alain Charnier, the drug smuggler that eluded him in New York.

99 and 44/100% Dead
1974
Director
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
1973
Director
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
1973
Director
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
1971
Director, Producer
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
1970
Director
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
1969
Director
Three skydivers and their travelling thrill show barnstorm through a small midwestern town one Fourth of July weekend.

The Extraordinary Seaman
1969
Director
Marooned sailors discover a World War II ship haunted by its late captain.
The Sky Divers
1969
as Self
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
1968
Director
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
1967
"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
A short making of feature about the 1966 John Frankenheimer movie Grande Prix

Grand Prix
1966
Director, Writer, Executive Producer
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
1966
Director, Co-Executive Producer
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
1964
Director
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
1964
Director, Co-Executive Producer
A U.S. Marine Corps colonel alerts the president of a planned military coup against him.

The Manchurian Candidate
1962
Director, Producer
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
1962
Director
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
1962
Director
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
1961
Director
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
1960
Director
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
1960
Director
A TV film made as part of The Buick-Electra Playhouse.

Startime: The Turn of the Screw
1959
Director, Producer
A governess put in charge of two young children begins to see the ghost of her dead predecessor.

For Whom the Bell Tolls
1959
Director
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
1958
Director
In the South, convicts get a temporary release to help during a flood.

Days of Wine and Roses
1958
Director
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
1958
Director
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
1958
Director
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
1957
Director
The story of the last hours in the life of Spain's most celebrated matador.

The Last Tycoon
1957
Director
Based off the F. Scott Fitzgerald novel of the same title, a movie producer is slowly working himself to death.

The Comedian
1957
Director
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
1957
Director
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
1957
Director
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
1956
Director
It's not so much that Eloise is a mischievous child, but the darnedest things do happen when she's around.

Rendezvous in Black
1956
Director
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
1956
Director
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...