J. Lee Thompson
Director, Actor
Yield to the Night (Blonde Sinner) (1956)
- Dir. J. Lee Thompson
Feat. Diana Dors, Yvonne Mitchell, Michael Craig
- British crime drama film that features a celebrated performance by "blonde bombshell" Diana Dors. Bearing a coincidental resemblance to the Ruth…
Tiger Bay (1959)
- Dir. J. Lee Thompson
Feat. John Mills, Hayley Mills, Horst Buchholz
- Haley Mills’ breakthrough is a memorable and mature British thriller; she plays witness to a murder by a Polish sailor, who she subsequent…
Guns of Navarone, The (1961)
- Dir. J. Lee Thompson
Feat. Gregory Peck, David Niven
- A great WW2 nail–biter in which Gregory Peck and David Niven lead the all–star macho cast as an elite squad assigned to destroy two giant…
Taras Bulba (1962)
- Dir. J. Lee Thompson
Feat. Tony Curtis, Yul Brynner, Christine Kaufmann
- Violent epic in which Cossack leader Yul Brynner battles the Poles in 16th Century Ukraine while wayward son Tony Curtis falls in love with one of…
Kings of the Sun (1963)
- Dir. J. Lee Thompson
Feat. Yul Brynner, George Chakiris, Shirley Anne Field…
- Rollicking tribal adventure has a Mayan tribe searching for new homelands while being pursued by vengeful Indians.The athletic Brynner dominates…
What a Way to Go! (1964)
- Dir. J. Lee Thompson
Feat. Shirley Maclaine, Paul Newman, Robert Mitchum…
- Stacked, big–budget comedy has fun at the expense of a cursed Shirley MacLaine: she plays a wealthy widow whose $200 million fortune has been…
Mackenna's Gold (1969)
- Dir. J. Lee Thompson
Feat. Gregory Peck, Omar Sharif
- Sprawling Western adaptation of the best–selling Will Henry novel about an Arizona Marshal travelling to an unknown canyon of gold who gets…
Chairman, The (1969)
- Dir. J. Lee Thompson
Feat. Gregory Peck, Anne Heywood, Arthur Hill…
- Engrossing and utterly preposterous spy flick with Peck as a scientist who must sneak into communist China to steal a secret formula, and to…
Conquest of the Planet of the Apes (1972)
- Dir. J. Lee Thompson
Feat. Roddy McDowall
- The fourth in the series prefaces the original as enslaved Apes revolt against the humans. Worthwhile for those wishing to fill in the gaps of the…
Battle for the Planet of the Apes (1973)
- Dir. J. Lee Thompson
Feat. Roddy McDowall, Claude Akins, Severn Darden
- Tired final film in the saga is a chronological prequel to the original that also tries to patch up loose ends of the other chapters. Still…
Reincarnation of Peter Proud, The (1975)
- Dir. J. Lee Thompson
Feat. Michael Sarrazin, Margot Kidder, Jennifer O'Neill…
- Slow burn psychological horror directed by J. Lee Thompson (GUNS OF NAVARONE) about a university professor who is tortured by recurring nightmares…
St. Ives (1976)
- Dir. J. Lee Thompson
Feat. Charles Bronson, John Houseman, Jacqueline Bisset…
- Enjoyable riff on 1940s private–eye noir (especially THE MALTESE FALCON), in which a wouldbe novelist–gumshoe (Bronson) gets way out of…
White Buffalo, The (1977)
- Dir. J. Lee Thompson
Feat. Charles Bronson, Jack Warden, Will Sampson…
- Rugged and hokey psycho–adventurism in which Charles Bronson channels Captain Ahab in his quest to hunt down a mythical albino buffalo.
Happy Birthday To Me (1981)
- Dir. J. Lee Thompson
Feat. Melissa Sue Anderson, Glenn Ford, Lawrence Dane…
- Fairly good entry in the 80s slasher cycle, with Anderson playing a student at a private school who is recovering from a traumatic car accident in…
10 to Midnight (1983)
- Dir. J. Lee Thompson
Feat. Charles Bronson, Lisa Eilbacher, Andrew Stevens…
- Rather dubious vehicle for Bronson as a cop used to bending the rules, but who gets caught out for falsifying evidence against a nasty…
King Solomon's Mines (1985)
- Dir. J. Lee Thompson
Feat. Richard Chamberlain, Sharon Stone, Herbert Lom…
- Fairly lively adaptation of H Rider Haggard's classic African adventure yarn (filmed several times before), with Chamberlain and Stone dodging…
Murphy's Law (1986)
- Dir. J. Lee Thompson
Feat. Charles Bronson, Carrie Snodgrass, Robert F. Lyons…
- A violent funride and one of Bronson's better actioners, playing a wily detective, framed for the murder of his ex–wife. In between escaping…
Death Wish 4 (Death Wish 4: The Crackdown) (1987)
- Dir. J. Lee Thompson
Feat. Charles Bronson, Kay Lenz, John P. Ryan…
- After his girlfriend's daughter dies from a drug overdose, Paul Kersey (Charles Bronson) once again returns to vigilantism to take down major figures…
Messenger of Death (1988)
- Dir. J. Lee Thompson
Feat. Charles Bronson, Trish Van Devere, Laurence Luckinbill…
- Lacklustre thriller for Bronson, playing a reporter determined to get to the bottom of a feud betwen two Mormon sects up in the Rocky Mountains.
Kinjite - Forbidden Subjects (1989)
- Dir. J. Lee Thompson
Feat. Charles Bronson, Juan Fernandez, Perry Lopez…
- Warped thriller with Bronson as a vice cop out to bust a teen prostitution ring. Bronson and Thompson's ninth and final collaboration is a sordid…