John Frankenheimer's films, ranked
The top 3 according to 336 votes from people: The Train (1964) · The Manchurian Candidate (1962) · Seconds (1966). (Updated May 15, 2022.)
Cold War paranoia, trains and car chases: Frankenheimer's films ordered from Taste of Cinema, Flickchart and Letterboxd rankings, with The Manchurian Candidate on top.
Top 14
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1
The Train (1964)
Burt Lancaster stops a train full of looted art.
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2
The Manchurian Candidate (1962)
Frank Sinatra and a brainwashed war hero.
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3
Seconds (1966)
Rock Hudson buys a new identity.
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4
Seven Days in May (1964)
Burt Lancaster and Kirk Douglas in a coup plot.
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5
French Connection II (1975)
Gene Hackman's Popeye Doyle in Marseille.
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6
Black Sunday (1977)
A terrorist plot to attack the Super Bowl with a blimp.
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7
Grand Prix (1966)
Formula One on Cinerama; three Oscars.
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8
52 Pick-Up (1986)
Roy Scheider blackmailed, from Elmore Leonard.
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9
The Iceman Cometh (1973)
Lee Marvin in Eugene O'Neill's play.
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10
Birdman of Alcatraz (1962)
Burt Lancaster as prisoner and ornithologist Robert Stroud.
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11
The Fixer (1968)
Alan Bates as a Jewish handyman falsely accused in Tsarist Russia.
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12
Ronin (1998)
Robert De Niro and Jean Reno; the Paris car chase.
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13
All Fall Down (1962)
Warren Beatty, Eva Marie Saint and Angela Lansbury.
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14
The Gypsy Moths (1969)
Burt Lancaster and Gene Hackman as skydivers.
How is this ranking ordered? By people's votes: each ▲ adds a point and each ▼ takes one away. Anyone can vote and add what is missing.
Is something missing?
Comments (13)
Black Sunday is a great thriller that nobody remembers.
French Connection II is better than people say, the withdrawal scenes are brutal.
Seven Days in May feels scarily relevant.
Grand Prix on a big screen is something else.
The Train is so underrated, Burt Lancaster doing his own stunts.
Seconds should be number one. That ending haunted me for weeks.
Agree, Seconds is his masterpiece, and James Wong Howe's photography is insane.
Nice to see The Fixer here, Alan Bates is excellent.
Ronin's car chase is still the best ever filmed, I'll die on this hill.
Better than Bullitt? Bold claim.
Yes. Real cars, real streets, no CGI. Watch it again.
The Manchurian Candidate first, obviously. Angela Lansbury is one of the scariest villains ever.
Birdman of Alcatraz made me cry, didn't expect that.