John Sturges

John Sturges

Birth : 1910-01-03, Oak Park, Illinois, USA

Death : 1992-08-18

History

John Eliot Sturges was an American film director. His movies include Bad Day at Black Rock (1955), Gunfight at the O.K. Corral (1957), The Magnificent Seven (1960), The Great Escape (1963) and Ice Station Zebra (1968).

Profile

John Sturges

Movies

Das Boot Revisited: An Underwater Success Story
Himself (archive footage)
In 1981, a film about the misadventures of a German U-boat crew in 1941 becomes a worldwide hit almost four decades after the end of the World War II. Millions of viewers worldwide make Das Boot the most internationally successful German film of all time. But due to disputes over the script, accidents on the set, and voices accusing the makers of glorifying the war, the project was many times on the verge of being cancelled.
Steve McQueen: The Lost Movie
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
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 how a cinema legend would risk almost everything in pursuit of his dream.
The Spencer Tracy Legacy: A Tribute by Katharine Hepburn
Self
In this tribute to her frequent co-star and longtime love, Katharine Hepburn hosts a behind-the-scenes look at Spencer Tracy's personal and professional life that features intimate personal accounts, interviews and clips from his most acclaimed work on the silver screen.
The Eagle Has Landed
Director
When the Nazi high command learns in late 1943 that Winston Churchill will be spending time at a country estate in Norfolk, it hatches an audacious scheme to kidnap the prime minister and spirit him to Germany for enforced negotiations with Hitler.
McQ
Director
Police Lieutenant Lon McQ investigates the killing of his best friend and uncovers corrupt elements of the police department dealing in confiscated drugs.
Chino
Producer
Chino Valdez is a loner horse breeder living in the old west. Partly a loner by choice, and partly because, being a 'half-breed', he finds himself unwelcome almost everywhere he goes. One day, a young runaway named Jimmy shows up at his door looking for work and a roof over his head. Reluctantly, Chino agrees to take him in and teach him the art of raising, breaking and breeding horses, until the pair finally begin to accept each other.
Chino
Director
Chino Valdez is a loner horse breeder living in the old west. Partly a loner by choice, and partly because, being a 'half-breed', he finds himself unwelcome almost everywhere he goes. One day, a young runaway named Jimmy shows up at his door looking for work and a roof over his head. Reluctantly, Chino agrees to take him in and teach him the art of raising, breaking and breeding horses, until the pair finally begin to accept each other.
Joe Kidd
Director
A band of Mexicans find their U. S. land claims denied and all the records destroyed in a courthouse fire. Their leader, Louis Chama, encourages them to use force to regain their land. A wealthy landowner wanting the same decides to hire a gang of killers with Joe Kidd to track Chama.
Marooned
Director
After spending several months in an orbiting lab, three astronauts prepare to return to Earth only to find their de-orbit thrusters won't activate. After initially thinking they might have to abandon them in orbit, NASA decides to launch a daring rescue. Their plans are complicated by a Hurricane headed towards the launch site—and a shrinking air supply in the astronauts' capsule.
Ice Station Zebra
Director
A top-secret Soviet spy satellite -- using stolen Western technology -- malfunctions and then goes into a descent that lands it near an isolated Arctic research encampment called Ice Station Zebra, belonging to the British, which starts sending out distress signals before falling silent. The atomic submarine Tigerfish, commanded by Cmdr. James Ferraday (Rock Hudson), is dispatched to save them.
Hour of the Gun
Producer
Marshal Wyatt Earp kills a couple of men of the Clanton-gang in a fight. In revenge Clanton's thugs kill the marshal's brother. Thus, Wyatt Earp starts to chase the killers together with his friend Doc Holliday.
Hour of the Gun
Director
Marshal Wyatt Earp kills a couple of men of the Clanton-gang in a fight. In revenge Clanton's thugs kill the marshal's brother. Thus, Wyatt Earp starts to chase the killers together with his friend Doc Holliday.
The Hallelujah Trail
Producer
A wagon train heads for Denver with a cargo of whisky for the miners. Chaos ensues as the Temperance League, the US cavalry, the miners and the local Indians all try to take control of the valuable cargo.
The Hallelujah Trail
Director
A wagon train heads for Denver with a cargo of whisky for the miners. Chaos ensues as the Temperance League, the US cavalry, the miners and the local Indians all try to take control of the valuable cargo.
The Satan Bug
Producer
A US government germ warfare lab has had an accident. The first theory is that one of the germs has been released and killed several scientists. The big fear is that a more virulent strain, named The Satan Bug because all life can be killed off by it should it escape, may have been stolen.
The Satan Bug
Director
A US government germ warfare lab has had an accident. The first theory is that one of the germs has been released and killed several scientists. The big fear is that a more virulent strain, named The Satan Bug because all life can be killed off by it should it escape, may have been stolen.
The Great Escape
Director
The Nazis, exasperated at the number of escapes from their prison camps by a relatively small number of Allied prisoners, relocate them to a high-security 'escape-proof' camp to sit out the remainder of the war. Undaunted, the prisoners plan one of the most ambitious escape attempts of World War II. Based on a true story.
The Great Escape
Producer
The Nazis, exasperated at the number of escapes from their prison camps by a relatively small number of Allied prisoners, relocate them to a high-security 'escape-proof' camp to sit out the remainder of the war. Undaunted, the prisoners plan one of the most ambitious escape attempts of World War II. Based on a true story.
A Girl Named Tamiko
Director
A photographer based in Tokyo, who's in love with local beauty Tamiko, begins to court an embassy official so she can help him gain entry into the United States.
Sergeants 3
Director
Mike, Chip, and Larry are three lusty, brawling U. S. Cavalry sergeants stationed in Indian Territory in 1870.
By Love Possessed
Director
An unhappily married woman engages in an affair with her husband's law partner.
The Magnificent Seven
Producer
An oppressed Mexican peasant village hires seven gunfighters to help defend their homes.
The Magnificent Seven
Director
An oppressed Mexican peasant village hires seven gunfighters to help defend their homes.
Never So Few
Director
A U.S. military troop takes command of a band of Burmese guerillas during World War II.
Last Train from Gun Hill
Director
A marshal tries to bring the son of an old friend, an autocratic cattle baron, to justice for the rape and murder of his wife.
The Old Man and the Sea
Director
Santiago is an aging, down-on-his-luck, Cuban fisherman who, after catching nothing for nearly 3 months, hooks a huge Marlin and struggles to land it far out in the Gulf Stream.
The Law and Jake Wade
Director
Jake Wade breaks Clint Hollister out of jail to pay off an old debt, though it's clear there is some pretty deep hostility between them. They part, and Jake returns to his small-town marshal's job and his fiancée only to find he has been tracked there by Hollister. It seems they were once in a gang together and Jake knows where the proceeds of a bank hold-up are hidden. Hollister and his sidekicks make off into the hills, taking along the trussed-up marshal and his kidnapped bride-to-be to force the lawman to show them where the loot is.
Saddle the Wind
Other
Steve Sinclair is a world a world-weary former gunslinger, now living as a peaceful farmer. Things go wrong when his wild younger brother Tony arrives on the scene with his new bride Joan Blake.
Gunfight at the O.K. Corral
Director
Lawman Wyatt Earp and outlaw Doc Holliday form an unlikely alliance which culminates in their participation in the legendary Gunfight at the O.K. Corral.
Backlash
Director
Jim Slater's father (whom he never knew) died in the Apache ambush at Gila Valley, and Jim is searching for the one survivor, who supposedly went for help but disappeared with a lot of gold. In the process, he gets several people gunning for him, and he keeps meeting liberated woman Karyl Orton, who may be on a similar mission. Renewed Apache hostilities and an impending range war provide complications.
The Scarlet Coat
Director
An American officer goes undercover to unmask a Revolutionary War traitor.
Underwater!
Director
Two scuba divers find a shipwreck which may contain undiscovered treasure, however, their attempt to salvage it is threatened by scavengers.
Bad Day at Black Rock
Director
One-armed war veteran John J. Macreedy steps off a train at the sleepy little town of Black Rock. Once there, he begins to unravel a web of lies, secrecy, and murder.
Escape from Fort Bravo
Director
A Southern belle frees a Rebel officer and his men from a Union captain's Arizona fort.
Fast Company
Director
The temperamental Carol Maldon leaves New York behind to take control of her father's stable, she inherited. Rick Grayton is a horse racing trainer who lucked into training a champ, the horse 'Gay Fleet'. Only nobody knows 'Gay Fleet' is any good yet. Rick has been intentionally losing so that he can buy the horse with a low-ball offer to the owner Carol. However Mercedes Bellway, a rival barn and in love with Rick, figures out his plan and tells Carol.
Jeopardy
Director
A woman is kidnapped when she goes to get help for her husband who is trapped on a beach with the tide coming in to surely drown him.
The Girl in White
Director
The first female doctor in New York City comes up against prejudice from male counterparts who feel threatened by her skills. Eventually, though, they come to respect her and romance blossoms between her and the head doctor.
It's a Big Country
Director
Comprised of eight unrelated episodes of inconsistent quality, this anthology piece of American propaganda features some of MGM Studios' best directors, screenwriters and actors; it is narrated by Louis Calhern. Stories are framed by the lecture of a university professor. In one tale a Boston resident becomes angry when the census forgets to record her presence. Another sketch chronicles the achievements of African Americans while still another pays tongue-in-cheek tribute to Texas.
The People Against O'Hara
Director
A defense attorney jeopardizes his career to save his client.
Kind Lady
Director
Mary Herries has a passion for art and fine furniture. Even though she is getting on in years, she enjoys being around these priceless articles. One day she meets a strange young painter named Elcott, who uses his painting skill to enter into her life. Little does she expect that his only interest in Mary is to covet everything she has.
The Magnificent Yankee
Director
Biography of celebrated American jurist Oliver Wendell Holmes.
Right Cross
Director
A sportswriter forms a ring triangle with a fight manager's daughter and her Mexican-American boxer.
Mystery Street
Director
When a young woman's skeletal remains turn up on a Massachusetts beach, Barnstable cop Peter Moralas teams with Boston police and uses forensics, with the help of a Harvard professor, to determine the woman's identity, how she died, and who killed her.
The Capture
Director
A badly injured fugitive explains to a priest how he came to be in his present predicament.
The Walking Hills
Director
A study in greed in which treasure hunters seek a shipment of gold buried in Death Valley.
Best Man Wins
Director
Jim Smiley has a frog that can jump further than anyone else's frog, and Jim becomes obsessed with entering the frog in all of the local jumping-frog contests, not realizing that his obsession is about to cost him his marriage.
The Sign of the Ram
Director
A wheelchair-bound woman manipulates her family to a point where they suspect she may be unhinged.
Thunderbolt
Director
Documentary about the U.S. Air Force's P-47 Thunderbolt bomber's role in the Italian Campaign.
Keeper of the Bees
Director
Michael Worthington, an elderly owner of an apiary, befriends an embittered artist, Jamie McFarlaine, who is seeking a divorce from his wife. Jamie falls in love with Alice, but the romance is almost doomed by the gossip-spreading of a meddlesome neighbor.
For the Love of Rusty
Director
Danny Mitchell, feeling that he has been misunderstood by his parents, takes his dog, Rusty, and leaves home, camping out near the trailer of veterinary Dr. Francis Xavier Ray. Gas escapes in the trailer during the night, and Rusty rescues the vet before he is overcome.
Alias Mr. Twilight
Director
Geoffrey Holden (Lloyd Corrigan) is an elderly con-man who is a lovable old man when providing his beloved granddaughter (Gigi Perreau) with the simple luxuries of life, yet has no qualms when working a racket devised to relieve his victims of their property. Trudy Marshall is the governess of the granddaughter, and is in love with a detective (Michael Duane) who is about to expose the old man's unsuspected activities.
Shadowed
Director
Fred J. Johnson (Lloyd Corrigan) scores a hole-in-one but his next drive, using the lucky, initialed golf ball, soars out of bounds and lands near a spot where some counterfeiters are burying a murder victim. Then begins a series of events in which he is hounded and threatened by the killers. The consequences of his not reporting what he saw to the police lead to a climax in which is daughter is held hostage by the crooks.
The Man Who Dared
Director
A crusading reporter plans his own arrest and conviction for first degree murder, trying to show that the death sentence should be outlawed when based on circumstantial evidence alone, but his plan goes awry.
Syncopation
Editor
A young trumpeter rises through the jazz world and finds love.
Scattergood Meets Broadway
Editor
Scattergood finds out that his neighbor, Elly Drew, is going to sell her home to support her son David, an aspiring playwright, who is in New York City trying to get his play produced. Scattergood decides to loan Elly the money but things are not as David has been telling his Mother...
Tom, Dick and Harry
Editor
Janie is a telephone operator who is caught up in the lines of love of three men: car salesman Tom, Chicago millionaire Dick and auto mechanic Harry. But Janie just can't seem to make up her mind between them. While fantasizing about her futures with each of the men, Janie spends her time desperately trying to juggle between them until she can make a decision.
They Knew What They Wanted
Editor
While courting a young woman by mail, a rich farmer sends a photograph of his foreman instead of his own, which leads to complications when she accepts his marriage proposal.