J. Lee Thompson

Directing

J. Lee Thompson

Born — Died

1914-08-01 — 2002-08-30

Place of birth

Bristol, England, UK

Known for

Directing

Credits

47 titles

​From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia. John Lee Thompson  (1 August 1914 – 30 August 2002), better known as J. Lee Thompson, was an English film director, active in England and Hollywood. Description above from the Wikipedia article J. Lee Thompson, licensed under CC-BY-SA, full list of contributors on Wikipedia

Known for

The Guns of Navarone poster
7.3

A team of allied saboteurs are assigned an impossible mission: infiltrate an impregnable Nazi-held island and destroy the two enormous long-range field guns that prevent the rescue of 2,000 trapped British soldiers.

The Guns of Navarone

1961

King Solomon's Mines poster
5.4

Ever in search of adventure, explorer Allan Quatermain agrees to join the beautiful Jesse Huston on a mission to locate her archaeologist father, who has been abducted for his knowledge of the legendary mines of King Solomon. As the kidnappers, led by sinister German military officer Bockner, journey into the wilds of Africa, Allan and Jesse track the party and must contend with fierce natives and dangerous creatures, among other perils.

King Solomon's Mines

1985

Battle for the Planet of the Apes poster
5.7

The fifth and final episode in the Planet of the Apes series. After the collapse of human civilization, a community of intelligent apes led by Caesar lives in harmony with a group of humans. Gorilla General Aldo tries to cause an ape civil war and a community of human mutants who live beneath a destroyed city try to conquer those whom they perceive as enemies. All leading to the finale.

Battle for the Planet of the Apes

1973

Death Wish 4: The Crackdown poster
5.7

After the death of his girlfriend's daughter from a drug overdose, Paul Kersey takes on the local drug cartel.

Death Wish 4: The Crackdown

1987

What a Way to Go! poster
7.1

A four-time widow discusses her four marriages, in which all of her husbands became incredibly rich and died prematurely because of their drive to be rich.

What a Way to Go!

1964

Conquest of the Planet of the Apes poster
6.2

In a futuristic world that has embraced ape slavery, a chimpanzee named Caesar resurfaces after almost twenty years of hiding from the authorities, and prepares for a revolt against humanity.

Conquest of the Planet of the Apes

1972

Film credits

1990s · 4 titles

Behind the camera

The Guns of Navarone poster
7.3

A team of allied saboteurs are assigned an impossible mission: infiltrate an impregnable Nazi-held island and destroy the two enormous long-range field guns that prevent the rescue of 2,000 trapped British soldiers.

The Guns of Navarone

1961

King Solomon's Mines poster
5.4

Ever in search of adventure, explorer Allan Quatermain agrees to join the beautiful Jesse Huston on a mission to locate her archaeologist father, who has been abducted for his knowledge of the legendary mines of King Solomon. As the kidnappers, led by sinister German military officer Bockner, journey into the wilds of Africa, Allan and Jesse track the party and must contend with fierce natives and dangerous creatures, among other perils.

King Solomon's Mines

1985

Battle for the Planet of the Apes poster
5.7

The fifth and final episode in the Planet of the Apes series. After the collapse of human civilization, a community of intelligent apes led by Caesar lives in harmony with a group of humans. Gorilla General Aldo tries to cause an ape civil war and a community of human mutants who live beneath a destroyed city try to conquer those whom they perceive as enemies. All leading to the finale.

Battle for the Planet of the Apes

1973

Death Wish 4: The Crackdown poster
5.7

After the death of his girlfriend's daughter from a drug overdose, Paul Kersey takes on the local drug cartel.

Death Wish 4: The Crackdown

1987

What a Way to Go! poster
7.1

A four-time widow discusses her four marriages, in which all of her husbands became incredibly rich and died prematurely because of their drive to be rich.

What a Way to Go!

1964

Conquest of the Planet of the Apes poster
6.2

In a futuristic world that has embraced ape slavery, a chimpanzee named Caesar resurfaces after almost twenty years of hiding from the authorities, and prepares for a revolt against humanity.

Conquest of the Planet of the Apes

1972

Cape Fear poster
7.4

Sam Bowden witnesses a rape committed by Max Cady and testifies against him. When released after 8 years in prison, Cady begins stalking Bowden and his family but is always clever enough not to violate the law.

Cape Fear

1962

Mackenna's Gold poster
6.6

A bandit kidnaps a Marshal who has seen a map showing a gold vein on Indian lands, but other groups are looking for it too, while the Apache try to keep the secret location undisturbed.

Mackenna's Gold

1969

10 to Midnight poster
6.2

Warren Stacy, an office equipment repairman, begins murdering women after they reject his advances. To minimize the evidence, Stacy always kills while naked, wearing nothing but gloves, and further evades the law with his strong alibis. Veteran detective Leo Kessler is convinced of Stacy's guilt and begins using questionable methods to catch him.

10 to Midnight

1983

Happy Birthday to Me poster
6.0

Virginia is proud that she belongs to a clique. The best students at a private school. But before her 18th birthday, a gruesome set of murders take place and her friends are the ones who are falling prey. Could it be her? She suffers from blackouts due to a freak accident one year earlier. We soon learn the truth behind her accident and what is going on.

Happy Birthday to Me

1981

The White Buffalo poster
6.0

In this strange western version of Moby Dick, Wild Bill Hickok hunts a white buffalo he has seen in a dream. Hickok moves through a variety of uniquely authentic western locations - dim, filthy, makeshift taverns; freezing, slaughterhouse-like frontier towns and beautifully desolate high country - before improbably teaming up with a young Crazy Horse to pursue the creature.

The White Buffalo

1977

Murphy's Law poster
6.1

A tough police detective escapes from custody after being framed and arrested for the murder of his ex-wife, and must now find the real killer and prove his innocence.

Murphy's Law

1986

The Chairman poster
5.5

An American scientist is sent to Red China to steal the formula for a newly developed agricultural enzyme. What he is not told by his bosses is that a micro-sized bomb has been planted in his brain so that should the mission ever look likely to fail, he can be eliminated at the push of a button!

The Chairman

1969

The Evil That Men Do poster
5.8

A former assassin (Charles Bronson) comes out of retirement to avenge the brutal murder of his friend at the hands of a sadistic torturer (Joseph Maher) employed by an oppressive foreign dictatorship.

The Evil That Men Do

1984

Taras Bulba poster
6.3

Ukraine, 16th century. While the Poles dominate the Cossack steppes, Andrei, son of Taras Bulba, a Cossack leader, must choose between his love for his family and his folk and his passion for a Polish woman.

Taras Bulba

1962

Ice Cold in Alex poster
7.3

A group of army personnel and nurses attempt a dangerous and arduous trek across the deserts of North Africa during the second world war. The leader of the team dreams of his ice cold beer when he reaches Alexandria.

Ice Cold in Alex

1958

Firewalker poster
5.3

A pair of adventurers try to track down an ancient Aztec/Mayan/Egyptian/Apache horde of gold.

Firewalker

1986

Kings of the Sun poster
6.0

In order to flee from powerful enemies, young Mayan king Balam leads his people north across the Gulf of Mexico to the coast of what will become the United States. They build a home in the new land but come into conflict with a tribe of Native Americans led by their chief, Black Eagle, while both Balam and Black Eagle fall in love the beautiful Mayan princess Ixchel.

Kings of the Sun

1963

Eye of the Devil poster
6.1

A French nobleman deserts his wife because of an ancient family secret.

Eye of the Devil

1966

North West Frontier poster
6.8

In the rebellious northern frontier province of colonial India, British Army Captain Scott, a young prince and the boy's governess escape by an obsolete train as they are relentlessly pursued by Muslim rebels intent on assassinating the prince.

North West Frontier

1959

The Passage poster
6.0

During WW 2, a Basque shepherd is approached by the underground, who wants him to lead a scientist and his family across the Pyrenees. While being pursued by a sadistic German.

The Passage

1979

Kinjite: Forbidden Subjects poster
5.6

A brutal Los Angeles police lieutenant is determined to bust up an organization that forces underage girls into prostitution.

Kinjite: Forbidden Subjects

1989

Messenger of Death poster
6.1

A Denver reporter investigates the mass murder of a family of Mormons in rural Colorado.

Messenger of Death

1988

Yield to the Night poster
6.9

Locked in her cell, a murderer reflects on the events that have led her to death row.

Yield to the Night

1956

St. Ives poster
5.8

A dabbler-in-crime and his assistant hire an ex-police reporter to recover some stolen papers.

St. Ives

1976

John Goldfarb, Please Come Home! poster
3.8

During the Cold War, John Goldfarb crashes his spy plane in the Middle East and is taken prisoner by the local government. His captor, King Fawz, soon discovers that Goldfarb used to be a college football star. So he issues him an ultimatum: coach his country's football team, or Fawz will surrender him to the Russians. Goldfarb teams up with undercover reporter Jenny Ericson, and together they plot to escape their dangerous situation.

John Goldfarb, Please Come Home!

1965

John Goldfarb, Please Come Home! poster
3.8

During the Cold War, John Goldfarb crashes his spy plane in the Middle East and is taken prisoner by the local government. His captor, King Fawz, soon discovers that Goldfarb used to be a college football star. So he issues him an ultimatum: coach his country's football team, or Fawz will surrender him to the Russians. Goldfarb teams up with undercover reporter Jenny Ericson, and together they plot to escape their dangerous situation.

John Goldfarb, Please Come Home!

1965

The Greek Tycoon poster
5.5

A lusty Greek shipping magnate courts the widow of an assassinated U.S. president.

The Greek Tycoon

1978

Tiger Bay poster
7.2

In Tiger Bay, the docklands of Cardiff, street urchin Gillie witnesses the brutal murder of a young woman. Instead of reporting the crime, she merely pockets a prize for herself — the perpetrator's shiny black revolver — and flees. When Detective Graham discovers that Gillie has the murder weapon, the fiery young girl weaves a web of lies to throw him off course.

Tiger Bay

1959

The Ambassador poster
5.1

An American ambassador to Israel tries to bring peace to the Middle East conflict through unconventional methods, but his efforts are hampered at every turn and his personal life threatened.

The Ambassador

1985

I Aim at the Stars poster
6.5

The life story of the famed rocket scientist Dr. Werner von Braun, one of the most brilliant and controversial figures of the space age. Dr. von Braun literally pioneered man's adventure into space through his rocket experiments; his was the brain behind the V-2 rockets which blasted London in World War II; his was also the brain which led America into the development and the launching of space satellites.

I Aim at the Stars

1960

As Long As They're Happy poster
7.5

The suburban peace of the Bentley household is shattered when John Bentley is informed by his wife Stella that their two married daughters, Pat and Corrine, are in trouble and need funds to come home and bring their husbands, Peter, a penniless Parisian artist, and Barnaby, a Texas cowboy, with them. And the youngest daughter, Gwen, has tricked an American singer, Bobby Denver, into visiting them on the pretext that it is the home of a noted British film magnate. When all the women in the household – including the maid – fall for the singer's charms, Bentley consults a crackpot psychiatrist, Dr. Schneider, who almost succeeds in ousting not the singer but Bentley's wife, with his advice to Bentley to make her jealous by living it up with Pearl, a showgirl recruited for the purpose.

As Long As They're Happy

1955

Huckleberry Finn poster
6.0

Huckleberry Finn is a 15-year-old boy who has had a difficult relationship with his often violent father for a long time. When Dad tried to kidnap him, Huck decides to run away from home, and heads out of town on a raft. Huck is soon joined by Jim, a runaway slave who is no more eager to see his master than Huck is to see his father. As the two friends make their way down the Mississippi, they're faced with a variety of challenges and adventures.

Huckleberry Finn

1974

For Better, for Worse poster
5.8

In postwar London a young graduate and his girlfriend decide to marry. Her well-to-do parents are not convinced, but they agree once he has got a £5.10.0 job and a 30/- a week single-room flat. The newly-weds find money fearfully tight, the flat cramped, the neighbours a trial, and her parents always hovering. Can faith conquer all? Is there some way of getting rid of tea-leaves except down the sink?

For Better, for Worse

1954

For Better, for Worse poster
5.8

In postwar London a young graduate and his girlfriend decide to marry. Her well-to-do parents are not convinced, but they agree once he has got a £5.10.0 job and a 30/- a week single-room flat. The newly-weds find money fearfully tight, the flat cramped, the neighbours a trial, and her parents always hovering. Can faith conquer all? Is there some way of getting rid of tea-leaves except down the sink?

For Better, for Worse

1954

The Reincarnation of Peter Proud poster
5.8

When college professor, Peter Proud begins experiencing flashbacks of an earlier life, he's mysteriously drawn to a place he's never been to, but which seems familiar and where he soon finds his previous incarnation's wife.

The Reincarnation of Peter Proud

1975

Caboblanco poster
5.4

Giff Hoyt, a cafe owner in Cabo Blanco, Peru after World War II is caught between refuge-seeking Nazis and their enemies. After the murder of a sea explorer is passed off as accidental death by the corrupt local police, Giff becomes suspicious. The police chief also intimidates a new arrival Marie, and Giff intervenes to help her. Giff suspects Beckdorff, a Nazi refugee living in the area. Beckdorff, it emerges, is seeking to uncover sunken treasure.

Caboblanco

1980

Before Winter Comes poster
6.0

Drama/Comedy set in a refugee camp in occupied Austria after World War II. A shrewd multi-lingual interpreter who mediates between Russian and British military brass enters into a friendly rivalry with British Major Giles Burnside, who is in charge of assigning the displaced persons into either the American or Russian zones.

Before Winter Comes

1969

No Trees in the Street poster
5.8

Based on the play by Ted Willis, the film is set in the years just before World War II, when England hadn't completely dug itself out of the worldwide depression. Melvyn Hayes is featured as an aimless teenager, who tries to escape his squalid surroundings by entering a life of crime. He falls in with local hoodlum Herbert Lom, who holds the rest of the slum citizens in the grip of fear including Hayes' own family. No Trees in the Street chronicles Hayes' sordid progress from nickel-and-dime thefts to murder.

No Trees in the Street

1959

An Alligator Named Daisy poster
6.4

Returning from a cricket match in Ireland, Peter Weston gains a pet alligator from another passenger who abandons it with him. He is horrified and while his first instinct is to get rid of it he develops a relationship with a young Irishwoman who appears to be entwined with the reptile. He soon discovers that Daisy is tame and seems to be the way to Moira's heart.

An Alligator Named Daisy

1955