Movies
Ranking John McTiernan’s Films
John McTiernan has directed 11 movies, and what a career he has had
John McTiernan has directed 11 movies, and what a career he has had. One could argue that his career started out as strong as it possibly could before fizzling out with a whimper softer than a whisper in church. And the worst part is that it was self-inflicted. McTiernan went from the hottest action director in Hollywood to a shutout to someone who is now retired from movie making and living only in memory of his best movies.
So what happened to McTiernan? He pleads guilty to lying to F.B.I. agents about requesting a private investigator to look into producer Charles Roven during the production of Rollerball (2002). Roven was one of two illegally wiretapped phone calls. McTiernan was incarcerated in federal prison for nearly a year, during which he had to file for bankruptcy.
The man went from having the stars aligned for a prestigious career that’d be remembered fondly to being one of the most distrusted and disliked personalities in Hollywood.
This whole John McTiernan ranking extravaganza was inspired by the Blank Check podcast with Griffin and David. The podcast specializes in reviewing directors’ complete filmographies on an episode-by-episode basis. The show’s premise is that it looks at directors who were offered “blank checks” to make projects after having initial success. The hosts are Griffin Newman and David Sims.
Below are the 11 movies that McTiernan has directed in order of release date.
Nomads (1986)
Predator (1987)
Die Hard (1988)
The Hunt For Red October (1990)
Medicine Man (1992)
Last Action Hero (1993)
Die Hard With A Vengeance (1995)
Thomas Crown Affair (1999)
The 13th Warrior (1999)
Rollerball (2002)
Basic (2003)
Over the next few weeks, I will share my thoughts on the films before the full list is unveiled.
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