108 Rod Steiger Movies, Ranked Best to Worst

Bill Gillespie, the bigoted police chief of Sparta, Mississippi, arrests African-American Philadelphia detective Virgil Tibbs for a businessman’s murder. After proving his credentials, Tibbs is reluctantly asked to assist the investigations. Facing risks, he delves deep into the case, but encounters difficulties from Gillespie on every step. As the two men learn to work together, Tibbs proves his mettle earning Gillespie’s respect. 

The age-old tale of romance is set against the backdrop of World War I, the 1917 Russian revolution, and the Russian Civil War. Yuri Zhivago is in love with Lara, who ends up marrying Pasha Antipov. Zhivago marries Tonya. Years later, fate brings Yuri and Lara back together again only to cruelly tear them apart. 

This 8 Academy Awards-winning movie revolves around Terry Malloy, a boxer and longshoreman, who works for the dock union boss, Johnny Friendly. After witnessing a fellow-dockhand’s murder by Johnny’s gangsters, he rethinks about the people he is working for. When he meets the victim’s sister Edie, he decides to join hands with her in Father Barry’s campaign against the corrupt union bosses.

The Pawnbroker is a drama film which tells the story of a Jewish pawnbroker, who becomes a victim of Nazi persecution. He eventually begins to lose all his faith in divinity and on mankind.

This war drama film takes us to 1929, and it revolves around the story of Omar Mukhtar, a Libyan leader and his resistance against the Italian Fascist dictator Benito Mussolini, who wants to conquer the former’s nation.

During 1910s’ Mexican Revolution, John Mallory, IRA explosive expert escaping the British, reaches Mexico where he meets unscrupulous Mexican outlaw Juan Miranda who plots to use Mallory’s skills to rob a bank. Then both get entangled in Mexican Revolution where Mallory uses his expertise to fight against Col. Reza. As they are required to make sacrifices, the two unwittingly become Revolution’s heroes.  

The Longest Day is a epic war film, which revolves around the events of the famous D-day, told from both the perspectives of the Allied Forces as well as the Germans. 

Waterloo is an epic historical film which tells us the story of French Emperor Napoleon Bonaparte, who is banished with a thousand men after the disastrous Battle of Leipzig. Eventually, he manages to escape and rallies the French to his side. Within a short time, he assembles an army to conquer Europe, against the Allied Forces of the British, the Prussians, the Austrians, as well as the Russians.       

Eddie Willis has been a well-known sports journalist in New York City for seventeen years, but he suddenly finds himself out of a job when the newspaper closes. However, he is soon approached by a fight promoter named Nick Benko, who wants him to act as a PR man for his new fighter Toro Moreno. Although Eddie is not really interested, especially because he knows what kind of a fighter Toro is, he eventually agrees due to his financial situation and their huge salary. However, he begins to doubt what he is doing when a fighter is killed in the ring.

Oklahoma!

In 1966, Rubin "The Hurricane" Carter, a renowned boxer, was wrongfully convicted of a triple murder and sentenced to life imprisonment. The film concentrates on his fight against his conviction, also depicting how an Afro-American youth convinces his Canadian foster parents to help Hurricane, resulting in his release after twenty years of imprisonment.  

Time of Indifference is a drama film which tells the story of a penniless countess who falls for a young man. However, she is unaware of the fact that he is also involved with her beautiful young daughter.

In English The Magic Mountain, the film has been adapted from Thomas Mann's eponymous novel and centers on a young man, who visits a sanatorium in the Swiss Alps to meet his tubercular cousin. Shortly contaminated, he continues to reside there for seven years, meanwhile meeting varied characters, who represent a miniature Europe.  

A commercial plane carrying eleven people crash lands into a South American jungle occupied by brutal cannibals. To escape, the plane has to be repaired and pilot Robert Ryan successfully manages to do that. However, the plane can now only carry five passengers. Who gets to return to safety?

The Player is an American satirical black comedy film, which tells the story of Hollywood film producer Griffin Mill, who starts receiving threats anonymously. However, he is certain that David, a scriptwriter is behind it. He invites the latter to sort things out, but things take an ugly turn, and he ends up murdering him.  

Discredited American expatriate professor, Theo Wilkins, calls on his protégé and thief Paul Manson to help him pull off one last heist. The team including Melanie an exotic dancer pulls of the heist but rising tensions and unforeseen circumstances jeopardize their chances of enjoying their loot. 

This is a historical drama film depicting the last four days of Italian dictator Benito Mussolini. It shows a defeated Mussolini traveling to Milan to ask the archbishop for help before fleeing to northern village of Dongo along with his mistress, still hoping that his loyal fascists will recoup. But that does not happen and he is caught by the partisans.  

The Lucky Star is a drama film which tells the story of a young Jewish boy, who is hiding in a farm in Netherlands. He gets inspired by Hollywood Western films, and eventually decides to act like a Wild West hero to defeat a German military officer.

On watching news about two bomb threats, Jim Molnar realizes that he has been tricked into making those bombs by his ex army friend Hoplin.. But he cannot do anything as he and his wife, Joan, and daughter Patty are being held hostage by Hoplin, who is determined to collect $500,000 ransom. After negotiation, the gang sends Joan to collect the ransom, keeping Jim and Patty hostages. 

While stationed in Italy during WWII, American soldier Phillip Cass meets and marries Italian Teresa Russo. When his bride arrives in America, the newlyweds share apartment with Phillip’s family, which challenges the bond between the couple. Besides, Phillip’s overbearing and possessive mother refuses to make things easier for Teresa. Consequently, the couple drifts apart, but arrival of a baby brings back happiness. 

Sentenced to death for killing a shopkeeper over a teddy which he couldn’t afford for his daughter, John Resko receives last-minute reprieve and is transferred to Dannemora. After initial difficulties with inmates and news from family, a principal keeper helps him discover his talent for art that fetches appreciation. Released after 18 years, he reunites with his grown-up daughter.

While a young woman is passing through rural Tennessee, she gets caught unintentionally in a feud between two local neighboring clans.    

Johnny is one of the best billiards players, but unfortunately his cunning mentor, Joe, trains him to be a hustler, and he decides how and where Johnny plays. Joe holds Johnny back from achieving his dreams, but eventually Johnny decides to break free. However, Joe breaks Johnny’s hand, which leaves him unable to play again. Johnny finds another legitimate job, but years later, he discovers that his brother has got himself involved with Joe.

The Amityville Horror tells the story of a newly-wed couple who move into a large mansion on the Long Island coast. They soon discover paranormal manifestations in the house, having strong effects on them. Soon, they also learn that their house might be haunted. Unfortunately for them, anyone who tries to exorcise the house meets with their own doom.

13 West Street is a crime drama film which revolves around Walt Sherill, a space engineer who gets assaulted randomly by a gang of rich juvenile delinquents. He decides to take revenge and hunt them out without any aid from the police. 

The film is based on memoir by Carlotta Monti, legendary Field’s companion during last years. Fields, a Ziegfeld Follies headliner, loses his savings and also, his girlfriend leaves him. While operating a wax museum in Santa Monica, he receives a film role. Quickly rising to stardom, he is closely associated with John Barrymore and shares a stormy relationship with actress Carlotta Monti.  

The story focuses on two adolescent girls, who are infatuated with the Western outlaws after reading Ned Buntline's stories. Eventually, they leave home to join the Doolin-Dalton gang and on finding the members demoralized, they start shaming and inspiring them, forcing them to rejuvenate. They also start taking part in raids. 

A woman gets married to a rich wine producer although he is unaware of the fact that her eyes are on his wealth. Soon, she makes a new lover, with whom she plots to get rid of her husband.

Set during the Northern Ireland conflict, the story follows a former IRA soldier, who has shunned violence and now leads a peaceful life with his wife and daughter in Belfast. The plot picks up when one day his family is caught in a riot and killed by the British. Enraged, he decides to move to London to avenge his loved ones.  

Marty Preston is a boy living in a small town, who finds a puppy who is abused by his owner, and soon the puppy develops a liking to him. However, his strict father refuses to allow him to keep the dog. Marty names the puppy Shiloh and decides to make a home for him on the top of a hill.  

Earth is surrounded by a fleet of Martians spaceships who initially claim to have come in peace. But they soon kill the entire U.S. Congress and later assassinate President James Dale. Earth survives when it is accidentally discovered that Martians die on hearing Slim Whitman’s song “Indian Love Call” which is then played all over the world. 

Lucille, an abused wife, kills her husband. She escapes to Hollywood, hoping that she can find stardom. However, meanwhile, back in Alabama, her nephew is dealing with his problems of his own, after witnessing a corrupt cop commit a racially-motivated murder.

Raymond is a small-time conman, who takes the blame of a crime to save his boss, Tony, a drug lord. However, he is infuriated upon his release, when Tony shows his appreciation by giving him a menial job. Therefore, he decides to take revenge by stealing drugs worth millions. The plan is successful and he plans to cross the border into Mexico, but he suspects that the DEA might be in pursuit.  

Based on Sidney Sheldon’s novel, the film follows a gentle psychiatrist, Judd Stevens, as he becomes the prime suspect in the killing of one of his patients and later his secretary. The cops conduct an investigation, but when the killings continue, Stevens decides to take things in his own hands. Aided by a private investigator, he begins his search for the real culprits to prove his own innocence.

Klondike Fever is an adventure film which tells the story of Jack London and his epic journey from San Francisco to the Klondike gold fields during the gold rush.   

A twenty year old Christine York, disturbed by her strange dreams, is oblivious that Satan has selected her to conceive his child on the eve of the new millennium. When he arrives in a man’s body looking for Christine, an ex-cop Jericho Cane, whose wife and daughter have been murdered earlier, is there to protect her.

Ray Quick is a former CIA demolition expert, who has left the organization after savagely beating his colleague Ned Trent for killing of an innocent child. Now working as a hit man, he is hired by a young lady, determined to take revenge for her parents’ death at the hands of a mobster family. He does not know that Ned now works for the same family. 

Nick is a police officer who is forced to resign from the police force, due to a scandal. However, after two years, the police department decides to rehire him, in order to catch a serial killer on the loose, who is responsible for the killing of eleven women.

In this unofficial sequel to Cross of Iron, a German sergeant Rolf Steiner is convinced by General Hofmann to meet and negotiate a surrender of his troops to the Americans after Hitler is killed. However, the plan goes awry as the plot to kill Hitler itself fails.

Stranded in North Africa during the Second World War, five soldiers and a beautiful nurse decide to team up and recover a lost loot worth two million pounds.

Portrait of a Hitman is an action drama film which tells the story of a professional killer who is hired to assassinate a brain surgeon. However, soon it turns out that the surgeon is an old friend of his, and they both are in love with the same woman.

Judd is an alcoholic who abuses his dog Shiloh. But Shiloh is eventually rescued by Marty, so Judd starts threatening him. Judd soon meets with an accident, and Marty decides to help him get back on his feet, in order to open up the hidden kindness within him.    

In Pursuit of Honor is a Western drama film which revolves around a group of cavalrymen, who disobey orders, after the Army orders them to put down unneeded army horses. Instead, they decide to steal the horses, in order to save their lives, but  they soon find themselves pursued by the military.