The Best John Saxon Movies

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Updated August 11, 2023 1.0K votes 180 voters
Over 100 Ranker voters have come together to rank this list of The Best John Saxon Movies
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List of the best John Saxon movies, ranked best to worst with movie trailers when available. John Saxon's highest grossing movies have received a lot of accolades over the years, earning millions upon millions around the world. The order of these top John Saxon movies is decided by how many votes they receive, so only highly rated John Saxon movies will be at the top of the list. John Saxon has been in a lot of films, so people often debate each other over what the greatest John Saxon movie of all time is. If you and a friend are arguing about this then use this list of the most entertaining John Saxon films to end the squabble once and for all.

If you think the best John Saxon role isn't at the top, then upvote it so it has the chance to become number one. The greatest John Saxon performances didn't necessarily come from the best movies, but in most cases they go hand in hand.

Saxon died July 25, 2020 of pneumonia. He was 83.

John Saxon is no stranger to working with popular directors, including David Cronenberg, Blake Edwards and Otto Preminger.

Most divisive: Mitchell
Ranked by
  • Enter the Dragon
    1

    Enter the Dragon

    Bruce Lee, John Saxon, Jim Kelly
    54 votes
    • Released: 1973
    • Directed by: Robert Clouse
    Bruce Lee plays a martial-arts expert determined to help capture the narcotics dealer whose gang was responsible for the death of his sister. Lee enters a kung fu competition in an attempt to fight his way to the dealer's headquarters with the help of some friends.

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  • Black Christmas
    2

    Black Christmas

    Olivia Hussey, Margot Kidder, Keir Dullea
    29 votes
    • Released: 1974
    • Directed by: Bob Clark
    In the chilling film Black Christmas, a group of sorority sisters, including Jess (Olivia Hussey) and Barb (Margot Kidder), find themselves terrorized by unsettling phone calls during their holiday break. Unbeknownst to them, the calls are coming from inside the house. Directed by Bob Clark, this classic horror-thriller is known as one of the earliest slasher films. As the mystery unravels, tensions rise, leading to a suspenseful climax that will leave you on the edge of your seat. The movie's unique blend of horror and mystery has cemented its place in the annals of film history.
  • The Evil Eye
    3

    The Evil Eye

    John Saxon, Valentina Cortese, Letícia Román
    24 votes
    • Released: 1963
    • Directed by: Mario Bava
    The Girl Who Knew Too Much is a 1963 Italian giallo film. Directed by Italian filmmaker Mario Bava, the film stars John Saxon as Dr. Marcello Bassi and Letícia Román as Nora Davis. The plot revolves around a young woman named Nora, who travels to Rome and witnesses a murder. The police and Dr. Bassi don't believe her since a corpse can't be found. Several more murders follow, tied to a decade-long string of killings of victims chosen in alphabetical order. The Girl Who Knew Too Much is considered to be the first giallo film, a film genre with a mixture of thriller, sexploitation and horror conventions. This was Bava's last film shot in black-and-white.
  • A Nightmare on Elm Street
    4

    A Nightmare on Elm Street

    John Saxon, Ronee Blakley, Heather Langenkamp
    34 votes
    • Released: 1984
    • Directed by: Wes Craven
    In the chilling horror classic A Nightmare on Elm Street, Nancy Thompson (Heather Langenkamp) finds herself tormented by a monstrous figure in her dreams. This spectral menace, known as Freddy Krueger (Robert Englund), wears a bladed glove and leaves a trail of terror in his wake. As teens in her town start dying mysteriously, Nancy realizes the peril is not confined to her nightmares. Directed by Wes Craven, this film weaves a web of psychological terror that blurs the lines between dream and reality. The movie was so impactful that it spawned a franchise of sequels, solidifying its place in horror cinema history.

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  • The Appaloosa
    5

    The Appaloosa

    Marlon Brando, Anjanette Comer, John Saxon
    20 votes
    • Released: 1966
    • Directed by: Sidney J. Furie
    In this classic Western, buffalo hunter Matt Fletcher (Marlon Brando) plans on starting a horse breeding farm with his friend Paco (Rafael Campos) in the border town of Ojo Prieto. But when a Mexican bandit (John Saxon) steals his prized Appaloosa stallion, Matt crosses the border determined to get revenge. In search of his beloved horse, Matt falls in love with a beautiful woman (Anjanette Comer), battles a band of bandits and faces poisonous scorpions.

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  • Tenebrae
    6

    Tenebrae

    John Saxon, Eva Robin's, Giuliano Gemma
    20 votes
    • Released: 1982
    • Directed by: Dario Argento
    Tenebrae is a 1982 Italian horror thriller film written and directed by Dario Argento. The film stars Anthony Franciosa, John Saxon and Daria Nicolodi. After having experimented with two exercises in pure supernatural horror, 1977's Suspiria and 1980's Inferno, Tenebrae represented Argento's return to the giallo subgenre, which he had helped popularize in the 1970s. The story concerns an American writer promoting his latest murder-mystery novel in Rome, only to get embroiled in the search for a serial killer who has apparently been inspired to kill by the novel. The film was released in Italy and throughout most of Europe without experiencing any reported censorship problems, but was classified, prosecuted and banned as a "video nasty" in the United Kingdom. Its theatrical distribution in the United States was delayed until 1984, when it was released in a heavily censored version under the title Unsane. In its cut form, Tenebrae received a mostly negative critical reception, but the original, fully restored version later became widely available for reappraisal.