Sort by Popularity - Most Popular Movies and TV Shows With John Sayles

1. The Mummy (1999)

PG-13 | 124 min | Action, Adventure, Fantasy

At an archaeological dig in the ancient city of Hamunaptra, an American serving in the French Foreign Legion accidentally awakens a mummy who begins to wreak havoc as he searches for the reincarnation of his long-lost love.

Director: Stephen Sommers | Stars: Brendan Fraser, Rachel Weisz, John Hannah, Arnold Vosloo

Votes: 460,503 | Gross: $155.25M

2. The Spiderwick Chronicles (2008)

PG | 96 min | Action, Adventure, Drama

Upon moving into the run-down Spiderwick Estate with their mother, twin brothers Jared and Simon Grace, along with their sister Mallory, find themselves pulled into an alternate world full of faeries and other creatures.

Director: Mark Waters | Stars: Freddie Highmore, Sarah Bolger, David Strathairn, Mary-Louise Parker

Votes: 102,676 | Gross: $71.20M

3. Apollo 13 (I) (1995)

PG | 140 min | Adventure, Drama, History

NASA must devise a strategy to return Apollo 13 to Earth safely after the spacecraft undergoes massive internal damage putting the lives of the three astronauts on board in jeopardy.

Director: Ron Howard | Stars: Tom Hanks, Bill Paxton, Kevin Bacon, Gary Sinise

Votes: 315,369 | Gross: $173.84M

4. Secondhand Lions (2003)

PG | 109 min | Comedy, Drama, Family

Fourteen-year-old Walter Caldwell's irresponsible mother Mae sends him to live with his bachelor uncles, Hub and Garth, so that she can go on yet another husband-hunting trip.

Director: Tim McCanlies | Stars: Haley Joel Osment, Michael Caine, Robert Duvall, Kyra Sedgwick

Votes: 61,714 | Gross: $41.41M

5. The Alienist (2018–2020)

TV-MA | 60 min | Crime, Drama, Mystery

Newspaper illustrator John Moore meets with criminal psychologist (alienist) Dr. Laszlo Kreizler to investigate a serial killer in New York during the late 19th century.

Stars: Daniel Brühl, Dakota Fanning, Luke Evans, Robert Wisdom

Votes: 60,107

6. The Quick and the Dead (1995)

R | 108 min | Action, Drama, Romance

A female gunfighter returns to a frontier town where a dueling tournament is being held, which she enters in an effort to avenge her father's death.

Director: Sam Raimi | Stars: Sharon Stone, Gene Hackman, Russell Crowe, Leonardo DiCaprio

Votes: 102,771 | Gross: $18.64M

7. Mimic (1997)

R | 105 min | Horror, Sci-Fi

Three years ago, entomologist Dr. Susan Tyler genetically created an insect to kill cockroaches carrying a virulent disease. Now, the insects are out to destroy their only predator, mankind.

Director: Guillermo del Toro | Stars: Mira Sorvino, Jeremy Northam, Alexander Goodwin, Giancarlo Giannini

Votes: 55,611 | Gross: $25.48M

8. Malcolm X (1992)

PG-13 | 202 min | Biography, Drama, History

Biographical epic of the controversial and influential Black Nationalist leader, from his early life and career as a small-time gangster, to his ministry as a member of the Nation of Islam and his eventual assassination.

Director: Spike Lee | Stars: Denzel Washington, Angela Bassett, Delroy Lindo, Spike Lee

Votes: 101,983 | Gross: $48.17M

9. The Alamo (2004)

PG-13 | 137 min | Drama, History, War

Based on the 1836 standoff between a group of Texan and Tejano men, led by Davy Crockett and Jim Bowie, and Mexican dictator Santa Anna's forces at the Alamo in San Antonio Texas.

Director: John Lee Hancock | Stars: Dennis Quaid, Billy Bob Thornton, Emilio Echevarría, Jason Patric

Votes: 22,297 | Gross: $22.41M

10. The Howling (1981)

R | 91 min | Horror

After a bizarre and near deadly encounter with a serial killer, a television newswoman is sent to a remote mountain resort whose residents may not be what they seem.

Director: Joe Dante | Stars: Dee Wallace, Patrick Macnee, Dennis Dugan, Christopher Stone

Votes: 40,166 | Gross: $17.99M

11. Piranha (1978)

R | 94 min | Comedy, Horror, Sci-Fi

When flesh-eating piranhas are accidentally released into a summer resort's rivers, the guests become their next meal.

Director: Joe Dante | Stars: Bradford Dillman, Heather Menzies-Urich, Kevin McCarthy, Keenan Wynn

Votes: 24,690 | Gross: $6.00M

12. The Clan of the Cave Bear (1986)

R | 98 min | Adventure, Drama, Fantasy

A young Cro-Magnon woman is raised by Neanderthals.

Director: Michael Chapman | Stars: Daryl Hannah, Pamela Reed, James Remar, Thomas G. Waites

Votes: 6,961 | Gross: $1.95M

13. Lone Star (1996)

R | 135 min | Drama, Mystery, Western

When the skeleton of his murdered predecessor is found, Sheriff Sam Deeds unearths many other long-buried secrets in his Texas border town.

Director: John Sayles | Stars: Chris Cooper, Elizabeth Peña, Stephen Mendillo, Stephen J. Lang

Votes: 32,310 | Gross: $13.27M

14. Alligator (1980)

R | 91 min | Horror, Sci-Fi, Thriller

A pet baby alligator is flushed down a toilet and survives in the city sewers. Twelve years later, it grows to an enormous size thanks to a diet of discarded laboratory dogs injected with growth hormones. Now, humans have entered the menu.

Director: Lewis Teague | Stars: Robert Forster, Robin Riker, Michael V. Gazzo, Dean Jagger

Votes: 15,851

15. Battle Beyond the Stars (1980)

PG | 104 min | Action, Adventure, Sci-Fi

A farm boy recruits a band of outlaws to save the planet Akir from forces that threaten to wipe them out from the face of the universe. A battle stretching beyond the stars begins here.

Directors: Jimmy T. Murakami, Roger Corman | Stars: George Peppard, Robert Vaughn, Richard Thomas, John Saxon

Votes: 10,219

16. The 6th Day (2000)

PG-13 | 123 min | Action, Mystery, Sci-Fi

A man meets a clone of himself and stumbles into a grand conspiracy about clones taking over the world.

Director: Roger Spottiswoode | Stars: Arnold Schwarzenegger, Michael Rapaport, Tony Goldwyn, Michael Rooker

Votes: 127,861 | Gross: $34.60M

17. The Man Who Killed Hitler and Then the Bigfoot (2018)

Not Rated | 98 min | Adventure, Drama, Sci-Fi

A legendary American war veteran is recruited to hunt a mythical creature.

Director: Robert D. Krzykowski | Stars: Sam Elliott, Rocco Gioffre, Aidan Turner, Melissa Jalali

Votes: 13,786

18. Something Wild (1986)

R | 114 min | Comedy, Crime, Romance

A free-spirited woman "kidnaps" a yuppie for a weekend of adventure. But the fun quickly takes a dangerous turn when her ex-convict husband shows up.

Director: Jonathan Demme | Stars: Jeff Daniels, Melanie Griffith, George 'Red' Schwartz, Leib Lensky

Votes: 21,064 | Gross: $8.36M

19. Eight Men Out (1988)

PG | 119 min | Drama, History, Sport

A dramatization of the Black Sox scandal when the underpaid Chicago White Sox accepted bribes to deliberately lose the 1919 World Series.

Director: John Sayles | Stars: John Cusack, Clifton James, Jace Alexander, Gordon Clapp

Votes: 22,071 | Gross: $5.68M

20. In the Electric Mist (2009)

R | 117 min | Crime, Drama, Mystery

A detective in post-Katrina New Orleans has a series of surreal encounters with a troop of ghostly Confederate soldiers while investigating serial killings of local prostitutes, a 1965 lynching, and corrupt local businessmen.

Director: Bertrand Tavernier | Stars: Tommy Lee Jones, John Goodman, Peter Sarsgaard, Mary Steenburgen

Votes: 19,856

21. The Secret of Roan Inish (1994)

PG | 103 min | Drama, Family, Fantasy

Young Fiona lives with her grandparents in a small fishing village where she takes an active role to unravel the mysterious secrets.

Director: John Sayles | Stars: Jeni Courtney, Eileen Colgan, Mick Lally, Pat Slowey

Votes: 9,866 | Gross: $6.10M

22. The Gray House

Adventure, Drama | Post-production

It centers on the three women who General Ulysses S. Grant credited as helping the North win the Civil War.

Stars: Paul Anderson, Daisy Head, Robert Knepper, Ben Vereen

23. Matinee (1993)

PG | 99 min | Comedy, Drama

The teenage son of a navy sailor newly stationed in Key West gets some excitement with his friends when a small-time film producer comes to town to premiere a kitschy horror film during the Cuban Missile Crisis.

Director: Joe Dante | Stars: John Goodman, Cathy Moriarty, Simon Fenton, Omri Katz

Votes: 12,392 | Gross: $9.53M

24. Matewan (1987)

PG-13 | 135 min | Drama, History

A labor union organizer comes to an embattled mining community brutally and violently dominated and harassed by the mining company.

Director: John Sayles | Stars: Chris Cooper, James Earl Jones, Mary McDonnell, Will Oldham

Votes: 8,906 | Gross: $1.68M

25. Straight Talk (1992)

PG | 91 min | Comedy, Drama, Romance

A woman ditches her small-town life for big-city Chicago, where she becomes a sensation as a radio-show host.

Director: Barnet Kellman | Stars: Dolly Parton, James Woods, Griffin Dunne, Michael Madsen

Votes: 3,989 | Gross: $21.20M

26. Gridlock'd (1997)

R | 91 min | Comedy, Crime, Drama

Two friends try to kick their drug addiction after a friend dies from an overdose, when they try to enroll in a detox program, things quickly go wrong.

Director: Vondie Curtis-Hall | Stars: Tupac Shakur, Tim Roth, Thandiwe Newton, Charles Fleischer

Votes: 16,587 | Gross: $5.48M

27. Late Show with David Letterman (1993–2015)

TV-PG | 60 min | Comedy, Music, Talk-Show

The Late Show with David Letterman is an hour-long weeknight comedy and talk-show broadcast by CBS from the Ed Sullivan Theater on Broadway in New York City.

Stars: David Letterman, Paul Shaffer, Alan Kalter, Biff Henderson

Votes: 14,288

28. The Lady in Red (1979)

R | 93 min | Action, Crime, Drama

After being in the wrong place at the wrong time, a naïve farm girl moves to Chicago, where she becomes trapped in a vicious cycle of prostitution and crime abetted by John Dillinger.

Director: Lewis Teague | Stars: Pamela Sue Martin, Robert Conrad, Louise Fletcher, Robert Hogan

Votes: 1,405

29. The Newton Boys (1998)

PG-13 | 122 min | Action, Crime, Drama

The story of the Newton gang, the most successful bank robbers in history, owing to their good planning and minimal violence.

Director: Richard Linklater | Stars: Matthew McConaughey, Ethan Hawke, Skeet Ulrich, Vincent D'Onofrio

Votes: 12,380 | Gross: $10.30M

30. Biography (1987– )

TV-14 | 60 min | Documentary, Biography, History

The life stories of various historical figures and celebrities are told.

Stars: Jack Perkins, Peter Graves, Harry Smith, Robert J. Thompson

Votes: 2,087

31. The Challenge (1982)

R | 108 min | Action, Drama

A down-and-out American boxer becomes involved in a feud between two Japanese brothers.

Director: John Frankenheimer | Stars: Scott Glenn, Toshirô Mifune, Donna Kei Benz, Atsuo Nakamura

Votes: 2,666 | Gross: $3.53M

32. Piranha (1995 TV Movie)

R | 89 min | Horror, Sci-Fi

Remake of the classic film tale of nature biting back. When flesh-eating piranhas are accidentally released into a summer resort's rivers, the guests become their next meal.

Director: Scott P. Levy | Stars: William Katt, Alexandra Paul, Monte Markham, Darleen Carr

Votes: 2,544

33. Baseball (1994–2010)

TV-PG | 104 min | Documentary, History, Sport

A documentary on the history of the sport with major topics including Afro-American players, player/team owner relations and the resilience of the game.

Stars: Daniel Okrent, George F. Will, John Chancellor, Doris Kearns Goodwin

Votes: 4,735

34. The Brother from Another Planet (1984)

R | 108 min | Comedy, Sci-Fi

A mute alien with the appearance of a black human is chased by outer-space bounty hunters through the streets of Harlem.

Director: John Sayles | Stars: Joe Morton, Daryl Edwards, Rosanna Carter, Ray Ramirez

Votes: 6,561 | Gross: $3.70M

35. Men of War (1994)

R | 102 min | Action, Drama, Thriller

A former Special Ops soldier leads a group of mercenaries to an island in the South China Sea: their mission is obtain the rights to the unusual treasure that the island beholds.

Director: Perry Lang | Stars: Dolph Lundgren, Charlotte Lewis, BD Wong, Tony Denison

Votes: 4,591

36. Baby It's You (1983)

R | 105 min | Comedy, Drama, Romance

In a 1966 New Jersey high school, Jill and new student Sheik from the other side of the tracks make their way in a first love romance.

Director: John Sayles | Stars: Rosanna Arquette, Vincent Spano, Joanna Merlin, Jack Davidson

Votes: 2,146 | Gross: $1.87M

37. City of Hope (1991)

R | 129 min | Crime, Drama

An intersecting tale with a multitude of characters living lives which, in one way or another, revolve around an old apartment block scheduled to be demolished.

Director: John Sayles | Stars: Vincent Spano, Tony Lo Bianco, Stephen Mendillo, Chris Cooper

Votes: 2,722 | Gross: $1.26M

38. Girlfight (2000)

R | 110 min | Drama, Sport

Diana, without her father knowing it, trains as a boxer and achieves impressive success, blazing new trails for female boxers.

Director: Karyn Kusama | Stars: Michelle Rodriguez, Douglas Santiago, Jamie Tirelli, Paul Calderon

Votes: 11,379 | Gross: $1.52M

39. Passion Fish (1992)

R | 135 min | Drama

After an accident leaves her a paraplegic, a former soap opera star struggles to recover both emotionally and mentally, until she meets her newest nurse, who has struggles of her own.

Director: John Sayles | Stars: Mary McDonnell, Alfre Woodard, Angela Bassett, Lenore Banks

Votes: 6,083 | Gross: $5.41M

40. Sonora, the Devil's Highway (I) (2018)

TV-14 | 94 min | Drama, Thriller, Western

1931 in Mexico, under pressure from Sonora government, a group of people are forced to take a trip to Mexicali, where they will have to face the racism and other kind of dangers through the dangerous desert.

Director: Alejandro Springall | Stars: Fernando Becerril, Juan Manuel Bernal, Rafael Cebrián, Joaquín Cosio

Votes: 722

41. The Story of Film: An Odyssey (2011)

Not Rated | 62 min | Documentary, History

A comprehensive history of the medium and art of motion pictures.

Stars: Mark Cousins, Juan Diego Botto, Aleksandr Sokurov, Norman Lloyd

Votes: 4,828

42. Wild Thing (1987)

PG-13 | 92 min | Action, Drama, Thriller

A child witnesses drug dealers murder his parents. He escapes and grows up wild in the city's slums. Years later he emerges to help the residents of the area who are being terrorized by street gangs and drug dealers.

Director: Max Reid | Stars: Robert Knepper, Kathleen Quinlan, Robert Davi, Maury Chaykin

Votes: 721

43. Return of the Secaucus Seven (1980)

R | 104 min | Drama

Seven former college friends, along with a few new friends, gather for a weekend reunion at a summer house in New Hampshire to reminisce about the good old days, when they got arrested on the way to a protest in Washington, DC.

Director: John Sayles | Stars: Bruce MacDonald, Maggie Renzi, Adam LeFevre, Maggie Cousineau

Votes: 2,226 | Gross: $2.00M

44. Limbo (I) (1999)

R | 126 min | Adventure, Drama, Thriller

In an economically devastated Alaskan town, a fisherman with a troublesome past dates a woman whose young daughter does not approve of him. When he witnesses the murder of his shady brother, he, the woman and the kid run to the wilderness.

Director: John Sayles | Stars: David Strathairn, Mary Elizabeth Mastrantonio, Vanessa Martinez, Michael Laskin

Votes: 6,387 | Gross: $2.00M

45. Honeydripper (2007)

PG-13 | 124 min | Crime, Drama, History

1950. Rural Alabama. Cotton harvest. It's a make-or-break weekend for the Honeydripper Lounge and its owner, piano player Tyrone "Pine Top" Purvis. Deep in debt to the liquor man, the ... See full summary »

Director: John Sayles | Stars: Danny Glover, LisaGay Hamilton, Yaya DaCosta, Charles S. Dutton

Votes: 2,193 | Gross: $0.27M

46. Sunshine State (2002)

PG-13 | 141 min | Drama, Romance

A woman and her new husband returns to her hometown roots in coastal northern Florida, and must deal with family, business, and encroaching real estate development.

Director: John Sayles | Stars: Angela Bassett, Edie Falco, Alex Lewis, Alan King

Votes: 4,240 | Gross: $3.06M

47. The Celluloid Closet (1995)

R | 102 min | Documentary, History

A documentary surveying the various Hollywood screen depictions of homosexuals and the attitudes behind them throughout the history of North American film.

Directors: Rob Epstein, Jeffrey Friedman | Stars: Lily Tomlin, Tony Curtis, Susie Bright, Arthur Laurents

Votes: 7,508 | Gross: $1.51M

48. Mathnet (1987–1992)

60 min | Comedy, Crime, Family

A team of detectives use mathematics and logic to solve crimes.

Stars: Joe Howard, Beverly Leech, Bari K. Willerford, Mary Watson

Votes: 435

49. Amigo (2010)

R | 124 min | Drama, War

A fictional account of events during the Philippine-American War.

Director: John Sayles | Stars: Joel Torre, Chris Cooper, Garret Dillahunt, Arthur Acuña

Votes: 666 | Gross: $0.18M

50. Silver City (2004)

R | 128 min | Comedy, Drama, Mystery

The discovery of a corpse threatens to unravel a bumbling local politician's campaign for governor of Colorado.

Director: John Sayles | Stars: Chris Cooper, Thora Birch, Maria Bello, Billy Zane

Votes: 4,224 | Gross: $1.02M