John Frankenheimer is known for his action movies but made a wider ranger of films than just those, from Grand Prix to The Manchurian Candidate. He worked for the American air force making training films. He built his initial reputation making television programs fro CBS. His first film as a director was The Young Stranger. It was 4 years before his next film, The Young Savages with Burt Lancaster and Telly Savalas as policeman. For his next film he had an all star cast for All Fall Down, but the main character was unlike-able and the film was not popular. However Bird Man Of Aalcatraz revived his fortunes, which again starred Burt Lancaster. This had various camera shots that were creative for time, but now well used. He followed this with his best known film, The Manchurian Candidate. This was his vision of Cold War paranoia. Seven Days in May was another political conspiracy thriller. He followed this with the sci-fi film Seconds about a man changing his identity. The film was not well revived by the critics or at the box office, but has subsequently become a cult classic. Grand Prix was a critical an commercial success. He was a friend of Bobby Kennedy and his death hit him hard. He then moved to Europe and made The Fixer. The gypsy Moths was his 5th and final film with Burt Lancaster. The Horsemen was a pet project of his, though it was not well revived. He followed this with an adaptation of The Iceman Cometh. He moved back into action films with French Connection II, and then conspiracy theories with the Holcroft Covenant.
