Rating and ranking of directors: best to worst
by Javad-tk | created - 01 Nov 2011 | updated - 09 Jan 2023 | PublicTotal Score of each director=(the average of the scores of all movies that I've seen from director)* Correcting Factor
Correcting Factor= 0.95+[(number of movies that I've seen from director)*0.005]
1. Alfred Hitchcock
Director | Psycho
Alfred Joseph Hitchcock was born in Leytonstone, Essex, England. He was the son of Emma Jane (Whelan; 1863 - 1942) and East End greengrocer William Hitchcock (1862 - 1914). His parents were both of half English and half Irish ancestry. He had two older siblings, William Hitchcock (born 1890) and ...
1. Dial M for Murder (1954): 9.5
2. Psycho (1960): 9
3. Rear Window (1954): 9
4. North by Northwest (1959): 9
5. The 39 Steps (1935): 8.5
6. Jamaica Inn (1939): 8.5
7. Strangers on a Train (1951):8.5
8. The Wrong Man (1956): 8.5
9. Blackmail (1929): 8
10. Rebecca (1940): 8
11. Saboteur (1942): 8
12. Spellbound (1945): 8
13. Notorious (1946): 8
14. Rope (1948): 8
15. I Confess (1953): 8
16. The Trouble with Harry (1955): 8
17. Foreign Correspondent (1940): 7.5
18. Shadow of a Doubt (1943): 7.5
19. The Paradine Case (1947): 7.5
20. Marnie (1964): 7.5
21. The Man Who Knew Too Much (1956): 7.5
22. Sabotage (1936): 7.5
23. The Lady Vanishes (1938): 7.5
24. Lifeboat (1944): 7.5
25. To Catch a Thief (1955): 7.5
26. The Birds (1963): 7.5
27. The Pleasure Garden (1925): 7
28. Frenzy (1972): 7
29. Vertigo (1958): 6.5
30. Torn Curtain (1966): 6.5
31. Under Capricorn (1949): 6.5
Average: 7.84
Correcting Factor=0.95+(31*0.005)= 1.105
Total Score=7.84*1.105=8.7 out of 10
2. Ingmar Bergman
Writer | Smultronstället
Ernst Ingmar Bergman was born July 14, 1918, the son of a priest. The film and T.V. series, The Best Intentions (1992) is biographical and shows the early marriage of his parents. The film Sunday's Children (1992) depicts a bicycle journey with his father. In the miniseries Private Confessions (...
1. Wild Strawberries (1957): 10/10
2. The Seventh Seal (1957): 10
3. Persona (1966): 9.5
4. Smiles of a Summer Night (1955): 9
5. The Silence (1963): 8.5
6. Summer with Monika (1953): 8.5
7. Cries & Whispers (1972): 8.5
8. Winter Light (1963): 8.5
9. Through a Glass Darkly (1961): 8
10. Scenes from a Marriage (1973): 8
11. Autumn Sonata (1978): 8
12. Fanny and Alexander (1982): 8
13. Shame (1968): 8
14. Saraband (2003): 8
15. The Virgin Spring (1960): 7.5
Average: 8.5
Correcting Factor: 1.025
Total Score: 8.7/10
3. Charles Chaplin
Writer | The Great Dictator
Considered to be one of the most pivotal stars of the early days of Hollywood, Charlie Chaplin lived an interesting life both in his films and behind the camera. He is most recognized as an icon of the silent film era, often associated with his popular character, the Little Tramp; the man with the ...
1. City Lights (1931): 10
2. Modern Times (1936): 9.5
3. The Great Dictator (1940): 9
4. The Circus (1928): 9
5. The Gold Rush (1925): 8.5
6. Limelight (1952): 8.5
7. Monsieur Verdoux (1947): 8
8. The Pilgrim (1923): 8
9. The Kid (1921): 8
10. A Woman of Paris: A Drama of Fate (1923): 7.5
Total Score: 8.6
4. Krzysztof Kieslowski
Writer | Trois couleurs: Bleu
Krzysztof Kieslowski graduated from Lódz Film School in 1969, and became a documentary, TV and feature film director and scriptwriter. Before making his first film for TV, Przejscie podziemne (1974) (The Underground Passage), he made a number of short documentaries. His next TV title, Personnel (...
1. A Short Film About Killing (1988): 10
2. A Short Film About Love (1988): 9.5
3. The Double Life of Veronique (1991): 9
4. Three Colors: Blue (1993): 8.5
5. Three Colors: Red (1994): 8.5
6. Three Colors: White (1994): 7.5
7. The Scar (1976): 7.5
Total Score: 8.5
5. Stanley Kramer
Producer | Judgment at Nuremberg
Stanley Kramer was born on September 29, 1913 in Hell's Kitchen [now Clinton], Manhattan, New York City, New York, USA. He was a producer and director, known for Judgment at Nuremberg (1961), Guess Who's Coming to Dinner (1967) and Inherit the Wind (1960). He was married to Karen Sharpe, Anne P. ...
1. Inherit the Wind (1960): 9.5
2. Judgment at Nuremberg (1961): 9.5
3. It's a Mad, Mad, Mad, Mad World (1963): 8.5
4. Guess Who's Coming to Dinner (1967): 8
5. The Defiant Ones (1958): 8
Total Score: 8.5
6. Stanley Kubrick
Director | 2001: A Space Odyssey
Stanley Kubrick was born in Manhattan, New York City, to Sadie Gertrude (Perveler) and Jacob Leonard Kubrick, a physician. His family were Jewish immigrants (from Austria, Romania, and Russia). Stanley was considered intelligent, despite poor grades at school. Hoping that a change of scenery would ...
1. Paths of Glory (1957): 10
2. Dr. Strangelove or: How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Love the Bomb (1964): 10
3. The Killing (1956): 9
4. Full Metal Jacket (1987): 9
5. The Shining (1980): 8.5
6. A Clockwork Orange (1971): 8
7. Lolita (1962):8
8. Killer's Kiss (1955): 7.5
9. 2001: A Space Odyssey (1968): 7.5
10. Barry Lyndon (1975): 7.5
11. Spartacus (1960): 7
Total Score: 8.4
7. Arthur Hiller
Director | Love Story
Arthur Hiller was born on November 22, 1923 in Edmonton, Alberta, Canada. He was a director and producer, known for Love Story (1970), The Hospital (1971) and See No Evil, Hear No Evil (1989). He was married to Gwen Hiller. He died on August 17, 2016 in Los Angeles, California, USA.
1. Love Story (1970): 9.5
2. Silver Streak (1976):8
Total Score: 8.4
8. John Ford
Director | The Quiet Man
John Ford came to Hollywood following one of his brothers, an actor. Asked what brought him to Hollywood, he replied "the train". He became one of the most respected directors in the business, in spite of being known for his westerns, which were not considered "serious" film. He won six Oscars, ...
1. Young Mr. Lincoln (1939): 9.5
2. The Man Who Shot Liberty Valance (1962): 9.5
3. My Darling Clementine (1946): 9.5
4. The Informer (1935): 9
5. The Grapes of Wrath (1940): 9
6. Stagecoach (1939): 8.5
7. The Searchers (1956): 8
8. She Wore a Yellow Ribbon (1949): 7.5
9. Rio Grande (1950): 7.5
10. 3 Godfathers (1948): 7.5
11. The Quiet Man (1952): 7.5
12. How the West Was Won (1962): 7
Total Score: 8.3
9. William Wyler
Director | The Best Years of Our Lives
William Wyler was an American filmmaker who, at the time of his death in 1981, was considered by his peers as second only to John Ford as a master craftsman of cinema. The winner of three Best Director Academy Awards, second again only to Ford's four, Wyler's reputation has unfairly suffered as the...
1. The Best Years of Our Lives (1946): 10
2. Roman Holiday (1953): 9
3. These Three (1936): 8.5
4. Jezebel (1938): 8.5
5. The Little Foxes (1941): 8.5
6. Dodsworth (1936): 8.5
7. Funny Girl (1968): 8.5
8. How to Steal a Million (1966): 8
9. Mrs. Miniver (1942): 7.5
10. Wuthering Heights (1939): 7.5
11. The Heiress (1949): 7.5
12. Ben-Hur (1959): 6.5
Total Score: 8.3
10. Woody Allen
Writer | Annie Hall
Woody Allen was born on November 30, 1935, as Allen Konigsberg, in The Bronx, NY, the son of Martin Konigsberg and Nettie Konigsberg. He has one younger sister, Letty Aronson. As a young boy, he became intrigued with magic tricks and playing the clarinet, two hobbies that he continues today.
Allen ...
1. Love and Death (1975): 9.5
2. Annie Hall (1977): 9
3. Take the Money and Run (1969): 9
4. Manhattan (1979): 8.5
5. Crimes and Misdemeanors (1989): 8.5
6. Bananas (1971): 8.5
7. Hannah and Her Sisters (1986):8.5
8. Husbands and Wives (1992): 8.5
9. Sleeper (1973): 8
10.Sweet and Lowdown (1999): 8
11. Every Thing You Always Wanted to Know About Sex * But Were Afraid to Ask (1972): 7.5
12. Manhattan Murder Mystery (1993): 7.5
13. Zelig (1983): 7.5
14. The Purple Rose of Cairo (1985): 7.5
15. Match Point (2005): 7.5
16. Everyone Says I Love You (1996): 6
17. Cassandra's Dream (2007): 4.5
Total Score: 8.2
11. Billy Wilder
Writer | The Apartment
Originally planning to become a lawyer, Billy Wilder abandoned that career in favor of working as a reporter for a Viennese newspaper, using this experience to move to Berlin, where he worked for the city's largest tabloid. He broke into films as a screenwriter in 1929 and wrote scripts for many ...
1. The Apartment (1960): 9.5
2. Sabrina (1954): 9
3. Some Like It Hot (1959): 9
4. Witness for the Prosecution (1957): 9
5. Sunset Blvd. (1950): 8.5
6. Double Indemnity (1944):8
7. The Seven Year Itch (1955): 8
8. Love in the Afternoon (1957): 8
9. A Foreign Affair (1948): 7.5
10. One, Two, Three (1961): 7.5
11. Ace in the Hole (1951): 7.5
12. The Lost Weekend (1945): 7
13. Stalag 17 (1953): 7
Total Score: 8.2
12. Luis Buñuel
Writer | Le charme discret de la bourgeoisie
The father of cinematic Surrealism and one of the most original directors in the history of the film medium, Luis Buñuel was given a strict Jesuit education (which sowed the seeds of his obsession with both religion and subversive behavior), and subsequently moved to Madrid to study at the ...
1. Viridiana (1961): 9.5
2. The Discreet Charm of the Bourgeoisie (1972): 9
3. The Phantom of Liberty (1974) : 9
4. The Exterminating Angel (1962): 8.5
5. Belle de Jour (1967): 8.5
6. Tristana (1970): 8
7. Diary of a Chambermaid (1964): 7.5
8. The Great Madcap (1949): 7.5
9. Simon of the Desert (1965): 7
10. L'âge d'or (1930): 7
Total Score: 8.2
13. Orson Welles
Actor | Citizen Kane
His father, Richard Head Welles, was a well-to-do inventor, his mother, Beatrice (Ives) Welles, a beautiful concert pianist; Orson Welles was gifted in many arts (magic, piano, painting) as a child. When his mother died in 1924 (when he was nine) he traveled the world with his father. He was ...
1. Citizen Kane (1941): 9.5
2. Touch of Evil (1958): 9
3. The Magnificent Ambersons (1942): 8.5
4. The Stranger (1946): 7.5
5. The Trial (1962): 7.5
Total Score: 8.2
14. Richard Linklater
Director | Waking Life
Self-taught writer-director Richard Stuart Linklater was born in Houston, Texas, to Diane Margaret (Krieger), who taught at a university, and Charles W. Linklater III. Richard was among the first and most successful talents to emerge during the American independent film renaissance of the 1990s. ...
1. Before Sunrise (1995): 9.5
2. Before Sunset (2004): 9
3. Boyhood (2014): 8.5
4. Dazed and Confused (1993): 8
5. Before Midnight (2013): 7
Total Score: 8.2
15. John Lasseter
Writer | Toy Story 2
Although born in Hollywood, John and his twin sister Johanna were raised in Whittier near Los Angeles. His parents were Jewell Mae (Risley), an art teacher, and Paul Eual Lasseter, a parts manager at a Chevrolet dealership. His mother's profession contributed to his interest in animation and ...
1. Toy Story (1995): 9
2. Toy Story 2 (1999): 8.5
3. Cars (2006): 8
Total Score: 8.2
16. Vittorio De Sica
Director | Ladri di biciclette
Vittorio De Sica grew up in Naples, and started out as an office clerk in order to raise money to support his poor family. He was increasingly drawn towards acting, and made his screen debut while still in his teens, joining a stage company in 1923. By the late 1920s he was a successful matinee ...
1. Umberto D. (1952): 8.5
2. Bicycle Thieves (1948): 8.5
Total Score: 8.2
17. Joshua Logan
Writer | Fanny
Joshua Logan started directing plays while he was still at Princeton and among the first actors he directed were Henry Fonda and James Stewart. His graduation from Princeton was delayed to accompany a classmate to Russia to study with Konstantin Stanislavski, inventor of "method acting". ...
1. Sayonara (1957):8.5
2. Picnic (1955):8.5
Total Score: 8.2
18. Stuart Rosenberg
Director | Cool Hand Luke
Stuart Rosenberg was born on August 11, 1927 in Brooklyn, New York City, New York, USA. He was a director and producer, known for Cool Hand Luke (1967), Question 7 (1961) and The Defenders (1961). He was married to Margot Pohoryles. He died on March 15, 2007 in Beverly Hills, Los Angeles, ...
1. Cool Hand Luke (1967): 8.5
2. Brubaker (1980): 8.5
Total Score: 8.2
19. Norman Jewison
Director | Jesus Christ Superstar
Norman Jewison was an award-winning, internationally acclaimed filmmaker who produced and directed some of the world's most memorable, entertaining and socially important films, exploring controversial and complicated subjects and giving them a universal accessibility. Some of his most well-known ...
1. In the Heat of the Night (1967): 9
2. Moonstruck (1987): 8
Total Score: 8.2
20. Franklin J. Schaffner
Director | Planet of the Apes
Franklin J. Schaffner was one of the most innovative creative minds in the early days of American network television, utilizing a moving camera in the days when most television directors kept the camera static. His eye for visuals was developed in the dozens of live television programs he directed ...
1. Papillon (1973): 9.5
2. Patton (1970): 7.5
Total Score: 8.2
21. Christopher Nolan
Writer | Tenet
Best known for his cerebral, often nonlinear, storytelling, acclaimed Academy Award winner writer/director/producer Sir Christopher Nolan CBE was born in London, England. Over the course of more than 25 years of filmmaking, Nolan has gone from low-budget independent films to working on some of the ...
1. The Dark Knight (2008): 9
2. Following (1998): 8.5
3. Batman Begins (2005): 8.5
4. Interstellar (2014): 8.5
5. The Prestige (2006): 8.5
6. Memento (2000): 8
7. Inception (2010): 8
8. The Dark Knight Rises (2012): 8
9. Tenet (2020): 8
10. Dunkirk (2017): 7
11. Insomnia (2002): 6.5
Total Score: 8.1
22. Peter Weir
Director | Master and Commander: The Far Side of the World
Peter Weir was born on August 21, 1944 in Sydney, New South Wales, Australia. He is a director and writer, known for Master and Commander: The Far Side of the World (2003), The Way Back (2010) and Witness (1985). He has been married to Wendy Stites since 1966. They have two children.
1. The Truman Show (1998): 9.5
2. Dead Poets Society (1989): 9
3. Picnic at Hanging Rock (1975): 8
4. Witness (1985): 7.5
5. Fearless (1993): 7.5
Total Score: 8.1
23. Yimou Zhang
Director | Ying xiong
Yimou Zhang was born on November 14, 1951 in Xi'an, Shaanxi, China. He is a director and writer, known for Hero (2002), House of Flying Daggers (2004) and Curse of the Golden Flower (2006). He has been married to Ting Chen since December 2011. They have three children. He was previously married to ...
1. Raise the Red Lantern (1991): 9.5
2. The Road Home (1999): 8.5
3. Not One Less (1999): 8
4. To Live (1994): 7.5
Total Score: 8.1
24. Sidney Lumet
Director | 12 Angry Men
Sidney Lumet was a master of cinema, best known for his technical knowledge and his skill at getting first-rate performances from his actors -- and for shooting most of his films in his beloved New York. He made over 40 movies, often complex and emotional, but seldom overly sentimental. Although ...
1. 12 Angry Men (1957): 10.0
2. Serpico (1973): 9.5
3. Dog Day Afternoon (1975): 9.5
4. The Verdict (1982): 8.5
5. Network (1976): 8
6. Long Day's Journey Into Night (1962): 7.5
7. Prince of the City (1981): 7.5
8. The Hill (1965): 7.5
9. Murder on the Orient Express (1974): 7.5
10. Before the Devil Knows You're Dead (2007): 6.5
11. Gloria (1999): 5.5
Total Score: 8.0
25. David Lean
Director | Lawrence of Arabia
An important British filmmaker, David Lean was born in Croydon on March 25, 1908 and brought up in a strict Quaker family (ironically, as a child he wasn't allowed to go to the movies). During the 1920s, he briefly considered the possibility of becoming an accountant like his father before finding ...
1. Brief Encounter (1945): 8.5
2. Great Expectations (1946): 8.5
3. The Bridge on the River Kwai (1957):8.5
4. Lawrence of Arabia (1962): 8
5. Oliver Twist (1948): 7.5
Total Score: 8.0
26. George Stevens
Director | Giant
George Stevens, a filmmaker known as a meticulous craftsman with a brilliant eye for composition and a sensitive touch with actors, is one of the great American filmmakers, ranking with John Ford, William Wyler and Howard Hawks as a creator of classic Hollywood cinema, bringing to the screen ...
1. Shane (1953): 9.5
2. Giant (1956): 8.5
3. I Remember Mama (1948): 8
4. Swing Time (1936): 7.5
5. A Place in the Sun (1951): 7.5
Total Score: 8.0
27. John Sturges
Director | The Great Escape
John Sturges was an American film director, mostly remembered for his outstanding Western films. In 1992, Sturges was awarded a Golden Boot Award for his lifelong contribution to the Western genre.
Sturges was born in the village of Oak Park, Illinois, within the Chicago metropolitan area. By 1930, ...
1. Bad Day at Black Rock (1955): 9
2. The Great Escape (1963): 8.5
3. Gunfight at the O.K. Corral (1957): 8
4. The Magnificent Seven (1960): 8
5. Escape from Fort Bravo (1953): 7.5
Total Score: 8.0
28. Buster Keaton
Actor | The General
Joseph Frank Keaton was born on October 4, 1895 in Piqua, Kansas, to Joe Keaton and Myra Keaton. Joe and Myra were Vaudevillian comedians with a popular, ever-changing variety act, giving Keaton an eclectic and interesting upbringing. In the earliest days on stage, they traveled with a medicine ...
1. Our Hospitality (1923): 8.5
2. The General (1926): 8.5
3. Seven Chances (1925): 8.5
4. The Cameraman (1928): 7.5
Total Score: 8.0
29. Ernst Lubitsch
Director | To Be or Not to Be
From Ernst Lubitsch's experiences in Sophien Gymnasium (high school) theater, he decided to leave school at the age of 16 and pursue a career on the stage. He had to compromise with his father and keep the account books for the family tailor business while he acted in cabarets and music halls at ...
1. The Shop Around the Corner (1940): 8.5
2. Ninotchka (1939): 8.5
3. Trouble in Paradise (1932): 8
Total Score: 8.0
30. Vincente Minnelli
Director | An American in Paris
Born Lester Anthony Minnelli in Chicago on February 28 1903, his father Vincent was a musical conductor of the Minnelli Brothers' Tent Theater. Wanting to pursue an artistic career, Minelli worked in the costume department of the Chicago Theater, then on Broadway during the depression as a set ...
1. Madame Bovary (1949): 9
2. Meet Me in St. Louis (1944): 8.5
3. An American in Paris (1951): 7.5
Total Score: 8.0
31. Stanley Donen
Director | Charade
Inspired by Fred Astaire's dancing in Flying Down to Rio (1933), Stanley Donen (pronounced 'Dawn-en') attended dance classes from the age of ten. He later recalled that the only thing he wanted to be was a tap dancer.
He was born in Columbia, South Carolina, to Helen Pauline (Cohen) and Mordecai ...
1. Singin' in the Rain (1952): 8.5
2. Charade (1963): 8.5
3. Two for the Road (1967): 8
Total Score: 8.0
32. Blake Edwards
Writer | The Pink Panther Strikes Again
Blake Edwards' stepfather's father J. Gordon Edwards was a silent screen director, and his stepfather Jack McEdward was a stage director and movie production manager. Blake acted in a number films, beginning with Ten Gentlemen from West Point (1942) and wrote a number of others, beginning with ...
1. Breakfast at Tiffany's (1961): 9
2. Days of Wine and Roses (1962): 8
3. A Shot in the Dark (1964): 8
Total Score: 8.0
33. Frank Capra
Director | It's a Wonderful Life
One of seven children, Frank Capra was born on May 18, 1897, in Bisacquino, Sicily. On May 10, 1903, his family left for America aboard the ship Germania, arriving in New York on May 23rd. "There's no ventilation, and it stinks like hell. They're all miserable. It's the most degrading place you ...
1. It's a Wonderful Life (1946): 9
2. Mr. Smith Goes to Washington (1939): 8.5
3. Mr. Deeds Goes to Town (1936): 8.5
4. It Happened One Night (1934): 8
5. Lost Horizon (1937): 8
6. Meet John Doe (1941): 8
7. You Can't Take It with You (1938): 7
8. Arsenic and Old Lace (1944): 7
Total Score: 7.9
34. Robert Zemeckis
Writer | Back to the Future
A whiz-kid with special effects, Robert is from the Spielberg camp of film-making (Steven Spielberg produced many of his films). Usually working with writing partner Bob Gale, Robert's earlier films show he has a talent for zany comedy (Romancing the Stone (1984), 1941 (1979)) and special effect ...
1. Back to the Future (1985): 9
2. Forrest Gump (1994): 8.5
3. Used Cars (1980): 8
4. Back to the Future Part II (1989): 8
5. Back to the Future Part III (1990): 8
6. Who Framed Roger Rabbit (1988): 7.5
7. Cast Away (2000): 7.5
8. The Polar Express (2004): 7
Total Score: 7.9
35. François Truffaut
Writer | La nuit américaine
French director François Truffaut began to assiduously go to the movies at age seven. He was also a great reader but not a good pupil. He left school at 14 and started working. In 1947, aged 15, he founded a film club and met André Bazin, a French critic, who became his protector. Bazin helped the ...
1. The 400 Blows (1959): 9
2. Two English Girls (1971): 8.5
3. Jules and Jim (1962): 8
4. The Soft Skin (1964): 8
5. The Bride Wore Black (1968): 7.5
6. Day for Night (1973): 7.5
7. The Green Room (1978): 7.5
Total Score: 7.9
36. George Roy Hill
Director | The Sting
George Roy Hill was never able to 'hit it off' with the critics despite the fact that 2 of his films - Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid (1969), and The Sting (1973) - had remained among the top 10 box office hits by 1976. His work was frequently derided as 'impersonal' or lacking in stylistic ...
1. The Sting (1973): 9.5
2. Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid (1969): 8.5
3. The World of Henry Orient (1964): 8
4. Thoroughly Modern Millie (1967): 8
5. Slap Shot (1977): 6.5
Total Score: 7.9
37. Kar-Wai Wong
Director | Yi dai zong shi
Wong Kar-wai (born 17 July 1956) is a Hong Kong Second Wave filmmaker, internationally renowned as an auteur for his visually unique, highly stylised, emotionally resonant work, including Ah fei zing zyun (1990), Dung che sai duk (1994), Chung Hing sam lam (1994), Do lok tin si (1995), Chun gwong ...
1. In the Mood for Love (2000): 10
2. Chungking Express (1994): 8.5
3. Days of Being Wild (1990):8
4. As Tears Go By (1988): 7.5
5. Happy Together (1997): 6.5
Total Score: 7.9
38. Elia Kazan
Director | On the Waterfront
Known for his creative stage direction, Elia Kazan was born Elias Kazantzoglou on September 7, 1909 in Constantinople, Ottoman Empire (now Istanbul, Turkey). Noted for drawing out the best dramatic performances from his actors, he directed 21 actors to Oscar nominations, resulting in nine wins. He ...
1. On the Waterfront (1954): 9
2. Splendor in the Grass (1961): 8.5
3. Gentleman's Agreement (1947): 8
4. A Streetcar Named Desire (1951): 7
Total Score: 7.9
39. Masaki Kobayashi
Director | Seppuku
Masaki Kobayashi was born on February 14, 1916 in Hokkaido, Japan. He was a director and writer, known for Harakiri (1962), Samurai Rebellion (1967) and The Human Condition III: A Soldier's Prayer (1961). He died on October 4, 1996 in Tokyo, Japan.
1. The Human Condition I: No Greater Love (1959):9
2. The Human Condition II: Road to Eternity (1959):8.5
3. Harakiri (1962): 7.5
4. Kwaidan (1964): 7.5
Total Score: 7.9
40. Michelangelo Antonioni
Writer | Blow-Up
Together with Fellini, Bergman and Kurosawa, Michelangelo Antonioni is credited with defining the modern art film. And yet Antonioni's cinema is also recognized today for defying any easy categorization, with his films ultimately seeming to belong to their own distinctive genre. Indeed, the ...
1. L'Avventura (1960): 8.5
2. L'eclisse (1962): 8.5
3. The Passenger (1975): 8
4. Blow-Up (1966): 7.5
Total Score: 7.9
41. Preston Sturges
Writer | Sullivan's Travels
Preston Sturges' own life is as unlikely as some of the plots of his best work. He was born into a wealthy family. As a boy he helped out on stage productions for his mother's friend, Isadora Duncan (the scarf that strangled her was made by his mother's company, Maison Desti). He served in the U.S....
1. Hail the Conquering Hero (1944): 8.5
2. The Lady Eve (1941): 8
3. Sullivan's Travels (1941): 8
Total Score: 7.9
42. Lana Wachowski
Writer | The Matrix
Lana Wachowski and her sister Lilly Wachowski, also known as the Wachowskis, are the duo behind such ground-breaking movies as The Matrix (1999) and Cloud Atlas (2012). Born to mother Lynne, a nurse, and father Ron, a businessman of Polish descent, Wachowski grew up in Chicago and formed a tight ...
1. The Matrix (1999): 9
2. Bound (1996): 8
3. The Matrix Reloaded (2003): 7.5
Total Score: 7.9
43. Michael Powell
Director | Peeping Tom
The son of Thomas William Powell and Mabel (nee Corbett). Michael Powell was always a self-confessed movie addict. He was brought up partly in Canterbury ("The Garden of England") and partly in the south of France (where his parents ran a hotel). Educated at Kings School, Canterbury and Dulwich ...
1. The Red Shoes (1948): 8.5
2. A Matter of Life and Death (1946): 8
Total Score: 7.9
44. Douglas Sirk
Director | Schlußakkord
Film director Douglas Sirk, whose reputation blossomed in the generation after his 1959 retirement from Hollywood filmmaking, was born Hans Detlef Sierck on April 26, 1897, in Hamburg, Germany, to a journalist. Both of his parents were Danish, and the future director would make movies in German, ...
1. All I Desire (1953): 9
2. Imitation of Life (1959): 7.5
Total Score: 7.9
45. Martin Brest
Director | Scent of a Woman
Martin Brest was born on August 8, 1951 in The Bronx, New York City, New York, USA. He is a director and writer, known for Scent of a Woman (1992), Midnight Run (1988) and Beverly Hills Cop (1984).
1. Midnight Run (1988): 8.5
2. Beverly Hills Cop (1984): 8
Total Score: 7.9
46. Theodoros Angelopoulos
Director | Mia aioniotita kai mia mera
Theo Angelopoulos began to study law in Athens but broke up his studies to go to the Sorbonne in Paris in order to study literature. When he had finished his studies, he wanted to attend the School of Cinema at Paris but decided instead to go back to Greece. There he worked as a journalist and ...
1. Landscape in the Mist (1988): 9
2. Eternity and a Day (1998): 7.5
Total Score: 7.9
47. Michel Gondry
Director | Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind
He grew up in Versailles with a family who was very influenced by pop music. When he was young, Gondry wanted to be a painter or an inventor. In the 80s he entered in an art school in Paris where he could develop his graphic skills and where he also met friends with whom he created a pop-rock band ...
1. Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind (2004): 8.5
2. Be Kind Rewind (2008): 8
Total Score: 7.9
48. Jean-Luc Godard
Director | Bande à part
Jean-Luc Godard was born in Paris on December 3, 1930, the second of four children in a bourgeois Franco-Swiss family. His father was a doctor who owned a private clinic, and his mother came from a preeminent family of Swiss bankers. During World War II Godard became a naturalized citizen of ...
1. Contempt (1963): 9
2. Alphaville (1965): 8.5
3. Vivre Sa Vie (1962): 8
4. Breathless (1960): 8
5. Masculin Féminin (1966): 8
6. Une femme mariée (1964):7.5
7. Pierrot le fou (1965): 7.5
8. Weekend (1967): 7.5
9. 2 or 3 Things I Know About Her (1967): 7
Total Score: 7.8
49. Sergio Leone
Writer | Once Upon a Time in America
Sergio Leone was virtually born into the cinema - he was the son of Roberto Roberti (A.K.A. Vincenzo Leone), one of Italy's cinema pioneers, and actress Bice Valerian. Leone entered films in his late teens, working as an assistant director to both Italian directors and U.S. directors working in ...
1. Once Upon a Time in the West (1968): 9.5
2. For a Few Dollars More (1965): 9
3. The Good, the Bad and the Ugly (1966): 9
4. A Fistful of Dollars (1964): 8.5
5. A Fistful of Dynamite (1971): 6
6. Once Upon a Time in America (1984): 5.5
Total Score: 7.8
50. Cameron Crowe
Writer | Almost Famous
Certainly idiosyncratic as a writer, Cameron Crowe has created a series of scripts that, while liked by the critics, were considered offbeat and difficult to market.
Cameron Bruce Crowe was born in Palm Springs, California, to Alice Marie Crowe (née George), a teacher and activist, and James A. ...
1. Jerry Maguire (1996): 9
2. Say Anything... (1989) : 8.5
3. Vanilla Sky (2001): 7.5
4. Singles (1992): 7.5
5. Almost Famous (2000): 7.5
Total Score: 7.8
51. Akira Kurosawa
Writer | Kakushi-toride no san-akunin
After training as a painter (he storyboards his films as full-scale paintings), Kurosawa entered the film industry in 1936 as an assistant director, eventually making his directorial debut with Sanshiro Sugata (1943). Within a few years, Kurosawa had achieved sufficient stature to allow him greater...
1. Rashômon (1950): 8.5
2. The Hidden Fortress (1958): 8.5
3. Seven Samurai (1954): 7.5
4. Dersu Uzala (1975): 7.5
Total Score: 7.8
52. Andrei Tarkovsky
Writer | Offret
The most famous Soviet film-maker since Sergei Eisenstein, Andrei Tarkovsky (the son of noted poet Arseniy Tarkovsky) studied music and Arabic in Moscow before enrolling in the Soviet film school VGIK. He shot to international attention with his first feature, Ivan's Childhood (1962), which won the...
1. The Sacrifice (1986): 8.5
2. Solaris (1972): 8
3. Nostalghia (1983): 8
4. Stalker (1979): 7.5
Total Score: 7.8
53. Ali Hatami
Director | Hezardastan
Abbas Ali Hatami was born in Tehran, Iran in 1944. He graduated from the College of Dramatic Arts and began his professional career as a writer of short TV screenplays and also as a playwright. Among his plays are: The Demon and the Bald Hassan, Adam and Eve, The Fisherman's Story, City of Oranges,...
1. Desiderium (1978): 9
2. The love-stricken (1992): 9
3. Kamalolmolk (1984): 8.5
4. Hajji Washington (1982): 8.5
5. Mother (1991):8
6. Wood Pigeon (1971): 7.5
7. Ghalandar (1972): 6.5
8. Hassan, the bald (1970): 6.5
9. Baba Shamal (1971): 6.5
10. The Suitor (1971): 6.5
Total Score: 7.7
54. Fereydun Gole
Writer | Mehre giah
Fereydun Gole was an Iranian screenwriter, film director, and film editor. He was active in producing urban drama films throughout the 1970s, dealing with such issues as the social stratification of Tehran. His most famous film was Beehive. After he died in 2005, the 2006 documentary film Iran: A ...
1. Under the Skin of the Night (1974): 9
2. The Beehive (1975): 8.5
3. Impious (1972): 8
4. The Dagger (1972): 7.5
5. The Mandrake (1975): 7
6. Honeymoon (1976): 7
Total Score: 7.7
55. Fred Zinnemann
Director | A Man for All Seasons
Initially grew up wanting to be a violinist, but while at the University of Vienna decided to study law. While doing so, he became increasingly interested in American film and decided that was what he wanted to do. He became involved in European filmaking for a short time before going to America to...
1. High Noon (1952): 9
2. The Day of the Jackal (1973): 8
3. From Here to Eternity (1953): 8
4. Oklahoma! (1955): 7.5
5. A Man for All Seasons (1966): 7
Total Score: 7.7
56. Sydney Pollack
Director | Tootsie
Sydney Pollack was an Academy Award-winning director, producer, actor, writer and public figure, who directed and produced over 40 films.
Sydney Irwin Pollack was born July 1, 1934 in Lafayette, Indiana, USA, to Rebecca (Miller), a homemaker, and David Pollack, a professional boxer turned pharmacist...
1. Out of Africa (1985): 9
2. Three Days of the Condor (1975): 8
3. This Property Is Condemned (1966): 7.5
4. Tootsie (1982): 7.5
5. The Way We Were (1973): 7.5
Total Score: 7.7
57. John G. Blystone
Director | Men on Call
John G. Blystone was born on December 2, 1892 in Rice Lake, Wisconsin, USA. He was a director and producer, known for Men on Call (1930), Our Hospitality (1923) and Ankles Preferred (1927). He was married to Gwendolyn Davis. He died on August 6, 1938 in Beverly Hills, California, USA.
1. Our Hospitality (1923): 8.5
2. Block Head (1938): 8.0
3. Swiss Miss (1938): 7.5
Total Score: 7.7
58. Robert Wise
Director | West Side Story
Robert Earl Wise was born on September 10, 1914 in Winchester, Indiana, the youngest of three sons of Olive R. (Longenecker) and Earl Waldo Wise, a meat packer. His parents were both of Pennsylvania Dutch (German) descent. At age nineteen, the avid moviegoer came into the film business through an ...
1. West Side Story (1961): 8
2. The Day the Earth Stood Still (1951): 8
3.The Sound of Music (1965): 8
Total Score: 7.7
59. George Lucas
Writer | Star Wars
George Walton Lucas, Jr. was raised on a walnut ranch in Modesto, California. His father was a stationery store owner and he had three siblings. During his late teen years, he went to Thomas Downey High School and was very much interested in drag racing. He planned to become a professional racecar ...
1. Star Wars: Episode IV - A New Hope (1977):8.5
2. Star Wars: Episode I - The Phantom Menace (1999): 8
3. American Graffiti (1973): 7.5
Total Score: 7.7
60. Michael Mann
Producer | The Insider
As a director, screenwriter, and producer, four-time Academy Award nominee Michael Mann has established himself as one of the most innovative and influential filmmakers in American cinema. After writing and directing the Primetime Emmy Award-winning television movie The Jericho Mile (1979), Mann ...
1. Thief (1981): 9
2. Heat (1995): 8
3. Ali (2001): 7
Total Score: 7.7
61. Ang Lee
Director | Wo hu cang long
Born in 1954 in Pingtung, Taiwan, Ang Lee has become one of today's greatest contemporary filmmakers. Ang graduated from the National Taiwan College of Arts in 1975 and then came to the U.S. to receive a B.F.A. Degree in Theatre/Theater Direction at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, ...
1. Sense and Sensibility (1995): 10
2. Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon (2000): 8
3. Brokeback Mountain (2005): 6
Total Score: 7.7
62. Tay Garnett
Director | China Seas
Following his service as a naval aviator in WW I, Tay Garnett entered films in 1920 as a screenwriter. After a stint as a gag writer for Mack Sennett and Hal Roach he joined Pathe, then the distributor for both competing comedy producers, and in 1928 began directing for that company. Garnett ...
1. One Way Passage (1932): 9.5
2. The Postman Always Rings Twice (1946): 6.5
Total Score: 7.7
63. Victor Fleming
Director | Gone with the Wind
Victor Fleming entered the film business as a stuntman in 1910, mainly doing stunt driving - which came easy to him, as he had been a mechanic and professional race-car driver. He became interested in working on the other side of the camera, and eventually got a job as a cameraman on many of the ...
1. Gone with the Wind (1939): 8.5
2. The Wizard of Oz (1939): 7.5
Total Score: 7.7
64. Marcel Carné
Director | Le quai des brumes
Marcel Carné, the son of a cabinet maker, entered the movies as the assistant of Jacques Feyder. At the age of 25 he directed his first movie Jenny (1936). Colaborating with the writer Jacques Prévert, the decorator Alexandre Trauner, the musician and composer Maurice Jaubert and the actor Jean ...
1. Children of Paradise (1945): 8
2. Port of Shadows (1938): 8
Total Score: 7.7
65. Roberto Rossellini
Writer | Roma città aperta
The master filmmaker Roberto Rossellini, as one of the creators of neo-realism, is one of the most influential directors of all time. His neo-realist films influenced France's nouvelle vague movement in the 1950s and '60s that changed the face of international cinema. He also influenced American ...
1. Rome, Open City (1945): 8.5
2. Germany Year Zero (1948): 7.5
Total Score: 7.7
66. Yasujirô Ozu
Writer | Tôkyô monogatari
Tokyo-born Yasujiro Ozu was a movie buff from childhood, often playing hooky from school in order to see Hollywood movies in his local theatre. In 1923 he landed a job as a camera assistant at Shochiku Studios in Tokyo. Three years later, he was made an assistant director and directed his first ...
1. Late Spring (1949): 8
2. Tokyo Story (1953): 8
Total Score: 7.7
67. Delbert Mann
Director | Marty
Delbert Mann, the Oscar-winning film director, was born Delbert Martin Mann Jr. in Lawrence, Kansas, in 1920. His father moved the family to Nashville, Tennesse, after taking a teaching position at Scarritt College. The young Mann graduated from Vanderbilt University, where he met his future wife, ...
1. Marty (1955): 8
2. Separate Tables (1958): 8
Total Score: 7.7
68. Sohrab Shahid Saless
Director | Tabiate bijan
Sohrab Shaheed Salles was born in Tehran in 1944 to a middle-class family and lived in Tehran. Shahid Saless was a storyteller as a child, with a passion for visualizing his narrations. During his teenage years, he showed an imaginative talent, writing and acting in plays with friends. In 1963, ...
1. Still life (1974): 8.5
2. A simple event (1973): 7.5
Total Score: 7.7
69. Milos Forman
Director | One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest
Milos Forman was born Jan Tomas Forman in Caslav, Czechoslovakia, to Anna (Svabova), who ran a summer hotel, and Rudolf Forman, a professor. During World War II, his parents were taken away by the Nazis, after being accused of participating in the underground resistance. His father died in ...
1. One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest (1975): 8
2. Amadeus (1984): 8
Total Score: 7.7
70. Steven Soderbergh
Director | Sex, Lies, and Videotape
Steven Andrew Soderbergh was born on January 14, 1963 in Atlanta, Georgia, USA, the second of six children of Mary Ann (Bernard) and Peter Soderbergh. His father was of Swedish and Irish descent, and his mother was of Italian ancestry. While he was still at a very young age, his family moved to ...
Ocean's Eleven (2001): 8.5
Out of Sight (1998): 7.5
Total Score: 7.7
71. Peter Jackson
Producer | The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring
Sir Peter Jackson made history with The Lord of the Rings trilogy, becoming the first person to direct three major feature films simultaneously. The Fellowship of the Ring, The Two Towers and The Return of the King were nominated for and collected a slew of awards from around the globe, with The ...
1. The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring (2001): 8
2. The Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers (2002): 8
Total Score: 7.7
72. James Marsh
Director | The Theory of Everything
James Marsh was born on April 30, 1963 in Truro, Cornwall, England, UK. He is a director and producer, known for The Theory of Everything (2014), The King (2005) and Shadow Dancer (2012).
1. Man on Wire (2008): 8
2. The Theory of Everything (2014): 8
Total Score: 7.7
73. Morten Tyldum
Director | Hodejegerne
Morten Tyldum was born on May 19, 1967 in Bergen, Norway. He is a director and producer, known for Headhunters (2011), The Imitation Game (2014) and Passengers (2016).
1. The Imitation Game (2014): 8
2. Passengers (2016): 8
Total Score: 7.7
74. David Lynch
Writer | Twin Peaks
Born in precisely the kind of small-town American setting so familiar from his films, David Lynch spent his childhood being shunted from one state to another as his research scientist father kept getting relocated. He attended various art schools, married Peggy Lynch and then fathered future ...
1. The Straight Story (1999): 9.5
2. Mulholland Dr. (2001): 9.5
3. Wild at Heart (1990): 8.5
4. Blue Velvet (1986): 8
5. The Elephant Man (1980): 7.5
6. Lost Highway (1997): 7.5
7. Eraserhead (1977): 7
8. Inland Empire (2006): 6.5
9. Dune (1984): 5
Total Score: 7.6
75. John Huston
Director | The Treasure of the Sierra Madre
An eccentric rebel of epic proportions, this Hollywood titan reigned supreme as director, screenwriter and character actor in a career that endured over five decades. The ten-time Oscar-nominated legend was born John Marcellus Huston in Nevada, Missouri, on August 5, 1906. His ancestry was English,...
1. The Treasure of the Sierra Madre (1948): 9.5
2. Freud (1962): 8.5
3. The Asphalt Jungle (1950): 8
4. The African Queen (1951): 7.5
5. Across the Pacific (1942): 7
6. The Maltese Falcon (1941): 6
Total Score: 7.6
76. Federico Fellini
Writer | Le notti di Cabiria
The women who both attracted and frightened him and an Italy dominated in his youth by Mussolini and Pope Pius XII - inspired the dreams that Fellini started recording in notebooks in the 1960s. Life and dreams were raw material for his films. His native Rimini and characters like Saraghina (the ...
1. I Vitelloni (1953): 8.5
2. La strada (1954): 8.5
3. Nights of Cabiria (1957): 7.5
4. 8½ (1963): 7.5
5. Amarcord (1973): 7.5
6. La Dolce Vita (1960) : 7
Total Score: 7.6
77. Michael Curtiz
Director | Casablanca
Curtiz began acting in and then directing films in his native Hungary in 1912. After WWI, he continued his filmmaking career in Austria and Germany and into the early 1920s when he directed films in other countries in Europe. Moving to the US in 1926, he started making films in Hollywood for Warner...
1. Casablanca (1942): 10
2. The Boy from Oklahoma (1954): 7.5
3. Mildred Pierce (1945): 7.5
4. The Private Lives of Elizabeth and Essex (1939): 6.5
Total Score: 7.6
78. Charles Barton
Director | A Man's World
Charles T. Barton was born in Oakland, CA, on May 25, 1902. His father managed a candy store, and soon moved the family to Los Angeles, where Charles, nicknamed "Charlie", got a job at age 15 acting as an extra in silent movies. He eventually left acting for a job behind the camera as an assistant ...
1. Buck Privates Come Home (1947): 8
2. Abbott And Costello Meet Frankenstein (1948): 8
3. Abbott And Costello Meet The Killer, Boris Karloff (1949): 8
4. The Time of Their Lives (1946): 7.5
Total Score: 7.6
79. Joseph L. Mankiewicz
Writer | All About Eve
Born in Wilkes-Barre, Pennsylvania, on February 11, 1909, Joseph Leo Mankiewicz first worked for the movies as a translator of intertitles, employed by Paramount in Berlin, the UFA's American distributor at the time (1928). He became a dialoguist, then a screenwriter on numerous Paramount ...
1. Sleuth (1972): 8.5
2. All About Eve (1950): 8
3. The Ghost and Mrs. Muir (1947): 8
4. Suddenly, Last Summer (1959): 7
Total Score: 7.6
80. Giuseppe Tornatore
Director | La migliore offerta
Giuseppe Tornatore was born on May 27, 1956 in Bagheria, Sicily, Italy. He is a director and writer, known for The Best Offer (2013), Cinema Paradiso (1988) and The Legend of 1900 (1998). He is married to Roberta Pacetti.
1. Cinema Paradiso (1988): 8.5
2. The Star Maker (1995): 8
3. The Legend of 1900 (1998): 7.5
4. A Pure Formality (1994): 7.5
Total Score: 7.6
81. Nicholas Ray
Director | Rebel Without a Cause
Nicholas Ray was born Raymond Nicholas Kienzle in 1911, in small-town Galesville, Wisconsin, to Lena (Toppen) and Raymond Joseph Kienzle, a contractor and builder. He was of German and Norwegian descent. Ray's early experience with film came with some radio broadcasting in high school. He left the ...
1. Johnny Guitar (1954): 9
2. Rebel Without a Cause (1955): 7.5
3. In a Lonely Place (1950): 7
Total Score: 7.6
82. Arthur Penn
Director | Bonnie and Clyde
Arthur Penn was born on September 27, 1922 in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, USA. He was a director and producer, known for Bonnie and Clyde (1967), Little Big Man (1970) and The Miracle Worker (1962). He was married to Peggy Maurer. He died on September 28, 2010 in Manhattan, New York City, New York,...
1. The Chase (1966): 8
2. Bonnie and Clyde (1967): 7.5
3. The Miracle Worker (1962): 7.5
Total Score: 7.6
83. James Cameron
Writer | Avatar: The Way of Water
James Francis Cameron was born on August 16, 1954 in Kapuskasing, Ontario, Canada. He moved to the United States in 1971. The son of an engineer, he majored in physics at California State University before switching to English, and eventually dropping out. He then drove a truck to support his ...
1. The Abyss (1989): 8
2. Avatar (2009): 8
3. Titanic (1997): 7.5
Total Score: 7.6
84. Robert Redford
Actor | The Natural
Born on August 18, 1936, in Santa Monica, California, to Charles Robert Redford, an accountant for Standard Oil, and Martha Redford, Charles Robert Redford, Jr. was a scrappy kid who stole hubcaps in high school and lost his college baseball scholarship at the University of Colorado because of ...
1. The Horse Whisperer (1998): 8.5
2. A River Runs Through It (1992): 7.5
3. Ordinary People (1980): 7.5
Total Score: 7.6
85. Dariush Mehrjui
Director | Gaav
Dariush Mehrjui was born to a middle-class family in Tehran. He showed interest in painting miniatures, music, and playing santoor and piano. He spent a lot of time going to the movies, particularly American films which were un-dubbed and inter-spliced with explanatory title cards that explained ...
1. The Postman (1970): 9.5
2. Hamoun (1990): 9
3. The Tenants (1986):9
4. Mr. Naive (1971): 8.5
5. The Cycle (1977): 7.5
6. The Cow (1969): 7.5
7. Sara (1993): 7.5
8. Leila (1998): 7
9. The Pear Tree (1998): 7
10. Pari (1995): 6.5
11. Mum's Guest (2004): 6
12. Santoori (2007): 6
13. Orange Suit (2012): 5.5
Total Score: 7.5
86. Joel Coen
Producer | The Ballad of Buster Scruggs
Joel Daniel Coen is an American filmmaker who regularly collaborates with his younger brother Ethan. They made Raising Arizona, Barton Fink, Fargo, The Big Lebowski, True Grit, O Brother Where Art Thou?, Burn After Reading, A Serious Man, Inside Llewyn Davis, Hail Caesar and other projects. Joel ...
1. The Big Lebowski (1998): 9
2. Barton Fink (1991): 8.5
3. O Brother, Where Art Thou? (2000): 8.5
4. Raising Arizona (1987): 7.5
5. Miller's Crossing (1990): 7.5
6. Blood Simple. (1984): 7.5
7. Fargo (1996): 7.5
8. No Country for Old Men (2007): 6
9. Inside Llewyn Davis (2013): 5.5
Total Score: 7.5
87. John Frankenheimer
Director | The Manchurian Candidate
Born in New York and raised in Queens, John Frankenheimer wanted to become a professional tennis player. He loved movies and his favorite actor was Robert Mitchum. He decided he wanted to be an actor but then he applied for and was accepted in the Motion Picture Squadron of the Air Force where he ...
1. Birdman of Alcatraz (1962): 8.5
2. The Train (1964): 8.5
3. The Manchurian Candidate (1962): 7
4. Grand Prix (1966): 7
Total Score: 7.5
88. Roman Polanski
Director | Chinatown
Roman Polanski is a Polish film director, producer, writer and actor. Having made films in Poland, Britain, France and the USA, he is considered one of the few truly international filmmakers. Roman Polanski was born in Paris in 1933.
His parents returned to Poland from France in 1936, three years ...
1. Chinatown (1974): 9
2. The Tenant (1976): 8
3. The Pianist (2002): 8
4. Repulsion (1965): 7.5
5. Frantic (1988): 7.5
6. The Ninth Gate (1999): 6.5
7. Rosemarys Baby (1968): 6
Total Score: 7.4
89. John Paddy Carstairs
Director | Incident in Shanghai
Writer-director John Paddy Carstairs was born Nelson Keys, the son of actor Nelson Keys and the brother of producer Anthony Nelson Keys, in London, England, in 1910. Beginning his career as an assistant cameraman, he worked his way up to screenwriter and made his directorial debut in 1933. While ...
1. The Square Peg (1958): 8
2. Trouble in Store (1953): 7.5
3. Man of the Moment (1955): 7.5
4. Up in the World (1956): 7.5
5. One Good Turn (1955): 7.5
6. Just My Luck (1957): 7.5
Total Score: 7.4
90. Robert Bresson
Writer | Au hasard Balthazar
Robert Bresson trained as a painter before moving into films as a screenwriter, making a short film (atypically a comedy), Public Affairs (1934) in 1934. After spending more than a year as a German POW during World War II, he made his debut with Angels of Sin (1943) in 1943. His next film, The ...
1. A Man Escaped (1956): 8.5
2. Au hasard Balthazar (1966): 8
3. Pickpocket (1959): 7.5
4. L'argent (1983): 7
5. Diary of a Country Priest (1951): 7
Total Score: 7.4
91. Jim Jarmusch
Director | Paterson
Moved to New York City at the age of seventeen from Akron, Ohio. Graduated from Columbia University with a B.A. in English, class of '75. Without any prior film experience, he was accepted into the Tisch School of the Arts, New York.
1. Night on Earth (1991): 8
2. Down by Law (1986): 8
3. Mystery Train (1989): 7.5
4. Dead Man (1995): 7.5
5. Stranger Than Paradise (1984): 7
Total Score: 7.4
92. Mervyn LeRoy
Director | Gypsy
The great San Francisco earthquake and fire of 1906 was a tragedy for Mervyn LeRoy. While he and his father managed to survive, they lost everything they had. To make money, LeRoy sold newspapers and entered talent contests as a singer. When he entered vaudeville, his act was "LeRoy and Cooper--Two...
1. I Am a Fugitive from a Chain Gang (1932): 8.5
2. Random Harvest (1942): 8.5
3. No Time for Sergeants (1958): 8.5
4. The Bad Seed (1956): 5
Total Score: 7.4
93. Henry King
Director | The Song of Bernadette
For more than three decades, Henry King was the most versatile and reliable (not to mention hard-working) contract director on the 20th Century-Fox lot. His tenure lasted from 1930 to 1961, spanning most of Hollywood's "golden" era. King was renowned as a specialist in literary adaptations (A Bell ...
1. Love Is a Many-Splendored Thing (1955): 8.5
2. The Gunfighter (1950): 8
3. The Snows of Kilimanjaro (1952): 6.5
Total Score: 7.4
94. Jean Renoir
Writer | La règle du jeu
Son of the famous Impressionist painter Pierre Auguste, he had a happy childhood. Pierre Renoir was his brother, and Claude Renoir was his nephew. After the end of World War I, where he won the Croix de Guerre, he moved from scriptwriting to filmmaking. He married Catherine Hessling, for whom he ...
1. The Rules of the Game (1939): 8
2. The River (1951): 7.5
Total Score: 7.4
95. Jean Yarbrough
Director | I'm the Law
Jean Yarbrough was born on August 22, 1900 in Marianna, Arkansas, USA. He was a director and producer, known for I'm the Law (1953), Freckles Comes Home (1942) and Inside Job (1946). He died on August 2, 1975 in Los Angeles, California, USA.
1. The Naughty Nineties (1945): 8
2. In Society (1944): 7.5
Total Score: 7.4
96. King Vidor
Director | War and Peace
King Vidor was an American film director, film producer, and screenwriter of Hungarian descent. He was born in Galveston, Texas to lumberman Charles Shelton Vidor and his wife Kate Wallis. King's paternal grandfather Károly (Charles) Vidor had fled Hungary as a refugee following the failed ...
1. Duel in the Sun (1946): 8.5
2. The Crowd (1928): 7
Total Score: 7.4
97. Charles Crichton
Director | A Fish Called Wanda
Director Charles Crichton's film career began as an editor in 1935 with Alexander Korda's London Films, and in that capacity he worked on such productions as Sanders of the River (1935), Things to Come (1936) and Elephant Boy (1937) (which introduced Sabu to movie audiences). He soon left London ...
1. The Lavender Hill Mob (1951): 8
2. A Fish Called Wanda (1988): 7.5
Total Score: 7.4
98. Mike Nichols
Director | The Graduate
He, along with the other members of the "Compass Players" including Elaine May, Paul Sills, Byrne Piven, Joyce Hiller Piven and Edward Asner helped start the famed "Second City Improv" company. They used the games taught to them by fellow cast mate, Paul Sills 's mother, Viola Spolin. He later ...
1. Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf? (1966): 8
2. The Graduate (1967): 7.5
Total Score: 7.4
99. Peter Bogdanovich
Director | The Last Picture Show
Peter Bogdanovich was conceived in Europe but born in Kingston, New York. He is the son of immigrants fleeing the Nazis, Herma (Robinson) and Borislav Bogdanovich, a painter and pianist. His father was a Serbian Orthodox Christian, and his mother was from a wealthy Austrian Jewish family. Peter ...
1. The Last Picture Show (1971): 8
2. What's Up, Doc? (1972): 7.5
Total Score: 7.4
100. Herbert Ross
Director | The Turning Point
Herbert Ross was born on May 13, 1927 in Brooklyn, New York City, New York, USA. He was a director and producer, known for The Turning Point (1977), The Goodbye Girl (1977) and The Secret of My Success (1987). He was married to Lee Radziwill and Nora Kaye. He died on October 9, 2001 in New York ...
1. Play It Again, Sam (1972): 8
2. The Goodbye Girl (1977) : 7.5
Total Score: 7.4
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