Directors’ Best Films, Ranked

 

                     Orson Welles, behind the camera. (RKO Pictures)

WOODY ALLEN: 1) Annie Hall (1977); 2) Manhattan (1979); 3) Hannah and Her Sisters (1986); 4) Crimes and Misdemeanors (1989); 5) Stardust Memories (1980); 6) Husbands and Wives (1992); 7) The Purple Rose of Cairo (1985); 8) Interiors (1978); 9) Midnight in Paris (2011); 10) Love and Death (1975); 11) Broadway Danny Rose (1984); 12) Radio Days (1987); 13) Zelig (1983); 14) Blue Jasmine (2013); 15) Vicky Christina Barcelona (2008); 16) Deconstructing Harry (1997); 17) Sweet and Lowdown (1999); 18) Match Point (2005); 19) Bullets Over Broadway (1994); 20) Manhattan Murder Mystery (1993)        

ROBERT ALTMAN: 1) Nashville (1975); 2) McCabe and Mrs. Miller (1971); 3) The Player (1992); 4) M*A*S*H (1970); 5) Images (1972); 6) The Long Goodbye (1973); 7) 3 Women (1977); 8) Gosford Park (2001); 9) Vincent and Theo (1990); 10) Buffalo Bill and the Indians or: Sitting Bull's History Lesson (1976); 11) California Split (1974); 12) Fool for Love (1985); 13) Secret Honor (1984); 14) Short Cuts (1993); 15) Kansas City (1996); 16) Thieves Like Us (1974); 17) A Prairie Home Companion (2006); 18) Countdown (1968); 19) Brewster McCloud (1970); 20) Come Back to the Five and Dime, Jimmy Dean, Jimmy Dean (1982)

WES ANDERSON: 1) Rushmore (1998); 2) The Grand Budapest Hotel (2014); 3) The French Dispatch (2021); 4) Bottle Rocket (1996); 5) Moonrise Kingdom (2012); 6) The Royal Tenenbaums (2001); 7) The Life Aquatic with Steve Zissou (2004); 8) Asteroid City (2023); 9) Fantastic Mr. Fox (2009); 10) The Darjeeling Limited (2007)

HAL ASHBY: 1) Shampoo (1975); 2) Being There (1979); 3) The Last Detail (1973); 4) Coming Home (1978); 5) Harold and Maude (1972); 6) Bound for Glory (1976); 7) The Landlord (1970); 8) 8 Million Ways to Die (1986); 9) The Slugger's Wife (1985); 10) Lookin' to Get Out (1982)

ROBERT BENTON: 1) Nobody’s Fool (1994); 2) The Late Show (1977); 3) Kramer vs. Kramer (1979); 4) Places in the Heart (1984); 5) Twilight (1998); 6) Bad Company (1972); 7) The Human Stain (2003); 8) Billy Bathgate (1991); 9) Feast of Love (2007); 10) The Still of the Night (1982)

INGMAR BERGMAN: 1) The Seventh Seal (1956); 2) Through a Glass Darkly (1962); 3) Persona (1967); 4) Cries and Whispers (1973); 4) Wild Strawberries (1957); 6) Fanny & Alexander (1983); 7) The Virgin Spring (1960); 8) Smiles of a Summer Night (1955); 9) Scenes From a Marriage (1973); 10) Autumn Sonata (1978); 11) Face to Face (1976); 12) The Silence (1963); 13) Winter Light (1963); 14) Hour of the Wolf (1968); 15) Shame (1968); 16) After the Rehearsal (1984); 17) Sawdust and Tinsel (1953); 18) The Passion of Anna (1970); 19) Saraband (2005); 20) The Magician (1959)

BERNARDO BERTOLUCCI: 1) Last Tango in Paris (1973); 2) The Conformist (1971); 3) The Last Emperor (1987); 4) 1900 (1977); 5) The Sheltering Sky (1990); 6) The Spider's Stratagem (1970); 7) Besieged (1999); 8) Stealing Beauty (1996); 9) The Dreamers (2004); 10) Before the Revolution (1964)

PETER BOGDANOVICH: 1) The Last Picture Show (1971); 2) Saint Jack (1979); 3) Paper Moon (1973); 4) Texasville (1990); 5) What's Up Doc? (1972); 6) The Cat's Meow (2002); 7) Mask (1985); 8) Targets (1968); 9) Nickelodeon (1976); 10) The Thing Called Love (1993)

JOHN BOORMAN: 1) Point Blank (1967); 2) Hope and Glory (1987); 3) Deliverance (1972); 4) The General (1998); 5) The Tailor of Panama (2001); 6) Beyond Rangoon (1995); 7) The Emerald Forest (1985); 8) Excalibur (1981); 9) Hell in the Pacific (1968); 10) Where the Heart Is (1990)

RICHARD BROOKS: 1) Cat on a Hot Tin Roof (1958); 2) Elmer Gantry (1960); 3) In Cold Blood (1967); 4) The Professionals (1966); 5) Sweet Bird of Youth (1962); 6) Looking for Mr. Goodbar (1977); 7) The Blackboard Jungle (1955); 8) Deadline U.S.A. (1952); 9) The Brothers Karamazov (1958); 10) The Happy Ending (1969)

CLARENCE BROWN: 1) The Human Comedy (1943); 2) Anna Karenina (1935); 3) Ah, Wilderness (1935); 4) The Yearling (1946); 5) Anna Christie (1930); 6) Intruder in the Dust (1949); 7) National Velvet (1945); 8) Of Human Hearts (1938); 9) Sadie McKee (1934); 10) A Woman of Affairs (1928)

LUIS BUNUEL: 1) The Exterminating Angel (1962); 2) Belle de Jour (1967); 3) The Discreet Charm of the Bourgeoisie (1972); 4) Viridiana (1961); 5) That Obscure Object of Desire (1977); 6) Los Olvidados (1950); 7) Un chien Andalou (1928); 8) Nazarin (1959); 9) Tristana (1970); 10) The Milky Way (1970)      

FRANK CAPRA: 1) It’s a Wonderful Life (1946); 2) Mr. Smith Goes to Washington (1939); 3) Mr. Deeds Goes to Town (1936); 4) It Happened One Night (1934); 5) Meet John Doe (1941); 8) You Can’t Take It With You (1938); 7) Lost Horizon (1937); 8) Lady for a Day (1933); 9) The Miracle Woman (1931); 10) State of the Union (1948); 11) Forbidden (1932); 11) Platinum Blonde (1931); 12) The Strong Man (1926); 13) The Bitter Tea of General Yen (1933); 14) Arsenic and Old Lace (1944); 15) Rain or Shine (1930); 16) Pocketful of Miracles (1961); 17) Broadway Bill (1934); 18) American Madness (1932); 19) Dirigible (1931); 20) Flight (1929) 

 JOHN CASSAVETES: 1) A Woman Under the Influence (1974); 2) The Killing of a Chinese Bookie (1976); 3) Husbands (1970); 4) Love Streams (1984); 5) Faces (1968); 6) Shadows (1960); 7) Gloria (1980); 8) Minnie and Moskowitz (1971); 9) Too Late Blues (1962); 10) Opening Night (1978)

CHARLES CHAPLIN: 1) City Lights (1931); 2) The Gold Rush (1925); 3) The Great Dictator (1940); 4) The Kid (1921); 5) A Woman of Paris (1923); 6) Modern Times (1936); 7) The Immigrant (1917); 8) One A.M. (1916); 9) The Pawnshop (1916); 10) Monsieur Verdoux (1947)

JOEL AND ETHAN COEN: 1) The Hudsucker Proxy (1994); 2) Blood Simple (1985); 3) Fargo (1996); 4) The Big Lebowski (1998); 5) No Country for Old Men (2007); 6) A Serious Man (2009); 7) The Tragedy of Macbeth (2021); 8) O Brother, Where Art Thou? (2000); 9) Inside Llewyn Davis (2013); 10) Miller's Crossing (1990)

FRANCIS COPPOLA: 1) The Godfather (1972); 2) The Godfather Part II (1974); 3) Apocalypse Now (1979); 4) The Conversation (1974); 5) The Godfather Part III (1990); 6) Tucker: The Man and His Dream (1988); 7) Rumble Fish (1983); 8) The Rainmaker (1997); 9) The Rain People (1969); 10) Youth Without Youth (2007); 11) The Outsiders (1983); 12) The Cotton Club (1984); 13) Bram Stoker’s Dracula (1992); 14) One From the Heart (1982); 15) Tetro (2009); 16) Gardens of Stone (!987); 17) Peggy Sue Got Married (1986); 18) You’re a Big Boy Now (1966); 19) Twixt (2011); 20) Finian’s Rainbow (1968)

GEORGE CUKOR: 1) The Philadelphia Story (1940); 2) A Star Is Born (1954); 3) Holiday (1938); 4) Little Women (1933); 5) Gaslight (1944); 6) Dinner at Eight (1933); 7) Camille (1937); 8) David Copperfield (1935); 9) The Royal Family of Broadway (1930); 10) Born Yesterday (1950); 11) Adam’s Rib (1949); 12) My Fair Lady (1964); 13) The Women (1939); 14) What Price Hollywood? (1932); 15) A Double Life (1947); 16) Pat and Mike (1952); 17) A Bill of Divorcement (1932); 18) Romeo and Juliet (1936); 19) Travels With My Aunt (1972); 20) The Actress (1953)

MICHAEL CURTIZ: 1) Casablanca (1943); 2) The Breaking Point (1950); 3) Angels With Dirty Faces (1938); 4) The Sea Hawk (1940); 5) Yankee Doodle Dandy (1942); 6) Mildred Pierce (1945); 7) The Adventures of Robin Hood (1938); 8) The Sea Wolf (1941); 9) Captain Blood (1935); 10) Life With Father (1947); 10) Bright Leaf (1950); 12) The Private Lives of Elizabeth and Essex (1939); 13) Four Daughters (1938); 14) Dodge City (1939); 15) The Charge of the Light Brigade (1936); 16) The Mad Genius (1931); 17) Jimmy the Gent (1934); 18) My Dream Is Yours (1949); 19) Young Man With a Horn (1950); 20) Kid Galahad (1937)

BRIAN DE PALMA: 1) Casualties of War (1989); 2) Blow Out (1981); 3) Mission: Impossible (1996); 4) Dressed to Kill (1980); 5) The Untouchables (1987); 6) Carrie (1976); 7) Scarface (1983); 8) Obsession (1976); 9) Carlito’s Way (1993); 10) Hi Mom! (1970); 11) Femme Fatale (2002); 12) Body Double (1984); 13) Sisters (1973); 14) Black Dahlia (2006); 15) Snake Eyes (1998); 16) Mission to Mars (2000); 17) The Bonfire of the Vanities (1990); 18) Passion (2013); 19) Redacted (2007); 20) Greetings (1968) 

CLINT EASTWOOD: 1) Unforgiven (1992); 2) Mystic River (2003); 3) Million Dollar Baby (2004); 4) Letters from Iwo Jima (2006); 5) The Outlaw—Josey Wales (1976); 6) Bird (1988); 7) Absolute Power (1997); 8) Flags of Our Fathers (2006); 9) American Sniper (2014); 10) Breezy (1973); 11) Gran Torino (2008); 12) Sully (2016); 13) White Hunter Black Heart (1990); 14) Richard Jewell (2019); 15) A Perfect World (1993); 16) Blood Work (2002); 17) Invictus (2009); 18) The Bridges of Madison County (1993); 19) High Plains Drifter (1973); 20) True Crime (1999)

BLAKE EDWARDS: 1) Breakfast at Tiffany’s (1961); 2) Victor Victoria (1982); 3) Days of Wine and Roses (1962); 4) S.O.B. (1981); 5) Experiment in Terror (1962); 6) The Pink Panther (1964); 7) 10 (1979); 8) The Party (1968); 9) A Shot in the Dark (1964); 10) Gunn (1967) 

FEDERICO FELLINI: 1) 8 ½ (1963); 2) La Dolce Vita (1960); 3) La Strada (1954); 4) Amarcord (1975); 5) I Vitelloni (1953); 6) Fellini Satyricon (1969); 7) Nights of Cabiria (1957); 8) Juliet of the Spirits (1965); 9) City of Women (1981); 10) And the Ship Sails On (1984)

DAVID FINCHER: 1) Seven (1995); 2) The Social Network (2010); 3) Zodiac (2007); 4) Mank (2020); 5) The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo (2011); 6) The Curious Case of Benjamin Button (2008); 7) Gone Girl (2014); 8) Fight Club (1999); 9) Alien 3 (1992); 10) The Game (1997)

VICTOR FLEMING: 1) Gone With the Wind (1939); 2) The Wizard of Oz (1939); 3) Bombshell (1933); 4) Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde (1941); 5) Captains Courageous (1937); 6) Test Pilot (1938); 7) Red Dust (1932); 8) Treasure Island (1934); 9) The Virginian (1929); 10) The White Sister (1933)

JOHN FORD: 1) The Grapes of Wrath (1940); 2) How Green Was My Valley (1941); 3) My Darling Clementine (1946); 4) Stagecoach (1939); 5) The Searchers (1956); 6) She Wore a Yellow Ribbon (1949); 7) The Man Who Shot Liberty Valance (1962); 8) They Were Expendable (1945); 9) The Informer (1934); 10) Young Mr. Lincoln (1939); 11) The Quiet Man (1952); 12) Rio Grande (1950); 13) The Whole Town’s Talking (1935); 14) The Fugitive (1947); 15) Drums Along the Mohawk (1939); 16) The Iron Horse (1924); 17) Arrowsmith (1931); 18) The Long Voyage Home (1940); 19) Mister Roberts (1955); 20) Mary of Scotland (1936)  

MILOS FORMAN: 1) One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest (1975); 2) Amadeus (1984); 3) The People vs. Larry Flynt (1996); 4) Ragtime (1981); 5) The Fireman’s Ball (1968); 6) Valmont (1989); 7) Man on the Moon (1999); 8) Hair (1979); 9) Taking Off (1971); 10) Goya’s Ghosts (2007)

JOHN FRANKENHEIMER: 1) The Manchurian Candidate (1962); 2) The Iceman Cometh (1973); 3) The Train (1965); 4) Seven Days in May (1964); 5) Ronin (1998); 6) Birdman of Alcatraz (1962); 7) Seconds (1966); 8) The Gypsy Moths (1969); 9) 52 Pick-Up (1986); 10) All Fall Down (1962); 11) The Fixer (1968); 12) The French Connection II (1975); 13) I Walk the Line (1970); 14) The Young Savages (1961); 15) Grand Prix (1966); 16) The Island of Dr. Moreau (1996); 17) Reindeer Games (2000); 18) The Extraordinary Seaman (1969); 19) Year of the Gun (1991); 20) The Young Stranger (1957)

STEPHEN FREARS: 1) The Queen (2006); 2) High Fidelity (2000); 3) Dirty Pretty Things (2003); 4) The Grifters (1990); 5) Prick Up Your Ears (1987); 6) Dangerous Liaisons (1988); 7) Philomena (2013); 8) The Hit (1985); 9) My Beautiful Laundrette (1986); 10) The Van (1997)   

SAM FULLER: 1) Pickup on South Street (1953); 2) The Steel Helmet (1951); 3) The Big Red One (1980); 4) Park Row (1952); 5) House of Bamboo (1955); 6) Fixed Bayonets! (1951); 7) Shock Corridor (1963); 8) The Crimson Kimono (1959); 9) The Naked Kiss (1964); 10) Underworld, U.S.A. (1961)

JEAN-LUC GODARD: 1) Breathless (1959); 2) Contempt (1963); 3) Vivre Sa Vie (1962); 4) Le Petit Soldat (1963); 5) Alphaville (1965); 6) Weekend (1967); 7) Les Carabiniers (1963); 8) Band of Outsiders (1964); 9) Pierrot le Fou (1965); 10) Hail Mary (1985)

HOWARD HAWKS: 1) Red River (1948); 2) The Big Sleep (1946); 3) Only Angels Have Wings (1939); 4) His Girl Friday (1940); 5) Scarface (1932); 6) Ball of Fire (1941); 7) Rio Bravo (1959); 8) To Have and Have Not (1944); 9) Bringing Up Baby (1938); 10) Sergeant York (1941); 11) Twentieth Century (1934); 12) Air Force (1943); 13) El Dorado (1967); 14) Barbary Coast (1935); 15) A Girl in Every Port (1928); 16) Monkey Business (1952); 17) The Road to Glory (1936); 18) Today We Live (1933); 19) The Criminal Code (1931); 20) The Dawn Patrol (1930) 

GEORGE ROY HILL: 1) Slap Shot (1977); 2) Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kind (1969); 3) The Sting (1973); 4) Slaughterhouse Five (1972); 5) Period of Adjustment (1962); 6) The World According to Garp (1984); 7) A Little Romance (1979); 8) The Great Waldo Pepper (1975); 9) The Little Drummer Girl (1984); 10) Funny Farm (1988)  

ALFRED HITCHCOCK: 1) Vertigo (1958); 2) Notorious (1946); 3) Rebecca (1940); 4) Rear Window (1954); 5) Psycho (1960); 6) The Lady Vanishes (1938); 7) Foreign Correspondent (1940); 8) North by Northwest (1959); 9) The 39 Steps (1935); 10) Shadow of a Doubt (1943); 11) Spellbound (1945); 12) Suspicion (1941); 13) Strangers on a Train (1951); 14) To Catch a Thief (1955); 15) Saboteur (1942); 16) The Man Who Knew Too Much (1934); 17) Sabotage (1936); 18) Blackmail (1929); 19) The Birds (1963); 20) Marnie (1964) 

RON HOWARD: 1) The Paper (1994); 2) Frost/Nixon (2008); 3) Rush (2013); 4) Apollo 13 (1995); 5) Night Shift (1982); 6) A Beautiful Mind (2001); 7) Parenthood (1989); 8) Cocoon (1985); 9) The Da Vinci Code (2006); 10) Solo: A Star Wars Story (2018)

JOHN HUSTON: 1) The Maltese Falcon (1941); 2) The Treasure of the Sierra Madre (1948); 3) The Asphalt Jungle (1950); 4) Key Largo (1948); 5) Prizzi's Honor (1985); 6) The Dead (1987); 7) Under the Volcano (1984); 8) The Night of the Iguana (1964); 9) The Man Who Would Be King (1975); 10) The Red Badge of Courage (1951); 11) The Life and Times of Judge Roy Bean (1972); 12) The African Queen (1951); 13) Moby Dick (1956); 14) Fat City (1972); 15) Moulin Rouge (1952); 16) Beat the Devil (1954); 17) The Misfits (1961); 18) Heaven Knows, Mr. Allison (1957); 19) In This Our Life (1942); 20) Wise Blood (1980)

JIM JARMUSCH: 1) Stranger Than Paradise (1984); 2) Paterson (2016); 3) Down by Law (1986); 4) Ghost Dog: The Way of the Samurai (2000); 5) The Dead Don’t Die (2019); 6) Coffee and Cigarettes (2004); 7) Broken Flowers (2005); 8) Mystery Train (1989); 9) Only Lovers Left Alive (2014); 10) Night on Earth (1992)

NORMAN JEWISON: 1) In the Heat of the Night (1967); 2) The Hurricane (1999); 3) Moonstruck (1987); 4) A Soldier’s Story (1984); 5) And Justice for All (1979); 6) Fiddle on the Roof (1971); 7) The Russians Are Coming, the Russians Are Coming (1966); 8) Jesus Christ, Superstar (1973); 9) Agnes of God (1985); 10) The Thomas Crown Affair (1968)

ELIA KAZAN: 1) On the Waterfront (1954); 2) A Streetcar Named Desire (1951); 3) A Face in the Crowd (1957); 4) Baby Doll (1956); 5) A Tree Grows in Brooklyn (1945); 6) East of Eden (1955); 7) Gentleman's Agreement (1947); 8) Panic in the Streets (1950); 9) America, America (1963); 10) Viva Zapata! (1952)

STANLEY KUBRICK: 1) Dr. Strangelove or: How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Love the Bomb (1964); 2) Paths of Glory (1957); 3) 2001: A Space Odyssey (1968); 4) Full Metal Jacket (1987); 5) The Killing (1956); 6) A Clockwork Orange (1971); 7) The Shining (1980); 8) Eyes Wide Shut (1999); 9) Barry Lyndon (1975); 10) Lolita (1962)

AKIRA KUROSAWA: 1) Seven Samurai (1954); 2) Rashomon (1951); 3) Ran (1985); 4) Ikiru (1952); 5) Throne of Blood (1957); 6) Kagemusha (1980); 7) Stray Dog (1949); 8) Yojimbo (1961); 9) Dersu Uzala (1975); 10) The Lower Depths (1957)

FRITZ LANG: 1) M (1931); 2) Fury (1936); 3) Scarlet Street (1945); 4) The Big Heat (1953); 5) You Only Live Once (1937); 6) Metropolis (1926); 7) Woman in the Window (1945); 8) Clash by Night (1952); 9) The Testament of Dr. Mabuse (1932); 10) While the City Sleeps (1956)

DAVID LEAN: 1) Lawrence of Arabia (1962); 2) Great Expectations (1946); 3) The Bridge on the River Kwai (1957); 4) Oliver Twist (1951); 5) A Passage to India (1984); 6) Breaking the Sound Barrier (1952); 7) Ryan’s Daughter (1970); 8) Doctor Zhivago (1965); 9) Brief Encounter (1945); 10) Blithe Spirit (1945)

ANG LEE: 1) Sense and Sensibility (1995); 2) Brokeback Mountain (2005); 3) The Wedding Banquet (1993); 4) Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon (2000); 5) Lust, Caution (2007); 6) The Ice Storm (1997); 7) Eat Drink Man Woman (1994); 8) Life of Pi (2012); 9) Taking Woodstock (2009); 10) Ride with the Devil (1999)

SPIKE LEE: 1) Do the Right Thing (1989); 2) Clockers (1995); 3) Crooklyn (1994); 4) Summer of Sam (1999); 5) Malcolm X (1992); 6) 25th Hour (2002); 7) She's Gotta Have It (1986); 8) Mo' Better Blues (1990); 9) Inside Man (2006); 10) BlacKkKlansman (2018)

MIKE LEIGH: 1) Naked (1993); 2) Life Is Sweet (1991); 3) Another Year (2010); 4) High Hopes (1989); 5) Secrets and Lies (1996); 6) Career Girls (1997); 7) All or Nothing (2002); 8) Vera Drake (2004); 9) Topsy-Turvy (1999); 10) Mr. Turner (2014)

BARRY LEVINSON: 1) Diner (1982); 2) Rain Man (1988); 3) Wag the Dog (1997); 4) Bugsy (1991); 5) Tin Men (1987); 6) An Everlasting Piece (2000); 7) The Natural (1984); 8) The Humbling (2014); 9) What Just Happened (2008); 10) Avalon (1990)

RICHARD LINKLATER: 1) Dazed and Confused (1994); 2) Before Sunrise (1995); 3) Before Sunset (2004); 4) Before Midnight (2013); 5) School of Rock (2003); 6) Me and Orson Welles (2009); 7) 10 ½: A Space Age Childhood (2022); 8) Boyhood (2014); 9) Bernie (2012); 10) Slacker (1991) 

ERNST LUBITSCH: 1) Trouble in Paradise (1932); 2) The Shop Around the Corner (1940); 3) Design for Living (1933); 4) To Be or Not to Be (1942); 5) Ninotchka (1939); 6) The Smiling Lieutenant (1931); 7) The Love Parade (1929); 8) The Oyster Princess (1919); 9) Heaven Can Wait (1943); 10) One Hour with You (1932)

SIDNEY LUMET: 1) Network (1976); 2) Long Day’s Journey Into Night (1962); 3) 12 Angry Men (1957); 4) Dog Day Afternoon (1975); 5) The Verdict (1982); 6) Serpico (1973); 7) The Pawnbroker (1965); 8) Prince of the City (1981); 9) The Hill (1965); 10) Q&A (1990); 11) Fail-Safe (1964); 12) Before the Devil Knows You’re Dead (2007); 13) Running on Empty (1988); 14) Murder on the Orient Express (1974); 15) Daniel (1983); 16) The Deadly Affair (1967); 17) Find Me Guilty (2006); 18) The Fugitive Kind (1959); 19) Power (1986); 20) Night Falls on Manhattan (1997)

DAVID LYNCH: 1) Blue Velvet (1986); 2) Mulholland Dr. (2001); 3) The Elephant Man (1980); 4) The Straight Story (1999); 5) Wild at Heart (1990); 6) Eraserhead (1978); 7) Twin Peaks: Fire Walk with Me (1992); 8) Lost Highway (1997); 9) Inland Empire (2006); 10) Dune (1984)

JOSEPH L. MANKIEWICZ: 1) All About Eve (1950); 2) A Letter to Three Wives (1949); 3) Julius Caesar (1953); 4) Five Fingers (1952); 5) People Will Talk (1951); 6) The Ghost and Mrs. Muir (1947); 7) Escape (1948); 8) Sleuth (1972); 9) Suddenly, Last Summer (1959); 10) No Way Out (1950)

ANTHONY MANN:  1) The Naked Spur (1953); 2) Raw Deal (1948); 3) T-Men (1948); 4) God’s Little Acre (1958); 5) Winchester ’73 (1950); 6) Reign of Terror (1949); 7) Man of the West (1958); 8) Men in War (1957); 9) The Far Country (1955); 10) Bend of the River (1952) 

MICHAEL MANN: 1) Heat (1995); 2) The Insider (1999); 3) Ferrari (2023); 4) The Last of the Mohicans (1992); 5) Thief (1981); 6) Collateral (2004); 7) Manhunter (1986); 8) Ali (2001); 9) Public Enemies (2009); 10: Miami Vice (2006)

PAUL MAZURSKY: 1) An Unmarried Woman (1978); 2) Blume in Love (1973); 3) Enemies, A Love Story (1989); 4) Harry and Tonto (1974); 5) Down and Out in Beverly Hills (1986); 6) Bob & Carol & Ted & Alice (1969); 7) Tempest (1982); 8) Moscow on the Hudson (1984); 9) Next Stop, Greenwich Village (1976); 10) Scenes From a Mall (1991)

LEWIS MILESTONE: 1) All Quiet on the Western Front (1930); 2) Of Mice and Men (1939); 3) Pork Chop Hill (1959); 4) The Front Page (1931); 5) The Racket (1928); 6) The General Died at Dawn (1936); 7) The Strange Love of Martha Ivers (1946); 8) Mutiny on the Bounty (1962); 9) A Walk in the Sun (1945); 10) Rain (1932)

VNCENTE MINNELLI: 1) An American in Paris (1951); 2) The Bad and the Beautiful (1952); 3) Meet Me in St. Louis (1944); 4) The Band Wagon (1953); 5) Lust for Life (1956); 6) Home from the Hill (1960); 7) Madame Bovary (1949); 8) Gigi (1958); 9) Cabin in the Sky (1943); 10) Some Came Running (1958)

MIKE NICHOLS: 1) The Graduate (1967); 2) Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf (1966); 3) Carnal Knowledge (1971); 4) Charlie Wilson’s War (2007); 5) Catch-22 (1970); 6) Silkwood (1983); 7) Working Girl (1988); 8) The Birdcage (1996); 9) Postcards from the Edge (1990); 10) Closer (2004)

CHRISTOPER NOLAN: 1) Oppenheimer (2023); 2) Interstellar (2014); 3) Memento (2001); 4) Batman Begins (2005); 5) Insomnia (2002); 6) The Dark Knight (2008); 7) The Dark Knight Rises (2012); 8) Dunkirk (2017); 9) Inception (2010); 10) The Prestige (2006)

ALAN J. PAKULA: 1) All the President’s Men (1976); 2) Klute (1971); 3) The Parallax View (1974); 4) Sophie’s Choice (1982); 5) Orphans (1987); 6) Starting Over (1979); 7) Comes a Horseman (1978); 8) Presumed Innocent (1990); 9) The Sterile Cuckoo (1969); 10) The Devil’s Own (1997)  

SAM PECKINPAH: 1) The Wild Bunch (1969); 2) Pat Garrett and Billy the Kid (1973); 3) Ride the High Country (1962); 4) Straw Dogs (1971); 5) The Ballad of Cable Hogue (1970); 6) Junior Bonner (1972); 7) Cross of Iron (1977); 8) The Killer Elite (1975); 9) The Osterman Weekend (1983); 10) The Getaway (1972)

ARTHUR PENN: 1) Bonnie and Clyde (1967); 2) Night Moves (1975); 3) The Miracle Worker (1962); 4) Little Big Man (1970); 5) The Missouri Breaks (1976); 6) Mickey One (1965); 7) Four Friends (1981); 8) Alice’s Restaurant (1969); 9) The Chase (1966); 10) The Left-Handed Gun (1958)

ROMAN POLANSKI: 1) Chinatown (1974); 2) The Pianist (2002); 3) Repulsion (1965); 4) Knife in the Water (1962); 5) Macbeth (1971); 6) The Ghost Writer (2010); 7) Rosemary’s Baby (1968); 8) Tess (1980); 9) Carnage (2011); 10) Oliver Twist (2005)

SYDNEY POLLACK: 1) Tootsie (1982); 2) They Shoot Horses, Don’t They? (1969); 3) Three Days of the Condor (1975); 4) Absence of Malice (1981); 5) Jeremiah Johnson (1972); 6) Out of Africa (1985); 7) The Way We Were (1973); 8) The Firm (1993); 9) The Electric Horseman (1979); 10) The Yakuza (1975)

OTTO PREMINGER: 1) Laura (1944); 2) Anatomy of a Murder (1959); 3) Where the Sidewalk Ends (1950); 4) Advise and Consent (1962); 5) The Man with the Golden Arm (1955); 6) Exodus (1960); 7) The Cardinal (1963); 8) Whirlpool (1949); 9) The Human Factor (1979); 10) Carmen Jones (1954)

BOB RAFELSON: 1) Five Easy Pieces (1970); 2) The King of Marvin Gardens (1972); 3) Mountains of the Moon (1990); 4) The Postman Always Rings Twice (1981); 5) Blood and Wine (1997); 6) Black Widow (1987); 7) Head (1968); 8) No Good Deed (2002); 9) Stay Hungry (1976); 10) Man Trouble (1992)

NICHOLAS RAY: 1) Rebel Without a Cause (1955); 2) Johnny Guitar (1954); 3) In a Lonely Place (1950); 4) They Live by Night (1949); 5) The Lusty Men (1952); 6) On Dangerous Ground (1951); 7) Bigger Than Life (1956); 8) Born to Be Bad (1950); 9) Bitter Victory (1958); 10) Party Girl (1958)  

CAROL REED: 1) The Third Man (1950); 2) The Fallen Idol (1948); 3) Odd Man Out (1947); 4) Outcast of the Islands (1951); 5) The Way Ahead (1945); 6) Night Train to Munich (1941); 7) Our Man in Havana (1960); 8) Oliver! (1968); 9) The Key (1958); 10) The Man Between (1953)

 JEAN RENOIR: 1) Grand Illusion (1937); 2) The Rules of the Game (1939); 3) La Bete Humaine (1938); 4) Boudu Saved from Drowning (1932); 5) French Cancan (1956); 6) The River (1951); 7) The Southerner (1945); 8) The Golden Coach (1954); 9) La Chienne (1931); 10) The Woman on the Beach (1947)

MARTIN RITT: 1) Hud (1963); 2) The Spy Who Came in From the Cold (1965); 3) Sounder (1972); 4) The Long Hot Summer (1958); 5) Hombre (1967); 6) Norma Rae (1979); 7) The Great White Hope (1970); 8) The Front (1976); 9) Paris Blues (1961); 10) Cross Creek (1983)

ALAN RUDOLPH: 1) Choose Me (1984); 2) Welcome to L.A. (1977); 3) Mrs. Parker and the Vicious Circle (1994); 4) Trouble in Mind (1985); 5) The Moderns (1988); 6) The Secret Lives of Dentists (2003); 7) Afterglow (1997); 8) Breakfast of Champions (1999); 9) Songwriter (1984); 10) Remember My Name (1978)

DAVID O. RUSSELL: 1) Flirting with Disaster (1996); 2) Silver Linings Playbook (2012); 3) The Fighter (2010); 4) American Hustle (2013); 5) Three Kings (1999); 6) Joy (2015); 7) Spanking the Monkey (1994); 8) Amsterdam (2022); 9) I [Heart] Huckabees (2004); 10) Accidental Love (2015)

JOHN SAYLES: 1) Limbo (1999); 2) City of Hope (1991); 3) Lone Star (1997); 4) Matewan (1987); 5) Eight Men Out (1988); 6) Passion Fish (1992); 7) Sunshine State (2002); 8) Baby, It’s You (1983); 9) The Brother from Another Planet (1984); 10) The Secret of Roan Inish (1995)

JOHN SCHLESINGER: 1) Midnight Cowboy (1969); 2) Sunday, Bloody Sunday (1971); 3) Darling (1965); 4) Far from the Madding Crowd (1967); 5) The Day of the Locust (1975); 6) Marathon Man (1976); 7) Cold Comfort Farm (1996); 8) A Kind of Loving (1962); 9) The Falcon and the Snowman (1985); 10) Madame Sousatzka (1988)  

PAUL SCHRADER: 1) Affliction (1998); 2) First Reformed (2018); 3) Patty Heart (1988); 4) The Card Counter (2021); 5) American Gigolo (1980); 6) Mishima: A Life in Four Chapters (1985); 7) Master Gardener (2023); 8) Auto Focus (2002); 9) The Comfort of Strangers (1991); 10) Cat People (1982)

MARTIN SCORSESE: 1) Taxi Driver (1976); 2) Raging Bull (1980) 3) Mean Streets (1973); 4) Silence (2016); 5) GoodFellas (1990); 6) The Last Temptation of Christ (1988); 7) The King of Comedy (1983); 8) Casino (1995); 9) The Wolf of Wall Street (2013); 10) The Departed (2006); 11) The Age of Innocence (1993); 12) Killers of the Flower Moon (2023); 13) The Irishman (2019); 14) New York, New York (1977); 15) Alice Doesn't Live Here Anymore (1974); 16) The Color of Money (1986); 17) Gangs of New York (2002); 18) The Aviator (2004); 19) After Hours (1985); 20) Cape Fear (1991)

RIDLEY SCOTT: 1) Alien (1979); 2) Black Hawk Down (2001); 3) The Martian (2015); 4) Blade Runner (1982); 5) Gladiator (2000); 6) Thelma & Louise (1991); 7) All the Money in the World (2017); 8) House of Gucci (2021); 9) Body of Lies (2008); 10) Napoleon (2023)

DON SIEGEL: 1) Dirty Harry (1971); 2) Invasion of the Body Snatchers (1956); 3) The Shootist (1976); 4) Charlie Varrick (1973); 5) Madigan (1968); 6) The Verdict (1946); 7) Private Hell 36 (1954); 8) The Lineup (1958); 9) The Beguiled (1971); 10) Coogan’s Bluff (1968)

STEVEN SODERBERGH: 1) Traffic (2000); 2) The Limey (1999); 3) Erin Brockovich (2000); 4) sex, lies and videotape (1989); 5) King of the Hill (1993); 6) Contagion (2001); 7) Out of Sight (1998); 8) Ocean’s Eleven (2001); 9) Solaris (2002); 10) Logan Lucky (2017)

STEVE SPIELBERG: 1) Close Encounters of the Third Kind (1977); 2) Schindler's List (1993); 3) Jaws (1975); 4) E.T. The Extra-Terrestrial (1982); 5) Raiders of the Lost Ark (1981); 6) The Post (2017); 7) Saving Private Ryan (1998); 8) Lincoln (2012); 9) West Side Story (2021); 10) Bridge of Spies (2015); 11) The Fabelmans (2022); 12) War Horse (2011); 13) Empire of the Sun (1987); 14) Catch Me If You Can (2002); 15) Minority Report (2002); 16) Munich (2005); 17) Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom (1984); 18) Jurassic Park (1993); 19) Amistad (1997); 20) War of the Worlds (2005)

JOSEF VON STERNBERG: 1) The Scarlet Empress (1934); 2) The Last Command (1928); 3) Shanghai Express (1932); 4) Morocco (1930); 5) Blonde Venus (1932); 6) The Blue Angel (1930); 7) Underworld (1927); 8) Crime and Punishment (1935); 9) An American Tragedy (1931); 10) The Docks of New York (1928)

GEORGE STEVENS: 1) Giant (1956); 2) Shane (1953); 3) A Place in the Sun (1951); 4) The More the Merrier (1943); 5) I Remember Mama (1948); 6) Vivacious Lady (1938); 7) Gunga Din (1939); 8) Swing Time (1936); 9) The Diary of Anne Frank (1959); 10) Alice Adams (1935); 11) The Talk of the Town (1942); 12) Woman of the Year (1942); 13) Annie Oakley (1935); 14) A Damsel in Distress (1937); 15) Penny Serenade (1941); 16) Vigil in the Night (1940); 17) The Greatest Story Ever Told (1965); 18) The Only Game in Town (1970); 19) Quality Street (1937); 20) Bachelor Bait (1934)

OLIVER STONE: 1) Platoon (1986); 2) Born on the Fourth of July (1989); 3) Nixon (1995); 4) JFK (1991); 5) W. (2008); 6) Salvador (1986); 7) Natural Born Killers (1994); 8) Wall Street (1987); 9) World Trade Center (2006); 10) The Doors (1991)

PRESTON STURGES: 1) Sullivan’s Travels (1941); 2) The Miracle of Morgan Creek (1944); 3) Hail the Conquering Hero (1944); 4) The Lady Eve (1941); 5) The Palm Beach Story (1942); 6) Unfaithfully Yours (1948); 7) The Great McGinty (1940); 8) Christmas in July (1940); 9) The Beautiful Blonde from Bashful Bend (1949); 10) The Great Moment (1944)

QUENTIN TARANTINO: 1) Pulp Fiction (1994); 2) Inglourious Basterds (2009); 3) Reservoir Dogs (1992); 4) Once Upon a Time in Hollywood (2019); 5) Jackie Brown (1997); 6) Django Unchained (2012); 7) The Hateful Eight (2015); 8) Kill Bill, Vol. 2 (2004); 9) Kill Bill, Vol. 1 (2003); 10) Death Proof (2007)

FRANCOIS TRUFFAUT: 1) The 400 Blows (1959); 2) Jules and Jim (1961); 3) Day for Night (1974); 4) The Story of Adele H. (1975); 5) Shoot the Piano Player (1960); 6) The Last Metro (1980); 7) Stolen Kisses (1968); 8) The Man Who Loved Women (1977); 9) Two English Girls (1972); 10) The Wild Child (1970)

GUS VAN SANT: 1) Milk (2008); 2) To Die For (1995); 3) Drugstore Cowboy (1989); 4) Good Will Hunting (1997); 5) Last Days (2005); 6) Promised Land (2012); 7) My Own Private Idaho (1991); 8) Elephant (2003); 9) The Sea of Trees (2016); 10) Don’t Worry, He Won’t Get Far on Foot (2018)

KING VIDOR: 1) The Big Parade (1925); 2) Street Scene (1931); 3) The Crowd (1928); 4) The Fountainhead (1949); 5) Stella Dallas (1937); 6) The Citadel (1938); 7) The Champ (1931); 8) Hallelujah (1929); 9) War and Peace (1956); 10) La Boheme (1926)  

RAOUL WALSH: 1) White Heat (1949); 2) The Roaring Twenties (1939); 3) High Sierra (1941); 4) They Drive by Night (1940); 5) The Big Trail (1930); 6) Gentleman Jim (1941); 7) What Price Glory (1926); 8) They Died with Their Boots On (1941); 9) The Thief of Bagdad (1924); 10) Pursued (1947)

PETER WEIR: 1) The Truman Show (1998); 2) The Year of Living Dangerously (1983); 3) Master and Commander: The Far Side of the World (2003); 4) Witness (1985); 5) Dead Poets Society (1989); 6) Gallipoli (1981); 7) The Mosquito Coast (1986); 8) Fearless (1993); 9) Picnic at Hanging Rock (1975); 10) Green Card (1990)

ORSON WELLES: 1) Citizen Kane (1941); 2) Touch of Evil (1958); 3) The Magnificent Ambersons (1942); 4) Chimes at Midnight (1967); 5) Othello (1952); 6) The Lady from Shanghai (1948); 7) The Stranger (1946); 8) Macbeth (1948); 9) The Trial (1963); 10) Mr. Arkadin (1955)

WILLIAM WELLMAN: 1) The Ox-Bow Incident (1943); 2) The Public Enemy (1931); 3) A Star Is Born (1937); 4) The Story of G.I. Joe (1945); 5) Nothing Sacred (1937); 6) Roxie Hart (1942); 7) Yellow Sky (1948); 8) Wings (1927); 9) Battleground (1949); 10) Westward the Women (1951); 11) Beau Geste (1939); 12) Beggars of Life (1928); 13) The Purchase Price (1932); 14) So Big! (1932); 15) Wild Boys of the Road (1933); 16) Track of the Cat (1954); 17) The High and the Mighty (1954); 18) Lafayette Escadrille (1958); 19) Stingaree (1934); 20) Call of the Wild (1935) 

WIM WENDERS: 1) Wings of Desire (1988); 2) Paris, Texas (1984); 3) Perfect Days (2023); 4) An American Friend (1977); 5) Until the End of the World (1992); 6) Don’t Come Knocking (2006); 7) Alice in the Cities (1974); 8) The State of Things (1982); 9) Hammett (1982); 10) The Goalie’s Anxiety at the Penalty Kick (1971)

BILLY WILDER: 1) Sunset Boulevard (1950); 2) Some Like It Hot (1959); 3) Double Indemnity (1944); 4) The Big Carnival (1951); 5) The Apartment (1960); 6) Witness for the Prosecution (1957); 7) Stalag 17 (1953); 8) The Fortune Cookie (1966); 9) The Lost Weekend (1945); 10) One, Two, Three (1961); 11) A Foreign Affair (1948); 12) The Private Life of Sherlock Holmes (1970); 13) Sabrina (1954); 14) Irma La Douce (1963); 15) The Seven Year Itch (1955); 16) Five Graves to Cairo (1943); 17) The Front Page (1974); 18) Love in the Afternoon (1957); 19) The Major and the Minor (1942); 20) The Spirit of St. Louis (1957)

ROBERT WISE: 1) The Set-Up (1949); 2) West Side Story (1961); 3) The Body Snatcher (1945); 4) The Day the Earth Stood Still (1951); 5) The Haunting (1963); 6) The Desert Rats (1953); 7) I Want to Live! (1958); 8) Blood on the Moon (1948); 9) The Sound of Music (1965); 10) The Sand Pebbles (1966)  

SAM WOOD: 1) A Night at the Opera (1935); 2) For Whom the Bell Tolls (1943); 3) Kings Row (1942); 4) The Pride of the Yankees (1942); 5) Our Town (1940); 6) A Day at the Races (1937); 7) The Devil and Miss Jones (1941); 8) Goodbye, Mr. Chips (1939); 9) Kitty Foyle (1940); 10) Whipsaw (1935)

WILLIAM WYLER: 1) The Best Years of Our Lives (1946); 2) The Letter (1940); 3) Dodsworth (1936); 4) The Heiress (1949); 5) Detective Story (1951); 6) Dead End (1937); 7) The Little Foxes (1941); 8) Wuthering Heights (1939); 9) Roman Holiday (1953); 10) The Westerner (1940); 11) Ben-Hur (1959); 12) Jezebel (1938); 13) The Desperate Hours (1955); 14) These Three (1936); 15) Mrs. Miniver (1942); 16) The Big Country (1958); 17) Funny Girl (1968); 18) Friendly Persuasion (1956); 19) Come and Get It (1936); 20) How to Steal a Million (1966)

ZHANG YIMOU: 1) Raise the Red Lantern (1992); 2) To Live (1994); 3) Ju Dou (1991); 4) The Story of Qiu Ju (1993); 5) Coming Home (2015); 6) House of Flying Daggers (2004); 7) Hero (2004); 8) The Road Home (2001); 9) Red Sorghum (1988); 10) Curse of the Golden Flower (2006) 

FRED ZINNEMANN: 1) From Here to Eternity (1953); 2) High Noon (1952); 3) The Member of the Wedding (1952); 4) A Man for All Seasons (1966); 5) Act of Violence (1949); 6) Julia (1977); 7) A Hatful of Rain (1957); 8) The Sundowners (1960); 9) The Nun’s Story (1959); 10) Oklahoma! (1955)

ROBERT ZEMECKIS: 1) Back to the Future (1985); 2) Who Framed Roger Rabbit (1988); 3) Used Cars (1980); 4) Forrest Gump (1994); 5) Cast Away (2000); 6) Back to the Future, Part II (1989); 7) Flight (2012); 8) Contact (1997); 9) Romancing the Stone (1984); 10) Allied (2016)