Gaps Among the Greats: My Favorite Directors
by ALauff | created - 30 Jan 2014 | updated - 17 Feb 2022 | PublicI return, most days, to indelible moments in movies—evoked moods, technical sleights of hand, adumbrated states of mind forever becoming more vivid—constant companions that comfort and enrich. Most can relate; this subjective bonding is what gives art its power. As I grow older, and see more movies, I can link a small cohort of artists who are predominantly responsible for these touchstones—diamonds scattered across a gray ocean of common moments and utilitarian impulses. The directors I identify below as favorites are aesthetically powerful, singular in their pursuits, unconcerned with the typical. All project visions that seem to me worthy of the ultimate compliment from any viewer: their work demands to be seen in full. Here, then, is whom, at this moment, I consider worthy of that pursuit, with the major "gaps" in my viewing noted below what I consider their masterpieces.
In addition to these 17, here's an additional 11 "borderline cases” I've marked for further research: Cukor, Wilder, Fuller, Siegel, Bergman, Cassavetes, Tarkovsky, Truffaut, Herzog, Spike Lee, Paul Thomas Anderson. I can't quite place them below yet, but there is every indication that as I delve into their work in more depth, they'll attain a permanent place at the table. [6/28/19: added Terrence Malick to main list]
1. 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 ...
Masterpiece(s):
Modern Times
Major Gaps:
The Circus
Monsieur Verdoux
2. Fritz Lang
Actor | Le mépris
Fritz Lang was born in Vienna, Austria, in 1890. His father managed a construction company. His mother, Pauline Schlesinger, was Jewish but converted to Catholicism when Lang was ten. After high school, he enrolled briefly at the Technische Hochschule Wien and then started to train as a painter. ...
Masterpiece(s):
M — Metropolis
Major Gaps:
Secret Beyond the Door
Clash by Night
While the City Sleeps
The Testament of Dr. Mabuse
3. 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, ...
Masterpiece(s):
My Darling Clementine — The Quiet Man — Stagecoach — How Green Was My Valley
Major Gaps:
The Long Voyage Home
The Informer
They Were Expendable
4. 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 ...
Masterpiece(s):
The General — Sherlock, Jr.
Major Gaps:
Three Ages +
various shorts
5. Howard Hawks
Director | Red River
What do the classic films Scarface (1932), Twentieth Century (1934), Bringing Up Baby (1938), Only Angels Have Wings (1939), His Girl Friday (1940), Sergeant York (1941), To Have and Have Not (1944), The Big Sleep (1946), Red River (1948) Gentlemen Prefer Blondes (1953) and Rio Bravo (1959) have in...
Masterpiece(s):
The Big Sleep — Red River
Major Gaps:
The Thing from Another World
Ball of Fire
Sergeant York
6. 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 ...
Masterpiece(s):
It's a Wonderful Life
Major Gaps:
The Bitter Tea of General Yen
American Madness
The Miracle Woman
7. 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 ...
Masterpiece(s):
Vertigo — Rear Window — Psycho — North by Northwest
Major Gaps:
The Lodger
The Man Who Knew Too Much (1934)
Blackmail
Murder
8. 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 ...
Masterpiece(s):
The Lady from Shanghai — Citizen Kane — Touch of Evil
Major Gaps:
Othello
Chimes at Midnight
Mr. Arkadin
9. Sam Peckinpah
Writer | The Wild Bunch
"If they move", commands stern-eyed William Holden, "kill 'em". So begins The Wild Bunch (1969), Sam Peckinpah's bloody, high-body-count eulogy to the mythologized Old West. "Pouring new wine into the bottle of the Western, Peckinpah explodes the bottle", observed critic Pauline Kael. That ...
Masterpiece(s):
The Wild Bunch — Bring Me the Head of Alfredo Garcia
Major Gaps:
Cross of Iron
Junior Bonner
10. 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 ...
Masterpiece(s):
2001: A Space Odyssey — Dr. Strangelove
Major Gaps:
Lolita
Spartacus
11. Francis Ford Coppola
Producer | Apocalypse Now
Francis Ford Coppola was born in 1939 in Detroit, Michigan, but grew up in a New York suburb in a creative, supportive Italian-American family. His father, Carmine Coppola, was a composer and musician. His mother, Italia Coppola (née Pennino), had been an actress. Francis Ford Coppola graduated ...
Masterpiece(s):
The Godfather: Parts I & II — The Conversation
Major Gaps:
Rumble Fish
One from the Heart
Bram Stoker's Dracula
Youth Without Youth
12. Martin Scorsese
Producer | Killers of the Flower Moon
Martin Charles Scorsese was born on November 17, 1942 in Queens, New York City, to Catherine Scorsese (née Cappa) and Charles Scorsese, who both worked in Manhattan's garment district, and whose families both came from Palermo, Sicily. He was raised in the neighborhood of Little Italy, which later ...
Masterpiece(s):
Raging Bull — Taxi Driver — Mean Streets
Major Gaps:
New York, New York
The Last Temptation of Christ
The Age of Innocence
After Hours
Alice Doesn't Live Here Anymore
13. 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 ...
Masterpiece(s):
Heat — Thief
Major Gaps:
None
14. Terrence Malick
Writer | Days of Heaven
Terrence Malick was born in Ottawa, Illinois. His family subsequently lived in Oklahoma and he went to school in Austin, Texas. He did his undergraduate work at Harvard, graduating summa cum laude with a degree in philosophy in 1965.
A member of the Phi Beta Kappa honor society, he attended Magdalen ...
Masterpiece(s):
The Thin Red Line — Badlands — The Tree of Life
Major Gaps:
To the Wonder
Knight of Cups
Song to Song
15. 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 ...
Masterpiece(s):
Blue Velvet — Mulholland Dr.
Major Gaps:
The Elephant Man
Twin Peaks: Fire Walk with Me
16. Steven Spielberg
Producer | Schindler's List
One of the most influential personalities in the history of cinema, Steven Spielberg is Hollywood's best known director and one of the wealthiest filmmakers in the world. He has an extraordinary number of commercially successful and critically acclaimed credits to his name, either as a director, ...
Masterpiece(s):
Jaws — E.T. — Schindler's List
Major Gaps:
Munich
Lincoln
The Color Purple
The Sugarland Express
17. 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 ...
[The Coen Bros.]
Masterpiece(s):
The Big Lebowski
Major Gaps:
A Serious Man
Tell Your Friends