My Favorite Directors
by jakeblckmn | created - 22 Jun 2022 | updated - 1 day ago | PublicA list of my favorite movie directors.
1. John Carpenter
Writer | The Fog
John Howard Carpenter was born in Carthage, New York, to mother Milton Jean (Carter) and father Howard Ralph Carpenter. His family moved to Bowling Green, Kentucky, where his father, a professor, was head of the music department at Western Kentucky University. He attended Western Kentucky ...
Filmography Ranked:
1. Halloween (1978)
2. The Thing (1982)
3. They Live (1988)
4. Escape from New York (1981)
5. Big Trouble in Little China (1986)
6. Starman (1984)
7. Assault on Precinct 13 (1976)
8. Christine (1983)
9. Prince of Darkness (1987)
10. The Fog (1980)
11. In the Mouth of Madness (1995)
12. Pro-Life (2006)
13. Cigarette Burns (2005)
14. Vampires (1998)
15. Escape from L.A. (1996)
16. Village of the Damned (1995)
17. Dark Star (1974)
18. Ghosts of Mars (2001)
19. Someone's Watching Me! (1978)
20. Elvis (1979)
21. Memoirs of an Invisible Man (1992)
22. Body Bags (1993) (w/ TOBE HOOPER)
23. The Ward (2010)
2. 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 ...
Filmography Ranked:
1. Heat (1995)
2. Miami Vice (2006)
3. Thief (1981)
4. Blackhat (2015)
5. The Insider (1999)
6. Ferrari (2023)
7. Manhunter (1986)
8. The Last of the Mohicans (1992)
9. Collateral (2004)
10. Public Enemies (2009)
11. The Keep (1983)
12. Ali (2001)
13. The Jericho Mile (1979)
14. TBD
Yet to See:
L.A. Takedown (1989)
3. David Cronenberg
Actor | The Fly
David Cronenberg, also known as the King of Venereal Horror or the Baron of Blood, was born in Toronto, Ontario, Canada, in 1943. His father, Milton Cronenberg, was a journalist and editor, and his mother, Esther (Sumberg), was a piano player. After showing an inclination for literature at an early...
Filmography Ranked:
1. Videodrome (1983)
2. The Fly (1986)
3. Crimes of the Future (2022)
4. A History of Violence (2005)
5. Crash (1996)
6. Dead Ringers (1988)
7. The Dead Zone (1983)
8. Eastern Promises (2007)
9. The Brood (1979)
10. Naked Lunch (1991)
11. M. Butterfly (1993)
12. Scanners (1981)
13. Rabid (1977)
14. eXistenZ (1999)
15. Cosmopolis (2012)
16. Shivers (1975)
17. A Dangerous Method (2011)
18. Fast Company (1979)
19. Maps to the Stars (2014)
20. Spider (2002)
21. TBD
22. TBD
Yet to See:
To Each His Own Cinema (2007) (w/ 35 OTHER DIRECTORS)
The Shrouds (2024)
4. Brian De Palma
Director | Body Double
Brian De Palma is one of the well-known directors who spear-headed the new movement in Hollywood during the 1970s. He is known for his many films that go from violent pictures, to Hitchcock-like thrillers. Born on September 11, 1940, De Palma was born in Newark, New Jersey in an Italian-American ...
Filmography Ranked:
1. Blow Out (1981)
2. Dressed to Kill (1980)
3. Carrie (1976)
4. Scarface (1983)
5. Phantom of the Paradise (1974)
6. Carlito's Way (1993)
7. The Untouchables (1987)
8. Body Double (1984)
9. Obsession (1976)
10. Mission: Impossible (1996)
11. Casualties of War (1989)
12. Hi, Mom! (1970)
13. Raising Cain (Director's Cut) (1992)
14. Sisters (1972)
15. Greetings (1968)
16. Snake Eyes (1998)
17. The Fury (1978)
18. Domino (2019)
19. Get to Know Your Rabbit (1972)
20. Passion (2012)
21. Murder a la Mod (1968)
22. Home Movies (1979)
23. Mission to Mars (2000)
24. The Bonfire of the Vanities (1990)
25. The Black Dahlia (2006)
26. TBD
27. TBD
28. TBD
29. TBD
Yet to See:
The Wedding Party (1969)
Wise Guys (1986)
Femme Fatale (2002)
Redacted (2007)
5. Kathryn Bigelow
Director | Zero Dark Thirty
A very talented painter, Kathryn spent two years at the San Francisco Art Institute. At 20, she won a scholarship to the Whitney Museum's Independent Study Program. She was given a studio in a former Offtrack Betting building, literally in an old bank vault, where she made art and waited to be ...
Filmography Ranked:
1. Strange Days (1995)
2. Near Dark (1987)
3. Blue Steel (1990)
4. Zero Dark Thirty (2012)
5. Detroit (2017)
6. Point Break (1991)
7. The Hurt Locker (2009)
8. The Loveless (1981) (w/ MONTY MONTGOMERY)
9. K-19: The Widowmaker (2002)
10. The Weight of Water (2000)
6. 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...
Filmography Ranked:
1. Rio Bravo (1959)
2. The Big Sleep (1946)
3. Bringing Up Baby (1938)
4. His Girl Friday (1940)
5. To Have and Have Not (1944)
6. Ball of Fire (1941)
7. Scarface (1932)
8. Only Angels Have Wings (1939)
9. 20th Century (1934)
10. Red River (1948)
11. Sergeant York (1941)
12. The Criminal Code (1930)
13. El Dorado (1967)
14. The Dawn Patrol (1930)
15. Red Line 7000 (1965)
16. Today We Live (1933)
17. Barbary Coast (1935)
18. TBD
19. TBD
20. TBD
21. TBD
22. TBD
23. TBD
24. TBD
25. TBD
26. TBD
27. TBD
28. TBD
29. TBD
30. TBD
31. TBD
32. TBD
33. TBD
34. TBD
35. TBD
36. TBD
37. TBD
38. TBD
39. TBD
Yet to See:
Fig Leaves (1926)
The Road to Glory (1926)
Paid to Love (1927)
The Air Circus (1928)
Fazil (1928)
A Girl in Every Port (1928)
The Crowd Roars (1932)
Tiger Shark (1932)
Ceiling Zero (1936)
Come and Get It (1936)
The Road to Glory (1936)
Air Force (1943)
A Song is Born (1948)
I Was a Male War Bride (1949)
The Big Sky (1952)
Monkey Business (1952)
O. Henry's Full House (1952)
Gentlemen Prefer Blondes (1953)
Land of the Pharaohs (1955)
Hatari! (1962)
Man's Favorite Sport? (1964)
Rio Lobo (1970)
7. Park Chan-wook
Director | Oldeuboi
Park Chan-wook was born on August 23, 1963 in Seoul, South Korea. He is a producer and director, known for Oldboy (2003), The Handmaiden (2016) and Decision to Leave (2022). He is married to Eun-hee Kim. They have one child.
Filmography Ranked:
1. The Handmaiden (2016)
2. Decision to Leave (2022)
3. Lady Vengeance (2005)
4. Oldboy (2003)
5. Joint Security Area (2000)
6. Thirst (2009)
7. Stoker (2013)
8. TBD
9. TBD
10. TBD
11. TBD
12. TBD
13. TBD
Yet to See:
The Moon Is... the Sun's Dream (1992)
Trio (1997)
Sympathy for Mr. Vengeance (2002)
If You Were Me (2003) (w/ 5 OTHER DIRECTORS)
Three... Extremes (2004) (w/ FRUIT CHAN & TAKASHI MIKE)
I'm a Cyborg, But That's OK (2006)
8. James Whale
Director | Bride of Frankenstein
James Whale was an English film director, theatre director and actor. He is best remembered for his four classic horror films: Frankenstein (1931), The Old Dark House (1932), The Invisible Man (1933) and Bride of Frankenstein (1935). He also directed films in other genres, including what is ...
Filmography Ranked:
1. The Bride of Frankenstein (1935)
2. Frankenstein (1931)
3. The Old Dark House (1932)
4. The Invisible Man (1933)
5. The Man in the Iron Mask (1939)
6. The Great Garrick (1937)
7. The Kiss Before the Mirror (1933)
8. By Candlelight (1933)
9. Wives Under Suspicion (1938)
10. Show Boat (1936)
11. Waterloo Bridge (1931)
12. Sinners in Paradise (1938)
13. Green Hell (1940)
14. TBD
15. TBD
16. TBD
17. TBD
18. TBD
19. TBD
20. TBD
Yet to See:
Journey's End (1930)
The Impatient Maiden (1932)
One More River (1934)
Remember Last Night? (1935)
The Road Back (1937)
Port of Seven Seas (1938)
They Dare Not Love (1941)
9. Tim Burton
Producer | Edward Scissorhands
Timothy Walter Burton was born in Burbank, California, to Jean Rae (Erickson), who owned a cat-themed gift shop, and William Reed Burton, who worked for the Burbank Park and Recreation Department. He spent most of his childhood as a recluse, drawing cartoons, and watching old movies (he was ...
Filmography Ranked:
1. Ed Wood (1994)
2. Batman (1989)
3. Edward Scissorhands (1990)
4. Batman Returns (1992)
5. Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street (2007)
6. Beetlejuice (1988)
7. Pee-wee's Big Adventure (1985)
8. Sleepy Hollow (1999)
9. Frankenweenie (2012)
10. Mars Attacks! (1996)
11. Dumbo (2019)
12. Corpse Bride (2005) (w/ MIKE JOHNSON)
13. Charlie and the Chocolate Factory (2005)
14. Dark Shadows (2012)
15. Big Fish (2003)
16. Big Eyes (2014)
17. Alice in Wonderland (2010)
18. Miss Peregrine's Home for Peculiar Children (2016)
19. Planet of the Apes (2001)
10. 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 ...
Filmography Ranked:
1. The Godfather Part II (1974)
2. Apocalypse Now (1979)
3. The Godfather (1972)
4. One from the Heart (1982)
5. Bram Stoker's Dracula (1992)
6. Rumble Fish (1983)
7. The Conversation (1974)
8. You're a Big Boy Now (1966)
9. The Cotton Club: Encore (1984)
10. Dementia 13 (1963)
11. The Rain People (1968)
12. Peggy Sue Got Married (1986)
13. The Outsiders: The Complete Novel (1983)
14. Gardens of Stone (1987)
15. The Rainmaker (1997)
16. The Godfather Part III (1990)
17. Finian's Rainbow (1968)
18. Jack (1996)
19. TBD
20. TBD
21. TBD
22. TBD
23. TBD
24. TBD
25. TBD
26. TBD
Yet to See:
The Bellboy and the Playgirls (1962) (w/ FRITZ UMGELTER)
Tonight for Sure (1962)
Tucker: The Man and His Dream (1988)
New York Stories (1989) (w/ WOODY ALLEN & MARTIN SCORSESE)
Youth Without Youth (2007)
Tetro (2009)
Twixt (2011)
Megalopolis (TBA)
11. 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 ...
Filmography Ranked:
1. The Good, the Bad, and the Ugly (1966)
2. Once Upon a Time in the West (1968)
3. Once Upon a Time in America (1984)
4. For a Few Dollars More (1965)
5. Duck, You Sucker! (1971)
6. A Fistful of Dollars (1964)
7. The Colossus of Rhodes (1961)
12. Jonathan Demme
Director | The Silence of the Lambs
Jonathan Demme was born on February 22, 1944 in Baldwin, Long Island, New York, USA. He was a director and producer, known for The Silence of the Lambs (1991), Rachel Getting Married (2008) and Philadelphia (1993). He was married to Joanne Howard and Evelyn Purcell. He died on April 26, 2017 in ...
Filmography Ranked:
1. The Silence of the Lambs (1991)
2. Something Wild (1986)
3. Rachel Getting Married (2008)
4. Married to the Mob (1988)
5. Melvin and Howard (1980)
6. Stop Making Sense (1984)
7. The Manchurian Candidate (2004)
8. Ricki and the Flash (2015)
9. Philadelphia (1993)
10. Last Embrace (1979)
11. Beloved (1998)
12. Caged Heat (1974)
13. Fighting Mad (1976)
14. The Truth About Charlie (2002)
15. TBD
16. TBD
17. TBD
18. TBD
19. TBD
20. TBD
21. TBD
22. TBD
23. TBD
24. TBD
25. TBD
26. TBD
27. TBD
28. TBD
29. TBD
30. TBD
31. TBD
Yet to See:
Crazy Mama (1975)
Citizens Band (1977)
Swing Shift (1984)
Swimming to Cambodia (1987)
Red Hot + Blue: A Tribute to Cole Porter (1990) (w/ 18 OTHER DIRECTORS)
Cousin Bobby (1992)
Subway Stories: Tales from the Underground (1997) (w/ 9 OTHER DIRECTORS)
Storefront Hitchcock (1998)
The Agronomist (2004)
Neil Young: Heart of Gold (2006)
Jimmy Carter: Man from Plains (2007)
Neil Young Trunk Show (2009)
I'm Carolyn Parker (2011)
Neil Young Journeys (2011)
Enzo Avitabile Music Life (2013)
A Master Builder (2014)
Justin Timberlake + The Tennessee Kids (2016)
13. Quentin Tarantino
Writer | Reservoir Dogs
Quentin Jerome Tarantino was born in Knoxville, Tennessee. His father, Tony Tarantino, is an Italian-American actor and musician from New York, and his mother, Connie (McHugh), is a nurse from Tennessee. Quentin moved with his mother to Torrance, California, when he was four years old.
In January of...
Filmography Ranked:
1. Once Upon a Time... in Hollywood (2019)
2. Inglorious Basterds (2009)
3. Reservoir Dogs (1992)
4. Jackie Brown (1997)
5. Pulp Fiction (1994)
6. Django Unchained (2012)
7. Kill Bill: Vol. 2 (2004)
8. Kill Bill: Vol. 1 (2003)
9. The Hateful Eight (2015)
10. Death Proof (2007)
11. Four Rooms (1995) (w/ ALLISON ANDERS, ALEXANDRE ROCKWELL & ROBERT RODRIGUEZ)
12. TBD
Yet to See:
The Movie Critic (TBA)
14. 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 ...
Filmography Ranked:
1. What's Up, Doc? (1972)
2. Paper Moon (1973)
3. Targets (1968)
4. They All Laughed (1981)
5. The Last Picture Show (1971)
6. Texasville (Director's Cut) (1990)
7. Saint Jack (1979)
8. Daisy Miller (1974)
9. She's Funny That Way (2014)
10. At Long Last Love (1975)
11. TBD
12. TBD
13. TBD
14. TBD
15. TBD
16. TBD
17. TBD
18. TBD
19. TBD
20. TBD
21. TBD
22. TBD
23. TBD
24. TBD
25. TBD
Yet to See:
Voyage to the Planet of Prehistoric Women (1968)
Directed by John Ford (1971)
Nickelodeon (1976)
Mask (1985)
Illegally Yours (1988)
Noises Off... (1992)
The Thing Called Love (1993)
To Sir, with Love II (1996)
Blessed Assurance (1997)
Rescuers: Stories of Courage - Two Women (1997)
Naked City: A Killer Christmas (1998)
A Saintly Switch (1999)
The Cat's Meow (2001)
Hustle (2004)
The Great Buster: A Celebration (2018)
15. 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 ...
Filmography Ranked:
1. Taxi Driver (1976)
2. Raging Bull (1980)
3. Goodfellas (1990)
4. The Departed (2006)
5. The Wolf of Wall Street (2013)
6. The Irishman (2019)
7. The Aviator (2004)
8. Killers of the Flower Moon (2023)
9. After Hours (1985)
10. Mean Streets (1973)
11. Casino (1995)
12. The King of Comedy (1982)
13. Silence (2016)
14. Hugo (2011)
15. The Color of Money (1986)
16. Shutter Island (2010)
17. The Age of Innocence (1993)
18. Cape Fear (1991)
19. Alice Doesn't Live Here Anymore (1974)
20. The Last Temptation of Christ (1988)
21. Gangs of New York (2002)
22. New York, New York (1977)
23. Who's That Knocking at My Door (1967)
24. Pretend It's a City (2021)
25. TBD
26. TBD
27. TBD
28. TBD
29. TBD
30. TBD
31. TBD
32. TBD
33. TBD
34. TBD
35. TBD
36. TBD
37. TBD
Yet to See:
Boxcar Bertha (1972)
The Last Waltz (1978)
New York Stories (1989) (w/ WOODY ALLEN & FRANCIS FORD COPPOLA)
A Personal Journey with Martin Scorsese Through American Movies (1995) (w/ MICHAEL HENRY WILSON)
Kundun (1997)
Bringing Out the Dead (1999)
My Voyage to Italy (1999)
No Direction Home: Bob Dylan (2005)
Shine a Light (2008)
Public Speaking (2010)
George Harrison: Living in the Material World (2011)
Rolling Thunder Revue: A Bob Dylan Story by Martin Scorsese (2019)
Personality Crisis: One Night Only (2022) (w/ DAVID TEDESCHI)
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, ...
Filmography Ranked:
1. Jaws (1975)
2. Catch Me If You Can (2002)
3. Jurassic Park (1993)
4. E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial (1982)
5. Raiders of the Lost Ark (1981)
6. The Sugarland Express (1974)
7. The Color Purple (1985)
8. Minority Report (2002)
9. Close Encounters of the Third Kind (1977)
10. Munich (2005)
11. Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade (1989)
12. West Side Story (2021)
13. Schindler's List (1993)
14. The Fabelmans (2022)
15. Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom (1984)
16. Hook (1991)
17. Duel (1971)
18. A.I. Artificial Intelligence (2001)
19. Bridge of Spies (2015)
20. Saving Private Ryan (1998)
21. The Adventures of Tintin (2011)
22. Empire of the Sun (1987)
23. War Horse (2011)
24. The Post (2017)
25. Ready Player One (2018)
26. Lincoln (2012)
27. Twilight Zone: The Movie (1983) (w/ JOE DANTE, JOHN LANDIS & GEORGE MILLER)
28. Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull (2008)
29. 1941 (1979)
30. The Lost World: Jurassic Park (1997)
31. War of the Worlds (2005)
32. The BFG (2016)
33. The Terminal (2004)
34. TBD
35. TBD
36. TBD
37. TBD
38. TBD
Yet to See:
Night Gallery (1969) (w/ BORIS SAGAL & BARRY SHEAR)
Something Evil (1972)
Savage (1973)
Always (1989)
Amistad (1997)
17. Guillermo del Toro
Writer | El laberinto del fauno
Guillermo del Toro was born October 9, 1964 in Guadalajara, Jalisco, Mexico. Raised by his Catholic grandmother, del Toro developed an interest in filmmaking in his early teens. Later, he learned about makeup and effects from the legendary Dick Smith (The Exorcist (1973)) and worked on making his ...
Filmography Ranked:
1. Pan's Labyrinth (2006)
2. Guillermo del Toro's Pinocchio (2022) (w/ MARK GUSTAFSON)
3. The Shape of Water (2017)
4. The Devil's Backbone (2001)
5. Crimson Peak (2015)
6. Nightmare Alley (2021)
7. Hellboy II: The Golden Army (2008)
8. Blade II (2002)
9. Hellboy (2004)
10. Pacific Rim (2013)
11. Cronos (1993)
12. Mimic (1997)
13. TBD
Yet to See:
Frankenstein (TBA)
18. 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 ...
Filmography Ranked:
1. No Country for Old Men (2007) (w/ ETHAN COEN)
2. Blood Simple. (1984)
3. The Big Lebowski (1998)
4. Fargo (1996)
5. Barton Fink (1991)
6. Raising Arizona (1987)
7. Miller's Crossing (1990)
8. True Grit (2010) (w/ ETHAN COEN)
9. O Brother, Where Art Thou? (2000)
10. Inside Llewyn Davis (2013) (w/ ETHAN COEN)
11. The Tragedy of Macbeth (2021)
12. Hail, Caesar! (2016) (w/ ETHAN COEN)
13. Burn After Reading (2008) (w/ ETHAN COEN)
14. A Serious Man (2009) (w/ ETHAN COEN)
15. The Ballad of Buster Scruggs (2018) (w/ ETHAN COEN)
16. The Man Who Wasn't There (2001)
17. Intolerable Cruelty (2003)
18. The Hudsucker Proxy (1994)
19. The Ladykillers (2004) (w/ ETHAN COEN)
20. TBD
21. TBD
Yet to See:
Paris, Je T'Aime (2006) (w/ 20 OTHER DIRECTORS)
To Each His Own Cinema (2007) (w/ 35 OTHER DIRECTORS)
19. 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 ...
Filmography Ranked:
1. The Terminator (1984)
2. Avatar: The Way of Water (2022)
3. Terminator 2: Judgment Day (1991)
4. Aliens (1986)
5. The Abyss (1989)
6. Titanic (1997)
7. Avatar (2009)
8. True Lies (1994)
9. Piranha II: The Spawning (1981)
10. TBD
11. TBD
12. TBD
13. TBD
14. TBD
Yet to See:
Ghosts of the Abyss (2003)
Aliens of the Deep (2005)
Avatar 3 (2025)
Avatar 4 (2029)
Avatar 5 (2031)
20. 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 ...
Filmography Ranked:
1. The Shining (1980)
2. 2001: A Space Odyssey (1968)
3. Dr. Strangelove or: How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Love the Bomb (1964)
4. Barry Lyndon (1975)
5. The Killing (1956)
6. Paths of Glory (1957)
7. Eyes Wide Shut (1999)
8. Full Metal Jacket (1987)
9. Killer's Kiss (1955)
10. Lolita (1962)
11. Spartacus (1960)
12. A Clockwork Orange (1971)
13. Fear and Desire (1952)
21. 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 ...
Filmography Ranked:
1. The Elephant Man (1980)
2. Inland Empire (2006)
3. Blue Velvet (1986)
4. Mulholland Drive (2001)
5. The Straight Story (1999)
6. Wild at Heart (1990)
7. Lost Highway (1997)
8. Dune (1984)
9. Twin Peaks: Fire Walk with Me (1992)
10. Eraserhead (1977)
11. TBD
12. TBD
13. TBD
Yet to See:
Lumiere and Company (1995) (w/ 39 OTHER DIRECTORS)
To Each His Own Cinema (2007) (w/ 35 OTHER DIRECTORS)
Twin Peaks: The Return (2017)
22. Bob Fosse
Director | Cabaret
Bob Fosse was born on June 23, 1927 in Chicago, Illinois, USA. He was an actor and director, known for Cabaret (1972), All That Jazz (1979) and Lenny (1974). He was married to Gwen Verdon, Joan McCracken and Mary Ann Niles. He died on September 23, 1987 in Washington, District of Columbia, USA.
Filmography Ranked:
1. All That Jazz (1979)
2. Cabaret (1972)
3. Star 80 (1983)
4. Lenny (1974)
5. Sweet Charity (1969)
6. TBD
Yet to See:
Liza with a Z (1972)
23. Paul Thomas Anderson
Director | Punch-Drunk Love
Anderson was born in 1970. He was one of the first of the "video store" generation of film-makers. His father was the first man on his block to own a V.C.R., and from a very early age Anderson had an infinite number of titles available to him. While film-makers like Spielberg cut their teeth making...
Filmography Ranked:
1. Licorice Pizza (2021)
2. Phantom Thread (2017)
3. There Will Be Blood (2007)
4. Boogie Nights (1997)
5. Inherent Vice (2014)
6. Punch-Drunk Love (2002)
7. The Master (2012)
8. Magnolia (1999)
9. Hard Eight (1996)
24. 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...
25. 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 ...
Filmography Ranked:
1. Psycho (1960)
2. Vertigo (1958)
3. North by Northwest (1959)
4. Shadow of a Doubt (1943)
5. Notorious (1946)
6. Rear Window (1954)
7. The Birds (1963)
8. The Lodger: A Story of the London Fog (1927)
9. Strangers on a Train (1951)
10. Torn Curtain (1966)
11. Foreign Correspondent (1940)
12. To Catch a Thief (1955)
13. Rebecca (1940)
14. Marnie (1964)
15. The Man Who Knew Too Much (1956)
16. Dial M for Murder (1954)
17. Suspicion (1941)
18. The Lady Vanishes (1938)
19. The Man Who Knew Too Much (1934)
20. Frenzy (1972)
21. The 39 Steps (1935)
22. Spellbound (1945)
23. The Wrong Man (1956)
24. Family Plot (1976)
25. TBD
26. TBD
27. TBD
28. TBD
29. TBD
30. TBD
31. TBD
32. TBD
33. TBD
34. TBD
35. TBD
36. TBD
37. TBD
38. TBD
39. TBD
40. TBD
41. TBD
42. TBD
43. TBD
44. TBD
45. TBD
46. TBD
47. TBD
48. TBD
49. TBD
50. TBD
51. TBD
52. TBD
53. TBD
54. TBD
55. TBD
Yet to See:
The Pleasure Garden (1925)
Mountain Eagle (1926)
The Ring (1927)
Downhill (1927)
Farmer's Wife (1928)
Easy Virtue (1928)
Champagne (1928)
Manxman (1929)
Blackmail (1929)
Juno and the Paycock (1929)
Elstree Calling (1930)
Murder! (1930)
Skin Game (1931)
Mary (1931)
Rich and Strange (1931)
Number Seventeen (1932)
Waltzes from Vienna (1934)
Secret Agent (1936)
Sabotage (1936)
Young and Innocent (1937)
Jamaica Inn (1939)
Mr. & Mrs. Smith (1941)
Saboteur (1942)
Lifeboat (1944)
The Paradise Case (1947)
Rope (1948)
Under Capricorn (1949)
Stage Fright (1950)
I Confess (1953)
The Trouble with Harry (1955)
Topaz (1969)
26. Elaine May
Actress | Small Time Crooks
Elaine May (born under the name Elaine Iva Berlin) is an American actress, comedian, film director, playwright, and screenwriter from Philadelphia. Her professional career started in the 1950s and is still ongoing. She has twice been nominated for the Academy Award for Best Adapted Screenplay. She ...
Filmography Ranked:
1. Mikey and Nicky (1976)
2. A New Leaf (1971)
3. The Heartbreak Kid (1972)
4. Ishtar (1987)
27. Spike Lee
Director | Do the Right Thing
Spike Lee was born Shelton Jackson Lee on March 20, 1957, in Atlanta, Georgia. At a very young age, he moved from pre-civil rights Georgia, to Brooklyn, New York. Lee came from artistic, education-grounded background; his father was a jazz musician, and his mother, a schoolteacher. He attended ...
Filmography Ranked:
1. Do the Right Thing (1989)
2. Malcolm X (1992)
3. He Got Game (1998)
4. Da 5 Bloods (2020)
5. Crooklyn (1994)
6. She's Gotta Have It (1986)
7. Chi-Raq (2015)
8. David Byrne's American Utopia (2020)
9. Inside Man (2006)
10. BlackKklansman (2018)
11. Passing Strange (2009)
12. Oldboy (2013)
13. TBD
14. TBD
15. TBD
16. TBD
17. TBD
18. TBD
19. TBD
20. TBD
21. TBD
22. TBD
23. TBD
24. TBD
25. TBD
26. TBD
27. TBD
28. TBD
29. TBD
30. TBD
31. TBD
32. TBD
33. TBD
34. TBD
35. TBD
36. TBD
37. TBD
38. TBD
39. TBD
40. TBD
41. TBD
42. TBD
43. TBD
44. TBD
45. TBD
46. TBD
Yet to See:
Joe's Bed-Stuy Barbershop: We Cut Heads (1983)
School Daze (1988)
Mo' Better Blues (1990)
Jungle Fever (1991)
Clockers (1995)
Lumiere and Company (1995) (w/ 39 OTHER DIRECTORS)
Get on the Bus (1996)
Girl 6 (1996)
4 Little Girls (1997)
John Leguizamo: Freak (1998)
Pavarotti & Friends 99 for Guatemala and Kosovo (1999)
Summer of Sam (1999)
Bamboozled (2000)
The Original Kings of Comedy (2000)
A Huey P. Newton Story (2001)
The Concert for New York City (2001) (w/ 8 OTHER DIRECTORS)
Jim Brown: All-American (2002)
Ten Minutes Older: The Trumpet (2002) (w/ 6 OTHER DIRECTORS)
25th Hour (2002)
She Hate Me (2004)
Sucker Free City (2004)
All the Invisible Children (2005) (w/ 7 OTHER DIRECTORS)
Miracle's Boys (2005) (w/ 4 OTHER DIRECTORS)
When the Levees Broke: A Requiem in Four Acts (2006)
Miracle at St. Anna (2008)
Kobe Doin' Work (2009)
If God Is Willing and Da Creek Don't Rise (2010)
Bad 25 (2012)
Red Hook Summer (2012)
Mike Tyson: Undisputed Truth (2013)
Da Sweet Blood of Jesus (2014)
Michael Jackson's Journey from Motown to Off the Wall (2016)
Pass Over (2018) (w/ DANYA TAYMOR)
NYC Epicenters 9/11->2021 1/2 (2021)
28. 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 ...
Filmography Ranked:
1. Citizen Kane (1941)
2. Touch of Evil (1958)
3. The Magnificent Ambersons (1942)
4. Othello (1951)
5. The Lady of Shanghai (1947)
6. Macbeth (1948)
7. The Stranger (1946)
8. Chimes at Midnight (1965)
9. TBD
10. TBD
11. TBD
12. TBD
13. TBD
14. TBD
15. TBD
16. TBD
Yet to See:
Mr. Arkadin (1955)
The Trial (1962)
The Immortal Story (1968)
F for Fake (1973)
Filming Othello (1978)
Don Quixote (1992)
The Other Side of the Wind (2018)
Hopper/Welles (2020)
29. David Fincher
Director | Se7en
David Fincher was born in 1962 in Denver, Colorado, and was raised in Marin County, California. When he was 18 years old he went to work for John Korty at Korty Films in Mill Valley. He subsequently worked at ILM (Industrial Light and Magic) from 1981-1983. Fincher left ILM to direct TV commercials...
Filmography Ranked:
1. Zodiac (2007)
2. The Killer (2023)
3. Gone Girl (2014)
4. Se7en (1995)
5. The Game (1997)
6. The Social Network (2010)
7. Fight Club (1999)
8. The Curious Case of Benjamin Button (2008)
9. Mank (2020)
10. The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo (2011)
11. Panic Room (2002)
12. Alien 3 (1992)
30. Walter Hill
Writer | 48 Hrs.
Hill was born in Long Beach, California and educated at Mexico City College and Michigan State University. He worked in oil drilling and construction in the 60s before becoming a 2nd assistant director in 1967. He has written and co-written screenplays, including several uncredited works. He has ...
Filmography Ranked:
1. 48 Hrs. (1982)
2. Streets of Fire (1984)
3. The Driver (1978)
4. Trespass (1992)
5. The Warriors (1979)
6. Extreme Prejudice (1987)
7. Johnny Handsome (1989)
8. Southern Comfort (1981)
9. Last Man Standing (1996)
10. Undisputed (2002)
11. The Long Riders (1980)
12. Red Heat (1988)
13. Brewster's Millions (1985)
14. Hard Times (1975)
15. Geronimo: An American Legend (1993)
16. Crossroads (1986)
17. Bullet to the Head (2012)
18. Supernova (2000)
19. The Assignment (2016)
20. TBD
21. TBD
22. TBD
23. TBD
24. TBD
Yet to See:
Another 48 Hrs. (1990)
Wild Bill (1995)
Broken Trail (2006)
Madso's War (2010)
Dead for a Dollar (2022)
31. Wes Anderson
Director | Fantastic Mr. Fox
Wesley Wales Anderson was born in Houston, Texas. His mother, Texas Ann (Burroughs), is an archaeologist turned real estate agent, and his father, Melver Leonard Anderson, worked in advertising and PR. He has two brothers, Eric and Mel. Anderson's parents divorced when he was a young child, an ...
Filmography Ranked:
1. The Grand Budapest Hotel (2014)
2. The Royal Tenenbaums (2001)
3. Rushmore (1998)
4. Isle of Dogs (2018)
5. The Life Aquatic with Steve Zissou (2004)
6. Asteroid City (2023)
7. Moonrise Kingdom (2012)
8. Bottle Rocket (1996)
9. Fantastic Mr. Fox (2009)
10. The Darjeeling Limited (2007)
11. The French Dispatch (2021)
32. Tony Scott
Producer | Domino
Tony Scott was a British-born film director and producer. He was the youngest of three brothers, one of whom is fellow film director Ridley Scott. He was born in North Shields, Northumberland, England to parents Jean and Colonel Francis Percy Scott. As a result of his father's career in the British...
Filmography Ranked:
1. True Romance (1993)
2. Revenge (1990)
3. The Last Boy Scout (1991)
4. Man on Fire (2004)
5. Crimson Tide (1995)
6. Beverly Hills Cop II (1987)
7. Top Gun (1986)
8. The Hunger (1983)
9. Days of Thunder (1990)
10. Enemy of the State (1998)
11. Unstoppable (2010)
12. Deja Vu (2006)
13. Domino (2005)
14. The Taking of Pelham One Two Three (2009)
15. The Fan (1996)
16. TBD
Yet to See:
Spy Game (2001)
33. 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 ...
Filmography Ranked:
1. The Dark Knight (2008)
2. Oppenheimer (2023)
3. Interstellar (2014)
4. Memento (2000)
5. Inception (2010)
6. Dunkirk (2017)
7. The Prestige (2006)
8. Batman Begins (2005)
9. The Dark Knight Rises (2012)
10. Insomnia (2002)
11. Tenet (2020)
12. Following (1998)
34. David Gordon Green
Producer | Halloween Kills
David Gordon Green was born on April 9, 1975 in Little Rock, Arkansas, USA. He is a producer and director, known for Halloween Kills (2021), Halloween (2018) and Prince Avalanche (2013).
Filmography Ranked:
1. All the Real Girls (2003)
2. Halloween Ends (2022)
3. Undertow (2004)
4. Pineapple Express (2008)
5. Stronger (2017)
6. George Washington (2000)
7. Halloween (2018)
8. Prince Avalanche (2013)
9. Snow Angels (2007)
10. Joe (2013)
11. Halloween Kills (2021)
12. Your Highness (2011)
13. The Exorcist: Believer (2023)
14. Manglehorn (2014)
15. The Sitter (2011)
16. TBD
Yet to See:
Our Brand Is Crisis (2015)
35. Wes Craven
Writer | A Nightmare on Elm Street
Wes Craven has become synonymous with genre bending and innovative horror, challenging audiences with his bold vision.
Wesley Earl Craven was born in Cleveland, Ohio, to Caroline (Miller) and Paul Eugene Craven. He had a midwestern suburban upbringing. His first feature film was The Last House on ...
Filmography Ranked:
1. Scream (1996)
2. A Nightmare on Elm Street (1984)
3. Red Eye (2005)
4. Wes Craven's New Nightmare (1994)
5. The Hills Have Eyes (1977)
6. The Last House on the Left (1972)
7. Scream 2 (1997)
8. The People Under the Stairs (1991)
9. Shocker (1989)
10. My Soul to Take (2010)
11. The Serpent and the Rainbow (1988)
12. Deadly Friend (1986)
13. Swamp Thing (1982)
14. Cursed (2005)
15. Scream 3 (2000)
16. The Hills Have Eyes Part II (1984)
17. Deadly Blessing (1981)
18. Scream 4 (2011)
19. Vampire in Brooklyn (1995)
20. TBD
21. TBD
22. TBD
23. TBD
24. TBD
25. TBD
26. TBD
Yet to See:
The Fireworks Woman (1975)
Summer of Fear (1978)
Invitation to Hell (1984)
Chiller (1985)
Night Visions (1990)
Music of the Heart (1999)
Paris, Je T'Aime (2006) (w/ 20 OTHER DIRECTORS)
36. Paul Schrader
Writer | First Reformed
Although his name is often linked to that of the "movie brat" generation (Steven Spielberg, Martin Scorsese, Francis Ford Coppola, George Lucas, Brian De Palma, etc.) Paul Schrader's background couldn't have been more different than theirs. His strict Calvinist parents refused to allow him to see a...
Filmography Ranked:
1. First Reformed (2018)
2. Blue Collar (1978)
3. Light Sleeper (1992)
4. Cat People (1982)
5. The Card Counter (2021)
6. Patty Hearst (1988)
7. Master Gardener (2023)
8. Mishima: A Life in Four Chapters (1985)
9. The Comfort of Strangers (1990)
10. Hardcore (1979)
11. American Gigolo (1980)
12. The Walker (2007)
13. Dominion: Prequel to The Exorcist (2005)
14. The Canyons (2013)
15. TBD
16. TBD
17. TBD
18. TBD
19. TBD
20. TBD
21. TBD
22. TBD
23. TBD
24. TBD
25. TBD
Yet to See:
Light of Day (1987)
Witch Hunt (1994)
Affliction (1997)
Touch (1997)
Forever Mine (1999)
Auto Focus (2002)
Adam Resurrected (2008)
Venice 70: Future Reloaded (2013) (w/ 71 OTHER DIRECTORS)
Dying of the Light (2014)
Dog Eat Dog (2016)
Oh, Canada (2024)
37. Joe Dante
Director | Innerspace
Joe Dante is a graduate of the Philadelphia College of Art. After a stint as a film reviewer, he began his filmmaking apprenticeship in 1974 as trailer editor for Roger Corman's New World Pictures. He made his directorial debut in 1976 with Hollywood Boulevard (1976) (co-directed with Allan Arkush)...
Filmography Ranked:
1. The Howling (1981)
2. The 'Burbs (1989)
3. Gremlins (1984)
4. Small Soldiers (1998)
5. Innerspace (1987)
6. Matinee (1993)
7. Piranha (1978)
8. Gremlins 2: The New Batch (1990)
9. Explorers (1985)
10. Homecoming (2005)
11. Twilight Zone: The Movie (1983) (w/ JOHN LANDIS, GEORGE MILLER & STEVEN SPIELBERG)
12. Hollywood Boulevard (1976) (w/ ALLAN ARKUSH)
13. Looney Tunes: Back in Action (2003)
14. Nightmare Cinema (2018) (w/ 4 OTHER DIRECTORS)
15. TBD
16. TBD
17. TBD
18. TBD
19. TBD
20. TBD
21. TBD
22. TBD
Yet to See:
Amazon Women on the Moon (1987) (w/ 4 OTHER DIRECTORS)
Runaway Daughters (1994)
The Warlord: Battle for the Galaxy (1996)
The Second Civil War (1997)
The Screwfly Solution (2006)
Trapped Ashes (2006) (w/ 4 OTHER DIRECTORS)
The Hole (2009)
Burying the Ex (2014)
38. 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 ...
Filmography Ranked:
1. The Wild Bunch (1969)
2. Pat Garrett & Billy the Kid (1973)
3. The Ballad of Cable Hogue (1970)
4. The Getaway (1972)
5. Straw Dogs (1971)
6. Bring Me the Head of Alfredo Garcia (1974)
7. Junior Bonner (1972)
8. Ride the High Country (1962)
9. Cross of Iron (1977)
10. The Osterman Weekend (1983)
11. The Killer Elite (1975)
12. Major Dundee (1965)
13. TBD
14. TBD
Yet to See:
The Deadly Companions (1961)
Convoy (1978)
39. Brad Bird
Writer | The Incredibles
Phillip Bradley "Brad" Bird is an American director, screenwriter, animator, producer and occasional voice actor, known for both animated and live-action films. Bird was born in Kalispell, Montana, the youngest of four children of Marjorie A. (née Cross) and Philip Cullen Bird. His father worked in...
Filmography Ranked:
1. Ratatouille (2007)
2. The Incredibles (2004)
3. The Iron Giant (1999)
4. Incredibles 2 (2018)
5. Mission: Impossible - Ghost Protocol (2011)
6. Tomorrowland (2015)
40. George A. Romero
Writer | Land of the Dead
George A. Romero never set out to become a Hollywood figure; by all indications, though, he was very successful. The director of the groundbreaking "Living Dead" films was born February 4, 1940 ,in New York City to Ann (Dvorsky) and Jorge Romero. His father was born in Spain and raised in Cuba, and...
Filmography Ranked:
1. Dawn of the Dead (1978)
2. Night of the Living Dead (1968)
3. Martin (1977)
4. Day of the Dead (1985)
5. Knightriders (1981)
6. The Dark Half (1993)
7. Monkey Shines (1988)
8. Creepshow (1982)
9. TBD
10. TBD
11. TBD
12. TBD
13. TBD
14. TBD
15. TBD
16. TBD
17. TBD
Yet to See:
There's Always Vanilla (1971)
Season of the Witch (1972)
The Crazies (1973)
The Amusement Park (1975)
Two Evil Eyes (1990) (w/ DARIO ARGENTO)
Bruiser (2000)
Land of the Dead (2005)
Diary of the Dead (2007)
Survival of the Dead (2009)
41. M. Night Shyamalan
Producer | Lady in the Water
Born in Puducherry, India, and raised in the posh suburban Penn Valley area of Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, M. Night Shyamalan is a film director, screenwriter, producer, and occasional actor, known for making movies with contemporary supernatural plots.
He is the son of Jayalakshmi, a Tamil ...
Filmography Ranked:
1. Unbreakable (2000)
2. The Sixth Sense (1999)
3. Knock at the Cabin (2023)
4. Old (2021)
5. Signs (2002)
6. Split (2017)
7. The Village (2004)
8. Glass (2019)
9. Lady in the Water (2006)
10. The Last Airbender (2010)
11. The Visit (2015)
12. The Happening (2008)
13. Wide Awake (1998)
14. After Earth (2013)
15. TBD
16. TBD
Yet to See:
Praying with Anger (1992)
Trap (2024)
42. Dario Argento
Writer | Profondo rosso
Dario Argento was born on September 7, 1940, in Rome, Italy, the first-born son of famed Italian producer Salvatore Argento and Brazilian fashion model Elda Luxardo. Argento recalls getting his ideas for filmmaking from his close-knit family from Italian folk tales told by his parents and other ...
Filmography Ranked:
1. Deep Red (1975)
2. Suspiria (1977)
3. Phenomena (1985)
4. Four Flies on Grey Velvet (1971)
5. Opera (1987)
6. The Bird with the Crystal Plumage (1970)
7. Tenebre (1982)
8. Inferno (1980)
9. The Cat o' Nine Tails (1971)
10. Jenifer (2005)
11. Dark Glasses (2022)
12. Trauma (1993)
13. The Mother of Tears (2007)
14. Giallo (2009)
15. TBD
16. TBD
17. TBD
18. TBD
19. TBD
20. TBD
21. TBD
22. TBD
23. TBD
Yet to See:
The Five Days (1973)
Two Evil Eyes (1990) (w/ GEORGE A. ROMERO)
The Stendhal Syndrome (1996)
The Phantom of the Opera (1998)
Sleepless (2001)
The Card Player (2003)
Do You Like Hitchcock? (2005)
Pelts (2006)
Dracula 3D (2012)
43. Don Coscarelli
Writer | Bubba Ho-Tep
In much the same way that director George A. Romero creative output has been primarily centered around the highly successful "Dead" series of zombie films, then fellow fantasy director Don Coscarelli has for over two decades seen his universe swirling around the lesser successful, but equally cult,...
Filmography Ranked:
1. Bubba Ho-tep (2002)
2. Phantasm (1979)
3. Kenny & Company (1977)
4. Survival Quest (1988)
5. Phantasm II (1988)
6. Incident On and Off a Mountain Road (2005)
7. The Beastmaster (1982)
8. John Dies at the End (2012)
9. Phantasm III: Lord of the Dead (1994)
10. Phantasm IV: Oblivion (1998)
11. TBD
Yet to See
Jim, the World's Greatest (1975)
44. Tobe Hooper
Director | The Texas Chain Saw Massacre
Honored with many awards for his films and achievement in the horror genre, Tobe Hooper is truly one of the Masters of Horror (2005).
Tobe Hooper was born in Austin, Texas, to Lois Belle (Crosby) and Norman William Ray Hooper, who owned a theater in San Angelo. He spent the 1960s as a college ...
Filmography Ranked:
1. The Texas Chain Saw Massacre (1974)
2. The Texas Chainsaw Massacre Part 2 (1986)
3. Lifeforce (1985) (Director's Cut)
4. Poltergeist (1982)
5. Dance of the Dead (2005)
6. Salem's Lot (1979)
7. Eaten Alive (1976)
8. Toolbox Murders (2004)
9. The Funhouse (1981)
10. The Mangler (1995)
11. Spontaneous Combustion (1989)
12. Eggshells (1969)
13. Invaders from Mars (1986)
14. I'm Dangerous Tonight (1990)
15. Body Bags (1993) (w/ JOHN CARPENTER)
16. Mortuary (2005)
17. TBD
18. TBD
19. TBD
20. TBD
21. TBD
22. TBD
Yet to See:
Night Terrors (1993)
Dark Skies (1996)
The Apartment Complex (1999)
Crocodile (2000)
The Damned Thing (2006)
Djinn (2013)
45. George Miller
Producer | Mad Max: Fury Road
George Miller is an Australian film director, screenwriter, producer, and former medical doctor. He is best known for his Mad Max franchise, with Mad Max 2: The Road Warrior (1981) and Mad Max: Fury Road (2015) being hailed as amongst the greatest action films of all time. Aside from the Mad Max ...
Filmography Ranked:
1. Mad Max: Fury Road (2015)
2. Three Thousand Years of Longing (2022)
3. Mad Max 2: The Road Warrior (1981)
4. Mad Max (1979)
5. The Witches of Eastwick (1987)
6. Twilight Zone: The Movie (1983) (w/ JOE DANTE, JOHN LANDIS & STEVEN SPIELBERG)
7. Mad Max Beyond Thunderdome (1985)
8. TBD
9. TBD
10. TBD
11. TBD
Yet to See:
Babe: Pig in the City (1998)
Happy Feet (2006)
Happy Feet Two (2011)
Furiosa: A Mad Max Saga (2024)
46. Hal Ashby
Editor | In the Heat of the Night
Hal Ashby was born the fourth and youngest child in a Mormon household, in Ogden, Utah, to Eileen Ireta (Hetzler) and James Thomas Ashby, on September 2, 1929. His father was a dairy farmer. After a rough childhood that included the divorce of his parents, his father's suicide, his dropping out of ...
Filmography Ranked:
1. The Last Detail (1973)
2. Shampoo (1975)
3. The Landlord (1970)
4. Coming Home (1978)
5. Being There (1979)
6. 8 Million Ways to Die (1986)
7. Harold and Maude (1971)
8. TBD
9. TBD
10. TBD
11. TBD
12. TBD
13. TBD
14. TBD
Yet to See:
Bound for Glory (1976)
Second-Hand Hearts (1980)
Lookin' to Get Out (1982)
Let's Spend the Night Together (1982)
Neil Young: Solo Trans (1984)
The Slugger's Wife (1985)
The Rolling Stones: Satisfaction Interviews (2007)
47. Paul Verhoeven
Director | RoboCop
Paul Verhoeven graduated from the University of Leiden, with a degree in math and physics. He entered the Royal Netherlands Navy, where he began his film career by making documentaries for the Navy and later for TV. In 1969, he directed the popular Dutch TV series, Floris (1969), about a medieval ...
Filmography Ranked:
1. RoboCop (1987)
2. Total Recall (1990)
3. Black Book (2006)
4. Benedetta (2021)
5. Elle (2016)
6. Basic Instinct (1992)
7. Starship Troopers (1997)
8. Hollow Man (2000)
9. Showgirls (1995)
10. Flesh + Blood (1985)
11. TBD
12. TBD
13. TBD
14. TBD
15. TBD
16. TBD
17. TBD
18. TBD
19. TBD
Yet to See:
Business Is Business (1971)
Turkish Delight (1973)
Katie Tippel (1975)
Soldier of Orange (1977)
For Queen and Country (1979)
Spetters (1980)
All Things Pass (1981)
The 4th Man (1983)
Tricked (2012)
48. 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 ...
Filmography Ranked:
1. Some Like It Hot (1959)
2. Sunset Boulevard (1950)
3. Double Indemnity (1944)
4. Ace in the Hole (1951)
5. The Apartment (1960)
6. Fedora (1978)
7. TBD
8. TBD
9. TBD
10. TBD
11. TBD
12. TBD
13. TBD
14. TBD
15. TBD
16. TBD
17. TBD
18. TBD
19. TBD
20. TBD
21. TBD
22. TBD
23. TBD
24. TBD
25. TBD
26. TBD
Yet to See:
Bad Seed (1934) (w/ ALEXANDER ESWAY)
The Major and the Minor (1942)
Five Graves to Cairo (1943)
The Lost Weekend (1945)
The Emperor Waltz (1948)
A Foreign Affair (1948)
Stalag 17 (1953)
Sabrina (1954)
The Seven Year Itch (1955)
The Spirit of St. Louis (1957)
Love in the Afternoon (1957)
Witness for the Prosecution (1957)
One, Two, Three (1961)
Irma la Douce (1963)
Kiss Me, Stupid (1964)
The Fortune Cookie (1966)
The Private Life of Sherlock Holmes (1970)
Avanti! (1972)
The Front Page (1974)
Buddy Buddy (1981)
49. 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 ...
Filmography Ranked:
1. The Matrix (1999) (w/ LILLY WACHOWSKI)
2. Speed Racer (2008) (w/ LILLY WACHOWSKI)
3. The Matrix Resurrections (2021)
4. The Matrix Reloaded (2003) (w/ LILLY WACHOWSKI)
5. Bound (1996) (w/ LILLY WACHOWSKI)
6. Cloud Atlas (2012) (w/ LILLY WACHOWSKI & TOM TYKWER)
7. The Matrix Revolutions (2003) (w/ LILLY WACHOWSKI)
8. Jupiter Ascending (2015) (w/ LILLY WACHOWSKI)
9. TBD
10. TBD
Yet to See:
Sense8: Happy F*cking New Year (2016)
Sense8: Amor Vincit Omnia (2018)
50. William Friedkin
Director | To Live and Die in L.A.
Friedkin's mother was an operating room nurse. His father was a merchant seaman, semi-pro softball player and ultimately sold clothes in a men's discount chain. Ultimately, his father never earned more than $50/week in his whole life and died indigent. Eventually young Will became infatuated with ...
Filmography Ranked:
1. The Exorcist (1973)
2. Sorcerer (1977)
3. To Live and Die in L.A. (1985)
4. The French Connection (1971)
5. The Hunted (2003)
6. Bug (2007)
7. Killer Joe (2012)
8. Cruising (1980)
9. The Night They Raided Minsky's (1968)
10. Jade (1995)
11. Rampage (1987)
12. The Guardian (1990)
13. 12 Angry Men (1997)
14. TBD
15. TBD
16. TBD
17. TBD
18. TBD
19. TBD
20. TBD
21. TBD
22. TBD
23. TBD
24. TBD
25. TBD
Yet to See:
Good Times (1967)
The Birthday Party (1968)
The Boys in the Band (1970)
The Brink's Job (1978)
Deal of the Century (1983)
C.A.T. Squad (1986)
C.A.T. Squad: Python Wolf (1988)
Blue Chips (1994)
Jailbreakers (1994)
Rules of Engagement (2000)
The Devil and Father Amorth (2017)
The Caine Mutiny Court-Martial (2023)
51. John Woo
Director | Ying hung boon sik
Born in southern China, John Woo grew up in Hong Kong, where he began his film career as an assistant director in 1969, working for Shaw Brothers Studios. He directed his first feature in 1973 and has been a prolific director ever since, working in a wide variety of genres before A Better Tomorrow ...
Filmography Ranked:
1. Hard Boiled (1992)
2. Bullet in the Head (1990)
3. The Killer (1989)
4. A Better Tomorrow II (1987)
5. Mission: Impossible II (2000)
6. A Better Tomorrow (1986)
7. Hard Target (1993)
8. Face/Off (1997)
9. Windtalkers (Director's Cut) (2002)
10. Silent Night (2023)
11. Paycheck (2003)
12. Heroes Shed No Tears (1984)
13. Broker Arrow (1996)
14. Blackjack (1998)
15. TBD
16. TBD
17. TBD
18. TBD
19. TBD
20. TBD
21. TBD
22. TBD
23. TBD
24. TBD
25. TBD
26. TBD
27. TBD
28. TBD
29. TBD
30. TBD
31. TBD
32. TBD
33. TBD
34. TBD
35. TBD
36. TBD
37. TBD
Yet to See:
The Young Dragons (1974)
The Dragon Tamers (1975)
Hand of Death (1976)
Princess Chang-Ping (1976)
Money Crazy (1977)
Follow the Star (1978)
Hello, Late Homecomers (1978) (w/ LOUIS SIT & LAU TIN-CHI)
Last Hurrah for Chivalry (1979)
From Riches to Rags (1980)
Laughing Times (1980)
To Hell with the Devil (1982)
Plain Jane to the Rescue (1982)
Run Tiger Run (1984)
The Time You Need a Friend (1985)
Just Heroes (1989) (w/ WU MA)
Once a Thief (1991)
Once a Thief (1996)
All the Invisible Children (2005) (w/ 7 OTHER DIRECTORS)
Red Cliff (2008)
Red Cliff II (2009)
The Crossing (2014)
The Crossing II (2015)
Manhunt (2017)
52. John McTiernan
Director | Die Hard
John McTiernan was born on January 8, 1951 in Albany, New York, USA. He is a director and producer, known for Die Hard (1988), Rollerball (2002) and Last Action Hero (1993). He has been married to Gail Sistrunk since 2012. He was previously married to Kate Harrington, Donna Dubrow and Carol Land.
Filmography Ranked:
1. Predator (1987)
2. Die Hard (1988)
3. The Hunt for Red October (1990)
4. Last Action Hero (1993)
5. The Thomas Crown Affair (1999)
6. Basic (2003)
7. Nomads (1986)
8. Die Hard: With a Vengeance (1995)
9. The 13th Warrior (1999)
10. Rollerball (2002)
11. Medicine Man (1992)
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