Top Ranked Directors on the Net

© William L. Sinclair

We compiled these totals from the Top Ranked 1000 Films on the Net list of ours, introduced in the previous post. See the next post for the list of directors by total points. The entire list of 430 directors in also there now at the same 1000 blog.

Note that on film count ties we listed the directors alphabetically since the next post has them ranked by points  [photo rt is from Godard's Jules et Jim, which is his most affable film along with Band of Outsiders]


This is 189 directors in all, representing 770 of the 1011 films on the Top Ranked master list. 241 directors had one film listed.

Film Count, Director, [their top ranked film], overall point total

• 16 - Ford, John [Searchers, The (1956) #46 ] - 32142
• 16 - Godard, Jean-Luc [Contempt (1963) #74 ] - 31243
• 14 - Hitchcock, Alfred [Vertigo (1958) #6 ] - 55352
• 13 - Buñuel, Luis [Discreet Charm of the Bourgeoisie, The (1972) #88 ] - 29977
• 12 - Bergman, Ingmar [Seventh Seal, The (1956) #29 ] - 27032
• 12 - Scorsese, Martin [Taxi Driver (1976) #12 ] - 37474
• 11 - Fellini, Federico [8½ (1963) #37 ] - 27722
• 11 - Hawks, Howard [Bringing Up Baby (1938) #118 ] - 25560
• 11 - Kurosawa, Akira [Seven Samurai, The (1954) #7 ] - 33022
• 10 - Kubrick, Stanley [2001: A Space Odyssey (1968) #2 ] - 42161
• 10 - Lang, Fritz [M (1931) #11 ] - 22392
• 10 - Renoir, Jean [Rules of the Game, The (1939) #44 ] - 21204
• 10 - Rossellini, Roberto [Paisan (1946) #166 ] - 16058
• 9 - Visconti, Luchino [Rocco and His Brothers (1964) #237 ] - 15186
• 8 - Bresson, Robert [Au Hasard Balthazar (1966) #93 ] - 20832
• 8 - Chaplin, Charles [City Lights (1931) #21 ] - 31835
• 8 - Eastwood, Clint [Unforgiven (1992) #91 ] - 15976
• 8 - Huston, John [Treasure of the Sierra Madre, The (1948) #62 ] - 20190
• 8 - Ophuls, Max [Earrings of Madame de..., The (1953) #264 ] - 13588
• 8 - Powell, Michael [Peeping Tom (1960) #360 ] - 17464
• 8 - Wilder, Billy [Sunset Boulevard (1950) #14 ] - 27448
• 7 - Altman, Robert [Nashville (1975) #192 ] - 13854
• 7 - Cassavetes, John [Woman Under the Influence, A (1974) #176 ] - 15564
• 7 - Eisenstein, Sergei [Battleship Potemkin (1925) #100 ] - 17070
• 7 - Fassbinder, Rainer Werner [Berlin Alexanderplatz (1980) #196 ] - 11128
• 7 - Keaton, Buster [Sherlock Jr. (1924) #89 ] - 19724
• 7 - Kiarostami, Abbas [Close-Up (1990) #189 ] - 10769
• 7 - Spielberg, Steven [Schindler's List (1993) #27 ] - 28694
• 7 - Tarkovsky, Andrei [Solaris (1972) #263 ] - 13200
• 7 - Truffaut, François [Jules et Jim (1961) #59 ] - 17238
• 7 - Welles, Orson [Citizen Kane (1941) #5 ] - 24090
• 6 - Allen, Woody [Annie Hall (1977) #77 ] - 15039
• 6 - Antonioni, Michelangelo [L'Avventura (1960) #187 ] - 14434
• 6 - Coen Ethan and Joel [No Country for Old Men (2007) #165 ] - 13163
• 6 - Kieslowski, Krszystof [Dekalog (1988) #235 ] - 8974
• 6 - Lean, David [Lawrence of Arabia (1962) #50 ] - 22668
• 6 - Lubitsch, Ernst [Trouble in Paradise (1932) #234 ] - 11804
• 6 - Minnelli, Vincente [Meet Me in St. Louis (1944) #288 ] - 10068
• 6 - Mizoguchi, Kenji [Ugetsu (1953) #58 ] - 13300
• 6 - Ray, Nicholas [Rebel Without a Cause (1955) #280 ] - 10052
• 6 - Resnais, Alain [Last Year at Marienbad (1961) #215 ] - 11250
• 6 - von Sternberg, Josef [Blue Angel, The (1930) #269 ] - 8170
• 5 - Cukor, George [Philadelphia Story, The (1940) #148 ] - 9614
• 5 - Dreyer, Carl Theodor [Passion of Joan of Arc, The (1928) #51 ] - 16068
• 5 - Hou Hsiao-Hsien [Time to Live and the Time to Die, The (1985) #500 ] - 5802
• 5 - Kazan, Elia [On the Waterfront (1954) #67 ] - 11952
• 5 - Lynch, David [Elephant Man, The (1980) #193 ] - 10266
• 5 - Murnau, F.W. [Sunrise (1928) #38 ] - 16168
• 5 - Ozu, Yasujiro [Tokyo Story (1953) #57 ] - 10218
• 5 - Pasolini, Pier Paolo [Gospel According to St. Matthew, The (1964) #103 ] - 10760
• 5 - Peckinpah, Sam [Wild Bunch, The (1969) #87 ] - 8998
• 5 - Polanski, Roman [Chinatown (1974) #3 ] - 17376
• 5 - Ray, Satyajit [Pather Panchali / Apu Trilogy I (1955) #32 ] - 14988
• 5 - Roeg, Nicolas [Don't Look Now (1973) #301 ] - 8966
• 5 - Sirk, Douglas [All That Heaven Allows (1955) #233 ] - 9604
• 5 - Sturges, Preston [Lady Eve, The (1941) #92 ] - 13162
• 5 - Vidor, King [Crowd, The (1928) #355 ] - 6759
• 4 - Almodóvar, Pedro [All About My Mother (1999) #283 ] - 6825
• 4 - Bertolucci, Bernardo [Conformist, The (1970) #76 ] - 9788
• 4 - Cameron, James [Aliens (1986) #159 ] - 12253
• 4 - Capra, Frank [It's a Wonderful Life (1946) #10 ] - 17564
• 4 - Carné, Marcel [Enfants du paradis, Les (1945) #183 ] - 8728
• 4 - Coppola, Francis [Godfather, The (1972) #1 ] - 26334
• 4 - De Sica, Vittorio [Bicycle Thief, The (1949) #16 ] - 15656
• 4 - Demy, Jacques [Umbrellas of Cherbourg, The (1964) #284 ] - 5954
• 4 - Donen, Stanley [Funny Face (1957) #735 ] - 9452
• 4 - Forman, Milos [One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest (1975) #54 ] - 12314
• 4 - Gilliam, Terry [Brazil (1985) #188 ] - 8783
• 4 - Herzog, Werner [Aguirre: The Wrath of God (1972) #72 ] - 8534
• 4 - Leone, Sergio [Once Upon a Time in the West (1968) #70 ] - 14418
• 4 - Lumet, Sidney [12 Angry Men (1957) #124 ] - 11976
• 4 - Mankiewicz, Joseph L. [All About Eve (1950) #33 ] - 9238
• 4 - McCarey, Leo [Duck Soup (1933) #41 ] - 10924
• 4 - Melville, Jean-Pierre [Army of Shadows (1969) #291 ] - 6086
• 4 - Miyazaki, Hayao [Spirited Away (2001) #255 ] - 7366
• 4 - Nolan, Christopher [Memento (2000) #354 ] - 7406
• 4 - Reiner, Rob [Princess Bride, The (1987) #371 ] - 6426
• 4 - Scott, Ridley [Blade Runner (1982) #13 ] - 16179
• 4 - Tarantino, Quentin [Pulp Fiction (1995) #20 ] - 12172
• 4 - Tourneur, Jacques [Out of the Past (1947) #236 ] - 6446
• 4 - von Stroheim, Erich [Greed (1924) #79 ] - 8234
• 4 - Weir, Peter [Truman Show, The (1998) #689 ] - 4172
• 4 - Wenders, Wim [Wings of Desire (1987) #245 ] - 7908
• 4 - Wyler, William [Best Years of Our Lives, The (1946) #102 ] - 11786
• 4 - Zhang Yimou [Raise the Red Lantern (1991) #298 ] - 5219
• 3 - Anderson, Paul Thomas [There Will Be Blood (2007) #180 ] - 7326
• 3 - Burton, Tim [Ed Wood (1994) #724 ] - 3188
• 3 - Carpenter, John [Halloween (1978) #317 ] - 6355
• 3 - Clair, René [Le Million (1931) #313 ] - 5410
• 3 - Cocteau, Jean [Belle et la bête, La (Beauty/Beast, 1946) #240 ] - 6196
• 3 - Cronenberg, David [Dead Ringers (1988) #349 ] - 4076
• 3 - Curtiz, Michael [Casablanca (1942) #47 ] - 10506
• 3 - De Palma, Brian [Scarface (1982) #210 ] - 5943
• 3 - Fincher, David [Fight Club (1999) #271 ] - 5768
• 3 - Frears, Stephen [Queen, The (2006) #479 ] - 3515
• 3 - Greengrass, Paul [Bourne Ultimatum, The (2007) #362 ] - 4640
• 3 - Griffith, D.W. [Intolerance (1916) #64 ] - 13198
• 3 - Jackson, Peter [Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring (2001) #84] - 12603
• 3 - Jarmusch, Jim [Stranger Than Paradise (1984) #628 ] - 3426
• 3 - Leigh, Mike [Secrets & Lies (1996) #376 ] - 4195
• 3 - Lucas, George [Star Wars (1978) #4 ] - 13743
• 3 - Malick, Terrence [Days of Heaven (1978) #260 ] - 6402
• 3 - Malle, Louis [Atlantic City (1980) #489 ] - 3290
• 3 - Pabst, G.W. [Pandora's Box (1928) #249 ] - 4430
• 3 - Reed, Carol [Third Man, The (1948) #15 ] - 9246
• 3 - Rivette, Jacques [Celine and Julie Go Boating (1974) #141 ] - 5542
• 3 - Rocha, Glauber [Black God, White Devil (1964) #528 ] - 4166
• 3 - Rohmer, Eric [My Night at Maud's (1969) #497 ] - 3630
• 3 - Sembene, Ousmane [Moolaadé (2004) #617 ] - 3419
• 3 - Sharpsteen, Ben [Fantasia (1940) #358 ] - 5690
• 3 - Stevens, George [Shane (1953) #282 ] - 6214
• 3 - Tati, Jacques [Playtime (1967) #209 ] - 7362
• 3 - Wise, Robert [Day the Earth Stood Still, The (1951) #318 ] - 7272
• 3 - Zinnemann, Fred [High Noon (1952) #106 ] - 6560
• 2 - Anderson, Lindsay [If… (1968) #534 ] - 2244
• 2 - Anderson, Wes [Rushmore (1998) #539 ] - 1987
• 2 - Angelopoulos, Theo [Landscape in the Mist (1988) #316 ] - 4282
• 2 - Aronofsky, Darren [Requiem for a Dream (2000) #459 ] - 3340
• 2 - Ashby, Hal [Harold and Maude (1971) #346 ] - 3310
• 2 - Becker, Jacques [Casque d'or (1952) #543 ] - 2282
• 2 - Bird, Brad [Incredibles, The (2004) #295 ] - 5333
• 2 - Boorman, John [Deliverance (1972) #309 ] - 4134
• 2 - Boyle, Danny [Slumdog Millionaire (2008) #232 ] - 5051
• 2 - Campion, Jane [Piano, The (1993) #81 ] - 5697
• 2 - Cantet, Laurent [Class, The (2008) #598 ] - 2475
• 2 - Chen Kaige [Farewell, My Concubine (1993) #452 ] - 2678
• 2 - Cimino, Michael [Deer Hunter, The (1978) #110 ] - 5202
• 2 - Clouzot, Henri-Georges [Wages of Fear, The (1952) #134 ] - 7390
• 2 - Crowe, Cameron [Almost Famous (2000) #677 ] - 2140
• 2 - Darabont, Frank [Shawshank Redemption, The (1994) #155 ] - 5234
• 2 - Dardenne, Jean-Pierre & Luc [L'Enfant (The Child, 2005) #800 ] - 1815
• 2 - Demme, Jonathan [Silence of the Lambs, The (1991) #90 ] - 5234
• 2 - Donen, Stanley/Gene Kelly [Singin' in the Rain (1952) #26 ] - 7604
• 2 - Dutt, Guru [Pyaasa (1957) #561 ] - 2416
• 2 - Edwards, Blake [Breakfast at Tiffany's (1961) #596 ] - 2560
• 2 - Flaherty, Robert [Nanook of the North (1922) #443 ] - 3362
• 2 - Fleming, Victor [Wizard of Oz, The (1939) #18 ] - 11132
• 2 - Forsyth, Bill [Local Hero (1983) #535 ] - 2362
• 2 - Fosse, Bob [Cabaret (1972) #276 ] - 4302
• 2 - Friedkin, William [Exorcist, The (1973) #143 ] - 5562
• 2 - Ghobadi, Bahman [Marooned in Iraq (2002) #854 ] - 1620
• 2 - Gilliam, Terry/Terry Jones [Monty Python & the Holy Grail (1975) #222 ] - 4330
• 2 - Hand, David [Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs (1937) #256 ] - 4136
• 2 - Hill, George Roy [Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid (1969) #149 ] - 5088
• 2 - Ichikawa, Kon [An Actor's Revenge (1963) #601 ] - 2278
• 2 - Jennings, Humphrey [Listen to Britain (1941) #563 ] - 2500
• 2 - Kalatozishvili, Mikheil [I Am Cuba (1964) #639 ] - 2186
• 2 - Kusturica, Emir [Underground (1995) #760 ] - 2184
• 2 - Lasseter, John [Toy Story (1995) #82 ] - 5588
• 2 - Lee, Ang [Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon (2000) #152 ] - 5452
• 2 - Lee, Spike [Do The Right Thing (1989) #112 ] - 5377
• 2 - Lester, Richard [Hard Day's Night, A (1964) #327 ] - 3849
• 2 - Linklater, Richard [Before Sunset (2004) #669 ] - 1936
• 2 - Loach, Ken [Kes (1969) #526 ] - 2344
• 2 - Mann, Anthony [Man of the West (1958) #805 ] - 1780
• 2 - Marker, Chris [La Jetee (1961) #184 ] - 4972
• 2 - Maysles, Albert & David/Charlotte Zwerin [Salesman (1968) #792 ] - 1708
• 2 - Meyer, Russ [Beyond the Valley of the Dolls (1970) #315 ] - 3322
• 2 - Morris, Errol [Fog of War, The (2003) #814 ] - 1702
• 2 - Nichols, Mike [Graduate, The (1967) #107 ] - 6016
• 2 - Parajanov, Sergei [Shadows of Forgotten Ancestors (1964) #510 ] - 3030
• 2 - Park, Nick & Box, Steve [The Curse of the Were-Rabbit (2005) #821 ] - 2050
• 2 - Preminger, Otto [Laura (1944) #168 ] - 5952
• 2 - Pudovkin, Vsevolod [Storm Over Asia (1928) #757 ] - 2026
• 2 - Riefenstahl, Leni [Triumph of the Will (1935) #453 ] - 3310
• 2 - Ritchie, Guy [Snatch (2000) #607 ] - 2624
• 2 - Romero, George A. [Night of the Living Dead (1968) #326 ] - 3856
• 2 - Schnabel, Julian [Diving Bell and the Butterfly, The (2008) #439 ] - 2541
• 2 - Siegel, Don [Invasion of the Body Snatchers (1956) #342 ] - 3780
• 2 - Sjöström, Victor [Wind, The (1928) #512 ] - 2466
• 2 - Snow, Michael [Wavelength (1967) #259 ] - 3842
• 2 - Soderbergh, Steve [sex, lies, and videotape (1989) #666 ] - 2280
• 2 - Stanton, Andrew [WALL-E (2008) #181 ] - 5795
• 2 - Stone, Oliver [Platoon (1986) #390 ] - 2920
• 2 - Straub, Jean-Marie [Chronicle of Anna Magdalena Bach (1968) #850 ] - 3466
• 2 - Sturges, John [Great Escape, The (1963) #294 ] - 3398
• 2 - Tarr, Béla [Sátántangó (1994) #547 ] - 2886
• 2 - Van Dyke II, W.S. [Thin Man, The (1934) #995 ] - 912
• 2 - Van Sant, Gus [Good Will Hunting (1997) #796 ] - 1956
• 2 - Varda, Agnès [Cleo from 5 to 7 (1962) #822 ] - 1848
• 2 - Vigo, Jean [L'Atalante (1934) #49 ] - 7874
• 2 - von Trier, Lars [Breaking the Waves (1996) #445 ] - 2548
• 2 - Walsh, Raoul [White Heat (1949) #322 ] - 3152
• 2 - Wellman, William A. [Ox-Bow Incident, The (1943) #461 ] - 2478
• 2 - Whale, James [Bride of Frankenstein (1935) #140 ] - 7204
• 2 - Wong Kar-Wai [In the Mood for Love (2001) #268 ] - 4205
• 2 - Yang, Edward [Yi yi (2000) #221 ] - 4101
• 2 - Zemeckis, Robert [Back to the Future (1985) #175 ] - 6434
• 2 - Zwigoff, Terry [Crumb (1994) #611 ] - 2482