Top Ranked Films of Wim Wenders

Wim Wenders
4 titles, 77th in points with 11,082

These are all the films of German director (who made most of these in the U.S.) Wenders that made the top 1000 in our 2011 update of the Top Ranked 1000 Films on the Net, all polls.

1. Wings of Desire (1987) #165 A bit of modern magic has some angels mingling with the living
2. Paris, Texas (1984) #316 Interesting film, especially for the performance of Harry Dean Stanton, but ultimately flows like asphalt in Texas summer
3. Kings of the Road (1976) #642
4. Alice in the Cities (1974) #705

Out of the top 1000
5. American Friend, The (1977) #1494

I've only seen the top two ranked films here. Wings was more amiable than Paris, Texas, but both are worth seeing, so it makes me think that so are the other three, and probably more. He's not exactly Werner Herzog, but then not many other German filmmakers are.

See the full list of top ranked 100 directors here: Top Ranked 100 Directors, 2011 Edition

Top Ranked Films of Rainer Werner Fassbinder

Rainer Werner Fassbinder
6 titles, 62nd in points with 12,837

German director Rainer Werner Fassbinder has 6 titles in the top 1000 (with one more making the polls), and is ranked 62nd among directors in points with 12,837. He's overranked to me, he's ahead of Michael Curtiz, Carol Reed, Ernst Lubitsch, and Wong Kar-Wai - also Ophuls, Demme, Melville, Ozu, and Nick Ray, each of whom are far more talented to me.

Somthing's just not right there. However, all his films but Ali have fallen in ranking since 2009, and that one has gone up only 25 spots, so he's declining in popularity over time.

These are all the films of German director Fassbinder’s that made the top 1000 in our 2011 update of the Top Ranked 1000 Films on the Net, all polls.

1. Berlin Alexanderplatz (1980) #279 a tv series, not a feature film; since it tells one long story, I included it as did most film polls - but by the same argument should one include the SF tv series "The Prisoner", which was about 3 hrs shorter, and was also one long continuous story? (and also much better than Alexanderplatz) - were this removed from the top 1000, Fassbinder would be ranked 91st, after Vincente Minnelli and before Brad Bird

2. Ali: Fear Eats the Soul (1971) #409
3. Marriage of Maria Braun, The (1979) #480
4. Bitter Tears of Petra von Kant, The (1972) #601
5. In a Year with 13 Moons (1978) #711
6. Fox and His Friends (1975) #957

Out of the top 1000
7. Veronika Voss (1982) #1541

I tried to watch Berlin, which is not a feature film but a 16-part tv miniseries, but it failed to involve me at all in the first four episodes, so I gave up on it, assuming that, like his feature-length films, that it would ultimately be boring throughout and unrewarding in the end. It follows an ex-con's life after his release from prison in the late 20's, and the approaching war. This is also how Ali hit me (where was the boxing? Lol..), also Marriage, Bitter Tears, and 13 Moons - slow and uninvolving. Realism however, if that's what you're after; everyday people with your same problems. The feeling I usually get from his films (afterwards) is 'how does one make sense of such a harsh world, and how do you fit into this individually'?

Your results may vary - you may find his slow soul-searching interesting but so far I haven’t, and I’ve given him chance after chance. For me, Werner Herzog is an infinitely more interesting German director, and the best director ever named Werner. His films are usually about characters with a major personal obsessions, such as Fitzcarraldo (1982) and Aguirre, The Wrath of God (1972). Les Blank's excellent documentary Burden of Dreams (1982), about the making of Fitzcarraldo, exposes these same traits in Herzog himself and is one of the best films made about the creative process of filmmaking, along with Heart's of Darkness: A Filmmaker's Apocalypse.


See the full list of top ranked 100 directors here: Top Ranked 100 Directors, 2011 Edition

This one photo is more interesting than any of his films

Top Ranked Films of Werner Herzog

Werner Herzog
5 titles, 56th in points with 13,638

12 titles in all made polls, if all points were included, he would be 41st

Born Werner H. Stipetic in Munich, Germany, Herzog is one of the more visionary directors alive. His films like to penetrate the harshness of nature as a primal force that overpowers men. Many of these are documentaries, so I labeled them as (doc).

These are all the films of Werner Herzog’s that made the top 1000 in our 2011 update of the Top Ranked 1000 Films on the Net, all polls.

1. Aguirre, The Wrath of God (1972)  #83
2. Fitzcarraldo (1982) Germany  #424
3. Grizzly Man (2005) #540 (doc)
4. Enigma of Kaspar Hauser, The (1974) #554
5. Cave of Forgotten Dreams (2010) #880 (doc)

Those out of the top 1000, 7 more titles:
6. Encounters at the End of the World (2007) #1024 (doc)
7. White Diamond, The (2004) #1146 (doc)
8. Land of Silence and Darkness (1971) #1615 (doc)
9. Lessons of Darkness (1982) #1616 (doc)
10. Bad Lieutenant: Port of Call New Orleans (2009) #1733
11. Nosferatu: Phantom of the Night (1979) #1759
12. My Best Friend (1999) #2137 (doc)


Herzog is a director of vision and one perhaps prone to become obsessed with those visions, which makes him one of the most interesting directors alive.

Herzog moved this boat over a hill in the

jungle in Fitzcarraldo

Fitzcarraldo is my favorite, a mad jungle adventure with opera and a big river boat. Les Blank’s documentary of the making of this, Burden of Dreams (1982), shows just how obsessed Herzog can get with a film project.

Aguirre, the Wrath of God is another great adventure in South America, also starring Klaus Kinski, who’s a bit more mad here than as Fitzcarraldo. He seems to have truly lost it as a Spanish conquistador obsessed with finding the city of gold.

Grizzly Man was a riveting documentary about a man who lived among grizzly bears in the Alaskan wilderness. My Best Friend is about his relationship with actor Klaus Kinski.

Not ranked but also worthy of being in the top 1000 is Cobra Verde (1987) (see review here), his last with Kinski, about a South American sugar cane plantation manager sent to Africa to see about some trouble there in connection with slave trading.

His overall films' awards total 35 out of 58 nominations:

See the full list of top ranked 100 directors here: Top Ranked 100 Directors, 2011 Edition

Top Ranked Films of F.W. Murnau

F.W. Murnau
5 titles, 38th with 18076 points

Murnau was the best example of a master of German expressionism. His films are moody, painterly, ethereal.. Sunrise is a silent masterpiece, winner of 3 academy awards for 1927, including the only one ever given for “Most Artistic or Creative Film”. It’s a far more memorable film than best picture winner Wings, as it’s ranking as #43 all-time shows, while Wings is unranked.

These are all the films of Murnau’s that made the top 1000 in our 2011 update of the Top Ranked 1000 Films on the Net, all polls.

1. Sunrise (1927) #43
2. Nosferatu, eine Symphonie des Grauens (1922) #112
3. Last Laugh (1924) #507
4. Tabu (1931) #606
5. Faust (1926) #618

out of the top 1000..
6. City Girl #1771

See the full list of top ranked 100 directors here: Top Ranked 100 Directors, 2011 Edition