Great Directors: Stanley Kubrick

Stanley Kubrick: A Life in Pictures
Jan Harlan, 2001 (9*)

TCM recently showed this documentary on master director Stanley Kubrick which was appropriately released in 2001, by his brother-in-law Jan Harlan. It's also available on dvd.

Using home movies, interviews with his ex-wife, other relatives, film stars, other directors, collaborators, writers, composers, and clips from his movies, we get a look at one of the few directors that could equally be labeled genius and artist. For me, this was a real treat, as I’ve always thought Kubrick was among the absolute best of directors, at least his best five films anyway, all legitimate all-time top 100 contenders:

• 2001: A Space Odyssey (1968), ranked #2 on the all-time top ranked 1000 list; about the next step in evolution from a material to a spiritual being, illustrated by one astronaut but in Arthur C. Clarke’s novel Childhood’s End, it happens to an entire generation at once
• Dr. Strangelove (1964) bw (#17), perhaps the best comedy ever; brilliant satire, perfect acting from Peter Sellers, George C. Scott, Sterling Hayden, Slim Pickens
• A Clockwork Orange (1971) (#63), a spellbinding trip into a violent future; Malcolm McDowell was never again to approach such greatness; from Anthony Burgess' brilliant autobiographical novel (he was the author, victim of the home invasion)
• Paths of Glory (#83), a powerful anti-war film shot in black and white, Kirk Douglas’ best role, as a heroic officer fighting for the underdogs
• Spartacus (#177), an underrated epic and homage to freedom, Kirk Douglas again

Other Kubrick films also make the all-time polls:

• Barry Lyndon (#101), shot in natural candlelight on old cameras fitted with Leica lenses made for the low light of space by NASA; perhaps a better choice than American Ryan O'Neal would have made this British novel more authentic
• The Shining (#109), a lengthy excursion into the madness of the Stephen King horror novel and the over-acting of Jack Nicholson and Shelley Duvall
• Full Metal Jacket (#206), a war film in two parts, one half covers boot camp, the other the same infantry squad now fighting in Vietnam, with some great war action in a city
• The Killing (#324), his first serious feature, his only film noir/pulp fiction film
• Lolita (#652), an early bw filming of the controversial Nabakov novel, with James Mason
• Eyes Wide Shut (#806 on the critics poll only, 1058th on ours), his final film which took years to film. This last film was a slow and disappointing excursion into infidelity to most, but Kubrick thought it his finest film. Its star Tom Cruise narrates this documentary, and Nicole Kidman is also interviewed. Some say the lengthy filming broke apart their marriage.

This is really all of Kubrick's major features. He only made one before The Killing, Killer's Kiss in 1955, and he himself bought and destroyed all the prints of that one, so his filmography begins in 1956 with The Killing.

No other director has all his feature films ranked, at least none with this many. (Charles Laughton's only film is of course an exception) My favorite interviews, besides my favorite author Arthur C. Clarke, (2001 novel and screenplay, about 50 other books), are the other directors, who include Steven Spielberg and Woody Allen.

This is a very rewarding look at a director who made far too few films, but had such standards of perfection that he often made totally original classics. The look of science fiction films were changed forever thanks to 2001, they now have to look realistic at a minimum, and all fans of this genre owe Kubrick a big thank you. Has anyone else since Stanley made us laugh at nuclear annihilation?

Stanley Kubrick at Internet Movie Database (IMDB)

The Top Ranked Film of Each Year

if Critics gave Best Picture.. and not Hollywood

I'll have to admit that I prefer most of the top ranked films, and some of the Oscar® winners, but overall the test of time has seemingly allowed the cream to rise to the top, especially in the early years with classics such as Sunrise, Man With the Movie Camera, M, Trouble in Paradise.

..[ Year ].. Film (rank in the top 1000) - Director
[1919] - Broken Blossoms #147 - Griffith, D.W.
[1921] - Kid, The #228 - Chaplin, Charles
[1922] - Nosferatu, eine Symphonie des Grauens #48 - Murnau, F.W.
[1923] - Our Hospitality #568 - Keaton, Buster/John Blystone
[1924] - Greed #79 - von Stroheim, Erich
[1925] - Gold Rush, The #39 - Chaplin, Charles
[1926] - Faust #585 - Murnau, F.W.
[1927] - Metropolis #23 - Lang, Fritz
[1928] - Sunrise #38 - Murnau, F.W. Best Picture: Wings
[ 1929 ] - Man With a Movie Camera, The #78 - Vertov, Dziga (photo rt) Best Picture: Broadway Melody
[ 1930 ] - All Quiet on the Western Front #164 - Milestone, Lewis Best Picture: All Quiet on the Western Front
[ 1931 ] - M #11 - Lang, Fritz Best Picture: Cimarron 
[ 1932 ] - Trouble in Paradise #234 - Lubitsch, Ernst Best Picture: Grand Hotel
[ 1933 ] - King Kong #40 - Cooper, Merian C./Ernest B. Schoedsack Best Picture: Cavalcade
[ 1934 ] - L'Atalante #49 - Vigo, Jean Best Picture: It Happened One Night
[ 1935 ] - Bride of Frankenstein #140 - Whale, James Best Picture: Mutiny on the Bounty
[ 1936 ] - Modern Times #36 - Chaplin, Charles Best Picture: The Great Ziegfeld
[ 1937 ] - Grande Illusion, La #198 - Renoir, Jean Best Picture: The Life of Emile Zola
[ 1938 ] - Bringing Up Baby #118 - Hawks, Howard Best Picture: You Can't Take It With You
[ 1939 ] - Wizard of Oz, The #18 - Fleming, Victor Best Picture: Gone With the Wind
[ 1940 ] - Grapes of Wrath, The #95 - Ford, John Best Picture: Rebecca
[ 1941 ] - Citizen Kane #5 - Welles, Orson Best Picture: How Green Was My Valley
[ 1942 ] - Casablanca #47 - Curtiz, Michael Best Picture: Mrs. Miniver
[ 1943 ] - Shadow of a Doubt #104 - Hitchcock, Alfred Best Picture: Casablanca (released in 42, Oscar awarded for 43)
[ 1944 ] - Double Indemnity #56 - Wilder, Billy Best Picture: Going My Way
[ 1945 ] - Brief Encounter #127 - Lean, David Best Picture: The Lost Weekend
[ 1946 ] - It's a Wonderful Life #10 - Capra, Frank Best Picture: The Best Years of Our Lives
[ 1947 ] - Out of the Past #236 - Tourneur, Jacques Best Picture: Gentlemen's Agreement
[ 1948 ] - Third Man, The #15 - Reed, Carol Best Picture: Hamlet
[ 1949 ] - Bicycle Thief, The #16 - De Sica, Vittorio Best Picture: All the King's Men
[ 1950 ] - Sunset Boulevard #14 - Wilder, Billy Best Picture: All About Eve
[ 1951 ] - Strangers on a Train #121 - Hitchcock, Alfred Best Picture: An American in Paris
[ 1952 ] - Singin' in the Rain #26 - Donen, Stanley/Gene Kelly Best Picture: The Greatest Show on Earth
[ 1953 ] - Tokyo Story #57 - Ozu, Yasujiro Best Picture: From Here to Eternity
[ 1954 ] - Seven Samurai, The #7 - Kurosawa, Akira Best Picture: On the Waterfront
[ 1955 ] - Pather Panchali / Apu Trilogy I #32 - Ray, Satyajit Best Picture: Marty
[ 1956 ] - Seventh Seal, The #29 - Bergman, Ingmar Best Picture: Around the World in 80 Days
[ 1957 ] - Paths of Glory #83 - Kubrick, Stanley Best Picture: Bridge on the River Kwai, The
[ 1958 ] - Vertigo #6 - Hitchcock, Alfred Best Picture: Gigi
[ 1959 ] - North by Northwest #19 - Hitchcock, Alfred Best Picture: Ben-Hur
[ 1960 ] - Psycho #8 - Hitchcock, Alfred Best Picture: The Apartment
[ 1961 ] - Jules et Jim #59 - Truffaut, François Best Picture: West Side Story
[ 1962 ] - Manchurian Candidate, The #43 - Frankenheimer, John Best Picture: Lawrence of Arabia
[ 1963 ] - 8½ #37 - Fellini, Federico Best Picture: Tom Jones
[ 1964 ] - Dr. Strangelove or: How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Love the Bomb #17 - Kubrick, Stanley Best Picture: My Fair Lady
[ 1965 ] - Pierrot le fou #129 - Godard, Jean-Luc Best Picture: Sound of Music, The
[ 1966 ] - Good, The Bad, and the Ugly, The #73 - Leone, Sergio Best Picture: A Man for All Seasons
[ 1967 ] - Bonnie and Clyde #105 - Penn, Arthur Best Picture: In the Heat of the Night
[ 1968 ] - 2001: A Space Odyssey #2 - Kubrick, Stanley (photo top) Best Picture: Oliver!
[ 1969 ] - Wild Bunch, The #87 - Peckinpah, Sam Best Picture: Midnight Cowboy
[ 1970 ] - Conformist, The #76 - Bertolucci, Bernardo Best Picture: Patton
[ 1971 ] - Clockwork Orange, A #69 - Kubrick, Stanley Best Picture: French Connection, The
[ 1972 ] - Godfather, The #1 - Coppola, Francis Best Picture: Godfather, The
[ 1973 ] - Mean Streets #142 - Scorsese, Martin Best Picture: Sting, The
[ 1974 ] - Chinatown #3 - Polanski, Roman Best Picture: Godfather: Part II, The
[ 1975 ] - One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest #54 - Forman, Milos Best Picture: One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest
[ 1976 ] - Taxi Driver #12 - Scorsese, Martin Best Picture: Rocky
[ 1977 ] - Annie Hall #77 - Allen, Woody Best Picture: Annie Hall
[ 1978 ] - Star Wars #4 - Lucas, George Best Picture: Deer Hunter, The
[ 1979 ] - Apocalypse Now #25 - Coppola, Francis Best Picture: Kramer vs. Kramer
[ 1980 ] - Raging Bull #24 - Scorsese, Martin Best Picture: Ordinary People
[ 1981 ] - Raiders of the Lost Ark #34 - Spielberg, Steven Best Picture: Chariots of Fire
[ 1982 ] - Blade Runner #13 - Scott, Ridley Best Picture: Gandhi
[ 1983 ] - Argent, L' #437 - Bresson, Robert Best Picture: Terms of Endearment
[ 1984 ] - Amadeus #63 - Forman, Milos Best Picture: Amadeus
[ 1985 ] - Ran #86 - Kurosawa, Akira Best Picture: Out of Africa
[ 1986 ] - Aliens #159 - Cameron, James Best Picture: Platoon
[ 1987 ] - Full Metal Jacket #206 - Kubrick, Stanley Best Picture: The Last Emperor
[ 1988 ] - Cinema Paradiso #158 - Tornatore, Giuseppe Best Picture: Rain Man
[ 1989 ] - Do The Right Thing #112 - Lee, Spike Best Picture: Driving Miss Daisy
[ 1990 ] - Goodfellas #31 - Scorsese, Martin Best Picture: Dances With Wolves
[ 1991 ] - Silence of the Lambs, The #90 - Demme, Jonathan Best Picture: The Silence of the Lambs
[ 1992 ] - Unforgiven #91 - Eastwood, Clint Best Picture: Unforgiven
[ 1993 ] - Schindler's List #27 - Spielberg, Steven Best Picture: Schindler's List
[ 1994 ] - Shawshank Redemption, The #155 - Darabont, Frank Best Picture: Forrest Gump
[ 1995 ] - Pulp Fiction #20 - Tarantino, Quentin Best Picture: Braveheart
[ 1996 ] - Fargo #61 - Coen, Joel and Ethan Coen Best Picture: English Patient, The
[ 1997 ] - L.A. Confidential #45 - Hanson, Curtis Best Picture: Titanic
[ 1998 ] - Saving Private Ryan #116 - Spielberg, Steven Best Picture: Shakespeare in Love
[ 1999 ] - American Beauty #139 - Mendes, Sam Best Picture: American Beauty
[ 2000 ] - Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon #152 - Lee, Ang Best Picture: Gladiator
[ 2001 ] - Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring, The #84 - Jackson, Peter Best Picture: A Beautiful Mind
[ 2002 ] - Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers, The #144 - Jackson, Peter Best Picture: Chicago
[ 2003 ] - Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King, The #97 - Jackson, Peter Best Picture: Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King, The
[ 2004 ] - Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind #225 - Gondry, Michael Best Picture: Million Dollar Baby
[ 2005 ] - Brokeback Mountain #451 - Lee, Ang Best Picture: Crash
[ 2006 ] - Pan's Labyrinth #154 - del Toro, Guillermo Best Picture: The Departed
[ 2007 ] - No Country for Old Men #165 - Coen Ethan and Joel Best Picture: No Country for Old Men
[ 2008 ] - WALL-E #181 - Stanton, Andrew Best Picture: Slumdog Millionaire
[ 2009 ] - Inglorious Basterds #92 - Tarantino, Quentin Best Picture: The Hurt Locker
[ 2010 ] - Inception #9 - Nolan, Christopher Best Picture: The King's Speech


The observant will note only 12 matches above:
All Quiet on the Western Front, Casablanca (*listed in 2 separate years), The Godfather, One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest, Amadeus, Annie Hall, Silence of the Lambs, Unforgiven, Schindler's List, American Beauty, Lord of the Rings: Return of the King, No Country for Old Men




Left: Max von Sydow plays chess with Death in Bergman's classic The Seventh Seal (1956)

2009 Emmy Nominations Released

Today, the 2009 Emmy nominations were released. You can download the complete list from the official site here: 2009 Emmy Nominations Note: the terrific HBO series The Alzheimer's Project garnered some nominations, with The Memory Loss Tapes up for "Exceptional Merit in Non-Fiction Programming" - kudos to the whole crew this valuable special series. "As always, no wagering!" - José ps - for the origin of the Emmy name and design of the trophy, the best design of any award given imo (it combines art and science), see the official TV Academy story here

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

Top Ranked Directors - by Point Totals

[Our 100th post!]  © William L. Sinclair


Top 200 Directors, films in the Top Ranked 1011 only that we compiled, ranked by total points for all films. Kubrick, photo rt, would be #1 had he made more films.

Count, Director, Top Ranked Film, Total Points [avg pts per film]

1. 14 - Hitchcock, Alfred [ Vertigo (1958) #6 ] - 55352 [avg 3954]
2. 10 - Kubrick, Stanley [ 2001: A Space Odyssey (1968) #2 ] - 42161 [avg 4217]
3. 12 - Scorsese, Martin [ Taxi Driver (1976) #12 ] - 37474 [avg 3123]
4. 11 - Kurosawa, Akira [ Seven Samurai, The (1954) #7 ] - 33022 [avg 3002]
5. 16 - Ford, John [ Searchers, The (1956) #46 ] - 32142 [avg 2009]
6. 8 - Chaplin, Charles [ City Lights (1931) #21 ] - 31835 [avg 3979]
7. 16 - Godard, Jean-Luc [ Contempt (1963) 74 ] - 31243 [avg 1953]
8. 15 - Buñuel, Luis [ Discreet Charm of the Bourgeoisie, The (1972) #88 ] - 29977 [avg 1999]
9. 7 - Spielberg, Steven [ Schindler's List (1993) #27 ] - 28694 [avg 4099]
10. 11 - Fellini, Federico [ 8½ (1963) #37 ] - 27722 [avg 2520]
11. 8 - Wilder, Billy [ Sunset Boulevard (1950) #14 ] - 27448 [avg 3431]
12. 12 - Bergman, Ingmar [ Seventh Seal, The (1956) 29 ] - 27032 [avg 2253]
13. 4 - Coppola, Francis [ Godfather, The (1972) #1 ] - 26334 [avg 6584]
14. 11 - Hawks, Howard [ Bringing Up Baby (1938) #118 ] - 25560 [avg 2324]
15. 7 - Welles, Orson [ Citizen Kane (1941) #5 ] - 24090 [avg 3441]
16. 6 - Lean, David [ Lawrence of Arabia (1962) #50 ] - 22668 [avg 3778]
17. 10 - Lang, Fritz [ M (1931) 11 ] - 22392 [avg 2239]
18. 10 - Renoir, Jean [ Rules of the Game, The (1939) #44 ] - 21204 [avg 2120]
19. 8 - Bresson, Robert [ Au Hasard Balthazar (1966) 93 ] - 20832 [avg 2604]
20. 8 - Huston, John [ Treasure of the Sierra Madre, The (1948) #62 ] - 20190 [avg 2524]
21. 7 - Keaton, Buster [ Sherlock Jr. (1924) #89 ] - 19724 [avg 2818]
22. 4 - Capra, Frank [ It's a Wonderful Life (1946) 10 ] - 17564 [avg 4391]
23. 8 - Powell, Michael [ Peeping Tom (1960) #360 ] - 17464 [avg 2183]
24. 5 - Polanski, Roman [ Chinatown (1974) #3 ] - 17376 [avg 3475]
25. 7 - Truffaut, François [ Jules et Jim (1961) #59 ] - 17238 [avg 2463]
26. 7 - Eisenstein, Sergei [ Battleship Potemkin (1925) 100 ] - 17070 [avg 2439]
27. 4 - Scott, Ridley [ Blade Runner (1982) 13 ] - 16179 [avg 4045]
28. 5 - Murnau, F.W. [ Sunrise (1928) #38 ] - 16168 [avg 3234]
29. 5 - Dreyer, Carl Theodor [ Passion of Joan of Arc, The (1928) 51 ] - 16068 [avg 3214]
30. 10 - Rossellini, Roberto [ Paisan (1946) #166 ] - 16058 [avg 1606]
31. 8 - Eastwood, Clint [ Unforgiven (1992) #91 ] - 15976 [avg 1997]
32. 4 - De Sica, Vittorio [ Bicycle Thief, The (1949) 16 ] - 15656 [avg 3914]
33. 7 - Cassavetes, John [ Woman Under the Influence, A (1974) #176 ] - 15564 [avg 2223]
34. 9 - Visconti, Luchino [ Rocco and His Brothers (1964) #237 ] - 15186 [avg 1687]
35. 6 - Allen, Woody [ Annie Hall (1977) #77 ] - 15039 [avg 2507]
36. 5 - Ray, Satyajit [ Pather Panchali / Apu Trilogy I (1955) #32 ] - 14988 [avg 2998]
37. 6 - Antonioni, Michelangelo [ L'Avventura (1960) #187 ] - 14434 [avg 2406]
38. 4 - Leone, Sergio [ Once Upon a Time in the West (1968) #70 ] - 14418 [avg 3605]
39. 7 - Altman, Robert [ Nashville (1975) #192 ] - 13854 [avg 1979]
40. 3 - Lucas, George [ Star Wars (1978) #4 ] - 13743 [avg 4581]
41. 8 - Ophuls, Max [ Earrings of Madame de..., The (1953) 264 ] - 13588 [avg 1699]
42. 6 - Mizoguchi, Kenji [ Ugetsu (1953) 58 ] - 13300 [avg 2217]
43. 7 - Tarkovsky, Andrei [ Solaris (1972) #263 ] - 13200 [avg 1886]
44. 3 - Griffith, D.W. [ Intolerance (1916) 64 ] - 13198 [avg 4399]
45. 6 - Coen Ethan and Joel [ No Country for Old Men (2007) #165 ] - 13163 [avg 2194]
46. 5 - Sturges, Preston [ Lady Eve, The (1941) 92 ] - 13162 [avg 2632]
47. 3 - Jackson, Peter [ Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring, The (2001) #84 ] - 12603 [avg 4201]
48. 4 - Forman, Milos [ One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest (1975) #54 ] - 12314 [avg 3079]
49. 4 - Cameron, James [ Aliens (1986) #159 ] - 12253 [avg 3063]
50. 4 - Tarantino, Quentin [ Pulp Fiction (1995) #20 ] - 12172 [avg 3043]
51. 4 - Lumet, Sidney [ 12 Angry Men (1957) #124 ] - 11976 [avg 2994]
52. 5 - Kazan, Elia [ On the Waterfront (1954) #67 ] - 11952 [avg 2390]
53. 6 - Lubitsch, Ernst [ Trouble in Paradise (1932) #234 ] - 11804 [avg 1967]
54. 4 - Wyler, William [ Best Years of Our Lives, The (1946) #102 ] - 11786 [avg 2947]
55. 6 - Resnais, Alain [ Last Year at Marienbad (1961) #215 ] - 11250 [avg 1875]
56. 2 - Fleming, Victor [ Wizard of Oz, The (1939) #18 ] - 11132 [avg 5566]
57. 7 - Fassbinder, Rainer Werner [ Berlin Alexanderplatz (1980) 196 ] - 11128 [avg 1590]
58. 4 - McCarey, Leo [ Duck Soup (1933) #41 ] - 10924 [avg 2731]
59. 7 - Kiarostami, Abbas [ Close-Up (1990) 189 ] - 10769
60. 5 - Pasolini, Pier Paolo [ Gospel According to St. Matthew, The (1964) #103 ] - 10760
61. 3 - Curtiz, Michael [ Casablanca (1942) #47 ] - 10506 [avg 3502]
62. 5 - Lynch, David [ Elephant Man, The (1980) #193 ] - 10266
63. 5 - Ozu, Yasujiro [ Tokyo Story (1953) #57 ] - 10218
64. 6 - Minnelli, Vincente [ Meet Me in St. Louis (1944) #288 ] - 10068
65. 6 - Ray, Nicholas [ Rebel Without a Cause (1955) #280 ] - 10052
66. 4 - Bertolucci, Bernardo [ Conformist, The (1970) 76 ] - 9788
67. 5 - Cukor, George [ Philadelphia Story, The (1940) #148 ] - 9614
68. 5 - Sirk, Douglas [ All That Heaven Allows (1955) #233 ] - 9604
69. 4 - Donen, Stanley [ Funny Face (1957) #735 ] - 9452
70. 3 - Reed, Carol [ Third Man, The (1948) #15 ] - 9246 [avg 3082]
71. 4 - Mankiewicz, Joseph L. [ All About Eve (1950) #33 ] - 9238
72. 5 - Peckinpah, Sam [ Wild Bunch, The (1969) #87 ] - 8998
73. 6 - Kieslowski, Krszystof [ Dekalog (1988) #235 ] - 8974
74. 5 - Roeg, Nicolas [ Don't Look Now (1973) #301 ] - 8966
75. 4 - Gilliam, Terry [ Brazil (1985) #188 ] - 8783
76. 4 - Carné, Marcel [ Enfants du paradis, Les (1945) #183 ] - 8728
77. 4 - Herzog, Werner [ Aguirre: The Wrath of God (1972) #72 ] - 8534
78. 4 - von Stroheim, Erich [ Greed (1924) 79 ] - 8234
79. 6 - von Sternberg, Josef [ Blue Angel, The (1930) #269 ] - 8170
80. 4 - Wenders, Wim [ Wings of Desire (1987) #245 ] - 7908
81. 2 - Vigo, Jean [ L'Atalante (1934) 49 ] - 7874 [avg 3837]
82. 2 - Donen, Stanley/Gene Kelly [ Singin' in the Rain (1952) #26 ] - 7604 [avg 3802]
83. 4 - Nolan, Christopher [ Memento (2000) #354 ] - 7406
84. 2 - Clouzot, Henri-Georges [ Wages of Fear, The (1952) #134 ] - 7390 [avg 3695]
85. 4 - Miyazaki, Hayao [ Spirited Away (2001) #255 ] - 7366
86. 3 - Tati, Jacques [ Playtime (1967) #209 ] - 7362
87. 3 - Anderson, Paul Thomas [ There Will Be Blood (2007) #180 ] - 7326
88. 3 - Wise, Robert [ Day the Earth Stood Still, The (1951) #318 ] - 7272
89. 2 - Whale, James [ Bride of Frankenstein (1935) #140 ] - 7204 [avg 3602]
90. 4 - Almodóvar, Pedro [ All About My Mother (1999) #283 ] - 6825
91. 5 - Vidor, King [ Crowd, The (1928) #355 ] - 6759
92. 3 - Zinnemann, Fred [ High Noon (1952) #106 ] - 6560
93. 4 - Tourneur, Jacques [ Out of the Past (1947) #236 ] - 6446
94. 2 - Zemeckis, Robert [ Back to the Future (1985) #175 ] - 6434 [avg 3217]
95. 4 - Reiner, Rob [ Princess Bride, The (1987) #371 ] - 6426
96. 3 - Malick, Terrence [ Days of Heaven (1978) #260 ] - 6402
97. 3 - Carpenter, John [ Halloween (1978) #317 ] - 6355
98. 3 - Stevens, George [ Shane (1953) #282 ] - 6214
99. 3 - Cocteau, Jean [ Belle et la bête, La (Beauty/Beast, 1946) #240 ] - 6196
100. 1 - Laughton, Charles [ Night of The Hunter, The (1955) 35 ] - 6100 [avg 6100]
101. 4 - Melville, Jean-Pierre [ Army of Shadows (1969) #291 ] - 6086
102. 2 - Nichols, Mike [ Graduate, The (1967) #107 ] - 6016
103. 4 - Demy, Jacques [ Umbrellas of Cherbourg, The (1964) #284 ] - 5954
104. 2 - Preminger, Otto [ Laura (1944) #168 ] - 5952
105. 3 - De Palma, Brian [ Scarface (1982) #210 ] - 5943
106. 1 - Cooper, Merian C./Ernest B. Schoedsack [ King Kong (1933) 40 ] - 5838 [avg 5838]
107. 5 - Hou Hsiao-Hsien [ Time to Live and the Time to Die, The (1985) #500 ] - 5802
108. 2 - Stanton, Andrew [ WALL-E (2008) #181 ] - 5795
109. 3 - Fincher, David [ Fight Club (1999) #271 ] - 5768
110. 2 - Campion, Jane [ Piano, The (1993) #81 ] - 5697
111. 3 - Sharpsteen, Ben [ Fantasia (1940) #358 ] - 5690
112. 2 - Lasseter, John [ Toy Story (1995) #82 ] - 5588
113. 2 - Friedkin, William [ Exorcist, The (1973) #143 ] - 5562
114. 1 - Frankenheimer, John [ Manchurian Candidate, The (1962) #43 ] - 5559 [avg 5559]
115. 3 - Rivette, Jacques [ Celine and Julie Go Boating (1974) 141 ] - 5542
116. 2 - Lee, Ang [ Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon (2000) #152 ] - 5452
117. 3 - Clair, René [ Le Million (1931) #313 ] - 5410
118. 2 - Lee, Spike [ Do The Right Thing (1989) #112 ] - 5377
119. 1 - Hanson, Curtis [ L.A. Confidential (1997) #45 ] - 5348 [avg 5348]
120. 2 - Bird, Brad [ Incredibles, The (2004) #295 ] - 5333
121. 2 - Darabont, Frank [ Shawshank Redemption, The (1994) #155 ] - 5234
122. 2 - Demme, Jonathan [ Silence of the Lambs, The (1991) #90 ] - 5234
123. 4 - Zhang Yimou [ Raise the Red Lantern (1991) #298 ] - 5219
124. 2 - Cimino, Michael [ Deer Hunter, The (1978) #110 ] - 5202
125. 2 - Hill, George Roy [ Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid (1969) #149 ] - 5088
126. 2 - Boyle, Danny [ Slumdog Millionaire (2008) #232 ] - 5051
127. 2 - Marker, Chris [ La Jetee (1961) 184 ] - 4972
128. 3 - Greengrass, Paul [ Bourne Ultimatum, The (2007) #362 ] - 4640
129. 1 - Vertov, Dziga [ Man With a Movie Camera, The (1928) 78 ] - 4602 [avg 4602]
130. 3 - Pabst, G.W. [ Pandora's Box (1928) #249 ] - 4430
131. 2 - Gilliam, Terry/Terry Jones [ Monty Python and the Holy Grail (1975) #222 ] - 4330
132. 1 - Mulligan, Robert [ To Kill a Mockingbird (1962) #96 ] - 4324 [avg 4324]
133. 2 - Fosse, Bob [ Cabaret (1972) #276 ] - 4302
134. 2 - Angelopoulos, Theo [ Landscape in the Mist (1988) 316 ] - 4282
135. 1 - Penn, Arthur [ Bonnie and Clyde (1967) #105 ] - 4240 [avg 4240]
136. 2 - Wong Kar-Wai [ In the Mood for Love (2001) #268 ] - 4205
137. 3 - Leigh, Mike [ Secrets & Lies (1996) #376 ] - 4195
138. 4 - Weir, Peter [ Truman Show, The (1998) #689 ] - 4172
139. 3 - Rocha, Glauber [ Black God, White Devil (1964) #528 ] - 4166
140. 2 - Hand, David [ Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs (1937) #256 ] - 4136
141. 2 - Boorman, John [ Deliverance (1972) #309 ] - 4134
142. 1 - Wajda, Andrzej [ Ashes and Diamonds (1958) #114 ] - 4132
143. 1 - Hamer, Robert [ Kind Hearts and Coronets (1949) #117 ] - 4122
144. 2 - Yang, Edward [ Yi yi (2000) #221 ] - 4101
145. 1 - Lanzmann, Claude [ Shoah (1985) #119 ] - 4078
146. 3 - Cronenberg, David [ Dead Ringers (1988) #349 ] - 4076
147. 1 - Pontecorvo, Gillo [ Battle of Algiers, The (1966) #132 ] - 3936
148. 1 - Mackendrick, Alexander [ Sweet Smell of Success (1957) #133 ] - 3896
149. 2 - Romero, George A. [ Night of the Living Dead (1968) #326 ] - 3856
150. 2 - Lester, Richard [ Hard Day's Night, A (1964) #327 ] - 3849
151. 2 - Snow, Michael [ Wavelength (1967) #259 ] - 3842
152. 1 - Mendes, Sam [ American Beauty (1999) #139 ] - 3799
153. 2 - Siegel, Don [ Invasion of the Body Snatchers (1956) #342 ] - 3780
154. 1 - Akerman, Chantal [ Jeanne Dielman, 23 Quai du Commerce, 1080 Bruxelles (1975) #146 ] - 3740
155. 1 - Rossen, Robert [ Hustler, The (1961) #153 ] - 3686
156. 1 - del Toro, Guillermo [ Pan's Labyrinth (2006) #154 ] - 3681
157. 1 - Tornatore, Giuseppe [ Cinema Paradiso (1988) #158 ] - 3632
158. 3 - Rohmer, Eric [ My Night at Maud's (1969) #497 ] - 3630
159. 1 - von Donnersmarck, Florian Henckel [ Lives of Others, The (2006) #162 ] - 3537
160. 3 - Frears, Stephen [ Queen, The (2006) #479 ] - 3515
161. 1 - Milestone, Lewis [ All Quiet on the Western Front (1930) #164 ] - 3514
162. 2 - Straub, Jean-Marie [ Chronicle of Anna Magdalena Bach, The (1968) #850 ] - 3466
163. 3 - Jarmusch, Jim [ Stranger Than Paradise (1984) #628 ] - 3426
164. 3 - Sembene, Ousmane [ Moolaadé (2004) #617 ] - 3419
165. 1 - Singer, Bryan [ Usual Suspects, The (1995) #169 ] - 3410
166. 2 - Sturges, John [ Great Escape, The (1963) #294 ] - 3398
167. 1 - Burnett, Charles [ Killer of Sheep (1977) #173 ] - 3367
168. 2 - Flaherty, Robert [ Nanook of the North (1922) #443 ] - 3362
169. 2 - Aronofsky, Darren [ Requiem for a Dream (2000) #459 ] - 3340
170. 2 - Meyer, Russ [ Beyond the Valley of the Dolls (1970) 315 ] - 3322
171. 2 - Ashby, Hal [ Harold and Maude (1971) #346 ] - 3310
172. 2 - Riefenstahl, Leni [ Triumph of the Will (1935) #453 ] - 3310
173. 3 - Malle, Louis [ Atlantic City (1980) #489 ] - 3290
174. 1 - Ramis, Harold [ Groundhog Day (1993) #182 ] - 3262
175. 1 - Hopper, Dennis [ Easy Rider (1969) #190 ] - 3190
176. 3 - Burton, Tim [ Ed Wood (1994) #724 ] - 3188
177. 1 - Meirelles, Fernando [ City of God(2002) #191 ] - 3188
178. 2 - Walsh, Raoul [ White Heat (1949) #322 ] - 3152
179. 1 - Shaffner, Frank [ Patton (1970) #202 ] - 3105
180. 1 - Pollack, Sydney [ Tootsie (1982) #212 ] - 3049
181. 2 - Parajanov, Sergei [ Shadows of Forgotten Ancestors (1964) #510 ] - 3030
182. 1 - Avildsen, John G. [ Rocky (1976) #223 ] - 2938
183. 1 - Wachowski, Andy & Larry Wachowski [ Matrix, The (1999) #224 ] - 2932
184. 2 - Stone, Oliver [ Platoon (1986) #390 ] - 2920
185. 1 - Gondry, Michael [ Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind (2004) #225 ] - 2915
186. 1 - Kelly, Richard [ Donnie Darko (2001) #226 ] - 2908
187. 1 - Mann, Michael [ Heat (1995) #227 ] - 2904
188. 1 - Gance, Abel [ Napoléon (1927) #230 ] - 2888
189. 2 - Tarr, Béla [ Sátántangó (1994) #547 ] - 2886
190. 1 - McTiernan, John [ Die Hard (1988) #241 ] - 2802
191. 1 - Peterson, Wolfgang [ Das Boot (1981) #243 ] - 2798
192. 1 - Hooper, Tobe [ Texas Chainsaw Massacre, The (1974) #246 ] - 2780
193. 1 - Dovzhenko, Alexander [ Earth (1930) #247 ] - 2774
194. 1 - Wise, Robert/Jerome Robbins [ West Side Story (1961) #251 ] - 2742
195. 1 - Erice, Victor [ Spirit of the Beehive, The (1973) #257 ] - 2688
196. 2 - Chen Kaige [ Farewell, My Concubine (1993) #452 ] - 2678
197. 1 - Feuillade, Louis [ Les Vampires (1915-16) #262 ] - 2666
198. 2 - Ritchie, Guy [ Snatch (2000) #607 ] - 2624
199. 1 - Bogdanovich, Peter [ Last Picture Show, The (1971) #278 ] - 2612
200. 1 - Attenborough, Richard [ Gandhi (1982) #281 ] - 2598
201. 1 - Sandrich, Mark [ Top Hat (1935) #285 ] - 2572
202. 2 - Edwards, Blake [ Breakfast at Tiffany's (1961) #596 ] - 2560
203. 1 - Schlesinger, John [ Midnight Cowboy (1969) #289 ] - 2558
204. 2 - von Trier, Lars [ Breaking the Waves (1996) #445 ] - 2548
205. 2 - Schnabel, Julian [ Diving Bell and the Butterfly, The (2008) #439 ] - 2541

See the complete list of all 430 directors with films in the Top Ranked 1000

Top Average Per Film (2+ films)

1. Francis Ford Coppola 6584
2. Victor Fleming 5556
3. George Lucas 4581
4. D.W. Griffith 4399
5. Frank Capra 4391
6. Stanley Kubrick 4217
7. Peter Jackson 4201
8. Steven Spielberg 4099
9. Ridley Scott 4045
10. Charles Chaplin 3979
11. Alfred Hitchcock 3954
12. Vittorio De Sica 3914
13. Jean Vigo 3837
14. Stanley Donen 3802
15. David Lean 3778
16. Henri-Georges Clouzot 3695

High Scores One Film Only

1. Charles Laughton 6100 [Night of the Hunter]
2. Cooper & Shoedsack 5838 [King Kong]
3. John Frankenheimer 5539 [Manchurian Candidate]
4. Curtis Hanson 5348 [L.A. Confidential]
5. Dziga Vertov 4602 [Man With the Movie Camera]
6. Robert Mulligan 4324 [To Kill a Mockingbird]
7. Arthur Penn 4240 [Bonnie and Clyde]

Top Ranked Directors - Avg Per Film

We took just those directors with two or more films on the Top Ranked 1000. Had we included those with one film, Charles Laughton would have been #2. Director, Avg Pts per Film, Total Films

1. Coppola, Francis - 6584 (4) photo rt
2. Fleming, Victor - 5566 (2)
3. Lucas, George - 4581 (3)

4. Griffith, D.W. - 4399 (3) photo rt, ca 1913
5. Capra, Frank - 4391 (4)
6. Kubrick, Stanley - 4216 (10)
7. Jackson, Peter - 4201 (3)
8. Spielberg, Steven - 4099 (7)
9. Scott, Ridley - 4045 (4)
10. Chaplin, Charles - 3979 (8)
11. Hitchcock, Alfred - 3954 (14)
12. Vigo, Jean - 3937 (2)

13. De Sica, Vittorio - 3914 (4) photo rt
14. Donen, Stanley/Gene Kelly - 3802 (2)
15. Lean, David - 3778 (6)
16. Clouzot, Henri-Georges - 3695 (2)
17. Leone, Sergio - 3605 (4)
18. Whale, James - 3602 (2)
19. Curtiz, Michael - 3502 (3)
20. Polanski, Roman - 3475 (5)
21. Welles, Orson - 3441 (7)
22. Wilder, Billy - 3431 (8)
23. Murnau, F.W. - 3234 (5)
24. Zemeckis, Robert - 3217 (2)
25. Dreyer, Carl Theodor - 3214 (5)
26. Scorsese, Martin - 3123 (12)
27. Reed, Carol - 3082 (3)
28. Forman, Milos - 3079 (4)
29. Cameron, James - 3063 (4)
30. Tarantino, Quentin - 3043 (4)
31. Nichols, Mike - 3008 (2)
32. Kurosawa, Akira - 3002 (11)
33. Ray, Satyajit - 2998 (5)
34. Lumet, Sidney - 2994 (4)
35. Preminger, Otto - 2976 (2)
36. Wyler, William - 2947 (4)
37. Stanton, Andrew - 2898 (2)
38. Campion, Jane - 2849 (2)
39. Keaton, Buster - 2818 (7)
40. Lasseter, John - 2794 (2)
41. Friedkin, William - 2781 (2)
42. McCarey, Leo - 2731 (4)
43. Lee, Ang - 2726 (2)
44. Lee, Spike - 2689 (2)
45. Bird, Brad - 2667 (2)
46. Sturges, Preston - 2632 (5)
47. Darabont, Frank - 2617 (2)
48. Demme, Jonathan - 2617 (2)
49. Bresson, Robert - 2604 (8)
50. Cimino, Michael - 2601 (2)
51. Hill, George Roy - 2544 (2)
52. Boyle, Danny - 2526 (2)
53. Huston, John - 2524 (8)
54. Fellini, Federico - 2520 (11)
55. Allen, Woody - 2507 (6)
56. Marker, Chris - 2486 (2)
57. Truffaut, François - 2463 (7)
58. Tati, Jacques - 2454 (3)
59. Bertolucci, Bernardo - 2447 (4)
60. Anderson, Paul Thomas - 2442 (3)
61. Eisenstein, Sergei - 2439 (7)
62. Wise, Robert - 2424 (3)
63. Antonioni, Michelangelo - 2406 (6)
64. Kazan, Elia - 2390 (5)
65. Donen, Stanley - 2363 (4)
66. Hawks, Howard - 2324 (11)
67. Mankiewicz, Joseph L. - 2310 (4)
68. Bergman, Ingmar - 2253 (12)
69. Lang, Fritz - 2239 (10)
70. Cassavetes, John - 2223 (7)
71. Mizoguchi, Kenji - 2217 (6)
72. Gilliam, Terry - 2196 (4)
73. Coen Ethan and Joel - 2194 (6)
74. Zinnemann, Fred - 2187 (3)
75. Powell, Michael - 2183 (8)
76. Carné, Marcel - 2182 (4)
77. Gilliam, Terry/Terry Jones - 2165 (2)
78. Pasolini, Pier Paolo - 2152 (5)
79. Fosse, Bob - 2151 (2)
80. Angelopoulos, Theo - 2141 (2)
81. Malick, Terrence - 2134 (3)
82. Herzog, Werner - 2134 (4)
83. Renoir, Jean - 2120 (10)
84. Carpenter, John - 2118 (3)
85. Wong Kar-Wai - 2103 (2)
86. Stevens, George - 2071 (3)
87. Hand, David - 2068 (2)
88. Boorman, John - 2067 (2)
89. Cocteau, Jean - 2065 (3)
90. von Stroheim, Erich - 2059 (4)
91. Lynch, David - 2053 (5)
92. Yang, Edward - 2051 (2)
93. Ozu, Yasujiro - 2044 (5)
94. Ford, John - 2009 (16)
95. Buñuel, Luis - 1998 (15)
96. Eastwood, Clint - 1997 (8)
97. De Palma, Brian - 1981 (3)
98. Altman, Robert - 1979 (7)
99. Wenders, Wim - 1977 (4)
100. Lubitsch, Ernst - 1967 (6)
101. Godard, Jean-Luc - 1953 (16)
102. Romero, George A. - 1928 (2)
103. Lester, Richard - 1925 (2)
104. Cukor, George - 1923 (5)
105. Fincher, David - 1923 (3)
106. Snow, Michael - 1921 (2)
107. Sirk, Douglas - 1921 (5)
108. Sharpsteen, Ben - 1897 (3)
109. Siegel, Don - 1890 (2)
110. Tarkovsky, Andrei - 1886 (7)
111. Resnais, Alain - 1875 (6)
112. Nolan, Christopher - 1852 (4)
113. Rivette, Jacques - 1847 (3)
114. Miyazaki, Hayao - 1842 (4)
115. Clair, René - 1803 (3)
116. Peckinpah, Sam - 1800 (5)
117. Roeg, Nicolas - 1793 (5)
118. Straub, Jean-Marie - 1733 (2)
119. Almodóvar, Pedro - 1706 (4)
120. Sturges, John - 1699 (2)
121. Ophuls, Max - 1699 (8)
122. Visconti, Luchino - 1687 (9)
123. Flaherty, Robert - 1681 (2)
124. Minnelli, Vincente - 1678 (6)
125. Ray, Nicholas - 1675 (6)
126. Aronofsky, Darren - 1670 (2)
127. Meyer, Russ - 1661 (2)
128. Ashby, Hal - 1655 (2)
129. Riefenstahl, Leni - 1655 (2)
130. Tourneur, Jacques - 1612 (4)
131. Reiner, Rob - 1607 (4)
132. Rossellini, Roberto - 1606 (10)
133. Fassbinder, Rainer Werner - 1590 (7)
134. Walsh, Raoul - 1576 (2)
135. Greengrass, Paul - 1547 (3)
136. Kiarostami, Abbas - 1538 (7)
137. Melville, Jean-Pierre - 1522 (4)
138. Parajanov, Sergei - 1515 (2)
139. Kieslowski, Krszystof - 1496 (6)
140. Demy, Jacques - 1489 (4)
141. Pabst, G.W. - 1477 (3)
142. Stone, Oliver - 1460 (2)
143. Tarr, Béla - 1443 (2)
144. Leigh, Mike - 1398 (3)
145. Rocha, Glauber - 1389 (3)
146. von Sternberg, Josef - 1362 (6)
147. Cronenberg, David - 1359 (3)
148. Vidor, King - 1352 (5)
149. Chen Kaige - 1339 (2)
150. Ritchie, Guy - 1312 (2)
151. Zhang Yimou - 1305 (4)
152. Edwards, Blake - 1280 (2)
153. von Trier, Lars - 1274 (2)
154. Schnabel, Julian - 1271 (2)
155. Jennings, Humphrey - 1250 (2)
156. Zwigoff, Terry - 1241 (2)
157. Wellman, William A. - 1239 (2)
158. Cantet, Laurent - 1238 (2)
159. Sjöström, Victor - 1233 (2)
160. Rohmer, Eric - 1210 (3)
161. Dutt, Guru - 1208 (2)
162. Forsyth, Bill - 1181 (2)
163. Loach, Ken - 1172 (2)
164. Frears, Stephen - 1172 (3)
165. Hou Hsiao-Hsien - 1160 (5)
166. Jarmusch, Jim - 1142 (3)
167. Becker, Jacques - 1141 (2)
168. Soderbergh, Steve - 1140 (2)
169. Sembene, Ousmane - 1140 (3)
170. Ichikawa, Kon - 1139 (2)
171. Anderson, Lindsay - 1122 (2)
172. Malle, Louis - 1097 (3)
173. Kalatozishvili, Mikheil - 1093 (2)
174. Kusturica, Emir - 1092 (2)
175. Crowe, Cameron - 1070 (2)
176. Burton, Tim - 1063 (3)
177. Weir, Peter - 1043 (4)
178. Park, Nick & Box, Steve - 1025 (2)
179. Pudovkin, Vsevolod - 1013 (2)
180. Anderson, Wes - 994 (2)
181. Van Sant, Gus - 978 (2)
182. Linklater, Richard - 968 (2)
183. Varda, Agnès - 924 (2)
184. Dardenne, Jean-Pierre & Luc - 908 (2)
185. Mann, Anthony - 890 (2)
186. Maysles, Albert/David Maysles/Charlotte Zwerin - 854 (2)
187. Morris, Errol - 851 (2)
188. Ghobadi, Bahman - 810 (2)
189. Van Dyke II, W.S. - 456 (2)

Failed Westerns

This was a humor topic at Twitter, and these are the best ones - the idea is fictitious titles that didn't make it.. not real failed ones (some are posting Cat Ballou and Paint Your Wagon!) ..a more accurate title for this subject might have been "Rejected Titles"

These were the best ones to me, out of literally thousands:
Tracy Ullman's "Seven Brides for Every Brother", a polygamist musical (from her TV show, hilarious; it starred Paulie from the Sopranos, or Tracy playing Tony Sirico!)
Remember the A La Mode (this was mine)
Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Film Festival
Gunfight at the Golden Corral
Dances with a Fistful of Dollars
Bring Me the Head of Linguine Alfredo
Oklahomophobia
Pushing and Shoving at the O.K. Corral
A Fistful of Dy-no-mite (a comedy)
How the West was Fun
McCain and Mrs. Miller (photo top?)
McCabe and Dennis Miller
McCabe and Phyllis Diller
1901: A Stagecoach Odyssey
The Decidedly Average Six
My Relatively Sufficient Clementine
The Man Who Accidently Jostled Liberty Valance
Half-Past High Noon
She Wore a Yellow Cardigan
The Yodeling Contest at the O.K. Corral
The Good, the Bad, and Those Only a Mother Could Love
The Good, the Decent, and the Mildly Attractive
How the West Got Its Groove Back
The In-Law Josie Wales
Dances With the Stars
Taco Bravo
Little House in Foreclosure
Turban Cowboy ("not a western but you gotta love it anyway")
Butch Casually and Some Dunce Kid (from Mad Magazine)
Fistfight at the OK Bar and Grill
3:10 to Yuma With a Layover in Flagstaff
$3.10 to Yuma
3:10 to Yomama
Plain High Drifter (Mad mag?)
The Treasure of the Sierra Leone (The Treasure of Sergio Leone, maybe better?)
The Sons of Katie Couric
She Wore a Pabst Blue Ribbon
Tint Your Wagon (also Pimp My Wagon)
The Loan Arranger