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  The 1,000 Greatest Films The Top 200 Directors  
  Current Version: January 2010  
  • The 1,000 Greatest Films Home  • The Top 400 Films  • The Full List  • The Top 200 Directors  • PDF Companion  • Links  
  The Top 400 Films: • 1-25  • 26-50   • 51-75   • 76-100  • 101-150  • 151-200  • 201-250  • 251-300  • 301-350  • 351-400  
     
     
  • Listed below are, according to our calculations, the 200 most critically acclaimed filmmakers of all-time.  
  • As per the 1,000 Greatest Films, this list has been compiled from a large resource of film lists. Additionally, also factored in are some 'Best Director' polls, as per those listed at the bottom of this page  
  • Alongside each director's name is the position each director held in December 2008's version of the Top 100 Directors.  
  • To qualify for this top 200, each director needs to have a minimum of  two films cited in ballots/lists that we have collated.  
  • Please note that the number of films cited includes those films in the 1,000 Greatest.  
     
 

1

Orson Welles (1)  9 films in the 1,000 Greatest | 15 films cited  

2

Alfred Hitchcock (2) 13 films in the 1,000 Greatest | 38 films cited

3

Federico Fellini (3) 12 films in the 1,000 Greatest  | 19 films cited  

4

Stanley Kubrick (5)  11 films in the 1,000 Greatest  | 13 films cited

5

John Ford (4) 17 films in the 1,000 Greatest  | 37 films cited  

6

Jean Renoir (6) 11 films in the 1,000 Greatest  | 25 films cited

7

Akira Kurosawa (7) 11 films in the 1,000 Greatest  | 23 films cited  

8

Ingmar Bergman (8) 13 films in the 1,000 Greatest  | 28 films cited

9

Francis Ford Coppola (9) 5 films in the 1,000 Greatest | 14 films cited  

10

Jean-Luc Godard (10) 14 films in the 1,000 Greatest  | 39 films cited
11

Charles Chaplin (11) 10 films in the 1,000 Greatest  | 22 films cited   12 Billy Wilder (12) 8 films in the 1,000 Greatest  | 23 films cited
13 Luis Buρuel (13) 15 films in the 1,000 Greatest  | 23 films cited   14 Martin Scorsese (14) 9 films in the 1,000 Greatest  | 24 films cited | See also The 21st Century's Top 50 Directors
15 Howard Hawks (15) 11 films in the 1,000 Greatest  | 28 films cited   16 Carl Dreyer (16) 5 films in the 1,000 Greatest  | 9 films cited
17 Sergei Eisenstein (17) 7 films in the 1,000 Greatest  | 9 films cited   18  F.W. Murnau (18) 6 films in the 1,000 Greatest  | 8 films cited
19 Yasujiro Ozu (19) 7 films in the 1,000 Greatest  | 22 films cited   20 Robert Bresson (20) 8 films in the 1,000 Greatest  | 13 films cited
21 Andrei Tarkovsky (22)  7 films in the 1,000 Greatest  | 7 films cited   22 Fritz Lang (21) 16 films in the 1,000 Greatest  | 32 films cited
23 David Lean (25)  5 films in the 1,000 Greatest  | 14 films cited   24 Franηois Truffaut (23) 7 films in the 1,000 Greatest  | 21 films cited
25 Kenji Mizoguchi (24) 8 films in the 1,000 Greatest  | 19 films cited   26 Buster Keaton (26) 7 films in the 1,000 Greatest  | 14 films cited
27 Michelangelo Antonioni (27) 6 films in the 1,000 Greatest  | 14 films cited   28 Steven Spielberg (30)  8 films in the 1,000 Greatest  | 20 films cited | See also The 21st Century's Top 50 Directors
29 Roberto Rossellini (28) 8 films in the 1,000 Greatest  | 20 films cited   30 D.W. Griffith (29) 5 films in the 1,000 Greatest  | 26 films cited
31 Luchino Visconti (33)  8 films in the 1,000 Greatest  | 14 films cited   32 Vittorio De Sica (32) 4 films in the 1,000 Greatest  | 10 films cited
33 Ernst Lubitsch (34)  7 films in the 1,000 Greatest  | 27 films cited   34 Max Ophόls (31) 7 films in the 1,000 Greatest  | 13 films cited
35 Woody Allen (37)  9 films in the 1,000 Greatest  | 25 films cited   36 Satyajit Ray (35) 6 films in the 1,000 Greatest  | 16 films cited
37 John Huston (36) 8 films in the 1,000 Greatest  | 28 films cited   38 Stanley Donen Stanley Donen & Gene Kelly (38) 2 films in the 1,000 Greatest  | 3 films cited
39 Robert Altman (41)  8 films in the 1,000 Greatest  | 25 films cited   40 Jean Vigo (39) 2 films in the 1,000 Greatest  | 3 films cited
41 Roman Polanski (40) 4 films in the 1,000 Greatest  | 16 films cited   42 Michael Powell Michael Powell & Emeric Pressburger (42) 6 films in the 1,000 Greatest  | 12 films cited | See also #89 entry for Michael Powell
43 Sergio Leone (46)  3 films in the 1,000 Greatest  | 6 films cited   44 Frank Capra (43) 4 films in the 1,000 Greatest  | 20 films cited
45 Alain Resnais (45) 6 films in the 1,000 Greatest  | 19 films cited   46 Michael Curtiz (44) 2 films in the 1,000 Greatest  | 24 films cited
47 Preston Sturges (49)  5 films in the 1,000 Greatest  | 9 films cited   48 Sam Peckinpah (48) 6 films in the 1,000 Greatest  | 11 films cited
49 Ridley Scott (52)  3 films in the 1,000 Greatest  | 8 films cited   50 Bernardo Bertolucci (50) 5 films in the 1,000 Greatest  | 14 films cited
51 Victor Fleming (47) 2 films in the 1,000 Greatest  | 11 films cited   52 John Cassavetes (53)  7 films in the 1,000 Greatest  | 10 films cited
53 Marcel Carnι (54)  3 films in the 1,000 Greatest  | 8 films cited   54 David Lynch (62)  7 films in the 1,000 Greatest  | 11 films cited | See also The 21st Century's Top 50 Directors
55 Carol Reed (51) 3 films in the 1,000 Greatest  | 11 films cited   56 Werner Herzog (61)  3 films in the 1,000 Greatest  | 18 films cited | See also The 21st Century's Top 50 Directors
57 George Cukor (56) 5 films in the 1,000 Greatest  | 28 films cited   58 Erich von Stroheim (55) 4 films in the 1,000 Greatest  | 5 films cited
59 Vincente Minnelli (59) 6 films in the 1,000 Greatest  | 22 films cited   60 Leo McCarey (58) 5 films in the 1,000 Greatest  | 15 films cited
61 Jacques Tati (63)  4 films in the 1,000 Greatest  | 7 films cited   62 Elia Kazan (67)  6 films in the 1,000 Greatest  | 15 films cited
63 Rainer Werner Fassbinder (57) 6 films in the 1,000 Greatest  | 22 films cited   64 Josef von Sternberg (64) 8 films in the 1,000 Greatest  | 17 films cited
65 Nicholas Ray (65) 6 films in the 1,000 Greatest  | 16 films cited   66 Douglas Sirk (60) 6 films in the 1,000 Greatest  | 13 films cited
67 Pier Paolo Pasolini (66) 4 films in the 1,000 Greatest  | 13 films cited   68 Joseph L. Mankiewicz (68) 4 films in the 1,000 Greatest  | 15 films cited
69 Krzysztof Kieslowski (69) 6 films in the 1,000 Greatest  | 10 films cited   70 Abbas Kiarostami (71)  6 films in the 1,000 Greatest  | 14 films cited
71 Terrence Malick (72)  3 films in the 1,000 Greatest  | 4 films cited   72 William Wyler (70) 4 films in the 1,000 Greatest  | 24 films cited
73 Joel Coen Joel Coen & Ethan Coen (83)  6 films in the 1,000 Greatest  | 11 films cited | See also The 21st Century's Top 50 Directors   74 Wong Kar-Wai (80)  4 films in the 1,000 Greatest  | 8 films cited | See also The 21st Century's Top 50 Directors
75 Chris Marker (78)  2 films in the 1,000 Greatest  | 8 films cited   76 Jacques Tourneur (74) 4 films in the 1,000 Greatest  | 15 films cited
77 Milos Forman (75) 4 films in the 1,000 Greatest  | 10 films cited   78 King Vidor (73) 6 films in the 1,000 Greatest  | 22 films cited
79 Quentin Tarantino (81)  3 films in the 1,000 Greatest  | 7 films cited | See also The 21st Century's Top 50 Directors   80 Wim Wenders (76) 4 films in the 1,000 Greatest  | 15 films cited
81 Eric Rohmer (79) 7 films in the 1,000 Greatest  | 21 films cited   82 Jacques Rivette (77) 4 films in the 1,000 Greatest  | 17 films cited
83 Clint Eastwood (86)  4 films in the 1,000 Greatest  | 22 films cited | See also The 21st Century's Top 50 Directors   84 David Cronenberg (82) 4 films in the 1,000 Greatest  | 16 films cited | See also The 21st Century's Top 50 Directors
85 Hou Hsiao-Hsien (85) 4 films in the 1,000 Greatest  | 14 films cited | See also The 21st Century's Top 50 Directors   86 Jean-Pierre Melville (87)  6 films in the 1,000 Greatest  | 10 films cited
87 Jean Cocteau (84) 3 films in the 1,000 Greatest  | 6 films cited   88 Nicolas Roeg (88) 3 films in the 1,000 Greatest  | 8 films cited
89 Michael Powell Michael Powell (--)   1 film in the 1,000 Greatest  | 3 films cited | See also #42 entry for Michael Powell and Emeric Pressburger   90 James Cameron (96)  3 films in the 1,000 Greatest  | 8 films cited
91 George Lucas (95)  2 films in the 1,000 Greatest  | 6 films cited   92 Sidney Lumet (91) 4 films in the 1,000 Greatest  | 22 films cited
93 Brian De Palma (92) 3 films in the 1,000 Greatest  | 18 films cited   94 Jacques Demy (93) 4 films in the 1,000 Greatest  | 7 films cited
95 George A. Romero (--)  2 films in the 1,000 Greatest  | 8 films cited   96 Raoul Walsh (94) 4 films in the 1,000 Greatest  | 31 films cited
97 Otto Preminger (98)  2 films in the 1,000 Greatest  | 24 films cited   98 Gillo Pontecorvo (--)  1 film in the 1,000 Greatest  | 2 films cited
99 Alexander Dovzhenko (90) 2 films in the 1,000 Greatest  | 7 films cited   100 Renι Clair (--)  4 films in the 1,000 Greatest  | 17 films cited
101 Robert Flaherty (89) 3 films in the 1,000 Greatest  | 4 films cited   102 Abel Gance 1 film in the 1,000 Greatest  | 10 films cited
103 Dziga Vertov 1 film in the 1,000 Greatest  | 4 films cited   104 Andrzej Wajda (97) 2 films in the 1,000 Greatest  | 12 films cited
105 Chantal Akerman (99) 2 films in the 1,000 Greatest  | 12 films cited   106 James Whale 2 films in the 1,000 Greatest  | 7 films cited
107 Samuel Fuller 3 films in the 1,000 Greatest  | 18 films cited   108 Henri-Georges Clouzot 3 films in the 1,000 Greatest  | 8 films cited
109 George Stevens (100) 2 films in the 1,000 Greatest  | 15 films cited   110 Arthur Penn 2 films in the 1,000 Greatest  | 10 films cited
111 Theo Angelopoulos 2 films in the 1,000 Greatest  | 11 films cited   112 Spike Lee 1 film in the 1,000 Greatest  | 9 films cited
113 Peter Weir 5 films in the 1,000 Greatest  | 12 films cited   114 Hal Ashby 3 films in the 1,000 Greatest  | 9 films cited
115 William Friedkin 2 films in the 1,000 Greatest  | 7 films cited   116 Alexander Mackendrick 2 films in the 1,000 Greatest  | 7 films cited
117 Anthony Mann 5 films in the 1,000 Greatest  | 17 films cited   118 Terry Gilliam 1 film in the 1,000 Greatest  | 6 films cited
119 Stan Brakhage 3 films in the 1,000 Greatest  | 25 films cited   120 Jane Campion 1 film in the 1,000 Greatest  | 8 films cited
121 Merian C. Cooper & Ernest B. Schoedsack 1 film in the 1,000 Greatest  | 2 films cited   122 Glauber Rocha 3 films in the 1,000 Greatest  | 5 films cited
123 G.W. Pabst 4 films in the 1,000 Greatest  | 9 films cited   124 Lars von Trier 1 film in the 1,000 Greatest  | 8 films cited | See also The 21st Century's Top 50 Directors
125 Robert Aldrich 1 film in the 1,000 Greatest  | 18 films cited   126 Pedro Almodσvar 3 films in the 1,000 Greatest  | 13 films cited | See also The 21st Century's Top 50 Directors
127 Hayao Miyazaki 2 films in the 1,000 Greatest  | 8 films cited | See also The 21st Century's Top 50 Directors   128 Jim Jarmusch 3 films in the 1,000 Greatest  | 8 films cited
129 John Carpenter 2 films in the 1,000 Greatest  | 12 films cited   130 Don Siegel 2 films in the 1,000 Greatest  | 16 films cited
131 Tod Browning 3 films in the 1,000 Greatest  | 7 films cited   132 John Boorman 3 films in the 1,000 Greatest  | 12 films cited
133 Mikio Naruse 1 film in the 1,000 Greatest  | 13 films cited   134 Victor Erice 2 films in the 1,000 Greatest  | 4 films cited
135 Edward Yang 2 films in the 1,000 Greatest  | 6 films cited | See also The 21st Century's Top 50 Directors   136 Michael Snow 2 films in the 1,000 Greatest  | 6 films cited
137 Paul Thomas Anderson 4 films in the 1,000 Greatest  | 5 films cited | See also The 21st Century's Top 50 Directors   138 Fred Zinnemann 2 films in the 1,000 Greatest  | 12 films cited
139 Jean Eustache 1 film in the 1,000 Greatest  | 2 films cited   140 Michael Cimino 2 films in the 1,000 Greatest  | 4 films cited
141 Mike Nichols 1 film in the 1,000 Greatest  | 11 films cited   142 Ken Loach 1 film in the 1,000 Greatest  | 14 films cited
143 Oliver Stone 1 film in the 1,000 Greatest  | 11 films cited   144 Mike Leigh 1 film in the 1,000 Greatest  | 13 films cited | See also The 21st Century's Top 50 Directors
145 Zhang Yimou 4 films in the 1,000 Greatest  | 10 films cited   146 Robert Wise 2 films in the 1,000 Greatest  | 13 films cited
147 Blake Edwards 2 films in the 1,000 Greatest  | 17 films cited   148 Nagisa Oshima 2 films in the 1,000 Greatest  | 8 films cited
149 Ritwik Ghatak 2 films in the 1,000 Greatest  | 7 films cited   150 Robert Wiene 1 film in the 1,000 Greatest  | 3 films cited
151 Claude Lanzmann 1 film in the 1,000 Greatest  | 3 films cited   152 Rob Reiner 2 films in the 1,000 Greatest  | 8 films cited
153 Bob Fosse 2 films in the 1,000 Greatest  | 5 films cited   154 Peter Bogdanovich 1 film in the 1,000 Greatest  | 9 films cited
155 Michael Mann 1 film in the 1,000 Greatest  | 9 films cited   156 Sam Wood 1 film in the 1,000 Greatest  | 7 films cited
157 Tim Burton 2 films in the 1,000 Greatest  | 12 films cited   158 Bιla Tarr 1 film in the 1,000 Greatest  | 4 films cited
159 Sydney Pollack 2 films in the 1,000 Greatest  | 9 films cited   160 Louis Malle 2 films in the 1,000 Greatest  | 15 films cited
161 Frank Borzage 1 film in the 1,000 Greatest  | 19 films cited   162 Robert Zemeckis 3 films in the 1,000 Greatest  | 13 films cited
163 Francesco Rosi 1 film in the 1,000 Greatest  | 9 films cited   164 Leni Riefenstahl 2 films in the 1,000 Greatest  | 3 films cited
165 Victor Sjφstrφm 2 films in the 1,000 Greatest  | 6 films cited   166 David Hand 2 films in the 1,000 Greatest  | 2 films cited
167 Ermanno Olmi 2 films in the 1,000 Greatest  | 10 films cited   168 Georges Franju 2 films in the 1,000 Greatest  | 6 films cited
169 Ben Sharpsteen 2 films in the 1,000 Greatest  | 3 films cited   170 Andy Warhol 1 film in the 1,000 Greatest  | 16 films cited
171 Robert Mulligan 1 film in the 1,000 Greatest  | 7 films cited   172 Joseph Losey 1 film in the 1,000 Greatest  | 16 films cited
173 John Schlesinger 1 film in the 1,000 Greatest  | 11 films cited   174 Ousmane Sembene 2 films in the 1,000 Greatest  | 7 films cited
175 John Woo 1 film in the 1,000 Greatest  | 7 films cited   176 Manoel de Oliveira 1 film in the 1,000 Greatest  | 17 films cited
177 Agnθs Varda 3 films in the 1,000 Greatest  | 8 films cited   178 Charles Burnett 1 film in the 1,000 Greatest  | 5 films cited
179 Kenneth Anger 1 film in the 1,000 Greatest  | 9 films cited   180 Luis Garcνa Berlanga 3 films in the 1,000 Greatest  | 5 films cited
181 Edgar G. Ulmer 1 film in the 1,000 Greatest  | 6 films cited   182 Claude Chabrol 1 film in the 1,000 Greatest  | 20 films cited
183 Peter Jackson 3 films in the 1,000 Greatest  | 8 films cited | See also The 21st Century's Top 50 Directors   184 Robert Hamer 1 film in the 1,000 Greatest  | 3 films cited
185 Emir Kusturica 2 films in the 1,000 Greatest  | 6 films cited   186 Jacques Becker 2 films in the 1,000 Greatest  | 8 films cited
187 George Roy Hill 2 films in the 1,000 Greatest  | 8 films cited   188 Mel Brooks 2 films in the 1,000 Greatest  | 7 films cited
189 Paul Verhoeven 2 films in the 1,000 Greatest  | 10 films cited   190 Sergei Parajanov 2 films in the 1,000 Greatest  | 5 films cited
191 Claire Denis 1 film in the 1,000 Greatest  | 11 films cited | See also The 21st Century's Top 50 Directors   192 Tobe Hooper 1 film in the 1,000 Greatest  | 4 films cited
193 Richard Linklater 1 film in the 1,000 Greatest  | 9 films cited | See also The 21st Century's Top 50 Directors   194 Dario Argento 1 film in the 1,000 Greatest  | 8 films cited
195 Alan J. Pakula 1 film in the 1,000 Greatest  | 6 films cited   196 William Wellman 1 film in the 1,000 Greatest  | 24 films cited
197 Shohei Imamura 1 film in the 1,000 Greatest  | 11 films cited   198 Louis Feuillade 1 film in the 1,000 Greatest  | 7 films cited
199 Humphrey Jennings 3 films in the 1,000 Greatest  | 3 films cited   200 Cecil B. DeMille 1 film in the 1,000 Greatest  | 20 films cited
             
 
 
 
 
         
More Director Listings
• Le Mot du Cinephiliaque's 25 Most Influential Directors of All-Time.
• Sight & Sound's The Wild Bunch... 50 of the Movies' Maddest Visionaries.
• Total Film's The Greatest Directors Ever (2007)
• Are we useful? They could be contenders. The Globe and Mail (2007).
• Telegraph's Top 21 British Directors of All Time (2007).
• Reel.com's Greatest Directors feature.
• Gerald Peary's Magnificent Seven (2006).
• The Cinematheque's ongoing Directors Poll.
• Entertainment Weekly's Top 50 Directors (1996). It comes courtesy of Jack Ferdman's The Best of Movies website and is a much better list than any one could have possibly predicted from EW.
• Film critic Jeffrey M. Anderson (San Francisco Examiner, Las Vegas Weekly) lists his "50 Greatest Directors and their 100 Greatest Films" at his website Combustible Celluloid.
• A Survey of Cinema's Top Directors: Scanning the past and looking to the future (2005 poll by The Film Journal).
• Under the Influence: MovieMaker blue-chip panel names the 25 Most Influential Directors of All Time (2002 poll). And, how about The Religious Affiliation of the 25 Most Influential Film Directors of all time!!!
• Cut and Print: The 40 best directors (2004 poll by The Guardian of the best 'active' filmmakers).
• Film Critic Fred Camper lists his Favorite Filmmakers.
• Bill Mousoulis, independent Australian filmmaker and founding editor of Senses of Cinema, offers up his list of the Top 50 directors of all-time.
• MSNBC's Top 10 American Directors.
• Strange Horizons' Ten Best Science Fiction Film Directors.
 
 
     
  • The 1,000 Greatest Films Home  • The Top 400 Films  • The Full List  • The Top 200 Directors  • PDF Companion  • Links  
  The Top 400 Films: • 1-25  • 26-50   • 51-75   • 76-100  • 101-150  • 151-200  • 201-250  • 251-300  • 301-350  • 351-400  
     

 

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Last updated: 02/08/2010 02:24 PM.  Contact Us: bill@theyshootpictures.com.
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