The 100 Best Directors of All Time: 100-81

Submitted by 1922 on Sun, 01/15/2006 - 13:27
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  • This will be a list of the 100 best directors of all time based on critical acclaim. But before starting with the actual list (in blocks, with 10 directors each), I first show you some notable directors that didn't make it.
  • Marcel Carné on #146
  • John Carpenter on #164
  • Jean Cocteau on #158
  • Michael Curtiz on #102
  • Jean Eustache on #114
  • Victor Fleming on #155
  • John Frankenheimer on #134
  • Jim Jarmusch on #153
  • Joseph Losey unranked
  • Joseph L. Mankiewict on #177
  • Jean-Pierre Melville on #197
  • Laurence Olivier on #122
  • Otto Preminger on #104
  • George A. Romero on #184
  • Don Siegel on #127
  • George Stevens on #109
  • Agnès Varda on #156

  • 100. Lars von Trier (* 1956)

  • Short Description: Danish director, closely associated with Dogma 95. In general, his movies are far away from artificial minimalism. On the contrary, he prefers a return to plausible stories in filmmaking. He also discovered Emily Watson.
  • Best Film: The Kingdom (1994)
  • Other Films: Breaking the Waves (1996), The Idiots (1998), Dancer in the Dark (2000), Dogville (2003)

  • 99. Robert Aldrich (1918-1983)

  • Short Description: US-American director, writer and producer, best known for his numerous contributions during the 60s.
  • Best Film: What Ever Happened to Baby Jane? (1962)
  • Other Films: Kiss Me Deadly (1955), Hush Hush Sweet Charlotte (1964), The Flight of the Phoenix (1965), The Dirty Dozen (1967)

  • 98. Frank Borzage (1893-1962)

  • Short Description: US-American film director of Italian origin, notable for his mystical romanticism. Winner of 2 Academy Awards for Best Direction.
  • Best Film: The Mortal Storm (1940)
  • Other Films: Seventh Heaven (1927), A Farewell to Arms (1932), Desire (1936), Three Comrades (1938)

  • 97. Jonathan Demme (* 1944)

  • Short Description: US-American movie director who gained international credit for his masterful thriller The Silence of the Lambs for which he also won the Oscar for Best Direction. Thanks to him Jodie Foster, Anthony Hopkins and Mary Steenburgen won Oscars too.
  • Best Film: The Silence of the Lambs (1991)
  • Other Films: Melvin and Howard (1980), Stop Making Sense (1984), Philadelphia (1994), The Agronomist (2003)

  • 96. Fred Zinnemann (1907-1997)

  • Short Description: US-American director of Austrian origin. With High Noon, From here to Eternity and A Man for All Seasons, he advanced to one of the most important Hollywood-directors during the 50s and 60s. Gary Cooper, Frank Sinatra, Deborah Kerr and Jason Robards due each an Oscar to him. He won 4 Academy Awards himself.
  • Best Film: High Noon (1952)
  • Other Films: From here to Eternity (1953), Oklahoma! (1955), A Man for All Seasons (1966), Julia (1977)

  • 95. Jean Vigo (1905-1934)

  • Short Description: French director whose career only spanned 4 years and 4 movies due to his early death in 1934. His last work, L'Atalante, remains to date one of the most acclaimed movies of French cinema.
  • Best Film: L'Atalante (1934)
  • Also: Zéro de conduite (1933)

  • 94. Cecil B. DeMille (1881-1959)

  • Short Description: If Peter Jackson, George Lucas and James Cameron are today's masters of the "big stuff", DeMille made himself a name with superproductions from the early 20s onwards till the late 50s. The Greatest Show on Earth won a contested Oscar for Best Picture in 1952 over Zinnemann's High Noon. The honorary award at the Golden Globes is still named after him.
  • Best Film: The Ten Commandments (1956)
  • Other Films: The Ten Commandments (1923), King of Kings (1927), Cleopatra (1934), The Greatest Show on Earth (1952)

  • 93. Chantal Akerman (* 1950)

  • Short Description: Belgian director, notable for her Jeanne Dielman, 23 Quai du Commerce, 1080 Bruxelles and many other movies during the 80s and 90s. Her recent work has disappointed most critics though.
  • Best Film: Jeanne Dielman, 23 Quai du Commerce, 1080 Bruxelles (1976)
  • Other Films: Je, tu, il, elle (1974), Toute une nuit (1982), Golden Eighties (1986), Nuit et jour (1991)

  • 92. Jerry Lewis (* 1926)

  • Short Description: When stupid films meet critical acclaim, then Jerry Lewis has been behind and in front of the camera.
  • Best Film: The Nutty Professor (1963)
  • Other Films: The Bellboy (1960), The Ladies Man (1961), The Family Jewels (1965), Three on a Couch (1966)

  • 91. Mike Nichols (* 1931)

  • Short Description: The first (in this list) of many directors of the New Hollywood-Generation. His eponymous adaptation of Edward Albee's Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf? and film debut won Oscars for Elizabeth Taylor and Sandy Dennis and The Graduate an Academy Award for him as Best Director.
  • Best Film: The Graduate (1967)
  • Other Films: Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf? (1966), Catch-22 (1970), Silkwood (1983), Closer (2004)

  • 90. Claude Chabrol (* 1930)

  • Short Description: One of the most famous and prolific French directors of the last 40 years, and in the meantime a cult figure of European cinema.
  • Best Film: Le boucher (1970)
  • Other Films: Le beau Serge (1958), Juste avant la nuit (1971), Une affaire de femmes (1988), La cérémonie (1995)

  • 89. Robert Zemeckis (* 1952)

  • Short Description: With films like Back to the Future, Cast Away and Forrest Gump, Zemeckis regularly attracts a large audience to the theatres. Oscar for Forrest Gump which also earned Tom Hanks an Academy Award.
  • Best Film: Forrest Gumpp (1994)
  • Other Films: Romancing the Stone (1984), Back to the Future (1985), Who Framed Roger Rabbit (1988), Cast Away (2000)

  • 88. Luchino Visconti (1906-1976)

  • Short Description: Along with De Sica and Rossellini, one of the three major filmmakers of the Italian neorealism. Over the years and especially during the 60s and early 70s he took his distances with that movement and concentrated on personally coloured literary adaptations such as Il Gattopardo or Morte a Venezia.
  • Best Film: Il Gattopardo (1963)
  • Other Films: Ossessione (1943), La Terra Trema (1948), Rocco e i suoi fratelli (1961), Morte a Venezia (1971)

  • 87. James Cameron (* 1954)

  • Short Description: Contested, but one of the most influencing and commercially successful directors for great entertainment of the past two decades. Got a Best Direction-Oscar in 1998 for Titanic.
  • Best Film: Aliens (1986)
  • Other Films: The Terminator (1984), Terminator 2: Judgment Day (1991), True Lies (1994), Titanic (1997)

  • 86. Emeric Pressburger (1902-1988)

  • Short Description: One part of the famous direction-duo Powell-Pressburger, but probably less known than his colleague. Was of Austrian descent.
  • Best Film: A Matter of Life and Death (1946)
  • Other Films: The Life and Death of Colonel Blimp (1943), A Canterbury Tale (1944), Black Narcissus (1947), The Red Shoes (1948)

  • 85. Pier Paolo Pasolini (1922-1975)

  • Short Description: Probably the most controversial filmmaker in history, Pasolini was killed in 1975 in Rome. His last work, the adaptation of Marquis de Sade's Il centoventi giornate di Sodoma remains one of the most discussed movies.
  • Best Film: Salò o le centoventi giornate di Sodoma (1976)
  • Other Films: Accattone (1961), Il vangelo secondo Matteo (1964), Teorema (1967), Medea (1969)

  • 84. Alain Resnais (* 1922)

  • Short Description: Often considered one of the most intellectual directors (whatever that means), some of his movies are among the critically most acclaimed works in film history.
  • Best Film: L'année dernière à Marienbad (1961)
  • Other Films: Nuit et brouillard (1955), Hiroshima mon amour (1959), Mon oncle d'Amérique (1980), On connaît la chanson (1997)

  • 83. Douglas Sirk (1897-1987)

  • Short Description: Born Detlev Sierck in Germany, he became one of the pivotal filmmakers of the US-cinema during the 50s, especially with his often melodramatic flicks.
  • Best Film: All That Heaven Allows (1955)
  • Other Films: Magnificent Obsession (1954), Written on the Wind (1956), The Tarnished Angels (1958), Imitation of Life (1959)

  • 82. Wong Kar-Wai (* 1959)

  • Short Description: Asian cinema is conquering the world, and right in the middle of it is Chinese-born director Wong Kar-Wai who gets over the years more and more recognition from both, critics and public. The German film press entitled his sytle MTV-style.
  • Best Film: In the Mood for Love (2000)
  • Other Films: Chungking Express (1994), Fallen Angels (1995), Happy Together (1997), 2046 (2004)

  • 81. Michael Mann (* 1943)

  • Short Description: Author of some of the best films of last twenty years, Michael Mann has worked with some great Hollywood stars such as Al Pacino, Robert De Niro, Jon Voight or Daniel Day-Lewis. Furthermore he lead Jamie Foxx and Will Smith to an Oscar-nomination. He is also the man who has made the best and at the same time most underrated Hannibal Lecter-film: Manhunter.
  • Best Film: Heat (1995)
  • Other Films: Manhunter (1986), The Last of the Mohicans (1992), The Insider (1999), Collateral (2004)
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Sources: wikipedia, sensesofcinema, imdb