Update: BFI has added several top-name directors top ten list to the fray. Edgar Wright, Guillermo Del Toro and Bong Joon-ho.
When it comes to excellent films and ranking them, who better to ask than some of the most highly regarded directors of all-time? Sight and Sound has created a great deal of controversy recently by leaving off such films as Casablanca and The Godfather off of their top-ten of all-time list. To add some perspective on the issue are titans of the film industry like Martin Scorsese, Woody Allen, and Francis Ford Coppola.
Edgar Wright
"2001: A Space Odyssey" (1968, Stanley Kubrick)
"An American Werewolf in London" (1981, John Landis)
"Carrie" (1976, Brian de Palma)
"Dames" (1934, Busby Berkeley)
"Don't Look Now" (1973, Nicolas Roeg)
"Duck Soup" (1933, Leo McCarey)
"Psycho" (1960, Alfred Hitchcock)
"Raising Arizona" (1987, Coen Bros.)
"Taxi Driver" (1976, Martin Scorsese)
"The Wild Bunch" (1969, Sam Peckinpah)
Guillermo Del Toro
"8½" (1963, Federico Fellini)
"La Belle et la Bete" (1946, Jean Cocteau)
"Frankenstein" (1931, James Whale)
"Freaks" (1932, Tod Browning)
"Goodfellas" (1990, Martin Scorsese)
"Greed" (1925, Erich von Stroheim)
"Los Olvidados" (1950, Luis Bunel)
"Modern Times" (1936, Charles Chaplin)
"Nosferatu" (1922, F.W. Murnau)
"Shadow of a Doubt" (1943, Alfred Hitchcock)
Andrew Dominik
"Apocalypse Now" (1979, Francis Ford Coppola)
"Badlands" (1973, Terrence Malick)
"Barry Lyndon" (1975, Stanley Kubrick)
"Blue Velvet" (1986, David Lynch)
"Marnie" (1964, Alfred Hitchcock)
"Mulholland Dr." (2003, David Lynch)
"The Night of the Hunter" (1955, Charles Laughton)
"Raging Bull" (1980, Martin Scorsese)
"Sunset Boulevard" (1950, Billy Wilder)
"The Tenant" (1976, Roman Polanski)
Bong Joon-ho
"A City of Sadness" (1989, Hsiao-bsein Hou)
"Cure" (1998, Kurosawa Kiyoshi)
"Fargo" (1995, Coen Bros.)
"The Housemaid" (1960, Kim Ki-young)
"Psycho" (1960, Alfred Hitchcock)
"Raging Bull" (1980, Martin Scorsese)
"Touch of Evil" (1958, Orson Welles)
"Vengeance Is Mine" (1979, Imamura Shohei)
"The Wages of Fear" (1953, Henri Georgers Clouzot)
"Zodiac" (2007, David Fincher)
When it comes to excellent films and ranking them, who better to ask than some of the most highly regarded directors of all-time? Sight and Sound has created a great deal of controversy recently by leaving off such films as Casablanca and The Godfather off of their top-ten of all-time list. To add some perspective on the issue are titans of the film industry like Martin Scorsese, Woody Allen, and Francis Ford Coppola.
Edgar Wright
"2001: A Space Odyssey" (1968, Stanley Kubrick)
"An American Werewolf in London" (1981, John Landis)
"Carrie" (1976, Brian de Palma)
"Dames" (1934, Busby Berkeley)
"Don't Look Now" (1973, Nicolas Roeg)
"Duck Soup" (1933, Leo McCarey)
"Psycho" (1960, Alfred Hitchcock)
"Raising Arizona" (1987, Coen Bros.)
"Taxi Driver" (1976, Martin Scorsese)
"The Wild Bunch" (1969, Sam Peckinpah)
Guillermo Del Toro
"8½" (1963, Federico Fellini)
"La Belle et la Bete" (1946, Jean Cocteau)
"Frankenstein" (1931, James Whale)
"Freaks" (1932, Tod Browning)
"Goodfellas" (1990, Martin Scorsese)
"Greed" (1925, Erich von Stroheim)
"Los Olvidados" (1950, Luis Bunel)
"Modern Times" (1936, Charles Chaplin)
"Nosferatu" (1922, F.W. Murnau)
"Shadow of a Doubt" (1943, Alfred Hitchcock)
Andrew Dominik
"Apocalypse Now" (1979, Francis Ford Coppola)
"Badlands" (1973, Terrence Malick)
"Barry Lyndon" (1975, Stanley Kubrick)
"Blue Velvet" (1986, David Lynch)
"Marnie" (1964, Alfred Hitchcock)
"Mulholland Dr." (2003, David Lynch)
"The Night of the Hunter" (1955, Charles Laughton)
"Raging Bull" (1980, Martin Scorsese)
"Sunset Boulevard" (1950, Billy Wilder)
"The Tenant" (1976, Roman Polanski)
Bong Joon-ho
"A City of Sadness" (1989, Hsiao-bsein Hou)
"Cure" (1998, Kurosawa Kiyoshi)
"Fargo" (1995, Coen Bros.)
"The Housemaid" (1960, Kim Ki-young)
"Psycho" (1960, Alfred Hitchcock)
"Raging Bull" (1980, Martin Scorsese)
"Touch of Evil" (1958, Orson Welles)
"Vengeance Is Mine" (1979, Imamura Shohei)
"The Wages of Fear" (1953, Henri Georgers Clouzot)
"Zodiac" (2007, David Fincher)
Martin Scorsese
“8 1/2″ (1963, Federico Fellini)
“2001: A Space Odyssey” (1968, Stanley Kubrick)
“Ashes And Diamonds” (1958, Andrzej Wajda)
“Citizen Kane” (1941, Orson Welles)
“The Leopard” (1963, Luchino Visconti)
“Paisan” (1946, Roberto Rossellini)
“The Red Shoes” (1948, Michael Powell and Emeric Pressburger)
“The River” (1951, Jean Renoir)
“Salvatore Giuliano” (1962, Francesco Rosi)
“The Searchers” (1956, John Ford)
“Ugetsu Monogatari” (1953, Kenji Mizoguchi)
“Vertigo” (1958, Alfred Hitchcock)
Woody Allen
“Bicycle Thieves” (1948, Vittorio De Sica)
“The Seventh Seal” (1957, Ingmar Bergman)
“Citizen Kane” (1941, Orson Welles
“Amarcord” (1973, Federico Fellini
“8 1/2″ (1963, Federico Fellini)
“The 400 Blows” (1959, Francois Truffaut)
“Rashomon” (1950, Akira Kurosawa)
“La Grande Illusion” (1937, Jean Renoir)
“The Discreet Charm Of The Bourgeoisie” (1972, Luis Bunuel)
“Paths Of Glory” (1957, Stanley Kubrick)
Francis Ford Coppola
“Ashes And Diamonds” (1958, Andrzej Wajda)
“The Best Years Of Our Lives” (1946, William Wyler)
“I Vitteloni” (1953, Federico Fellini)
“The Bad Sleep Well (1960, Akira Kurosawa)
“Yojimbo” (1961, Akira Kurosawa)
“Singin’ In The Rain (1952, Stanley Donen & Gene Kelly)
“The King Of Comedy” (1983, Martin Scorsese)
“Raging Bull” (1980, Martin Scorsese)
“The Apartment” (1960s, Billy Wilder)
“Sunrise” (1927, F.W. Murnau)
Quentin Tarantino
“The Good, The Bad & The Ugly” (1966, Sergio Leone)
“Apocalypse Now” (1979, Francis Ford Coppola)
“The Bad News Bears” (1976, Michael Ritchie)
“Carrie” (1976, Brian DePalma)
“Dazed And Confused” (1993, Richard Linklater)
“The Great Escape” (1963, John Sturges)
“His Girl Friday” (1940, Howard Hawks)
“Jaws” (1975, Steven Spielberg)
“Pretty Maids All In A Row (1971, Roger Vadim)
“Rolling Thunder” (1977, John Flynn)
“Sorcerer” (1977, William Friedkin)
“Taxi Driver” (1976, Martin Scorsese)
Michael Mann
“Apocalypse Now” (1979, Francis Ford Coppola)
“Battleship Potemkin” (1925, Sergei Eisenstein)
“Citizen Kane” (1941, Orson Welles)
“Avatar” (2009, James Cameron)
“Dr. Strangelove” (1964, Stanley Kubrick)
“Biutiful” (2010, Alejandro Gonzalez Inarritu)
“My Darling Clementine” (1946, John Ford)
“The Passion Of Joan Of Arc” (1928, Carl Theodor Dreyer)
“Raging Bull” (1980, Martin Scorsese)
“The Wild Bunch” (1969, Sam Peckinpah)