Skip to main content

Directors Pick The Greatest Films Ever

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
"" (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)

Popular posts from this blog

The Best of the Decade

Over the last ten years, the cinema has given us a great deal to be thankful for: a rebirth of the Batman franchise, a series of examinations of what it means to live in this particular decade, and a mass of character studies whether they be animated or popcorn thrillers. As much as I have enjoyed the offerings, a list must be culled together for the end of the year. Except this year is different, this year ten films must be selected from hundreds. Below are some of the best of the aughts. Enjoy! 10) There Will Be Blood Paul Thomas Anderson's magnum opus, a scathing look at extremism in America and the evils of greed and profiteering from religion. It also features the best performance of the decade with Daniel Day-Lewis as oil-man Daniel Plainview. 9)  Up A beautiful tale that entrances all ages,  Up managed to captivate children and tell a tale that adults cherish as well. 8) The Dark Knight Maybe just a comic book film, but it is the best comic book film

Paprika vs. Inception

Months before Inception hit the theaters forums were alive with rumors that Christopher Nolan either accidentally or intentionally stole some details from another film, the Japanese anime Paprika. The biggest point of comparison for some bloggers and forum runners was the fact that both of the films featured a device that allowed a person, or people, to travel into another’s dreams and delve into their subconscious. Minor points of comparison include scenes in Paprika where the character Paprika breaks through a mirrored wall by holding her hand to it, as well as a scene where a police detective falls his way down a hallway. Claims have been made that Inception abounds with imagery similar to or exactly like the anime movie, but with the recent release of the film on DVD and Blu-Ray, and with Paprika available for several years now, an examination of the two plots can be made more fully. Let us begin with the primary claim— Inception stole the idea of a dream

Armond White's Top Ten Films on Flickchart

Armond White is film criticism’s most famous contrarian. At one moment he writes  a review declaring  Toy Story 3  to be the most obscene excuse for toy commercials  he has ever watched, and then two weeks later types out  a glowing review of  Resident Evil: Afterlife . He is of split-mind for sure. But what does his Flickchart look like? Read the rest at Flickchart !