Best Directors List

(For optimum viewing, adjust the zoom level of your browser to 125%.)

1. Steven Spielberg

Masterpiece: Jaws (1975), Close Encounters of the Third Kind (1977), Raiders of the Lost Ark (1981), The Color Purple (1985), Empire of the Sun (1987), Schindler's List (1993), and Saving Private Ryan (1998)
Outstanding: Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom (1984) and Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade (1989)
Honorable: Poltergeist (1982)
Opinion: The best all-around director, Steven Spielberg has made at least one masterpiece in every genre possible. No one else has ever come close to his prolific output of greatness in various genres for decades. Many times, his movies are perfectly suitable for people of all ages. Notice that I've listed Poltergeist although Tobe Hooper is given the official credit, but it's Steven Spielberg who actually directed it.

2. Sidney Lumet

Masterpiece: 12 Angry Men (1957), Dog Day Afternoon (1975), Network (1976), Equus (1977), Prince of the City (1981), and Q&A (1990)
Outstanding: Serpico (1973), Deathtrap (1982), The Verdict (1982), and Running on Empty (1988)
Honorable: Murder on the Orient Express (1974), Power (1986), and Night Falls in Manhattan (1996)
Opinion: A big believer in quality, Sidney Lumet was an actor's director, getting the best peformances out of everybody who tended to be trained through The Method. As a result, he made compelling dramas with tons of character development. His pictures were often realistic, true, and honest with great writing. He was the best when it came to turning a play into a film, a difficult feat for most directors.

3. Alfred Hitchcock

Masterpiece: The 39 Steps (1935), Vertigo (1958), and Psycho (1960)
Outstanding: The Lady Vanishes (1938), Rebecca (1940), and To Catch a Thief (1955)
Honorable: Lifeboat (1944), Rear Window (1954), and Family Plot (1976)
Opinion: Overshadowing the stars in his movies even by a mere silhouette, Alfred Hitchcock is the most famous director ever lived whose quick cameos were a must-see. Formulaic or not, he created technically brilliant suspense thrillers. After having been written off for a bit while, Hitchcock managed to shock everybody by making a splashy comeback with Psycho that changed the game. If there's a drawback, it's that he almost never cast black thespians in important roles.

4. Oliver Stone

Masterpiece: Salvador (1986), Platoon (1986), Wall Street (1987), Born on the Fourth of July (1989), and JFK (1991)
Outstanding: The Doors (1991) and Natural Born Killers (1994)
Honorable: The Hand (1981)
Opinion: There are three versions: the truth, fiction, and Oliver Stone. High in realism and armed with terrific writing, many of his movies have been controversial, but they are always entertaining to watch. Oliver Stone consistently gets great ensemble casts that turn in outstanding performances. Never one to stay formulaic, he tends to change it up in style, especially in editing.

5. Clint Eastwood

Masterpiece: Play Misty for Me (1971), Bronco Billy (1980), Unforgiven (1992), and Million Dollar Baby (2004)
Outstanding: Breezy (1973) and Sudden Impact (1983)
Honorable: The Gauntlet (1977), Bird (1988), and A Perfect World (1993)
Opinion: Having learned a great deal of the directorial craft from Don Siegel, Clint Eastwood was long ignored by critics until he finally got everybody's attention through Unforgiven. Since then, his body of work has been re-evaluated, prompting all to say, "Yes, he's an outstanding director," but I knew that already. His pictures have always been honest, original, straightforward, and, most of all, entertaining.

6. John Frankenheimer

Masterpiece: Birdman of Alcatraz (1962), The Manchurian Candidate (1962), and The Train (1964)
Outstanding: French Connection II (1975), Black Sunday (1977), Andersonville (1996), and Path to War (2002)
Honorable: Dead-Bang (1989) and Ronin (1998)
Opinion: There are legendary directors, and John Frankheimer was one of them. Political thrillers and exciting Burt Lancaster pictures were his forte, and he knew how to tell a coherent story, no matter how complicated the subject matter was. His stuff has always been absorbing to watch, making it hard to stop the show at any point from start to finish. John Frankheimer was also an excellent TV director, specializing in famous people and places.

7. Martin Scorsese

Masterpiece: Taxi Driver (1976), Raging Bull (1980), and Goodfellas (1990)
Outstanding: The Color of Money (1986) and Cape Fear (1991)
Honorable: The King of Comedy (1982) and After Hours (1985)
Opinion: Martin Scorsese and Robert De Niro will always be intertwined in movie history. That's for a good reason: they made unforgettable classics which were often gritty, realistic, and brutal. He also liked to show off compelling sociopathic characters such as Travis Bickle in Taxi Driver, Jake LaMotta in Raging Bull, and Rupert Pupkin in The King of Comedy. The Color of Money remains Scorsese's most underrated work.

8. Stanley Kubrick

Masterpiece: The Killing (1956), Paths of Glory (1957), 2001: A Space Odyssey (1968), and Barry Lyndon (1975)
Outstanding: None
Honorable: Spartacus (1960)
Opinion: Technical, cold, and austere, Stanley Kubrick made beautiful films that defied belief. Once you've seen a Kubrick picture, you can spot it again, and they are unique. Infamous for requiring dozens of takes, Stanley Kubrick believed in "enigmas and allegories" and hence wasn't interested in making films that spelled everything out clearly such as 2001: A Space Odyssey and Barry Lyndon.

9. Michael Mann

Masterpiece: The Jericho Mile (1979), Manhunter (1986), and The Last of the Mohicans (1992)
Outstanding: Thief (1981) and Heat (1995)
Honorable: None
Opinion: Specializing in criminals, Michael Mann is a visonary genius. His films are meticulously crafted, allowing the thespians to be deep characters with minimal background story. He's also famous for revolutioning the look of TV in the 80's through Miami Vice by taking advantage of the location shots, pastel colors, and Armani clothes.

10. John Huston

Masterpiece: The Maltese Falcon (1941) and The Man Who Would Be King (1975)
Outstanding: The Asphalt Jungle (1950), Heaven Knows, Mr. Allison (1957), and Victory (1981)
Honorable: Key Largo (1948), The African Queen (1951), Beat the Devil (1953), Moby Dick (1956), and Prizzi's Honor (1985)
Opinion: The man, the maverick, and the legend, John Huston was a fabulous storyteller in the Hemingway sense. Because of The Maltese Falcon, he's credited as the father of the film noir genre. The underlying theme of his films is the "heroic quest." John Huston often shot on location while editing what he had on hand as minimal as possible, having sketched out all of his scenes beforehand.

11. Robert Altman

Masterpiece: M*A*S*H (1970) and Gosford Park (2001)
Outstanding: Nashville (1975), Vincent & Theo (1990), and The Gingerbread Man (1998)
Honorable: Thieves Like Us (1974), Tanner '88 (1988), and Short Cuts (1993)
Opinion: The master of ensemble films, Robert Altman is the most diverse director ever. His oeuvre is all over the place; some are brilliant while others are eternally frustrating. I consider M*A*S*H to be Robert Altman's greatest achievement. There's an unmistakable unorthodox style that can been easily felt by the quality of cinematography and zoom shots. The thing about some of his films is that it takes time to appreciate them, hence the multiple viewings.