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Ranked: Top 43 Directors and their 5 best films by ratings

I decided to do a Director's list a bit more objectively than I am used to doing. This is not the order they would be in if this was simply a favorite's list.

Please read notes to see ratings and number of films seen:

To be included I had to have seen and rated at least 5 films 4 or more stars from the Director, sadly this left out some fantastic filmmakers. While many failed to have 5 films all above 4 stars, mostly I just hadn't seen enough films from lots which left out some excellent international and/or female directors.

These are the directors in order of their combined ratings score:*

Akira Kurosawa 24.5
Billy Wilder 24.5
Howard Hawks…

Block or Report Read notes
  • Ran

    1

  • Seven Samurai

    2

  • Yojimbo

    3

  • Ikiru

    4

  • High and Low

    5

  • Sunset Boulevard

    6

  • The Apartment

    7

  • Some Like It Hot

    8

  • Double Indemnity

    9

  • Ace in the Hole

    10

  • His Girl Friday

    11

  • Red River

    12

  • The Big Sleep

    13

  • Bringing Up Baby

    14

  • Only Angels Have Wings

    15

  • Trouble in Paradise

    16

  • The Shop Around the Corner

    17

  • To Be or Not to Be

    18

  • The Merry Widow

    19

  • Ninotchka

    20

  • The Lady Eve

    21

  • Sullivan's Travels

    22

  • The Palm Beach Story

    23

  • The Miracle of Morgan’s Creek

    24

  • Hail the Conquering Hero

    25

  • Persona

    26

  • Wild Strawberries

    27

  • Fanny and Alexander

    28

  • Scenes from a Marriage

    29

  • Cries and Whispers

    30

  • The Heiress

    31

  • The Best Years of Our Lives

    32

  • Dodsworth

    33

  • Roman Holiday

    34

  • These Three

    35

  • It's a Wonderful Life

    36

  • It Happened One Night

    37

  • Mr. Smith Goes to Washington

    38

  • Lost Horizon

    39

  • The Bitter Tea of General Yen

    40

  • Dog Day Afternoon

    41

  • 12 Angry Men

    42

  • Network

    43

  • The Verdict

    44

  • Murder on the Orient Express

    45

  • City Lights

    46

  • Modern Times

    47

  • The Great Dictator

    48

  • The Gold Rush

    49

  • The Rink

    50

  • Paterson

    51

  • Stranger Than Paradise

    52

  • Down by Law

    53

  • Only Lovers Left Alive

    54

  • Ghost Dog: The Way of the Samurai

    55

  • Wings of Desire

    56

  • Pina

    57

  • Paris, Texas

    58

  • Alice in the Cities

    59

  • Buena Vista Social Club

    60

  • GoodFellas

    61

  • Taxi Driver

    62

  • After Hours

    63

  • Mean Streets

    64

  • Alice Doesn't Live Here Anymore

    65

  • Manhattan

    66

  • Annie Hall

    67

  • Hannah and Her Sisters

    68

  • The Purple Rose of Cairo

    69

  • Husbands and Wives

    70

  • Close Encounters of the Third Kind

    71

  • Raiders of the Lost Ark

    72

  • Schindler's List

    73

  • Duel

    74

  • The Color Purple

    75

  • Rear Window

    76

  • Psycho

    77

  • Rebecca

    78

  • The Lady Vanishes

    79

  • Shadow of a Doubt

    80

  • Holiday

    81

  • The Philadelphia Story

    82

  • Adam's Rib

    83

  • My Fair Lady

    84

  • Born Yesterday

    85

  • Y Tu Mamá También

    86

  • Roma

    87

  • Children of Men

    88

  • Gravity

    89

  • Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban

    90

  • Lawrence of Arabia

    91

  • Brief Encounter

    92

  • Great Expectations

    93

  • A Passage to India

    94

  • The Bridge on the River Kwai

    95

  • Dr. Strangelove or: How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Love the Bomb

    96

  • A Clockwork Orange

    97

  • Paths of Glory

    98

  • Lolita

    99

  • The Killing

    100