The cult-movie king from Michigan gave us the Evil Dead trilogy (and Bruce Campbell), A Simple Plan, and the blockbuster Spider-Man movies.

Suggested Filmography: The Evil Dead (1981), Crimewave (1985), Evil Dead II (1987), Darkman (1990), Army of Darkness (1993), The Quick and the Dead (1995), A Simple Plan (1998), For Love of the Game (1999), The Gift (2000), Spider-Man (2002), Spider-Man 2 (2004), Spider-Man 3 (2007), Drag Me to Hell (2009), The Evil Dead (2009), Spider-Man 4 (2011).

Suggested Filmography: The Twisted Road (1948) - re-released as They Live By Night (1949), Knock on Any Door (1949), In A Lonely Place (1950), On Dangerous Ground (1951), Flying Leathernecks (1951), The Lusty Men (1952), Johnny Guitar (1954), Rebel Without A Cause (1955), Bigger Than Life (1956), Bitter Victory (1957), Party Girl (1958), King of Kings (1961), 55 Days at Peking (1963).

Suggested Filmography: Pather Panchali (1955), Aparajito (1956), The Music Room (1958), The World of Apu (1959), The Big City (1963), Charulata (1964), Days and Nights in the Forest (1969), Distant Thunder (1973), The Branches of the Tree (1990).

Suggested Filmography (mostly Fr.): La Chienne/The Bitch (1931), Boudu Sauvé des Eaux/Boudu Saved from Drowning (1932), Les Bas-fonds/The Underground (1936), The Crime of Monsieur Lange (1936), Une Partie Campagne/A Day in the Country (1936), La Grande Illusion/Grand Illusion (1937), La Bete Humaine/The Human Beast (1938), La Marseillaise (1938), La Règle du Jeu/The Rules of the Game (1939), L'Amour/Ways of Love (1940), Swamp Water (1941), This Land is Mine (1943), The Southerner (1945), The Diary of a Chambermaid (1946), The Woman on the Beach (1947), The River (1951), Le Carrosse D'or/The Golden Coach (1953), French Cancan (1955), Elena et Les Hommes (1956), Picnic on the Grass (1959).

Suggested Filmography: French Dressing (1964), Billion Dollar Brain (1967), Women in Love (1969), The Boy Friend (1971), The Devils (1971), The Music Lovers (1971), Savage Messiah (1972), Mahler (1974), Lisztomania (1975), Tommy (1975), Valentino (1977), Altered States (1980), Crimes of Passion (1984), Gothic (1986), The Lair of the White Worm (1988), Salome's Last Dance (1988), The Rainbow (1989), Whore (1991), Lion's Mouth (2000), The Fall of the Louse of Usher (2002), Revenge of the Elephant Man (2004), Trapped Ashes (2006), Moll Flanders (2008).

Suggested Filmography: A Kind of Loving (1962), Billy Liar (1963), Darling (1965), Far From the Madding Crowd (1967), Midnight Cowboy (1969), Sunday, Bloody Sunday (1971), The Day of the Locust (1975), Marathon Man (1976), Yanks (1979), Honky Tonk Freeway (1981), The Falcon and the Snowman (1985), The Believers (1987), Madame Sousatzka (1988), Pacific Heights (1990), The Innocent (1993), Cold Comfort Farm (1995), Eye For An Eye (1996), The Next Best Thing (2000).

You talkin' to him? No one captures alienated men on the edge the way he's done in Taxi Driver, Raging Bull, and The Departed.

Suggested Filmography: Who's That Knocking at My Door? (1968), Boxcar Bertha (1972), Mean Streets (1973), Alice Doesn't Live Here Anymore (1974), Taxi Driver (1976), New York, New York (1977), The Last Waltz (1978), Raging Bull (1980), The King of Comedy (1983), After Hours (1985), The Color of Money (1986), The Last Temptation of Christ (1988), GoodFellas (1990), Cape Fear (1991), The Age of Innocence (1993), Casino (1995), A Personal Journey with Martin Scorsese through American Movies (1995) (documentary), Kundun (1997), Bringing Out the Dead (1999), You Can Count on Me (2000) (ex. producer), Gangs of New York (2002), The Aviator (2004), No Direction Home: Bob Dylan (2005), The Departed (2006), Shine a Light (2008), Shutter Island (2009), Hugo (2011).

A TV-commercial star turned stylish auteur, he made the cool, slick Alien, Blade Runner, and Thelma & Louise.

Suggested Filmography: The Duellists (1977), Alien (1979), Blade Runner (1982), Legend (1985), Someone to Watch Over Me (1987), Black Rain (1989), Thelma & Louise (1991), 1492: Conquest of Paradise (1992), White Squall (1996), G.I. Jane (1997), Gladiator (2000), Hannibal (2001), Black Hawk Down (2001), Matchstick Men (2003), Kingdom of Heaven (2005), American Gangster (2007), Body of Lies (2008), Robin Hood (2010), Prometheus (2012).

Suggested Filmography: The Hunger (1983), Top Gun (1986), Beverly Hills Cop II (1987), Days of Thunder (1990), Revenge (1990), The Last Boy Scout (1991), True Romance (1993), Crimson Tide (1995), The Fan (1996), Money (1996), Enemy of the State (1998), Spy Game (2001), Beat the Devil (2002), Man on Fire (2004), Domino (2005), Deja Vu (2006), The Taking of Pelham 123 (2009), Unstoppable (2010), The Warriors (2010).

Suggested Filmography: Producer and Director of hundreds of short films, Tillie's Punctured Romance (1914), The Dentist (1932) (producer), The Fatal Glass of Beer (1933) (producer).

Suggested Filmography: Praying with Anger (1992), Wide Awake (1998), The Sixth Sense (1999), Unbreakable (2000), Signs (2002), The Village (2004), Lady in the Water (2006), The Happening (2008), The Last Airbender (2010).

Suggested Filmography: The Big Steal (1949), Riot in Cell Block 11 (1954), Invasion of the Body Snatchers (1956), Baby Face Nelson (1957), The Line-Up (1958), Flaming Star (1960), Hell Is For Heroes (1962), The Killers (1964), Coogan's Bluff (1968), Madigan (1968), Two Mules for Sister Sara (1969), The Beguiled (1971), Dirty Harry (1971), Charley Varrick (1973), The Black Windmill (1974), The Shootist (1976), Telefon (1977), Escape From Alcatraz (1979), Rough Cut (1980), Jinxed! (1982).

Suggested Filmography: Lured (1947), Sleep, My Love (1948), Shockproof (1949), Thunder on the Hill (1951), Has Anybody Seen My Gal? (1952), All I Desire (1953), Magnificent Obsession (1954), All That Heaven Allows (1955), Sign of the Pagan (1955), There's Always Tomorrow (1956), Written on the Wind (1956), Battle Hymn (1957), The Tarnished Angels (1957), A Time to Love and a Time to Die (1958), Imitation of Life (1959).

He reworked the genre crowd-pleasers of his youth into the modern blockbusters: Jaws, E.T., and Raiders of the Lost Ark.

Suggested Filmography: Duel (1971), The Sugarland Express (1974), Jaws (1975), Close Encounters of the Third Kind (1977), 1941 (1979), Raiders of the Lost Ark (1981), E. T. The Extra-Terrestrial (1982), Poltergeist (1982), Twilight Zone: The Movie (1983) (segment 2), Gremlins (1984) (producer), Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom (1984), Back to the Future, II, III (1985, 1989, 1990) (executive producer), The Color Purple (1985), Empire of the Sun (1987), Who Framed Roger Rabbit (1988) (executive producer), Always (1989), Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade (1989), Hook (1991), Jurassic Park (1993), Schindler's List (1993), Twister (1996) (executive producer), Amistad (1997), The Lost World: Jurassic Park (1997), Men in Black (1997) (producer), Saving Private Ryan (1998), A.I.: Artificial Intelligence (2001), Jurassic Park III (2001) (ex. producer), Minority Report (2002), Catch Me If You Can (2002), The Terminal (2004), War of the Worlds (2005), Munich (2005), Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull (2008), The Adventures of Tintin (2011), War Horse (2011), Lincoln (2012).

Suggested Filmography: Alice Adams (1935), Swing Time (1936), A Damsel in Distress (1937), Vivacious Lady (1938), Gunga Din (1939), Penny Serenade (1941), The Talk of the Town (1942), Woman of the Year (1942), The More the Merrier (1943), I Remember Mama (1948), American Trilogy: A Place In the Sun (1951), Shane (1953), Giant (1956), The Diary of Anne Frank (1959), The Greatest Story Ever Told (1965), The Only Game in Town (1970).

Provocative, bombastic, and politically contrarian, he's courted controversy in Midnight Express, Natural Born Killers, and JFK.

Suggested Filmography: The Hand (1981), Vietnam Trilogy: Platoon (1986), Born on the Fourth of July (1989), Heaven and Earth (1993); Salvador (1986), Wall Street (1987), Talk Radio (1988), The Doors (1991), JFK (1991), Natural Born Killers (1994), Nixon (1995), U-Turn (1997), Any Given Sunday (1999), Alexander (2004), World Trade Center (2006), W. (2008), Wall Street: Money Never Sleeps (2010).

His witty, sophisticated comedies -- The Lady Eve, Sullivan's Travels, The Palm Beach Story -- are still sharply funny, six decades later.

Suggested Filmography: The Great McGinty (1940), Christmas in July (1940), The Lady Eve (1941), Sullivan's Travels (1941), The Palm Beach Story (1942), Hail the Conquering Hero (1944), The Miracle of Morgan's Creek (1944), The Sin of Harold Dibbledock (1947), Unfaithfully Yours (1948), The Beautiful Blonde from Bashful Bend (1949).