Greatest Film Directors and Their Best Films

These honored selections are designed as a tribute to some of the greatest directors of predominantly English-language films, with suggested or recommended Best Films or 'Must-See' Films from their filmographies.

In the April 19th, 1996 issue, Entertainment Weekly produced a cover-story article titled "The 50 Greatest Directors and Their 100 Best Movies". These top 50 "Greatest Directors of All Time" from their list are marked with this red 'directors-chair' symbol -- and the magazine's ranking number.

In 2005, Britain's Empire Magazine commissioned a poll of its readership to come up with a list of the top 40 greatest directors of all time. The Top 40 "Greatest Directors of All Time" (with their ranking number) from their list are marked below with an asterisk -- and their ranking number.

There were some very glaring and obvious omissions from Empire's list (i.e., Frank Capra, George Cukor, Michael Curtiz, Cecil B. DeMille, D. W. Griffith, John Huston, Elia Kazan, Buster Keaton, Ernst Lubitsch, Vincente Minnelli, F.W. Murnau, Roman Polanski, Powell and Pressburger, Otto Preminger, Douglas Sirk, George Stevens, Preston Sturges and William Wyler - to name a few), and their ranking was extremely questionable.

# 8	QUENTIN TARANTINO 1963- Volatile, Pop Cultural, Brilliant Director/Screenwriter/Actor of Audacious, Off-Beat Violent Films of the 90s - Symbol of a New Generation of Film-Makers Suggested Filmography: Reservoir Dogs (1992) (screenwriter and director), True Romance (1993) (screenwriter only), Natural Born Killers (1994) (screenwriter only), Pulp Fiction (1994) (screenwriter and director), Four Rooms (1995) - one segment, Jackie Brown (1997) (screenwriter and director), Kill Bill, Vol. I (2003), Kill Bill, Vol. II (2004), Sin City (2005) - special guest director, Grindhouse (2007) - one segment "Death Proof", Death Proof (2007).
# 46	JACQUES TATI 1909-1982 French Film-maker Suggested Filmography: L'École des facteurs (1947), Jour De Fete (1948), Mr. Hulot's Holiday (1953), Mon Oncle (1958), Playtime (1967).
# 27 # 26	FRANCOIS TRUFFAUT 1932-1984 Film Critic and French Film-maker, Part of the New Wave Movement in the 1950s Suggested Filmography: The 400 Blows (1959), Shoot the Piano Player (1960), Jules and Jim (1961), The Soft Skin (1964), Fahrenheit 451 (1967), The Bride Wore Black (1968), Mississippi Mermaid (1969), The Wild Child (1970), Two English Girls (1972), Day for Night (1973), Such a Gorgeous Kid Like Me (1973), The Story of Adele H (1975), The Man Who Loved Women (1977), The Last Metro (1980), The Woman Next Door (1981), Confidentially Yours (1983).
	KING VIDOR 1894-1982 Versatile Early Pioneer of Silent and Early Sound Films with Simple Themes Suggested Filmography: The Big Parade (1925), The Crowd (1928), Show People (1928), Hallelujah! (1929), The Champ (1931), Our Daily Bread (1934), The Wedding Night (1935), Stella Dallas (1937), The Citadel (1938), The Wizard of Oz (1939) (uncredited), Comrade X (1940), Northwest Passage (1940), Duel in the Sun (1946), Beyond the Forest (1949), The Fountainhead (1949), Ruby Gentry (1952), Man Without a Star (1955), War and Peace (1956), Solomon and Sheba (1959).
# 37	JOSEF von STERNBERG 1894-1969 Famous Austrian-Born Collaborator in Seven Films With Actress Marlene Dietrich Suggested Filmography: It (1927) (uncredited), Underworld (1927), The Docks of New York (1928), The Last Command (1928), The Blue Angel (1930), Morocco (1930), Dishonored (1931), Blonde Venus (1932), Shanghai Express (1932), The Scarlet Empress (1934), The Devil Is a Woman (1935), The Shanghai Gesture (1941), Jet Pilot (1957).
	ERICH von STROHEIM 1885-1957 Perfectionistic, Original, and Notorious Austrian-Born Director of Epic, Extravagant, Often Re-Edited Masterpieces Suggested Filmography: Blind Husbands (1919), The Devil's Passkey (1920), Foolish Wives (1922), Greed (1925), The Merry Widow (1925), The Wedding March/The Honeymoon (1928), Queen Kelly (1929).
	RAOUL WALSH 1887-1980 Capable, Prolific Director Noted for Energized, Robust, Brisk-Paced Films Spanning Silent and Sound Eras Suggested Filmography: The Thief of Bagdad (1924), What Price Glory (1926), Sadie Thompson (1928), In Old Arizona (1929), The Big Trail (1930), Klondike Annie (1936), The Roaring Twenties (1939), They Drive By Night (1940), Dark Command (1940), High Sierra (1941), The Strawberry Blonde (1941), They Died With Their Boots On (1941), Gentleman Jim (1942), Objective, Burma! (1945), The Horn Blows at Midnight (1945), Pursued (1947), White Heat (1949), Colorado Territory (1949), Captain Horatio Hornblower (1951), Along the Great Divide (1951), The World In His Arms (1952), A Lion is in the Streets (1953), Battle Cry (1955), Band of Angels (1957), The Naked and the Dead (1958).
# 38	PETER WEIR 1944- Australian-Born Director of Mystical, Visually-Poetic, Mysterious and Ambiguous Films Suggested Filmography: Picnic at Hanging Rock (1975), The Last Wave (1977), Gallipoli (1981), The Year of Living Dangerously (1982), Witness (1985), The Mosquito Coast (1986), Dead Poets Society (1989), Green Card (1990), Fearless (1993), The Truman Show (1998), Master and Commander: The Far Side of the World (2003).
# 2 # 9	ORSON WELLES 1915-1985 Influential, Uncompromising, Expertly-Genius Film Director/Producer, Hollywood's Premier Enfant Terrible and Victim; Director of Filmdom's Most Studied Film - Citizen Kane Suggested Filmography: Citizen Kane (1941), The Magnificent Ambersons (1942), The Stranger (1946), The Lady From Shanghai (1948), Macbeth (1948), Othello (1952), Mr. Arkadin (1955), Touch of Evil (1958), The Trial (1962), Chimes at Midnight/Falstaff (1966), F for Fake (1975).
	WILLIAM A. WELLMAN 1896-1975 Versatile, Maverick Film-Maker of Numerous Films, Including the First Best Picture Winner Suggested Filmography: Wings (1927), Night Nurse (1931), The Public Enemy (1931), So Big! (1932), The Call of the Wild (1935), Nothing Sacred (1937), A Star is Born (1937), Beau Geste (1939), Roxie Hart (1942), Lady of Burlesque (1943), The Ox-Bow Incident (1943), The Story of G.I. Joe (1945), Yellow Sky (1948), Battleground (1949), The Happy Years (1950), Westward the Women (1951), Island in the Sky (1953), The High and the Mighty (1954), Track of the Cat (1954).
# 24 # 19	BILLY WILDER 1906-2002 Maverick Austrian-Born Writer/Director of Daring, Caustic, Provocative, Controversial Themes - with 21 Academy Award Nominations (Winner of 6) Suggested Filmography: The Major and the Minor (1942), Five Graves to Cairo (1943), Double Indemnity (1944), The Lost Weekend (1945), A Foreign Affair (1948), The Emperor Waltz (1948), Sunset Boulevard (1950), The Big Carnival/Ace in the Hole (1951), Stalag 17 (1953), Sabrina (1954), The Seven Year Itch (1955), Love In the Afternoon (1957), The Spirit of St. Louis (1957), Witness For the Prosecution (1957), Some Like It Hot (1959), The Apartment (1960), One, Two, Three (1961), Irma La Douce (1963), Kiss Me, Stupid (1964), The Fortune Cookie (1966), The Private Life of Sherlock Holmes (1970), Avanti! (1972), The Front Page (1974), Fedora (1978), Buddy Buddy (1981).
	ROBERT WISE 1914-2005 Versatile, Accomplished, Veteran Director/Producer/Editor Suggested Filmography: Citizen Kane (1941) (editor), The Curse of the Cat People (1944), The Body Snatcher (1945), Born to Kill (1947), Blood On The Moon (1948), The Set-Up (1949), The Day The Earth Stood Still (1951), The Desert Rats (1953), Executive Suite (1954), Somebody Up There Likes Me (1956), Tribute to a Bad Man (1956), Helen of Troy (1956), I Want to Live! (1958), Run Silent, Run Deep (1958), Odds Against Tomorrow (1959), West Side Story (1961) (co-directed with Jerome Robbins), The Haunting (1963), The Sound of Music (1965), The Sand Pebbles (1966), Star! (1968), The Andromeda Strain (1971), The Hindenburg (1975), Audrey Rose (1977), Star Trek: The Motion Picture (1979).
	SAM WOOD 1883-1949 Overlooked, Neglected Director Suggested Filmography: Hold Your Man (1933) (uncredited), A Night at the Opera (1935), A Day At The Races (1937), Gone With the Wind (1939) (uncredited), Goodbye, Mr. Chips (1939), Kitty Foyle (1940), Our Town (1940), Raffles (1940), The Devil and Miss Jones (1941), Kings Row (1942), The Pride of the Yankees (1942), For Whom the Bell Tolls (1943), Guest Wife (1945), Saratoga Trunk (1945), Ivy (1947), Command Decision (1948), The Stratton Story (1949).
	WILLIAM WYLER 1902-1981 Renowned, Three-Time Best Director Oscar Winner, Superb and Elegant Story-Teller Suggested Filmography: Come and Get It (1936) (partial), Dodsworth (1936), These Three (1936), Dead End (1937), Jezebel (1938), Wuthering Heights (1939), The Letter (1940), The Westerner (1940), The Little Foxes (1941), Mrs. Miniver (1942), The Best Years of Our Lives (1946), The Heiress (1949), Detective Story (1951), Carrie (1952), Roman Holiday (1953), The Desperate Hours (1955), Friendly Persuasion (1956), The Big Country (1958), Ben-Hur (1959), The Children's Hour (1961), The Collector (1965), How to Steal a Million (1966), Funny Girl (1968).
# 22	ROBERT ZEMECKIS 1951- 80s and 90s Director (and Producer) of Half-Fantasy, Comic-Strip Worlds, Often with Special Effects Suggested Filmography: I Wanna Hold Your Hand (1978), Used Cars (1980), Romancing the Stone (1984), Back to the Future (1985), Who Framed Roger Rabbit (1988), Back to the Future II (1989), Back to the Future III (1990), Death Becomes Her (1992), Forrest Gump (1994), Contact (1997), What Lies Beneath (2000), Cast Away (2000), The Polar Express (2004), Beowulf (2007).
	FRED ZINNEMANN 1907-1997 Maker of Meticulously-Cautious, Well-Crafted 'Realistic' Dramas Suggested Filmography: The Seventh Cross (1944), The Search (1948), Act of Violence (1949), The Men (1950), High Noon (1952), The Member of the Wedding (1952), From Here to Eternity (1953), Oklahoma! (1955), A Hatful of Rain (1957), The Old Man and the Sea (1958) (uncredited), The Nun's Story (1959), The Sundowners (1960), A Man For All Seasons (1966), The Day of the Jackal (1973), Julia (1977), Five Days One Summer (1982).