Al’s Top Rated Directors of All Time

1. Clint Eastwood

Clint Eastwood was born May 31, 1930 in San Francisco, to Clinton Eastwood Sr., a bond salesman and later manufacturing executive for Georgia-Pacific Corporation, and Ruth Wood (née Margret Ruth Runner), a housewife turned IBM clerk. He grew up in nearby Piedmont. At school Clint took interest in ...

Star score: 280 — Number of films seen: 30 — Favorites: Gran Torino (2008), Unforgiven (1992), Changeling (2008), American Sniper (2014), Mystic River (2003), Million Dollar Baby (2004), Letters from Iwo Jima (2006), The Bridges of Madison County (1995), Richard Jewell (2019), High Plains Drifter (1973), The Outlaw Josey Wales (1976), Invictus (2009), Flags of Our Fathers (2006), Pale Rider (1985), A Perfect World (1993), Bird (1988), Jersey Boys (2014), The Mule (2018), Sully (2016), Absolute Power (1997), Blood Work (2002), True Crime (1999), Breezy (1973), Play Misty for Me (1971), Heartbreak Ridge (1986), J. Edgar (2011), Space Cowboys (2000), Hereafter (2010), Dirty Harry (1971), Cry Macho (2021)

2. Alfred Hitchcock

Director | Psycho

Alfred Joseph Hitchcock was born in Leytonstone, Essex, England. He was the son of Emma Jane (Whelan; 1863 - 1942) and East End greengrocer William Hitchcock (1862 - 1914). His parents were both of half English and half Irish ancestry. He had two older siblings, William Hitchcock (born 1890) and ...

Star score: 265 — Number of films seen: 28 — Favorites: Rear Window (1954), North by Northwest (1959), Psycho (1960), Dial M for Murder (1954), Notorious (1946), Vertigo (1958), Strangers on a Train (1951), The Birds (1963), The Lady Vanishes (1938), The 39 Steps (1935), To Catch a Thief (1955), Lifeboat (1944), Rebecca (1940), Foreign Correspondent (1940), I Confess (1953), The Wrong Man (1956), Saboteur (1942), Suspicion (1941), Spellbound (1945), Rope (1948), The Man Who Knew Too Much (1956), Stage Fright (1950), Shadow of a Doubt (1943), Frenzy (1972), Torn Curtain (1966), The Trouble with Harry (1955), Sabotage (1936), Marnie (1964)

3. Steven Spielberg

Producer | Schindler's List

One of the most influential personalities in the history of cinema, Steven Spielberg is Hollywood's best known director and one of the wealthiest filmmakers in the world. He has an extraordinary number of commercially successful and critically acclaimed credits to his name, either as a director, ...

Star score: 194 — Number of films seen: 20 — Favorites: Saving Private Ryan (1998), Catch Me If You Can (2002), Jaws (1975), Schindler's List (1993), Indiana Jones and the Raiders of the Lost Ark (1981), Jurassic Park (1993), Close Encounters of the Third Kind (1977), Lincoln (2012), The Terminal (2004), Bridge of Spies (2015), Minority Report (2002), Amistad (1997), Empire of the Sun (1987), Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade (1989), E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial (1982), Hook (1991), Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom (1984), The Post (2017), The Lost World: Jurassic Park (1997), Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull (2008)

4. Martin Scorsese

Producer | Killers of the Flower Moon

Martin Charles Scorsese was born on November 17, 1942 in Queens, New York City, to Catherine Scorsese (née Cappa) and Charles Scorsese, who both worked in Manhattan's garment district, and whose families both came from Palermo, Sicily. He was raised in the neighborhood of Little Italy, which later ...

Star score: 151 — Number of films seen: 15 — Favorites: The Color of Money (1986), Goodfellas (1990), Casino (1995), The Departed (2006), Taxi Driver (1976), The Aviator (2004), Raging Bull (1980), Cape Fear (1991), The Wolf of Wall Street (2013), Bringing Out the Dead (1999), Gangs of New York (2002), Mean Streets (1973), Silence (2016), The Irishman (2019), Shutter Island (2010)

5. Spike Lee

Director | Do the Right Thing

Spike Lee was born Shelton Jackson Lee on March 20, 1957, in Atlanta, Georgia. At a very young age, he moved from pre-civil rights Georgia, to Brooklyn, New York. Lee came from artistic, education-grounded background; his father was a jazz musician, and his mother, a schoolteacher. He attended ...

Star score: 150 — Number of films seen: 17 — Favorites: Do the Right Thing (1989), Malcolm X (1992), BlacKkKlansman (2018), Jungle Fever (1991), Mo' Better Blues (1990), He Got Game (1998), Da 5 Bloods (2020), Get on the Bus (1996), Bamboozled (2000), Inside Man (2006), 25th Hour (2002), Crooklyn (1994), Clockers (1995), Sucker Free City (2004 TV Movie), Chi-Raq (2015), She's Gotta Have It (1986), School Daze (1988)

6. Quentin Tarantino

Writer | Reservoir Dogs

Quentin Jerome Tarantino was born in Knoxville, Tennessee. His father, Tony Tarantino, is an Italian-American actor and musician from New York, and his mother, Connie (McHugh), is a nurse from Tennessee. Quentin moved with his mother to Torrance, California, when he was four years old.

In January of...

Star score: 149 — Number of films seen: 11 — Favorites: Jackie Brown (1997), Inglourious Basterds (2009), Pulp Fiction (1994), Django Unchained (2012), Reservoir Dogs (1992), The Hateful Eight (2015), Kill Bill: Vol. 1 (2003), Kill Bill: Vol. 2 (2004), Once Upon a Time... In Hollywood (2019), Death Proof (2007), Sin City (2005)

7. Billy Wilder

Writer | The Apartment

Originally planning to become a lawyer, Billy Wilder abandoned that career in favor of working as a reporter for a Viennese newspaper, using this experience to move to Berlin, where he worked for the city's largest tabloid. He broke into films as a screenwriter in 1929 and wrote scripts for many ...

Star score: 138 — Number of films seen: 13 — Favorites: Witness for the Prosecution (1957), Sunset Blvd. (1950), One, Two, Three (1961), The Apartment (1960), Ace in the Hole (1951), Double Indemnity (1944), The Lost Weekend (1945), Sabrina (1954), The Front Page (1974), Irma la Douce (1963), Some Like It Hot (1959), Stalag 17 (1953), The Fortune Cookie (1966)

8. Stanley Kubrick

Director | 2001: A Space Odyssey

Stanley Kubrick was born in Manhattan, New York City, to Sadie Gertrude (Perveler) and Jacob Leonard Kubrick, a physician. His family were Jewish immigrants (from Austria, Romania, and Russia). Stanley was considered intelligent, despite poor grades at school. Hoping that a change of scenery would ...

Star score: 121 — Number of films seen: 11 — Favorites: Dr. Strangelove or: How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Love the Bomb (1964), Full Metal Jacket (1987), Paths of Glory (1957), Spartacus (1960), The Shining (1980), The Killing (1956), Barry Lyndon (1975), 2001: A Space Odyssey (1968), A Clockwork Orange (1971), Eyes Wide Shut (1999), Lolita (1962)

9. William Wyler

Director | The Best Years of Our Lives

William Wyler was an American filmmaker who, at the time of his death in 1981, was considered by his peers as second only to John Ford as a master craftsman of cinema. The winner of three Best Director Academy Awards, second again only to Ford's four, Wyler's reputation has unfairly suffered as the...

Star score: 112 — Number of films seen: 11 — Favorites: Ben-Hur (1959), Detective Story (1951), The Big Country (1958), The Best Years of Our Lives (1946), The Desperate Hours (1955), The Little Foxes (1941), Roman Holiday (1953), The Children's Hour (1961), The Letter (1940), Dead End (1937), Jezebel (1938)

10. Robert Zemeckis

Writer | Back to the Future

A whiz-kid with special effects, Robert is from the Spielberg camp of film-making (Steven Spielberg produced many of his films). Usually working with writing partner Bob Gale, Robert's earlier films show he has a talent for zany comedy (Romancing the Stone (1984), 1941 (1979)) and special effect ...

Star score: 110 — Number of films seen: 8 — Favorites: Back to the Future (1985), Back to the Future Part II (1989), Back to the Future Part III (1990), Forrest Gump (1994), Cast Away (2000), Who Framed Roger Rabbit (1988), Flight (2012), Contact (1997)

11. Oliver Stone

Director | JFK

Oliver Stone has become known as a master of controversial subjects and a legendary film maker. His films are filled with a variety of film angles and styles, he pushes his actors to give Oscar-worthy performances, and despite his failures, has always returned to success.

William Oliver Stone was ...

Star score: 109 — Number of films seen: 11 — Favorites: JFK (1991), Natural Born Killers (1994), Platoon (1986), The Doors (1991), Salvador (1986), Talk Radio (1988), Any Given Sunday (1999), Born on the Fourth of July (1989), Snowden (2016), Wall Street (1987), Nixon (1995)

12. Michael Curtiz

Director | Casablanca

Curtiz began acting in and then directing films in his native Hungary in 1912. After WWI, he continued his filmmaking career in Austria and Germany and into the early 1920s when he directed films in other countries in Europe. Moving to the US in 1926, he started making films in Hollywood for Warner...

Star score: 106 — Number of films seen: 11 — Favorites: Casablanca (1942), Angels with Dirty Faces (1938), Mildred Pierce (1945), We're No Angels (1955), Young Man with a Horn (1950), Kid Galahad (1937), The Sea Wolf (1941), Life with Father (1947), Passage to Marseille (1944), Yankee Doodle Dandy (1942)

13. John Ford

Director | The Quiet Man

John Ford came to Hollywood following one of his brothers, an actor. Asked what brought him to Hollywood, he replied "the train". He became one of the most respected directors in the business, in spite of being known for his westerns, which were not considered "serious" film. He won six Oscars, ...

Star score: 106 — Number of films seen: 11 — Favorites: The Man Who Shot Liberty Valance (1962), The Grapes of Wrath (1940), Mister Roberts (1955), The Searchers (1956), 3 Godfathers (1948), The Quiet Man (1952), She Wore a Yellow Ribbon (1949), The Horse Soldiers (1959), Fort Apache (1948), Stagecoach (1939), Mogambo (1953)

14. Sidney Lumet

Director | 12 Angry Men

Sidney Lumet was a master of cinema, best known for his technical knowledge and his skill at getting first-rate performances from his actors -- and for shooting most of his films in his beloved New York. He made over 40 movies, often complex and emotional, but seldom overly sentimental. Although ...

Star score: 102 — Number of films seen: 8 — Favorites: 12 Angry Men (1957), Dog Day Afternoon (1975), Network (1976), Serpico (1973), Before the Devil Knows You're Dead (2007), Fail Safe (1964), The Verdict (1982), Murder on the Orient Express (1974)

15. David Fincher

Director | Se7en

David Fincher was born in 1962 in Denver, Colorado, and was raised in Marin County, California. When he was 18 years old he went to work for John Korty at Korty Films in Mill Valley. He subsequently worked at ILM (Industrial Light and Magic) from 1981-1983. Fincher left ILM to direct TV commercials...

Star score: 99 — Number of films seen: 10 — Favorites: Fight Club (1999), Se7en (1995), The Curious Case of Benjamin Button (2008), Gone Girl (2014), The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo (2011), Zodiac (2007), The Social Network (2010), Panic Room (2002), The Killer (2023)

16. Francis Ford Coppola

Producer | Apocalypse Now

Francis Ford Coppola was born in 1939 in Detroit, Michigan, but grew up in a New York suburb in a creative, supportive Italian-American family. His father, Carmine Coppola, was a composer and musician. His mother, Italia Coppola (née Pennino), had been an actress. Francis Ford Coppola graduated ...

Star score: 98 — Number of films seen: 8 — Favorites: The Godfather (1972), The Godfather: Part II (1974), The Conversation (1974), The Rainmaker (1997), The Godfather Coda: The Death of Michael Corleone (1990/2020), The Outsiders (1983), Apocalypse Now (1979), Tucker: The Man and His Dream (1988)

17. Christopher Nolan

Writer | Tenet

Best known for his cerebral, often nonlinear, storytelling, acclaimed Academy Award winner writer/director/producer Sir Christopher Nolan CBE was born in London, England. Over the course of more than 25 years of filmmaking, Nolan has gone from low-budget independent films to working on some of the ...

Star score: 98 — Number of films seen: 10 — Favorites: The Dark Knight (2008), The Dark Knight Rises (2012), Batman Begins (2005), Dunkirk (2017), Oppenheimer (2023), Memento (2000), Interstellar (2014), Insomnia (2002), Inception (2010), The Prestige (2006)

18. John Huston

Director | The Treasure of the Sierra Madre

An eccentric rebel of epic proportions, this Hollywood titan reigned supreme as director, screenwriter and character actor in a career that endured over five decades. The ten-time Oscar-nominated legend was born John Marcellus Huston in Nevada, Missouri, on August 5, 1906. His ancestry was English,...

Star score: 96 — Number of films seen: 9 — Favorites: The Treasure of the Sierra Madre (1948), Key Largo (1948), The African Queen (1951), The Maltese Falcon (1941), The Life and Times of Judge Roy Bean (1972), Fat City (1972), Across the Pacific (1942), The List of Adrian Messenger (1963), Moby Dick (1956)

19. Frank Capra

Director | It's a Wonderful Life

One of seven children, Frank Capra was born on May 18, 1897, in Bisacquino, Sicily. On May 10, 1903, his family left for America aboard the ship Germania, arriving in New York on May 23rd. "There's no ventilation, and it stinks like hell. They're all miserable. It's the most degrading place you ...

Star score: 95 — Number of films seen: 8 — Favorites: It's a Wonderful Life (1946), Mr. Smith Goes to Washington (1939), You Can't Take It with You (1938), Arsenic and Old Lace (1943), Mr. Deeds Goes to Town (1936), State of the Union (1948), It Happened One Night (1934), American Madness (1932)

20. Joel Coen

Producer | The Ballad of Buster Scruggs

Joel Daniel Coen is an American filmmaker who regularly collaborates with his younger brother Ethan. They made Raising Arizona, Barton Fink, Fargo, The Big Lebowski, True Grit, O Brother Where Art Thou?, Burn After Reading, A Serious Man, Inside Llewyn Davis, Hail Caesar and other projects. Joel ...

Star score: 90 — Number of films seen: 10 — Favorites: Fargo (1996), No Country for Old Men (2007), True Grit (2010), Blood Simple (1984), The Big Lebowski (1998), Raising Arizona (1987), Burn After Reading (2008), The Hudsucker Proxy (1994), Inside Llewyn Davis (2013), O Brother, Where Art Thou? (2000)

21. Ethan Coen

Producer | The Ballad of Buster Scruggs

The younger brother of Joel, Ethan Coen is an Academy Award and Golden Globe winning writer, producer and director coming from small independent films to big profile Hollywood films. He was born on September 21, 1957 in Minneapolis, Minnesota. In some films of the brothers- Ethan & Joel wrote, Joel...

Star score: 90 — Number of films seen: 10 — Favorites: Fargo (1996), No Country for Old Men (2007), True Grit (2010), Blood Simple (1984), The Big Lebowski (1998), Raising Arizona (1987), Burn After Reading (2008), The Hudsucker Proxy (1994), Inside Llewyn Davis (2013), O Brother, Where Art Thou? (2000)

22. Ron Howard

Producer | Arrested Development

Academy Award-winning filmmaker Ron Howard is one of this generation's most popular directors. From the critically acclaimed dramas A Beautiful Mind (2001) and Apollo 13 (1995) to the hit comedies Parenthood (1989) and Splash (1983), he has created some of Hollywood's most memorable films.

Howard ...

Star score: 89 — Number of films seen: 9 — Favorites: Rush (2013), A Beautiful Mind (2001), Cinderella Man (2005), Thirteen Lives (2022), Apollo 13 (1995), Backdraft (1991), Solo: A Star Wars Story (2018), Ransom (1996), How the Grinch Stole Christmas (2000)

23. Tony Scott

Producer | Domino

Tony Scott was a British-born film director and producer. He was the youngest of three brothers, one of whom is fellow film director Ridley Scott. He was born in North Shields, Northumberland, England to parents Jean and Colonel Francis Percy Scott. As a result of his father's career in the British...

Star score: 86 — Number of films seen: 10 — Favorites: True Romance (1993), Top Gun (1986), Crimson Tide (1995), Enemy of the State (1998), Unstoppable (2010), Deja Vu (2006), Beverly Hills Cop II (1987), The Taking of Pelham 123 (2009), Days of Thunder (1990)

24. Ridley Scott

Producer | The Martian

Described by film producer Michael Deeley as "the very best eye in the business", director Ridley Scott was born on November 30, 1937 in South Shields, Tyne and Wear. His father was an officer in the Royal Engineers and the family followed him as his career posted him throughout the United Kingdom ...

Star score: 85 — Number of films seen: 10 — Favorites: The Martian (2015), Thelma & Louise (1991), Alien (1979), American Gangster (2007), Gladiator (2000), Body of Lies (2008), The Last Duel (2021), Hannibal (2001), House of Gucci (2021), Blade Runner (1982)

25. Kevin Smith

Producer | Clerks

Kevin Patrick Smith was born in Red Bank but grew up in Highlands, New Jersey, the son of Grace (Schultz) and Donald E. Smith, a postal worker. He is very proud of his native state; this fact can be seen in all of his movies. Kevin is of mostly German, with some Irish and English, ancestry.

His ...

Star score: 85 — Number of films seen: 10 — Favorites: Chasing Amy (1997), Clerks (1994), Clerks II (2006), Dogma (1999), Jay and Silent Bob Strike Back (2001), Mallrats (1995), Clerks III (2022), Zack and Miri Make a Porno (2008), Jersey Girl (2004)

26. Jay Roach

Director | Trumbo

Jay Roach was born on June 14, 1957 in Albuquerque, New Mexico, USA. He is a producer and director, known for Trumbo (2015), Bombshell (2019) and Austin Powers: International Man of Mystery (1997). He has been married to Susanna Hoffs since April 17, 1993. They have two children.

Star score: 83 — Number of films seen: 10 — Favorites: Game Change (2012 TV Movie), All the Way (2016 TV Movie), Trumbo (2015), Bombshell (2019), Recount (2008 TV Movie), Austin Powers: International Man of Mystery (1997), Austin Powers: the Spy Who Shagged Me (1999), Meet the Parents (2000), Meet the Fockers (2004)

27. Peter Farrelly

Producer | Green Book

Peter Farrelly was born on December 17, 1956 in Phoenixville, Pennsylvania, USA. He is a producer and writer, known for Green Book (2018), There's Something About Mary (1998) and Dumb and Dumber (1994). He has been married to Melinda Farrelly since December 31, 1996. They have two children.

Star score: 82 — Number of films seen: 7 — Favorites: Kingpin (1996), There's Something About Mary (1998), Dumb and Dumber (1994), Me, Myself & Irene (2000), Green Book (2018), The Three Stooges (2012)

28. Antoine Fuqua

Producer | The Magnificent Seven

Antoine Fuqua is an American film director, known for his work in the film Training Day as well as The Replacement Killers, Tears of the Sun, King Arthur, Shooter, Brooklyn's Finest, Olympus Has Fallen and The Equalizer.

He has directed music videos for such artists as Arrested Development, Prince, ...

Star score: 79 — Number of films seen: 9 — Favorites: The Equalizer (2014), Southpaw (2015), Training Day (2001), The Equalizer 2 (2018), The Equalizer 3 (2023), The Magnificent Seven (2016), Brooklyn's Finest (2009), The Guilty (2021), Shooter (2007)

29. Darren Aronofsky

Writer | Pi

Darren Aronofsky was born February 12, 1969, in Brooklyn, New York. Growing up, Darren was always artistic: he loved classic movies and, as a teenager, he even spent time doing graffiti art. After high school, Darren went to Harvard University to study film (both live-action and animation). He won ...

Star score: 78 — Number of films seen: 7 — Favorites: Requiem for a Dream (2000), Black Swan (2010), The Wrestler (2008), The Whale (2022), Mother! (2017), Pi (1998), The Fountain (2006)

30. Mel Brooks

Actor | Spaceballs

Mel Brooks was born Melvin Kaminsky on June 28, 1926 in Brooklyn, New York. He served in WWII, and afterwards got a job playing the drums at nightclubs in the Catskills. Brooks eventually started a comedy act and also worked in radio and as Master Entertainer at Grossinger's Resort before going to ...

Star score: 78 — Number of films seen: 8 — Favorites: Young Frankenstein (1974), Blazing Saddles (1974), Spaceballs (1987), History of the World: Part I (1981), Robin Hood: Men in Tights (1993), High Anxiety (1977), The Producers (1967), Silent Movie (1976)

31. Howard Hawks

Director | Red River

What do the classic films Scarface (1932), Twentieth Century (1934), Bringing Up Baby (1938), Only Angels Have Wings (1939), His Girl Friday (1940), Sergeant York (1941), To Have and Have Not (1944), The Big Sleep (1946), Red River (1948) Gentlemen Prefer Blondes (1953) and Rio Bravo (1959) have in...

Star score: 75 — Number of films seen: 7 — Favorites: To Have and Have Not (1944), The Big Sleep (1946), Rio Bravo (1959), Bringing Up Baby (1938), El Dorado (1966), His Girl Friday (1940), Red River (1948)

32. Richard Linklater

Director | Waking Life

Self-taught writer-director Richard Stuart Linklater was born in Houston, Texas, to Diane Margaret (Krieger), who taught at a university, and Charles W. Linklater III. Richard was among the first and most successful talents to emerge during the American independent film renaissance of the 1990s. ...

Star score: 75 — Number of films seen: 7 — Favorites: Dazed and Confused (1993), Before Sunset (2004), Tape (2001), Boyhood (2014), Before Sunrise (1995), Before Midnight (2013), School of Rock (2003)

33. James Cameron

Writer | Avatar: The Way of Water

James Francis Cameron was born on August 16, 1954 in Kapuskasing, Ontario, Canada. He moved to the United States in 1971. The son of an engineer, he majored in physics at California State University before switching to English, and eventually dropping out. He then drove a truck to support his ...

Star score: 75 — Number of films seen: 7 — Favorites: Titanic (1997), Terminator 2: Judgment Day (1991), True Lies (1994), Aliens (1986), The Terminator (1984), Avatar (2009), The Abyss (1989)

34. Richard Donner

Director | Superman

Richard Donner was born on April 24, 1930 in The Bronx, New York City, New York, USA. He was a director and producer, known for Superman (1978), Ladyhawke (1985) and Superman II: The Richard Donner Cut (1980). He was married to Lauren Shuler Donner. He died on July 5, 2021 in Los Angeles, ...

Star score: 75 — Number of films seen: 9 — Favorites: Maverick (1994), The Omen (1976), Lethal Weapon (1987), The Goonies (1985), Superman (1978), Lethal Weapon 2 (1989), Radio Flyer (1992), Lethal Weapon 4 (1998), Lethal Weapon 3 (1992)

35. Bobby Farrelly

Producer | There's Something About Mary

Bobby Farrelly was born on June 17, 1958 in Cumberland, Rhode Island, USA. He is a producer and director, known for There's Something About Mary (1998), Osmosis Jones (2001) and Me, Myself & Irene (2000). He has been married to Nancy Farrelly since 1990. They have two children.

Star score: 74 — Number of films seen: 6 — Favorites: Kingpin (1996), There's Something About Mary (1998), Dumb and Dumber (1994), Me, Myself & Irene (2000), The Three Stooges (2012)

36. Steven Soderbergh

Director | Sex, Lies, and Videotape

Steven Andrew Soderbergh was born on January 14, 1963 in Atlanta, Georgia, USA, the second of six children of Mary Ann (Bernard) and Peter Soderbergh. His father was of Swedish and Irish descent, and his mother was of Italian ancestry. While he was still at a very young age, his family moved to ...

Star score: 74 — Number of films seen: 10 — Favorites: Erin Brockovich (2000), Side Effects (2013), Ocean's Eleven (2001), Ocean's Thirteen (2007), Out of Sight (1998), Behind the Candelabra (2013), No Sudden Move (2021), Ocean's Twelve (2004), Contagion (2011), Traffic (2000)

37. Adam McKay

Producer | The Other Guys

Adam McKay (born April 17, 1968) is an American screenwriter, director, comedian, and actor. McKay has a comedy partnership with Will Ferrell, with whom he co-wrote the films Anchorman, Talladega Nights, and The Other Guys. Ferrell and McKay also founded their comedy website Funny or Die through ...

Star score: 73 — Number of films seen: 7 — Favorites: Anchorman: The Legend of Ron Burgundy (2004), The Big Short (2015), Vice (2018), Don't Look Up (2021), Step Brothers (2008), Talladega Nights: the Ballad of Ricky Bobby (2006), Anchorman 2: the Legend Continues (2013)

38. Richard Brooks

Writer | In Cold Blood

Richard Brooks was an Academy Award-winning film writer who also earned six Oscar nominations and achieved success as a film director and producer.

He was born Reuben Sax on May 18, 1912, in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. His parents were Russian-Jewish immigrants. He graduated from West Philadelphia ...

Star score: 71 — Number of films seen: 7 — Favorites: Cat on a Hot Tin Roof (1958), In Cold Blood (1967), Blackboard Jungle (1955), Deadline U.S.A. (1952), Sweet Bird of Youth (1962), Elmer Gantry (1960), Something of Value (1957)

39. Sergio Leone

Writer | Once Upon a Time in America

Sergio Leone was virtually born into the cinema - he was the son of Roberto Roberti (A.K.A. Vincenzo Leone), one of Italy's cinema pioneers, and actress Bice Valerian. Leone entered films in his late teens, working as an assistant director to both Italian directors and U.S. directors working in ...

Star score: 69 — Number of films seen: 5 — Favorites: The Good, the Bad and the Ugly (1966), Once Upon a Time in the West (1968), For a Few Dollars More (1965), A Fistful of Dollars (1964), Once Upon a Time in America (1984)

40. Barry Levinson

Director | Rain Man

Barry Lee Levinson was born in Baltimore, Maryland, to Violet (Krichinsky) and Irvin Levinson, who worked in furniture and appliance. He is of Russian Jewish descent. Levinson graduated from high school in 1960, attended college at American University in Washington, DC. He did well, but decided he ...

Star score: 68 — Number of films seen: 8 — Favorites: You Don't Know Jack (2010 TV Movie), Sleepers (1996), Rain Man (1988), The Natural (1984), Diner (1982), Paterno (2018 TV Movie), The Survivor (2021), Good Morning, Vietnam (1987)

41. Stanley Kramer

Producer | Judgment at Nuremberg

Stanley Kramer was born on September 29, 1913 in Hell's Kitchen [now Clinton], Manhattan, New York City, New York, USA. He was a producer and director, known for Judgment at Nuremberg (1961), Guess Who's Coming to Dinner (1967) and Inherit the Wind (1960). He was married to Karen Sharpe, Anne P. ...

Star score: 67 — Number of films seen: 6 — Favorites: Inherit the Wind (1960), Judgment at Nuremberg (1961), Guess Who's Coming to Dinner (1967), The Defiant Ones (1958), It's a Mad Mad Mad Mad World (1963), Pressure Point (1962)

42. John G. Avildsen

Director | Rocky

John G. Avildsen was born on December 21, 1935 in Oak Park, Illinois, USA. He was a director and editor, known for Rocky (1976), The Karate Kid Part III (1989) and Rocky V (1990). He was married to Tracy Brooks Swope and Marie Olga Maturevich. He died on June 16, 2017 in Los Angeles, California, ...

Star score: 66 — Number of films seen: 6 — Favorites: Rocky (1976), The Karate Kid (1984), Lean on Me (1989), The Karate Kid Part II (1986), The Karate Kid Part III (1989)

43. F. Gary Gray

Director | Set It Off

Felix Gary Gray is an African-American music video director, film producer and film director from New York City known for directing films such as Friday, Men in Black: International, Be Cool, The Fate of the Furious, Set It Off, The Negotiator, Straight Outta Compton and The Italian Job. He ...

Star score: 65 — Number of films seen: 7 — Favorites: Straight Outta Compton (2015), Friday (1995), The Negotiator (1998), The Italian Job (2003), Set It Off (1996), Law Abiding Citizen (2009), Be Cool (2005)

44. George Cukor

Director | My Fair Lady

George Cukor was an American film director of Hungarian-Jewish descent, better known for directing comedies and literary adaptations. He once won the Academy Award for Best Director, and was nominated other four times for the same Award.

In 1899, George Dewey Cukor was born on the Lower East Side of...

Star score: 64 — Number of films seen: 6 — Favorites: Gone with the Wind (1939), The Wizard of Oz (1939), Adam's Rib (1949), Lust for Life (1956), The Philadelphia Story (1940), The Women (1939)

45. Rob Reiner

Actor | All in the Family

Robert Reiner was born in New York City, to Estelle Reiner (née Lebost) and Emmy-winning actor, comedian, writer, and producer Carl Reiner.

As a child, his father was his role model, as Carl Reiner created and starred in The Dick Van Dyke Show. Estelle was also an inspiration for him to become a ...

Star score: 62 — Number of films seen: 6 — Favorites: Stand by Me (1986), Misery (1990), This Is Spinal Tap (1984), A Few Good Men (1992), The Bucket List (2007), The American President (1995)

46. Tim Burton

Producer | Edward Scissorhands

Timothy Walter Burton was born in Burbank, California, to Jean Rae (Erickson), who owned a cat-themed gift shop, and William Reed Burton, who worked for the Burbank Park and Recreation Department. He spent most of his childhood as a recluse, drawing cartoons, and watching old movies (he was ...

Star score: 60 — Number of films seen: 8 — Favorites: Batman (1989), Beetlejuice (1988), Batman Returns (1992), Big Eyes (2014), Pee-wee's Big Adventure (1985), Edward Scissorhands (1990), Mars Attacks! (1996)

47. Brian De Palma

Director | Body Double

Brian De Palma is one of the well-known directors who spear-headed the new movement in Hollywood during the 1970s. He is known for his many films that go from violent pictures, to Hitchcock-like thrillers. Born on September 11, 1940, De Palma was born in Newark, New Jersey in an Italian-American ...

Star score: 59 — Number of films seen: 6 — Favorites: The Untouchables (1987), Carrie (1976), Carlito's Way (1993), Blow Out (1981), Scarface (1983), Mission: Impossible (1996)

48. Raoul Walsh

Editor | The Birth of a Nation

Raoul Walsh's 52-year directorial career made him a Hollywood legend. Walsh was also an actor: He appeared in the first version of W. Somerset Maugham's "Rain" renamed Sadie Thompson (1928) opposite Gloria Swanson in the title role. He would have played the Cisco Kid in his own film In Old Arizona ...

Star score: 59 — Number of films seen: 6 — Favorites: The Roaring Twenties (1939), White Heat (1949), High Sierra (1941), The Enforcer (1951), They Drive by Night (1940), Action in the North Atlantic (1943)

49. James Mangold

Producer | Logan

James Mangold is an American film and television director, screenwriter and producer. Films he has directed include Girl, Interrupted (1999), Walk the Line (2005), which he also co-wrote, the 2007 remake 3:10 to Yuma (2007), The Wolverine (2013), and Logan (2017).

Mangold also wrote and directed Cop...

Star score: 58 — Number of films seen: 6 — Favorites: Walk the Line (2005), 3:10 to Yuma (2007), Ford v Ferrari (2019), Logan (2017), Girl, Interrupted (1999), Cop Land (1997)

50. John Hughes

Writer | Planes, Trains & Automobiles

John Hughes was an American film director, film producer, and screenwriter. He was credited for creating some of the most memorable comedy films of the 1980s and the 1990s, when he was at the height of his career. He had a talent for writing coming-of-age stories, and for depicting fairly realistic...

Star score: 57 — Number of films seen: 6 — Favorites: The Breakfast Club (1985), Uncle Buck (1989), Ferris Bueller's Day Off (1986), Planes, Trains & Automobiles (1987), Sixteen Candles (1984), Weird Science (1985)

51. Chad Stahelski

Producer | John Wick: Chapter 4

He came from a kick-boxing background; he entered the film field as a stunt performer at the age of 24. Before that, he worked as an instructor at the Inosanto Martial Arts Academy in California, teaching Jeet Kune Do/Jun Fan. After doing numerous roles in low budget martial art movies like Mission...

Star score: 57 — Number of films seen: 4 — Favorites: John Wick: Chapter 3 - Parabellum (2019), John Wick: Chapter 4 (2023), John Wick: Chapter 2 (2017), John Wick (2014)

52. John Landis

Director | The Blues Brothers

John Landis began his career in the mail room of 20th Century-Fox. A high-school dropout, 18-year-old Landis made his way to Yugoslavia to work as a production assistant on Kelly's Heroes (1970). Remaining in Europe, Landis found work as an actor, extra and stuntman in many of the Spanish/Italian "...

Star score: 57 — Number of films seen: 6 — Favorites: National Lampoon's Animal House (1978), Trading Places (1983), Coming to America (1988), Three Amigos! (1986), An American Werewolf in London (1981), The Blues Brothers (1980)

53. Sam Mendes

Producer | 1917

Samuel Alexander Mendes was born on August 1, 1965 in Reading, England, UK to parents James Peter Mendes, a retired university lecturer, and Valerie Helene Mendes, an author who writes children's books. Their marriage didn't last long, James divorced Sam's mother in 1970 when Sam was just 5-...

Star score: 55 — Number of films seen: 5 — Favorites: American Beauty (1999), 1917 (2019), Road to Perdition (2002), Jarhead (2005), Revolutionary Road (2008)

54. Otto Preminger

Actor | Stalag 17

Otto Ludwig Preminger was born in Wiznitz, Bukovina, Austria-Hungary. His father was a prosecutor, and Otto originally intended to follow his father into a law career; however, he fell in love with the theater in his 20's and became one of the most imaginative stage producers and directors. He was ...

Star score: 55 — Number of films seen: 5 — Favorites: Anatomy of a Murder (1959), Laura (1944), Advise & Consent (1962), Angel Face (1952), In Harm's Way (1965)

55. Norman Jewison

Director | Jesus Christ Superstar

Norman Jewison was an award-winning, internationally acclaimed filmmaker who produced and directed some of the world's most memorable, entertaining and socially important films, exploring controversial and complicated subjects and giving them a universal accessibility. Some of his most well-known ...

Star score: 54 — Number of films seen: 5 — Favorites: In the Heat of the Night (1967), The Hurricane (1999), And Justice for All (1979), A Soldier's Story (1984), The Cincinnati Kid (1965)

56. David Zucker

Writer | Airplane!

Born on October 16, 1947 in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, USA, director/writer/producer David Zucker, along with brother Jerry (Ghost, 1990) Zucker and longtime friend, Jim (Hot Shots, 1991) Abrahams, has established himself among Hollywood's (or at least Wisconsin's) most successful filmmakers.

Starting ...

Star score: 54 — Number of films seen: 5 — Favorites: Airplane! (1980), The Naked Gun: from the Files of Police Squad! (1988), BASEketball (1998), The Naked Gun 2½: The Smell of Fear (1991), Top Secret! (1984)

57. Martin Ritt

Director | Hud

Martin Ritt, one of the best and most sensitive American filmmakers of all time, was a director, actor and playwright who worked in both film and theater. He was born in New York City. His films reflect, like almost none other, a profound and intimate humane vision of his characters.

He originally ...

Star score: 52 — Number of films seen: 5 — Favorites: The Long, Hot Summer (1958), Hombre (1967), Hud (1963), Paris Blues (1961), Edge of the City (1957)

58. Paul Thomas Anderson

Director | Punch-Drunk Love

Anderson was born in 1970. He was one of the first of the "video store" generation of film-makers. His father was the first man on his block to own a V.C.R., and from a very early age Anderson had an infinite number of titles available to him. While film-makers like Spielberg cut their teeth making...

Star score: 52 — Number of films seen: 6 — Favorites: Magnolia (1999), Punch-Drunk Love (2002), Hard Eight (1996), Boogie Nights (1997), There Will Be Blood (2007), The Master (2012)

59. Don Siegel

Director | Dirty Harry

Don Siegel was educated at Cambridge University, England. In Hollywood from the mid-'30s, he began his career as an editor and second unit director. In 1945 he directed two shorts (Hitler Lives (1945) and Star in the Night (1945)) which both won Academy Awards. His first feature as a director was ...

Star score: 52 — Number of films seen: 6 — Favorites: Dirty Harry (1971), The Beguiled (1971), Two Mules for Sister Sara (1970), Invasion of the Body Snatchers (1956), Escape from Alcatraz (1979), The Shootist (1976)

60. Ivan Reitman

Producer | Up in the Air

Canadian producer and director Ivan Reitman created many of American cinema's most successful and best loved feature film comedies and worked with Hollywood's acting elite. Reitman produced such hits as the ground-breaking sensation National Lampoon's National Lampoon's Animal House (1978), which ...

Star score: 52 — Number of films seen: 7 — Favorites: Kindergarten Cop (1990), Ghostbusters (1984), Ghostbusters II (1989), Draft Day (2014), Stripes (1981), Dave (1993), Twins (1988)

61. Michael Mann

Producer | The Insider

As a director, screenwriter, and producer, four-time Academy Award nominee Michael Mann has established himself as one of the most innovative and influential filmmakers in American cinema. After writing and directing the Primetime Emmy Award-winning television movie The Jericho Mile (1979), Mann ...

Star score: 51 — Number of films seen: 5 — Favorites: Heat (1995), Collateral (2004), The Insider (1999), Public Enemies (2009), Ali (2001)

62. Mike Nichols

Director | The Graduate

He, along with the other members of the "Compass Players" including Elaine May, Paul Sills, Byrne Piven, Joyce Hiller Piven and Edward Asner helped start the famed "Second City Improv" company. They used the games taught to them by fellow cast mate, Paul Sills 's mother, Viola Spolin. He later ...

Star score: 50 — Number of films seen: 5 — Favorites: Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf? (1966), The Graduate (1967), Charlie Wilson's War (2007), Closer (2004), Regarding Henry (1991)

63. Jim Abrahams

Writer | Airplane!

Jim Abrahams was born on May 10, 1944 in Shorewood, Wisconsin, USA. He is a writer and producer, known for Airplane! (1980), Top Secret! (1984) and Hot Shots! (1991). He is married to Nancy Cocuzzo.

Star score: 50 — Number of films seen: 5 — Favorites: Airplane! (1980), Hot Shots! Part Deux (1993), Hot Shots! (1991), ...First Do No Harm (1997 TV Movie), Top Secret! (1984)

64. Joseph L. Mankiewicz

Writer | All About Eve

Born in Wilkes-Barre, Pennsylvania, on February 11, 1909, Joseph Leo Mankiewicz first worked for the movies as a translator of intertitles, employed by Paramount in Berlin, the UFA's American distributor at the time (1928). He became a dialoguist, then a screenwriter on numerous Paramount ...

Star score: 48 — Number of films seen: 5 — Favorites: All About Eve (1950), Suddenly, Last Summer (1959), No Way Out (1950), The Barefoot Contessa (1954), Cleopatra (1963)

65. Martin McDonagh

Writer | In Bruges

Martin McDonagh was born on March 26, 1970 in Camberwell, London, England, UK. He is a writer and director, known for In Bruges (2008), Seven Psychopaths (2012) and Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri (2017).

Star score: 46 — Number of films seen: 4 — Favorites: The Banshees of Inisherin (2022), In Bruges (2008), Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri (2017), Seven Psychopaths (2012)

66. Amy Heckerling

Writer | Clueless

Amy Heckerling studied Film and TV at New York University and got a Masters Degree in Film from The American Film Institute. Despite this education she couldn't get a break in Hollywood. However, in 1982, she made Fast Times at Ridgemont High (1982), and people started to take notice. In 1985, ...

Star score: 46 — Number of films seen: 5 — Favorites: Fast Times at Ridgemont High (1982), Clueless (1995), National Lampoon's European Vacation (1985), Look Who's Talking (1989)

67. Harold Ramis

Writer | Ghostbusters

Born on November 21, 1944 in Chicago, Illinois, Harold Allen Ramis got his start in comedy as Playboy magazine's joke editor and reviewer. In 1969, he joined Chicago's Second City's Improvisational Theatre Troupe before moving to New York to help write and perform in "The National Lampoon Show" ...

Star score: 46 — Number of films seen: 4 — Favorites: Caddyshack (1980), Groundhog Day (1993), National Lampoon's Vacation (1983), Analyze This (1999)

68. Joel Schumacher

Director | The Phantom of the Opera

Joel Schumacher was an American film director, film producer, screenwriter and fashion designer from New York City. He rose to fame in the 1980s for directing the coming-of-age drama "St. Elmo's Fire" (1985), and the vampire-themed horror film "The Lost Boys" (1987). In the 1990s, he worked on two ...

Star score: 46 — Number of films seen: 6 — Favorites: A Time to Kill (1996), Falling Down (1993), Phone Booth (2002), Tigerland (2000), Batman Forever (1995), The Lost Boys (1987)

69. John Carpenter

Writer | The Fog

John Howard Carpenter was born in Carthage, New York, to mother Milton Jean (Carter) and father Howard Ralph Carpenter. His family moved to Bowling Green, Kentucky, where his father, a professor, was head of the music department at Western Kentucky University. He attended Western Kentucky ...

Star score: 45 — Number of films seen: 4 — Favorites: The Thing (1982), Halloween (1978), Christine (1983), Big Trouble in Little China (1986)

70. John Lee Hancock

Writer | The Blind Side

John Lee Hancock was born on December 15, 1956 in Longview, Texas, USA. He is a writer and director, known for The Blind Side (2009), Saving Mr. Banks (2013) and The Highwaymen (2019).

Star score: 44 — Number of films seen: 5 — Favorites: The Founder (2016), Saving Mr. Banks (2013), The Blind Side (2009), The Highwaymen (2019), The Little Things (2021)

71. Robert Aldrich

Director | Emperor of the North Pole

Robert Aldrich entered the film industry in 1941 when he got a job as a production clerk at RKO Radio Pictures. He soon worked his way up to script clerk, then became an assistant director, a production manager and an associate producer. He began writing and directing for TV series in the early ...

Star score: 44 — Number of films seen: 5 — Favorites: What Ever Happened to Baby Jane? (1962), The Flight of the Phoenix (1965), Hush...Hush, Sweet Charlotte (1964), The Dirty Dozen (1967), The Longest Yard (1974)

72. W.S. Van Dyke

Director | The Thin Man

For the better part of his career, Woodbridge Strong Van Dyke lived up to his sobriquet "One-Take Woody" by steadfastly adhering to his credo of shooting each scene as quickly and efficiently as possible. Over his 25-year career, he economically directed over 90 diverse entertainments, which not ...

Star score: 44 — Number of films seen: 4 — Favorites: The Thin Man (1934), After the Thin Man (1936), Another Thin Man (1939), Shadow of the Thin Man (1941)

73. Joseph Sargent

Director | Jaws: The Revenge

Joseph Sargent was born on July 22, 1925 in Jersey City, New Jersey, USA. He was a director and actor, known for Jaws: The Revenge (1987), The Taking of Pelham One Two Three (1974) and Nightmares (1983). He was married to Carolyn Nelson and Mary Carver. He died on December 22, 2014 in Malibu, ...

Star score: 44 — Number of films seen: 5 — Favorites: Something the Lord Made (2004 TV Movie), The Taking of Pelham One Two Three (1974), Mandela and de Klerk (1997 TV Movie), Miss Evers' Boys (1997 TV Movie), A Lesson Before Dying (1999 TV Movie)

74. Ben Affleck

Producer | Argo

Benjamin Géza "Ben" Affleck-Boldt was born on August 15, 1972 in Berkeley, California and raised in Cambridge, Massachusetts, to mother Chris Anne (Boldt), a school teacher, and father Timothy Byers "Tim" Affleck, a social worker. Ben has a younger brother, actor Casey Affleck, who was born in 1975...

Star score: 43 — Number of films seen: 4 — Favorites: Air (2023), Gone Baby Gone (2007), The Town (2010), Argo (2012)

75. James Gunn

Writer | Guardians of the Galaxy

James Gunn was born and raised in St. Louis, Missouri, to Leota and James Francis Gunn. He is from a large Catholic family, with Irish and Czech ancestry. His father and his uncles were all lawyers. He has been writing and performing as long as he can remember. He began making 8mm films at the age ...

Star score: 43 — Number of films seen: 4 — Favorites: Guardians of the Galaxy (2014), Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2 (2017), Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3 (2023), The Suicide Squad (2021)

76. Sylvester Stallone

Actor | Rocky

Sylvester Stallone is an athletically built, dark-haired American actor/screenwriter/director/producer, the movie fans worldwide have been flocking to see Stallone's films for over 40 years, making "Sly" one of Hollywood's biggest-ever box office draws.

Sylvester Stallone was born on July 6, 1946, ...

Star score: 43 — Number of films seen: 5 — Favorites: Rocky II (1979), Rocky IV (1985), Rocky III (1982), Rambo (2008), Rocky Balboa (2006)

77. Peter Weir

Director | Master and Commander: The Far Side of the World

Peter Weir was born on August 21, 1944 in Sydney, New South Wales, Australia. He is a director and writer, known for Master and Commander: The Far Side of the World (2003), The Way Back (2010) and Witness (1985). He has been married to Wendy Stites since 1966. They have two children.

Star score: 43 — Number of films seen: 4 — Favorites: The Truman Show (1998), Dead Poets Society (1989), The Way Back (2010), Witness (1985)

78. Wolfgang Petersen

Director | Das Boot

A controversial film maker, Wolfgang Petersen has at once been lauded for his professionalism and attention to detail and decried for turning out a string of standard commercial Hollywood blockbusters. The son of a naval officer, Petersen held a lifelong fascination with the sea and naval subjects....

Star score: 43 — Number of films seen: 4 — Favorites: Das Boot (1981), The NeverEnding Story (1984), In the Line of Fire (1993), Outbreak (1995)

79. Lasse Hallström

Director | What's Eating Gilbert Grape

Lasse Hallström inherited his enthusiasm for film from his father, who was an amateur filmmaker. In high school he made his first short film, which was released on Swedish television. Hallström then began working as a director, cameraman and editor for Swedish television. He also made music videos ...

Star score: 43 — Number of films seen: 4 — Favorites: Hachi: A Dog's Tale (2009), A Dog's Purpose (2017), The Cider House Rules (1999), What's Eating Gilbert Grape (1993)

80. Denis Villeneuve

Director | Dune

Denis Villeneuve is a French Canadian film director and writer. He was born in 1967, in Trois-Rivières, Québec, Canada. He started his career as a filmmaker at the National Film Board of Canada. He is best known for his feature films Arrival (2016), Sicario (2015), Prisoners (2013), Enemy (2013), ...

Star score: 43 — Number of films seen: 4 — Favorites: Prisoners (2013), Arrival (2016), Enemy (2013), Sicario (2015)

81. Sam Raimi

Director | Spider-Man

Highly inventive U.S. film director/producer/writer/actor Sam Raimi first came to the attention of film fans with the savage, yet darkly humorous, low-budget horror film, The Evil Dead (1981). From his childhood, Raimi was a fan of the cinema and, before he was ten-years-old, he was out making ...

Star score: 43 — Number of films seen: 5 — Favorites: A Simple Plan (1998), The Evil Dead (1981), Evil Dead II (1987), Spider-Man (2002), Spider-Man 2 (2004)

82. Todd Phillips

Producer | Joker

Todd Phillips is an American film director, producer, and screenwriter.

Growing up on Long Island, New York, Todd Phillips fell in love with feature film teen comedies made in the 1980s, and claims they were his biggest influence in becoming a filmmaker. While studying film at New York University, ...

Star score: 42 — Number of films seen: 5 — Favorites: Joker (2019), War Dogs (2016), Old School (2003), Road Trip (2000), The Hangover (2009)

83. George Lucas

Writer | Star Wars

George Walton Lucas, Jr. was raised on a walnut ranch in Modesto, California. His father was a stationery store owner and he had three siblings. During his late teen years, he went to Thomas Downey High School and was very much interested in drag racing. He planned to become a professional racecar ...

Star score: 41 — Number of films seen: 5 — Favorites: Star Wars: Episode IV - A New Hope (1977), Star Wars: Episode III - Revenge of the Sith (2005), Star Wars: Episode II - Attack of the Clones (2002), American Graffiti (1973)

84. Elia Kazan

Director | On the Waterfront

Known for his creative stage direction, Elia Kazan was born Elias Kazantzoglou on September 7, 1909 in Constantinople, Ottoman Empire (now Istanbul, Turkey). Noted for drawing out the best dramatic performances from his actors, he directed 21 actors to Oscar nominations, resulting in nine wins. He ...

Star score: 40 — Number of films seen: 4 — Favorites: A Streetcar Named Desire (1951), East of Eden (1955), On the Waterfront (1954), A Face in the Crowd (1957)

85. Fritz Lang

Actor | Le mépris

Fritz Lang was born in Vienna, Austria, in 1890. His father managed a construction company. His mother, Pauline Schlesinger, was Jewish but converted to Catholicism when Lang was ten. After high school, he enrolled briefly at the Technische Hochschule Wien and then started to train as a painter. ...

Star score: 40 — Number of films seen: 4 — Favorites: Fury (1936), Scarlet Street (1945), The Woman in the Window (1944), M (1931)

86. John Sturges

Director | The Great Escape

John Sturges was an American film director, mostly remembered for his outstanding Western films. In 1992, Sturges was awarded a Golden Boot Award for his lifelong contribution to the Western genre.

Sturges was born in the village of Oak Park, Illinois, within the Chicago metropolitan area. By 1930, ...

Star score: 40 — Number of films seen: 4 — Favorites: The Magnificent Seven (1960), The Great Escape (1963), Bad Day at Black Rock (1955), Gunfight at the O.K. Corral (1957)

87. Vincent Sherman

Director | Affair in Trinidad

Vincent Sherman was born on July 16, 1906 in Vienna, Georgia, USA. He was a director and actor, known for Affair in Trinidad (1952), Counsellor at Law (1933) and All Through the Night (1942). He was married to Hedda Comoraw. He died on June 18, 2006 in Woodland Hills, Los Angeles, California, USA.

Star score: 40 — Number of films seen: 5 — Favorites: The Young Philadelphians (1959), Old Acquaintance (1943), The Damned Don't Cry (1950), All Through the Night (1942), Across the Pacific (1942)

88. Gavin O'Connor

Producer | The Accountant

Gavin O'Connor was born on December 24, 1963 in Huntington, Long Island, New York, USA. He is a producer and director, known for The Accountant (2016), Pride and Glory (2008) and Warrior (2011). He has been married to Brooke Burns since June 22, 2013. They have one child. He was previously married ...

Star score: 40 — Number of films seen: 4 — Favorites: Warrior (2011), Miracle (2004), Pride and Glory (2008), The Accountant (2016)

89. Vincente Minnelli

Director | An American in Paris

Born Lester Anthony Minnelli in Chicago on February 28 1903, his father Vincent was a musical conductor of the Minnelli Brothers' Tent Theater. Wanting to pursue an artistic career, Minelli worked in the costume department of the Chicago Theater, then on Broadway during the depression as a set ...

Star score: 40 — Number of films seen: 4 — The Bad and the Beautiful (1952), Lust for Life (1956), Father of the Bride (1950), Home from the Hill (1960)

90. Alexander Payne

Director | Nebraska

Director, producer and screenwriter Alexander Payne was born in Omaha, Nebraska. His parents, Peggy (Constantine) and George Payne, ran a Greek restaurant. His father is of Greek and German ancestry, and his mother is of Greek descent; the family name was originally Papadopoulos. He is the youngest...

Star score: 40 — Number of films seen: 5 — Favorites: About Schmidt (2002), The Holdovers (2023), The Descendants (2011), Election (1999), Nebraska (2013)

91. Anthony Mann

Director | El Cid

Anthony Mann was born on June 30, 1906 in San Diego, California, USA. He was a director and writer, known for El Cid (1961), Men in War (1957) and The Glenn Miller Story (1954). He was married to Anna, Sara Montiel and Mildred Mann. He died on April 29, 1967 in London, England.

Star score: 40 — Number of films seen: 5 — Favorites: Winchester '73 (1950), Bend of the River (1952), The Man from Laramie (1955), The Glenn Miller Story (1954), The Far Country (1954)

92. Mark Robson

Director | Peyton Place

Mark Robson studied political science and economics at the University of California. He then took a law course at Pacific Coast University, and, at one time, also attended the U.S. Naval Academy in Annapolis. Ultimately, his interests led him elsewhere, since he ended up in the movie business as a ...

Star score: 40 — Number of films seen: 5 — Favorites: Champion (1949), The Harder They Fall (1956), From the Terrace (1960), The Prize (1963), The Bridges at Toko-Ri (1954)

93. Pete Docter

Writer | Up

Pete Docter is the Oscar®-winning director of "Monsters, Inc.," "Up," and "Inside Out," and Chief Creative Officer at Pixar Animation Studios. He is currently directing Pixar's feature film "Soul" with producer Dana Murray, which is set to release June 19, 2020.

Starting at Pixar in 1990 as the ...

Star score: 40 — Number of films seen: 4 — Favorites: Up (2009), Inside Out (2015), Soul (2020), Monsters, Inc. (2001)

94. Robert Harmon

Director | The Hitcher

Robert Harmon attended film school at Boston University and worked for many years as a still photographer prior to embarking on a film career. Harmon worked as a still photographer on the movies "Roller Boogie," "Fade to Black," and "Hell Night." He was a second unit camera operator on "They Call ...

Star score: 40 — Number of films seen: 5 — Favorites: The Hitcher (1986), Jesse Stone: Stone Cold (2005 TV Movie), Jesse Stone: Night Passage (2006 TV Movie), Jesse Stone: Death in Paradise (2006 TV Movie), Jesse Stone: Sea Change (2007 TV Movie)

95. Edgar Wright

Director | Shaun of the Dead

Edgar Howard Wright (born 18 April 1974) is an English director, screenwriter, producer, and actor. He is best known for his comedic Three Flavours Cornetto film trilogy consisting of Shaun of the Dead (2004), Hot Fuzz (2007), and The World's End (2013), made with recurrent collaborators Simon Pegg...

Star score: 39 — Number of films seen: 4 — Favorites: Baby Driver (2017), Shaun of the Dead (2004), Hot Fuzz (2007), Scott Pilgrim vs. the World (2010)

96. John Frankenheimer

Director | The Manchurian Candidate

Born in New York and raised in Queens, John Frankenheimer wanted to become a professional tennis player. He loved movies and his favorite actor was Robert Mitchum. He decided he wanted to be an actor but then he applied for and was accepted in the Motion Picture Squadron of the Air Force where he ...

Star score: 39 — Number of films seen: 4 — Favorites: Seven Days in May (1964), Birdman of Alcatraz (1962), The Train (1964), Ronin (1998)

97. William A. Wellman

Director | A Star Is Born

William Wellman, the Oscar-winning screenwriter-director of the original A Star Is Born (1937), was called "Wild Bill" during his World War I service as an aviator, a nickname that persisted in Hollywood due to his larger-than-life personality and lifestyle.

A leap-year baby born in 1896 on the 29th...

Star score: 39 — Number of films seen: 4 — Favorites: The Ox-Bow Incident (1942), The Public Enemy (1931), Good-bye, My Lady (1956), Blood Alley (1955)

98. Andrew Stanton

Writer | WALL·E

Andrew Stanton has been a major creative force at Pixar Animation Studios since 1990, when he became the second animator and ninth employee to join the company's elite group of computer animation pioneers. As Vice President, Creative he currently oversees all shorts and feature projects at the ...

Star score: 39 — Number of films seen: 4 — Favorites: WALL·E (2008), Finding Nemo (2003), Finding Dory (2016), A Bug's Life (1998)

99. Jay Chandrasekhar

Director | Super Troopers

Jay Chandrasekhar was born on April 9, 1968 in Chicago, Illinois, USA. He is a director and actor, known for Super Troopers (2001), Club Dread (2004) and Beerfest (2006). He has been married to Susan Clarke since September 18, 2005. They have three children.

Star score: 38 — Number of films seen: 3 — Favorites: Super Troopers (2001), Beerfest (2006), Super Troopers 2 (2018)

100. Christopher Guest

Actor | This Is Spinal Tap

U.S.-born actor, director, writer, musician, and composer best known for his mockumentaries, poking fun at heavy metal music, small town theatre, dog shows, folk music and film-making itself, Christopher Haden-Guest was born February fifth, 1948, in New York City. His mother, Jean Pauline (Hindes),...

Star score: 37 — Number of films seen: 4 — Favorites: Best in Show (2000), Waiting for Guffman (1996), A Mighty Wind (2003), The Big Picture (1989)