The 100 Greatest Directors of All-Time 2.0: The Complete List

George Lucas and Steven Spielberg present a special Oscar to their hero: Akira Kurosawa

So, does this supersede my original list?  Well, lists are always organic – they grow and evolve over time.  I’ve fiddled with some of the categories and new films have come out and I’ve seen more films from some directors.  So, my original list was what it was in October of 2009.  This is where I am now, two years later, and one year overdue.  The list will continue to evolve over time.  The list never quite stops.  But here’s where I put it up.

I will remind people again that if you don’t see a director and you’re wondering why, please check the Introduction first.  It became clear on the original list that people didn’t read that instruction.  Please don’t repeat that.  And don’t ask about Godard.  See the Intro.

Also, we’ll again find out who reads this part, the film in parenthesis is not necessarily their best film (hell, with Mankiewicz, it’s his worst).  But it is the film I chose to write about, for whatever reason.

 

The History of the Academy Awards: Best Director (ranked – bare bones edition)

Roberto Benigni is not the worst director ever nominated for an Oscar - but he's close

210 directors.  That’s how many directors, over the course of the Academy Awards, have been nominated for Best Director.  And I’ve gone through and ranked them all.

Now, I will do a much longer piece and go into much greater detail on each director.  But, since this is the bare bones edition, I have only listed rank, name, points and what they earned Oscar nominations for (bold is for winners).

I have spent much of the past year watching as many films from these directors as possible.  I have seen over 80% of all the films directed by them – which is difficult, given a lot of the films from the older directors.  But all of that, as well as a detailed description of the scoring will come later this fall, as will the updated list of Top 100 Directors (it was waiting for this project to be finished).  At the moment, if all you care about is my ranking, feel free to start griping.  But remember – Godard was never nominated for an Oscar, so I don’t want to hear anything about him.  If you want to worship him, your beef is with the Academy this time, not with me.

One caveat I should note.  I have not seen Tree of Life.  And because Malick has made so few films, if I find it to be truly great, it has the potential to raise him 20 spots on the list.  If I hate it, which I suppose is possible, he could drop about 10.  That is the range available.

 

Top 100 Novels #35: Great Expectations

My Harper Perennial Classic copy of Great Expectations

Great Expectations

• Author:  Charles Dickens  (1812  -  1870)
• Rank:  #35
• Published:  1861
• Publisher:  Chapman & Hall
• Pages:  495
• First Line:  “My father’s family name being Pirrip and my christian name Philip, my infant tongue could make of both names nothing longer or more explicit than Pip.”
• Last Line:  “I took her hand in mine, and we went out of the ruined place; and, as the morning mists had risen long ago when I first left the forge, so the evening mists were rising now, and in all the broad expanse of tranquil light they showed to me, I saw the shadow of no parting from her.”
• ML Edition:  Modern Library Classics (2001) – surprisingly, never in hardcover
• Film: many – most notably 1946 (**** – David Lean), 1998 (*** – Alfonso Cuarón)
• First Read:  Spring, 1989

 

The Best of the Nighthawk Awards: The 1980′s

Who Framed Roger Rabbit (1988) - the best film of 1988 and the best animated film of the 80's

1980  -  1989

Total Films I’ve Seen:  942

Films That Make the Top 5 in Any Category:  43

Best Film Not to Make the Top 5 in Any Category:  Platoon

Film of the Decade:  Raiders of the Lost Ark

Worst Film of the Decade:  Human Highway

Worst Best Picture Nominee of the Decade:  Fatal Attraction

Worst Film of the Decade Made by a Top 100 Director:  Phobia

 

The History of the Academy Awards: Best Picture – 1984

Tom Hulce (Oscar nominee) and F. Murray Abraham (Oscar winner) in 1984's Best Picture: Amadeus

The 57th annual Academy Awards, for the film year 1984.  The nominations were announced on February 6, 1985 and the awards were held on March 25, 1985.

Best Picture:  Amadeus

• A Passage to India
• The Killing Fields
• A Soldier’s Story
• Places in the Heart

Most Surprising Omission:  Broadway Danny Rose

Best Eligible Film Not Nominated:  This is Spinal Tap

Rank (out of 82) Among Best Picture Years:  #15

 

The Year in Film: 1984

Tom Hulce is brilliant as Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart

My Top 20:

1. Amadeus
2. A Passage to India
3. The Killing Fields
4. This is Spinal Tap
5. Ghostbusters
6. Broadway Danny Rose
7. Under the Volcano
8. A Soldier’s Story
9. Once Upon a Time in America
10. The Cotton Club
11. The Bounty
12. Gremlins
13. Beverly Hills Cop
14. Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom
15. The Hit
16. Romancing the Stone
17. Dangerous Moves
18. After the Rehearsal
19. Entre Nous
20. Sixteen Candles

 

The Best of the Nighthawk Awards: The 1960′s

101 Dalmations - the best of a weak decade for animation

1960 – 1969

Total Films I’ve Seen:  801

Films That Make the Top 5 in Any Category:  40

Best Film Not to Make the Top 5 in Any Category:  Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid

Film of the Decade:  Bonnie and Clyde

Worst Film of the Decade:  Horrors of Spider Island

Worst Best Picture Nominee of the Decade:  Doctor Dolittle

Worst Film of the Decade Made by a Top 100 Director:  Tonight for Sure

 

The History of the Academy Awards: Best Picture – 1965

Julie Andrews singing one of the few songs in The Sound of Music (1965) that doesn't make me want to slam my head into a wall

The 38th annual Academy Awards, for the film year 1965.  The nominations were announced on February 21, 1966 and the awards were held on April 18, 1966.

Best Picture:  The Sound of Music

• Doctor Zhivago
• Darling
• A Thousand Clowns
• Ship of Fools

Most Surprising Omission:  The Collector

Best Eligible Film Not Nominated:  The Pawnbroker

Rank (out of 82) Among Best Picture Years:  #63

 

The Year in Film: 1965

Omar Sharif and Alec Guinness as the half-brothers in David Lean's Doctor Zhivago (1965)

My Top 20:

1. Doctor Zhivago
2. The Pawnbroker
3. Repulsion
4. The Collector
5. Darling
6. King Rat
7. The Umbrellas of Cherbourg
8. Othello
9. Thunderball
10. Simon of the Desert
11. A Thousand Clowns
12. Major Dundee
13. Kwaidan
14. The Hill
15. Viva Maria
16. The Train
17. Help
18. The Ipcress File
19. Red Desert
20. The Spy Who Came in from the Cold

 

The History of the Academy Awards: Best Picture – 1962

"The trick, William Potter, is not minding that it hurts."

The 35th Academy Awards for the film year 1962.  The nominations were announced on February 25, 1963 and the awards were held on April 8, 1963.

Best Picture:  Lawrence of Arabia

• To Kill a Mockingbird
• The Music Man
• The Longest Day
• Mutiny on the Bounty

Most Surprising Omission:  The Miracle Worker

Best Eligible Film Not Nominated:  The Man Who Shot Liberty Valance

Rank (out of 82) Among Best Picture Years:  #38