© 2009, William L. Sinclair
Film Count, Director, [their top ranked film], overall point total
(photo rt is from Godard's Jules et Jim)
- 16 - Ford, John [Searchers, The (1956) #46 ] - 32142
- 16 - Godard, Jean-Luc [Contempt (1963) #74 ] - 31243
- 14 - Hitchcock, Alfred [Vertigo (1958) #6 ] - 55352
- 13 - Buñuel, Luis [Discreet Charm of the Bourgeoisie, The (1972) #88 ] - 29977
- 12 - Bergman, Ingmar [Seventh Seal, The (1956) #29 ] - 27032
- 12 - Scorsese, Martin [Taxi Driver (1976) #12 ] - 37474
- 11 - Fellini, Federico [8½ (1963) #37 ] - 27722
- 11 - Hawks, Howard [Bringing Up Baby (1938) #118 ] - 25560
- 11 - Kurosawa, Akira [Seven Samurai, The (1954) #7 ] - 33022
- 10 - Kubrick, Stanley [2001: A Space Odyssey (1968) #2 ] - 42161
- 10 - Lang, Fritz [M (1931) #11 ] - 22392
- 10 - Renoir, Jean [Rules of the Game, The (1939) #44 ] - 21204
- 10 - Rossellini, Roberto [Paisan (1946) #166 ] - 16058
- 9 - Visconti, Luchino [Rocco and His Brothers (1964) #237 ] - 15186
- 8 - Bresson, Robert [Au Hasard Balthazar (1966) #93 ] - 20832
- 8 - Chaplin, Charles [City Lights (1931) #21 ] - 31835
- 8 - Eastwood, Clint [Unforgiven (1992) #91 ] - 15976
- 8 - Huston, John [Treasure of the Sierra Madre, The (1948) #62 ] - 20190
- 8 - Ophuls, Max [Earrings of Madame de..., The (1953) #264 ] - 13588
- 8 - Powell, Michael [Peeping Tom (1960) #360 ] - 17464
- 8 - Wilder, Billy [Sunset Boulevard (1950) #14 ] - 27448
- 7 - Altman, Robert [Nashville (1975) #192 ] - 13854
- 7 - Cassavetes, John [Woman Under the Influence, A (1974) #176 ] - 15564
- 7 - Eisenstein, Sergei [Battleship Potemkin (1925) #100 ] - 17070
- 7 - Fassbinder, Rainer Werner [Berlin Alexanderplatz (1980) #196 ] - 11128
- 7 - Keaton, Buster [Sherlock Jr. (1924) #89 ] - 19724
- 7 - Kiarostami, Abbas [Close-Up (1990) #189 ] - 10769
- 7 - Spielberg, Steven [Schindler's List (1993) #27 ] - 28694
- 7 - Tarkovsky, Andrei [Solaris (1972) #263 ] - 13200
- 7 - Truffaut, François [Jules et Jim (1961) #59 ] - 17238
- 7 - Welles, Orson [Citizen Kane (1941) #5 ] - 24090
- 6 - Allen, Woody [Annie Hall (1977) #77 ] - 15039
- 6 - Antonioni, Michelangelo [L'Avventura (1960) #187 ] - 14434
- 6 - Coen Ethan and Joel [No Country for Old Men (2007) #165 ] - 13163
- 6 - Kieslowski, Krszystof [Dekalog (1988) #235 ] - 8974
- 6 - Lean, David [Lawrence of Arabia (1962) #50 ] - 22668
- 6 - Lubitsch, Ernst [Trouble in Paradise (1932) #234 ] - 11804
- 6 - Minnelli, Vincente [Meet Me in St. Louis (1944) #288 ] - 10068
- 6 - Mizoguchi, Kenji [Ugetsu (1953) #58 ] - 13300
- 6 - Ray, Nicholas [Rebel Without a Cause (1955) #280 ] - 10052
- 6 - Resnais, Alain [Last Year at Marienbad (1961) #215 ] - 11250
- 6 - von Sternberg, Josef [Blue Angel, The (1930) #269 ] - 8170
- 5 - Cukor, George [Philadelphia Story, The (1940) #148 ] - 9614
- 5 - Dreyer, Carl Theodor [Passion of Joan of Arc, The (1928) #51 ] - 16068
- 5 - Hou Hsiao-Hsien [Time to Live and the Time to Die, The (1985) #500 ] - 5802
- 5 - Kazan, Elia [On the Waterfront (1954) #67 ] - 11952
- 5 - Lynch, David [Elephant Man, The (1980) #193 ] - 10266
- 5 - Murnau, F.W. [Sunrise (1928) #38 ] - 16168
- 5 - Ozu, Yasujiro [Tokyo Story (1953) #57 ] - 10218
- 5 - Pasolini, Pier Paolo [Gospel According to St. Matthew, The (1964) #103 ] - 10760
- 5 - Peckinpah, Sam [Wild Bunch, The (1969) #87 ] - 8998
- 5 - Polanski, Roman [Chinatown (1974) #3 ] - 17376
- 5 - Ray, Satyajit [Pather Panchali / Apu Trilogy I (1955) #32 ] - 14988
- 5 - Roeg, Nicolas [Don't Look Now (1973) #301 ] - 8966
- 5 - Sirk, Douglas [All That Heaven Allows (1955) #233 ] - 9604
- 5 - Sturges, Preston [Lady Eve, The (1941) #92 ] - 13162
- 5 - Vidor, King [Crowd, The (1928) #355 ] - 6759
- 4 - Almodóvar, Pedro [All About My Mother (1999) #283 ] - 6825
- 4 - Bertolucci, Bernardo [Conformist, The (1970) #76 ] - 9788
- 4 - Cameron, James [Aliens (1986) #159 ] - 12253
- 4 - Capra, Frank [It's a Wonderful Life (1946) #10 ] - 17564
- 4 - Carné, Marcel [Enfants du paradis, Les (1945) #183 ] - 8728
- 4 - Coppola, Francis [Godfather, The (1972) #1 ] - 26334
- 4 - De Sica, Vittorio [Bicycle Thief, The (1949) #16 ] - 15656
- 4 - Demy, Jacques [Umbrellas of Cherbourg, The (1964) #284 ] - 5954
- 4 - Donen, Stanley [Funny Face (1957) #735 ] - 9452
- 4 - Forman, Milos [One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest (1975) #54 ] - 12314
- 4 - Gilliam, Terry [Brazil (1985) #188 ] - 8783
- 4 - Herzog, Werner [Aguirre: The Wrath of God (1972) #72 ] - 8534
- 4 - Leone, Sergio [Once Upon a Time in the West (1968) #70 ] - 14418
- 4 - Lumet, Sidney [12 Angry Men (1957) #124 ] - 11976
- 4 - Mankiewicz, Joseph L. [All About Eve (1950) #33 ] - 9238
- 4 - McCarey, Leo [Duck Soup (1933) #41 ] - 10924
- 4 - Melville, Jean-Pierre [Army of Shadows (1969) #291 ] - 6086
- 4 - Miyazaki, Hayao [Spirited Away (2001) #255 ] - 7366
- 4 - Nolan, Christopher [Memento (2000) #354 ] - 7406
- 4 - Reiner, Rob [Princess Bride, The (1987) #371 ] - 6426
- 4 - Scott, Ridley [Blade Runner (1982) #13 ] - 16179
- 4 - Tarantino, Quentin [Pulp Fiction (1995) #20 ] - 12172
- 4 - Tourneur, Jacques [Out of the Past (1947) #236 ] - 6446
- 4 - von Stroheim, Erich [Greed (1924) #79 ] - 8234
- 4 - Weir, Peter [Truman Show, The (1998) #689 ] - 4172
- 4 - Wenders, Wim [Wings of Desire (1987) #245 ] - 7908
- 4 - Wyler, William [Best Years of Our Lives, The (1946) #102 ] - 11786
- 4 - Zhang Yimou [Raise the Red Lantern (1991) #298 ] - 5219
- 3 - Anderson, Paul Thomas [There Will Be Blood (2007) #180 ] - 7326
- 3 - Burton, Tim [Ed Wood (1994) #724 ] - 3188
- 3 - Carpenter, John [Halloween (1978) #317 ] - 6355
- 3 - Clair, René [Le Million (1931) #313 ] - 5410
- 3 - Cocteau, Jean [Belle et la bête, La (Beauty/Beast, 1946) #240 ] - 6196
- 3 - Cronenberg, David [Dead Ringers (1988) #349 ] - 4076
- 3 - Curtiz, Michael [Casablanca (1942) #47 ] - 10506
- 3 - De Palma, Brian [Scarface (1982) #210 ] - 5943
- 3 - Fincher, David [Fight Club (1999) #271 ] - 5768
- 3 - Frears, Stephen [Queen, The (2006) #479 ] - 3515
- 3 - Greengrass, Paul [Bourne Ultimatum, The (2007) #362 ] - 4640
- 3 - Griffith, D.W. [Intolerance (1916) #64 ] - 13198
- 3 - Jackson, Peter [Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring, The (2001) #84] - 12603
- 3 - Jarmusch, Jim [Stranger Than Paradise (1984) #628 ] - 3426
- 3 - Leigh, Mike [Secrets & Lies (1996) #376 ] - 4195
- 3 - Lucas, George [Star Wars (1978) #4 ] - 13743
- 3 - Malick, Terrence [Days of Heaven (1978) #260 ] - 6402
- 3 - Malle, Louis [Atlantic City (1980) #489 ] - 3290
- 3 - Pabst, G.W. [Pandora's Box (1928) #249 ] - 4430
- 3 - Reed, Carol [Third Man, The (1948) #15 ] - 9246
- 3 - Rivette, Jacques [Celine and Julie Go Boating (1974) #141 ] - 5542
- 3 - Rocha, Glauber [Black God, White Devil (1964) #528 ] - 4166
- 3 - Rohmer, Eric [My Night at Maud's (1969) #497 ] - 3630
- 3 - Sembene, Ousmane [Moolaadé (2004) #617 ] - 3419
- 3 - Sharpsteen, Ben [Fantasia (1940) #358 ] - 5690
- 3 - Stevens, George [Shane (1953) #282 ] - 6214
- 3 - Tati, Jacques [Playtime (1967) #209 ] - 7362
- 3 - Wise, Robert [Day the Earth Stood Still, The (1951) #318 ] - 7272
- 3 - Zinnemann, Fred [High Noon (1952) #106 ] - 6560
- 2 - Anderson, Lindsay [If… (1968) #534 ] - 2244
- 2 - Anderson, Wes [Rushmore (1998) #539 ] - 1987
- 2 - Angelopoulos, Theo [Landscape in the Mist (1988) #316 ] - 4282
- 2 - Aronofsky, Darren [Requiem for a Dream (2000) #459 ] - 3340
- 2 - Ashby, Hal [Harold and Maude (1971) #346 ] - 3310
- 2 - Becker, Jacques [Casque d'or (1952) #543 ] - 2282
- 2 - Bird, Brad [Incredibles, The (2004) #295 ] - 5333
- 2 - Boorman, John [Deliverance (1972) #309 ] - 4134
- 2 - Boyle, Danny [Slumdog Millionaire (2008) #232 ] - 5051
- 2 - Campion, Jane [Piano, The (1993) #81 ] - 5697
- 2 - Cantet, Laurent [Class, The (2008) #598 ] - 2475
- 2 - Chen Kaige [Farewell, My Concubine (1993) #452 ] - 2678
- 2 - Cimino, Michael [Deer Hunter, The (1978) #110 ] - 5202
- 2 - Clouzot, Henri-Georges [Wages of Fear, The (1952) #134 ] - 7390
- 2 - Crowe, Cameron [Almost Famous (2000) #677 ] - 2140
- 2 - Darabont, Frank [Shawshank Redemption, The (1994) #155 ] - 5234
- 2 - Dardenne, Jean-Pierre & Luc [L'Enfant (The Child, 2005) #800 ] - 1815
- 2 - Demme, Jonathan [Silence of the Lambs, The (1991) #90 ] - 5234
- 2 - Donen, Stanley/Gene Kelly [Singin' in the Rain (1952) #26 ] - 7604
- 2 - Dutt, Guru [Pyaasa (1957) #561 ] - 2416
- 2 - Edwards, Blake [Breakfast at Tiffany's (1961) #596 ] - 2560
- 2 - Flaherty, Robert [Nanook of the North (1922) #443 ] - 3362
- 2 - Fleming, Victor [Wizard of Oz, The (1939) #18 ] - 11132
- 2 - Forsyth, Bill [Local Hero (1983) #535 ] - 2362
- 2 - Fosse, Bob [Cabaret (1972) #276 ] - 4302
- 2 - Friedkin, William [Exorcist, The (1973) #143 ] - 5562
- 2 - Ghobadi, Bahman [Marooned in Iraq (2002) #854 ] - 1620
- 2 - Gilliam, Terry/Terry Jones [Monty Python and the Holy Grail (1975) #222 ] - 4330
- 2 - Hand, David [Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs (1937) #256 ] - 4136
- 2 - Hill, George Roy [Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid (1969) #149 ] - 5088
- 2 - Ichikawa, Kon [An Actor's Revenge (1963) #601 ] - 2278
- 2 - Jennings, Humphrey [Listen to Britain (1941) #563 ] - 2500
- 2 - Kalatozishvili, Mikheil [I Am Cuba (1964) #639 ] - 2186
- 2 - Kusturica, Emir [Underground (1995) #760 ] - 2184
- 2 - Lasseter, John [Toy Story (1995) #82 ] - 5588
- 2 - Lee, Ang [Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon (2000) #152 ] - 5452
- 2 - Lee, Spike [Do The Right Thing (1989) #112 ] - 5377
- 2 - Lester, Richard [Hard Day's Night, A (1964) #327 ] - 3849
- 2 - Linklater, Richard [Before Sunset (2004) #669 ] - 1936
- 2 - Loach, Ken [Kes (1969) #526 ] - 2344
- 2 - Mann, Anthony [Man of the West (1958) #805 ] - 1780
- 2 - Marker, Chris [La Jetee (1961) #184 ] - 4972
- 2 - Maysles, Albert/David Maysles/Charlotte Zwerin [Salesman (1968) #792 ] - 1708
- 2 - Meyer, Russ [Beyond the Valley of the Dolls (1970) #315 ] - 3322
- 2 - Morris, Errol [Fog of War, The (2003) #814 ] - 1702
- 2 - Nichols, Mike [Graduate, The (1967) #107 ] - 6016
- 2 - Parajanov, Sergei [Shadows of Forgotten Ancestors (1964) #510 ] - 3030
- 2 - Park, Nick & Box, Steve [Wallace & Gromit: The Curse of the Were-Rabbit (2005) #821 ] - 2050
- 2 - Preminger, Otto [Laura (1944) #168 ] - 5952
- 2 - Pudovkin, Vsevolod [Storm Over Asia (1928) #757 ] - 2026
- 2 - Riefenstahl, Leni [Triumph of the Will (1935) #453 ] - 3310
- 2 - Ritchie, Guy [Snatch (2000) #607 ] - 2624
- 2 - Romero, George A. [Night of the Living Dead (1968) #326 ] - 3856
- 2 - Schnabel, Julian [Diving Bell and the Butterfly, The (2008) #439 ] - 2541
- 2 - Siegel, Don [Invasion of the Body Snatchers (1956) #342 ] - 3780
- 2 - Sjöström, Victor [Wind, The (1928) #512 ] - 2466
- 2 - Snow, Michael [Wavelength (1967) #259 ] - 3842
- 2 - Soderbergh, Steve [sex, lies, and videotape (1989) #666 ] - 2280
- 2 - Stanton, Andrew [WALL-E (2008) #181 ] - 5795
- 2 - Stone, Oliver [Platoon (1986) #390 ] - 2920
- 2 - Straub, Jean-Marie [Chronicle of Anna Magdalena Bach, The (1968) #850 ] - 3466
- 2 - Sturges, John [Great Escape, The (1963) #294 ] - 3398
- 2 - Tarr, Béla [Sátántangó (1994) #547 ] - 2886
- 2 - Van Dyke II, W.S. [Thin Man, The (1934) #995 ] - 912
- 2 - Van Sant, Gus [Good Will Hunting (1997) #796 ] - 1956
- 2 - Varda, Agnès [Cleo from 5 to 7 (1962) #822 ] - 1848
- 2 - Vigo, Jean [L'Atalante (1934) #49 ] - 7874
- 2 - von Trier, Lars [Breaking the Waves (1996) #445 ] - 2548
- 2 - Walsh, Raoul [White Heat (1949) #322 ] - 3152
- 2 - Wellman, William A. [Ox-Bow Incident, The (1943) #461 ] - 2478
- 2 - Whale, James [Bride of Frankenstein (1935) #140 ] - 7204
- 2 - Wong Kar-Wai [In the Mood for Love (2001) #268 ] - 4205
- 2 - Yang, Edward [Yi yi (2000) #221 ] - 4101
- 2 - Zemeckis, Robert [Back to the Future (1985) #175 ] - 6434
- 2 - Zwigoff, Terry [Crumb (1994) #611 ] - 2482
This is 189 directors in all, representing 770 of the 1011 films on the Top Ranked master list. 241 directors had one film listed.