More Great Film Directors
and Their Best Films

Part 3

Greatest Film Directors
(alphabetical)
Introduction, Part 1, Part 2, Part 3, Part 4, Part 5 , Part 6
More Great Film Directors
(alphabetical)
Part 1, Part 2, Part 3, Part 4

More Great Directors and Their Best Films
Part 3
(Alphabetical Order, Unranked)

DENNIS HOPPER 1936-2010
Director/Actor of Raw, Unsettling 'Experimental' Films

Suggested Filmography: Easy Rider (1969), The Last Movie (1971), Out of the Blue (1980), Colors (1988), Backtrack (1989), The Hot Spot (1990), Chasers (1994).

JOHN HUGHES 1950-2009
Director of a String of Teen-Oriented Films and Comedies; also Producer

Suggested Filmography: Sixteen Candles (1984), The Breakfast Club (1985), Weird Science (1985), Ferris Bueller's Day Off (1986), Pretty in Pink (1986), Planes, Trains, and Automobiles (1987), She's Having a Baby (1988), Uncle Buck (1989), Curly Sue (1991).

THOMAS H. INCE 1882-1924
Film Producer Pioneer, Founder of Inceville Production Studio, Director of Westerns - Died on Hearst's Yacht Under Mysterious Circumstances

Suggested Filmography: The Law of the West (1912), The Battle of Gettysburg (1913), Civilization (1916).

JAMES IVORY 1928-
Collaborative Director of Lavish Merchant-Ivory Literary Adaptations

Suggested Filmography: The Europeans (1979), Quartet (1981), Heat and Dust (1983), The Bostonians (1984), A Room with a View (1985), Maurice (1987), Slaves of New York (1989), Mr. & Mrs. Bridge (1990), Howards End (1992), The Remains of the Day (1993), Jefferson in Paris (1995), Surviving Picasso (1996), A Soldier's Daughter Never Cries (1998), The Golden Bowl (2000), Le Divorce (2003), The White Countess (2005), The City of Your Final Destination (2009).

JIM JARMUSCH 1953-
Original and Independent Film-maker of Haunting Stories

Suggested Filmography: Stranger Than Paradise (1984), Down By Law (1986), Mystery Train (1989), Night on Earth (1991), Dead Man (1995), Year of the Horse (1997), Ghost Dog: The Way of the Samurai (1999), Coffee and Cigarettes (2003), Broken Flowers (2005), The Limits of Control (2009), Only Lovers Left Alive (2013), Paterson (2016), The Dead Don't Die (2019).

NORMAN JEWISON 1926-
Ex-Television Director Who Turned to Films as a Highly-Skilled Director in the 60s and After

Suggested Filmography: The Thrill of It All (1963), Send Me No Flowers (1964), The Cincinnati Kid (1965), The Russians Are Coming, The Russians Are Coming (1966), In the Heat of the Night (1967), The Thomas Crown Affair (1968), Fiddler on the Roof (1971), Jesus Christ, Superstar (1973), Rollerball (1975), F.I.S.T. (1978), ...And Justice For All (1979), The Dogs of War (1980), Best Friends (1982), Iceman (1984), A Soldier's Story (1984), Agnes of God (1985), Moonstruck (1987), In Country (1989), Other People's Money (1991), Only You (1994), Bogus (1996), The Hurricane (1999), The Statement (2003).

NEIL JORDAN 1950-
Irish-Born Director

Suggested Filmography: The Company of Wolves (1984), Mona Lisa (1986), High Spirits (1988), We're No Angels (1989), The Miracle (1991), The Crying Game (1992), Interview With a Vampire (1994), Michael Collins (1996), The Butcher Boy (1997), The End of the Affair (1999), In Dreams (1999), The Good Thief (2003), Breakfast on Pluto (2005), The Brave One (2007), Ondine (2009), Byzantium (2012), Greta (2018).

SPIKE JONZE 1969-
Impetuous and Unconventional Wunderkind Film-maker From Music Videos Background

Suggested Filmography: Being John Malkovich (1999), Jackass: The Movie (2002) (producer), Adaptation (2002), Where the Wild Things Are (2009), Her (2013).

LAWRENCE KASDAN 1949-
Screenwriter Turned Director

Suggested Filmography: The Empire Strikes Back (1980) (screenwriter), Raiders of the Lost Ark (1981) (screenwriter), Body Heat (1981), The Big Chill (1983), Silverado (1985), The Accidental Tourist (1988), I Love You to Death (1990), Grand Canyon (1991), Wyatt Earp (1994), French Kiss (1995), Mumford (1999), Dreamcatcher (2003), Darling Companion (2012).

ALEXANDER KORDA 1893-1956
British Producer/Director and Founder of London Films in the 1930s

Suggested Filmography: The Private Life of Henry VIII (1933), The Private Life of Don Juan (1934), Rembrandt (1936), That Hamilton Woman (1941), Perfect Strangers (1945).

HENRY KOSTER 1905-1988
German-born Director of Mid-30s - Early 60s Classics

Suggested Filmography: Three Smart Girls (1936), 100 Men and a Girl (1937), The Rage of Paris (1938), Three Smart Girls Grow Up (1939), Spring Parade (1940), It Started With Eve (1941), The Bishop's Wife (1947), Come to the Stable (1949), The Inspector General (1949), Harvey (1950), My Blue Heaven (1950), No Highway (1951), My Cousin Rachel (1952), Stars and Stripes Forever (1952), The Robe (1953), Desiree (1954), Good Morning, Miss Dove (1955), A Man Called Peter (1955), The Virgin Queen (1955), D-Day the Sixth of June (1956), The Story of Ruth (1960), Flower Drum Song (1961), Mr. Hobbs Takes a Vacation (1962), Take Her, She's Mine (1963), Dear Brigitte (1965), The Singing Nun (1966).

KRZYSZTOF KIESLOWSKI 1941-1996
Influential Polish Scriptwriter and Director of Documentaries and Feature Films

Suggested Filmography: The Decalogue (1989-1990, TV), The Double Life of Veronique (1991), Three Colors: Blue (1993), Three Colors: White (1994), Three Colors: Red (1994).

CHARLES LAUGHTON 1899-1962
Actor and Remarkable One-Film Director

Suggested Filmography: The Night of the Hunter (1955).

MIMI LEDER 1957-
Female TV and Feature-Film Director

Suggested Filmography: The Peacemaker (1997), Deep Impact (1998), Pay It Forward (2000), The Code (2009), On the Basis of Sex (2018).

MIKE LEIGH 1943-
Original and Provocative late 20th Century British Director and Screenwriter

Suggested Filmography: High Hopes (1988), Life is Sweet (1990), Naked (1993), Secrets & Lies (1996), Career Girls (1997), Topsy-Turvy (1999), All or Nothing (2002), Vera Drake (2004), Happy-Go-Lucky (2008), Another Year (2010), Mr. Turner (2014), Peterloo (2018).

MITCHELL LEISEN 1898-1972
Visually-oriented Director Noted for Light Comedies and Romantic Films

The Eagle and the Hawk (1933), Death Takes a Holiday (1934), Murder at the Vanities (1934), Hands Across the Table (1935), Easy Living (1937), Swing High, Swing Low (1937), The Big Broadcast of 1938 (1938), Midnight (1939), Arise, My Love (1940), Remember the Night (1940), Hold Back the Dawn (1941), I Wanted Wings (1941), Take a Letter, Darling (1942), No Time For Love (1943), Frenchman's Creek (1944), Lady in the Dark (1944), Kitty (1946), To Each His Own (1946), Golden Earrings (1947), No Man of Her Own (1949), The Mating Season (1951).

MERVYN LEROY 1900-1987
Major MGM and WB Studios Director

Suggested Filmography: Little Caesar (1930), Five Star Final (1931), I Am A Fugitive From a Chain Gang (1932), Three On A Match (1932), Gold Diggers of 1933 (1933), Anthony Adverse (1936), They Won't Forget (1937), Waterloo Bridge (1940), Escape (1940), Blossoms in the Dust (1941), Johnny Eager (1942), Random Harvest (1942), Madame Curie (1943), Thirty Seconds Over Tokyo (1944), Without Reservations (1946), Homecoming (1948), East Side, West Side (1949), Little Women (1949), Quo Vadis? (1951), Million Dollar Mermaid (1952), Lovely to Look At (1952), Rose Marie (1954), Mister Roberts (1955), The Bad Seed (1956), Toward the Unknown (1956), No Time For Sergeants (1958), The FBI Story (1959), The Devil at 4 O'Clock (1961), A Majority of One (1961), Gypsy (1962), Moment to Moment (1965), The Green Berets (1968).

RICHARD LESTER 1932-
American Expatriate - Director of Innovative, Visually-Humorous, Swinging, Mad-Cap 'Mod' 60s British Films, including the Two Beatles Films

Suggested Filmography: The Mouse on the Moon (1963), A Hard Day's Night (1964), Help! (1965), How to Get It (1965), The Knack...And How to Get It (1965), A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Forum (1966), How I Won the War (1967), Petulia (1968), The Bed Sitting Room (1969), The Three Musketeers (1973), The Four Musketeers (1974), Juggernaut (1974), Royal Flash (1975), The Ritz (1976), Robin and Marian (1976), Butch and Sundance: The Early Days (1979), Cuba (1979), Superman II (1980), Superman III (1983), Finders Keepers (1984), The Return of the Musketeers (1989).

BARRY LEVINSON 1942-
Director of Low-Budget Baltimore-Based Films, and Highly Poular Big-Budget Successes

Suggested Filmography: Diner (1982), Good Morning, Vietnam (1987), Tin Men (1987), Rain Man (1988), Avalon (1990), Bugsy (1991), Liberty Heights (1999), Bandits (2001), Envy (2004), Man of the Year (2006), What Just Happened (2008), The Bay (2012), The Humbling (2014), Rock the Kasbah (2015).

HERSCHELL GORDON LEWIS (aka Lewis H. Gordon) 1926-2016
Nudie-cutie Director; also Known as "The King of Splatter" for His Shocking Splatter Horror Films

Suggested Filmography: The Adventures of Lucky Pierre (1961), Living Venus (1961), Daughter of the Sun (1962), Nature's Playmates (1962), Boin-n-g (1963), Blood Feast (1963), Bell, Bare and Beautiful (1963), Goldilocks and the Three Bares (1963), Two Thousand Maniacs! (1964), White Trash on Moonshine Mountain (1964), Sin, Suffer and Repent (1965), Color Me Blood Red/Model Massacre (1965), A Taste of Blood (1967), The Gruesome Twosome (1967), Something Weird (1967), Blast-Off Girls (1967), The Girl, the Body, and the Pill (1967), Suburban Roulette (1968), She-Devils on Wheels (1968), The Ecstasies of Women (1969), Miss Nymphet's Zap-In (1970), The Wizard of Gore (1970), This Stuff'll Kill Ya! (1971), The Gore Gore Girls (1972), Blood Feast 2: All U Can Eat (2002), The Uh-Oh Show (2009), Herschell Gordon Lewis' BloodMania (2017).

RICHARD LINKLATER 1960-
Individualistic, Maverick Indie Director of Original Works

Suggested Filmography: Slacker (1991), Dazed and Confused (1993), Before Sunrise (1995), SubUrbia (1996), Waking Life (2001), School of Rock (2003), Before Sunset (2004), Fast Food Nation (2006), A Scanner Darkly (2006), Me and Orson Welles (2008), Before Midnight (2013), Boyhood (2014), Everybody Wants Some!! (2016), Last Flag Flying (2017), Where'd You Go, Bernadette (2019).

IDA LUPINO 1918-1995
Actress and Only Female Writer/Director in 40s and 50s Hollywood

Suggested Filmography: Never Fear (1950), Outrage (1950), Hard, Fast and Beautiful (1951), The Bigamist (1953), The Hitch-hiker (1953), The Trouble With Angels (1966).

ADRIAN LYNE 1941-
Master of Erotic, Glossy, Psychological Dramas, MTV-Style Director

Suggested Filmography: Foxes (1980), Flashdance (1983), 9 1/2 Weeks (1986), Fatal Attraction (1987), Jacob's Ladder (1990), Indecent Proposal (1993), Lolita (1997), Unfaithful (2002).

ALEXANDER MACKENDRICK 1912-1993
Distinguished Director of Black Comedies of English Manners

Suggested Filmography: Whiskey Galore! (1949), The Man in the White Suit (1951), The Maggie (1954), The Ladykillers (1955), Sweet Smell of Success (1957), A High Wind in Jamaica (1965).

ANTHONY MANN 1906-1967
Best-Known for 40s Film Noirs and Intelligent, First-Rate, Expressive 50s Westerns

Suggested Filmography: Dr. Broadway (1942), Desperate (1947), T-Men (1948), Raw Deal (1948), Winchester '73 (1950), Bend of the River (1952), The Naked Spur (1953), Thunder Bay (1953), The Glenn Miller Story (1954), The Far Country (1954), The Man From Laramie (1955), Strategic Air Command (1955), The Tin Star (1957), Men in War (1957), God's Little Acre (1958), Man of the West (1958), Cimarron (1960), El Cid (1961), The Fall of the Roman Empire (1964), The Heroes of Telemark (1965).

DELBERT MANN 1920-2007
Director of Films During TV's Golden Age

Suggested Filmography: Marty (1955), The Bachelor Party (1957), Desire Under the Elms (1958), Separate Tables (1958), The Dark at the Top of the Stairs (1960), Lover Come Back (1961), The Outsider (1961), That Touch of Mink (1962), A Gathering of Eagles (1963), Dear Heart (1964), Mister Buddwing (1965), Fitzwilly (1967), Kidnapped (1971), Night Crossing (1981).

GARRY MARSHALL 1934-2016
Originally a TV Writer/Producer/Director, Then 80s-90s Film Director of Comedies/Dramas

Suggested Filmography: Young Doctors in Love (1982), The Flamingo Kid (1984), Nothing in Common (1986), Overboard (1987), Beaches (1988), Pretty Woman (1990), Frankie and Johnny (1991), Exit to Eden (1994), Dear God (1996), The Other Sister (1999), Runaway Bride (1999), The Princess Diaries (2001), Raising Helen (2004), The Princess Diaries 2: Royal Engagement (2004), Georgia Rule (2007), Valentine's Day (2010), New Year's Eve (2011), Mother's Day (2016).

PENNY MARSHALL 1942-2018
TV Show Actress and Director of Several Commercial Hit Films

Suggested Filmography: Jumpin' Jack Flash (1986), Big (1988), Awakenings (1990), A League of Their Own (1992), Renaissance Man (1994), The Preacher's Wife (1996), Riding in Cars With Boys (2001).

PAUL MAZURSKY 1930-2014
Gifted Actor/Director of Quirky, Intelligent Films (Often About Male/Female Relationships) Who Rose to Prominence in the 1970s

Suggested Filmography: Bob & Carol & Ted & Alice (1969), Alex in Wonderland (1970), Blume in Love (1973), Harry and Tonto (1974), Next Stop, Greenwich Village (1976), An Unmarried Woman (1978), Willie and Phil (1980), Tempest (1982), Moscow on the Hudson (1984), Down and Out in Beverly Hills (1986), Moon Over Parador (1988), Enemies: A Love Story (1989), Scenes From a Mall (1991), The Pickle (1993), Faithful (1996), Winchell (1998).

JOHN McTIERNAN 1951-
Director of Big-Budget, Action-Paced Features

Suggested Filmography: Nomads (1986), Predator (1987), Die Hard (1988), The Hunt for Red October (1990), Medicine Man (1992), Last Action Hero (1993), Die Hard: With a Vengeance (1995), The 13th Warrior (1999), The Thomas Crown Affair (1999), Rollerball (2002), Basic (2003).

SAM MENDES 1965-
Noted Director for Dark, Meticulous Works

Suggested Filmography: American Beauty (1999), Road to Perdition (2002), Jarhead (2005), Revolutionary Road (2008), Away We Go (2009), Skyfall (2012), King Lear (2014), Spectre (2015), The Lehman Trilogy (2019), 1917 (2019).

RUSS MEYER 1922-2004
Known as "King of the Nudies" or "King Leer" for Absurd, Soft-Core, "Sexploitation" Parodies

Suggested Filmography: The Immoral Mr. Teas (1959), Lorna (1964), Mudhoney (1965), Motor Psycho (1965), Faster Pussycat! Kill! Kill! (1965), Vixen! (1968), Cherry, Harry, and Raquel! (1969), Beyond the Valley of the Dolls (1970), Supervixens (1974), Up! (1976), Beneath the Valley of the Ultravixens (1979).

ROBERT MULLIGAN 1925-2008
Director of Films With Strong Characterizations

Suggested Filmography: Fear Strikes Out (1957), The Great Imposter (1960), Come September (1961), To Kill a Mockingbird (1962), Love With the Proper Stranger (1963), Baby the Rain Must Fall (1965), Inside Daisy Clover (1965), Up the Down Staircase (1967), The Stalking Moon (1969), Summer of '42 (1971), The Other (1972), Same Time, Next Year (1978), Bloodbrothers (1978), Kiss Me Goodbye (1982), Clara's Heart (1988), The Man in the Moon (1991).

FRED NIBLO 1874-1948
Early Silent Film Director Also Known for Action-Adventure Films

Suggested Filmography: The Mark of Zorro (1920), The Three Musketeers (1921), Blood and Sand (1922), Ben-Hur: A Tale of the Christ (1925), Camille (1926), The Mysterious Lady (1928), Way Out West (1930).

PHILLIP NOYCE 1950-
Australian-born Director Best-Known for Tom Clancy Film Adaptations

Suggested Filmography: Echoes of Paradise (1987), Blind Fury (1989), Dead Calm (1989), Patriot Games (1992), Sliver (1993), Clear and Present Danger (1994), The Saint (1997), The Bone Collector (1999), The Quiet American (2002), Rabbit-Proof Fence (2002), Catch a Fire (2006), Salt (2010), The Giver (2014), Above Suspicion (2019).

FRANK OZ 1944-
British Director Who Also Acted and Provided Voices for Muppets and Star Wars Films

Suggested Filmography: The Dark Crystal (1982), The Muppets Take Manhattan (1984), Little Shop of Horrors (1986), Dirty Rotten Scoundrels (1988), What About Bob? (1991), HouseSitter (1992), The Indian in the Cupboard (1995), In & Out (1997), Bowfinger (1999), The Score (2001), The Stepford Wives (2004), Death at a Funeral (2007).



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