Tarantino, Scorsese and Other Directors Reveal Their Top 10 Movies of All Time

There was plenty of discussion across the movie blogosphere following last week’s announcement that Vertigo had dethroned Citizen Kane as the greatest film of all time according to Sight & Sound’s decennial poll. In addition to revealing the top 50 as determined by critics, they also provided a top 10 based on a separate poll for directors only. In the print version of the magazine, they have taken it a step further by reprinting some of the individual top 10 lists from the filmmakers who participated, and we now have some of them here for your perusal.
Among them, we have lists from legends like Martin Scorsese, Francis Ford Coppola and Quentin Tarantino, but there are also some unexpected newcomers who took part including Richard Ayoade (Submarine), Miranda July (Me and You and Everyone We Know) and Sean Durkin (Martha Marcy May Marlene). Some of these lists aren’t all that surprising (both Quentin Tarantino and Edgar Wright have given versions of their top 10s before), but hey, who knew that Michael Mann liked both Avatar and Biutiful so much? There’s plenty to chew on here, so check out the lists after the jump and then tell us who is on point and who is simply off their rocker.
Woody Allen
- Bicycle Thieves (1948, dir. Vittorio De Sica)
- The Seventh Seal (1957, dir. Ingmar Bergman)
- Citizen Kane (1941, dir. Orson Welles)
- Amarcord (1973, dir. Federico Fellini)
- 8 1/2 (1963, dir. Federico Fellini)
- The 400 Blows (1959, dir. Francois Truffaut)
- Rashomon (1950, dir. Akira Kurosawa)
- La Grande Illusion (1937, dir. Jean Renoir)
- The Discreet Charm of the Bourgeoisie (1972, dir. Luis Bunuel)
- Paths of Glory (1957, dir. Stanley Kubrick)
Richard Ayoade (Submarine)
- Persona (1966, dir. Ingmar Bergman)
- Le Mepris (1963, dir. Jean-Luc Godard)
- Raging Bull (1980, dir. Martin Scorsese)
- Ordet (1955, dir. Carl theodor Dreyer)
- Barry Lyndon (1975, dir. Stanley Kubrick)
- Crimes and Misdemeanors (1989, dir. Woody Allen)
- The Apartment (1960, dir. Billy Wilder)
- Tokyo Story (1953, dir. Yasujiro Ozu)
- Make Way For Tomorrow (1937, dir. Leo McCarey)
- Badlands (1973, dir. Terrence Malick)
Bong Joon-Ho
- A City of Sadness (1989, dir. Hou Hsiao-hsien)
- Cure (1997, dir. Kiyoshi Kurosawa)
- The Housemaid (1960, dir. Kim Ki-young)
- Fargo (1996, dir. the Coen Brothers)
- Psycho (1960, dir. Alfred Hitchcock)
- Raging Bull (1980, dir. Martin Scorsese)
- Touch of Evil (1958, dir. Orson Welles)
- Vengeance Is Mine (1973, dir. Shohei Imamura)
- The Wages of Fear (1953, dir. Henri-Georges Clouzot)
- Zodiac (2007, dir. David Fincher)
Francis Ford Coppola
- Ashes and Diamonds (1958, dir. Andrzej Wajda)
- The Best Years of Our Lives (1946, dir William Wyler)
- I Vitteloni (1953, dir. Federico Fellini)
- The Bad Sleep Well (1960, dir. Akira Kurosawa)
- Yojimbo (1961, dir. Akira Kurosawa)
- Singin’ in the Rain (1952, dir. Stanley Donen and Gene Kelly)
- The King of Comedy (1983, dir Martin Scorsese)
- Raging Bull (1980, dir. Martin Scorsese)
- The Apartment (1960s, dir. Billy Wilder)
- Sunrise (1927, dir. F.W. Murnau)
Guillermo Del Toro
- Frankenstein (1931, dir. James Whale)
- Freaks (1932, dir. Todd Browning)
- Shadow of a Doubt (1943, dir. Alfred Hitchcock)
- Greed (1925, dir. Erich Von Stroheim)
- Modern Times (1936, dir. Charlie Chaplin)
- La Belle Et La Bete (1946, dir. Jean Cocteau)
- Goodfellas (1990, dir. Martin Scorsese)
- Los Olvidados (1950, dir. Luis Bunuel)
- Nosferatu (1922, dir. F.W. Murnau)
- 8 1/2 (1963, dir. Federico Fellini)
Jean-Pierre and Luc Dardenne (The Kid with a Bike)
- Accatone (1961, dir. Pier Paolo Pasolini)
- The Big Heat (1953, dir. Fritz Lang)
- Dodes’ka-den (1970, dir. Akira Kurosawa)
- Germany Year Zero (1948, dir. Roberto Rossellini)
- Loulou (1980, dir. Maurice Pialat)
- Modern Times (1936, dir. Charlie Chaplin)
- The Searchers (1956, dir. John Ford)
- Shoah (1985, dir. Claude Lanzmann)
- Street of Shame (1956, dir. Kenji Mizoguchi)
- Sunrise (1927, dir. F.W. Murnau)
Sean Durkin (Martha Marcy May Marlene)
- The Shining (1980, dir. Stanley Kubrick)
- Rosemary’s Baby (1968, dir. Roman Polanski)
- Jaws (1975, dir. Steven Spielberg)
- 3 Women (1977, dir. Robert Altman)
- The Birds (1963, dir. Alfred Hitchcock)
- The Goonies (1985, dir. Richard Donner)
- The Piano Teacher (2001, dir. Michael Haneke)
- Persona (1966, dir. Ingmar Bergman)
- The Panic in Needle Park (1971, dir. Jerry Schatzberg)
- The Conformist (1970, dir. Bernardo Bertolucci)
Asghar Farhadi (A Separation)
- Rashomon (1950, dir. Akira Kurosawa)
- La Strada (1954, dir. Federico Fellini)
- The Godfather (1972, dir. Francis Ford Coppola)
- Tokyo Story (1953, dir. Yasujiro Ozu)
- The Apartment (1960, dir. Billy Wilder)
- Three Colors Red (1994, dir. Krzysztof Kieslowski)
- Take the Money and Run (1969, dir. Woody Allen)
- Scenes From a Marriage (1973, dir. Ingmar Bergman)
- Taxi Driver (1976, dir. Martin Scorsese)
- Modern Times (1936, dir. Charlie Chaplin)
Michel Hazavanicius (The Artist)
- City Girl (1930, dir. F.W. Murnau)
- City Lights (1931, dir. Charlie Chaplin)
- To Be Or Not To Be (1942, dir. Ernst Lubitsch)
- Citizen Kane (1941, dir. Orson Welles)
- The Apartment (1960, dir. Billy Wilder)
- The Shining (1980, dir. Stanley Kubrick)
- North By Northwest (1959, dir. Alfred Hitchcock)
- The Third Man (1949, dir. Carol Reed)
- Raging Bull (1980, dir. Martin Scorsese)
- Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs (1937, dir. Walt Disney)
Miranda July (Me and You and Everyone We Know)
- Blind (1987, dir. Frederick Wiseman)
- Smooth Talk (1985, dir. Joyce Chopra)
- Vertigo (1958, dir. Alfred Hitchcock)
- After Life (1998, dir. Hirokazu Koreeda)
- Somewhere in Time (1980, dir. Jeannot Szwarc)
- Cheese (2007, dir. Mika Rottenberg)
- Punch Drunk Love (2002, dir. Paul Thomas Anderson)
- The Red Balloon (1956, dir. Albert Lamorisse)
- A Room With a View (1985, dir. James Ivory)
- Fish Tank (2009, dir. Andrea Arnold)
Mike Leigh
- American Madness (1932, dir. Frank Capra)
- Andrei Rublev (1966, dir. Andrei Tarkovsky)
- I Am Cuba (1964, dir. Mikhai Kalatozov)
- The Emigrants (1971, dir. Jan Troell)
- How a Mosquito Operates (1912, dir. Winsor McCay)
- Jules Et Jim (1962, dir. Francois Truffaut)
- Radio Days (1987, dir. Woody Allen)
- Songs From the Second Floor (2000, dir. Roy Andersson)
- Tokyo Story (1953, dir. Yasujiro Ozu)
Michael Mann
- Apocalypse Now (1979, dir. Francis Ford Coppola)
- Battleship Potemkin (1925, dir. Sergei Eisenstein)
- Citizen Kane (1941, dir. Orson Welles)
- Avatar (2009, dir. James Cameron)
- Dr. Strangelove (1964, dir. Stanley Kubrick)
- Biutiful (2010, dir. Alejandro Gonzalez Inarritu)
- My Darling Clementine (1946, dir. John Ford)
- The Passion of Joan of Arc (1928, dir. Carl theodor Dreyer)
- Raging Bull (1980, dir. Martin Scorsese)
- The Wild Bunch (1969, dir. Sam Peckinpah)
Steve McQueen (Shame)
- The Battle of Algiers (1966, dir. Gillo Pontecorvo)
- Zero de Conduite (1933, dir. Jean Vigo)
- La Regle du Jeu (1939, dir. Jean Renoir)
- Tokyo Story (1953, dir. Yasujiro Ozu)
- Couch (1964, dir. Andy Warhol)
- Le Mepris (1963, dir. Jean-Luc Godard)
- Beau Travail (1998, dir. Claire Denis)
- Once Upon a Time in America (1984, dir. Sergio Leone)
- The Wages of Fear (1953, dir. Henri-Georges Clouzot)
- Do the Right Thing (1989, dir. Spike Lee)
Jeff Nichols (Take Shelter)
- Cool Hand Luke (1967, dir. Stuart Rosenberg)
- Badlands (1973, dir. Terrence Malick)
- Hud (1963, dir. Martin Ritt)
- The Hustler (1961, dir. Robert Rossen)
- Lawrence of Arabia (1962, dir. David Lean)
- Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid (1969, dir. George Roy Hill)
- Jaws (1975, dir. Steven Spielberg)
- North By Northwest (1959, dir. Alfred Hitchcock)
- Stagecoach (1939, dir. John Ford)
- Fletch (1985, dir. Michael Ritchie)
David O. Russell
- It’s a Wonderful Life (1946, dir. Frank Capra)
- Chinatown (1974, dir. Roman Polanski)
- Goodfellas (1990, dir. Martin Scorsese)
- Vertigo (1958, dir. Alfred Hitchcock)
- Pulp Fiction (1994, dir. Quentin Tarantino)
- Raging Bull (1980, dir. Martin Scorsese)
- Young Frankenstein (1974, dir. Mel Brooks)
- The Discreet Charm of the Bourgeoisie (1972, dir. Luis Bunuel)
- The Godfather (1972, dir. Francis Ford Coppola)
- Blue Velvet (1986, dir. David Lynch)
- Groundhog Day (1993, dir. Harold Ramis)
Martin Scorsese
- 8 1/2 (1963, dir. Federico Fellini)
- 2001: a Space Odyssey (1968, dir. Stanley Kubrick)
- Ashes and Diamonds (1958, dir. Andrzej Wajda)
- Citizen Kane (1941, dir. Orson Welles)
- The Leopard (1963, dir. Luchino Visconti)
- Palsa (1946, dir. Roberto Rossellini)
- The Red Shoes (1948, dir. Michael Powell and Emeric Pressburger)
- The River (1951, dir. Jean Renoir)
- Salvatore Giuliano (1962, dir. Francesco Rosi)
- The Searchers (1956, dir. John Ford)
- Ugetsu Monogatari (1953, dir. Kenji Mizoguchi)
- Vertigo (1958, dir. Alfred Hitchcock)
Quentin Tarantino
- The Good, the Bad and the Ugly (1966, dir. Sergio Leone)
- Apocalypse Now (1979, dir. Francis Ford Coppola)
- The Bad News Bears (1976, dir. Michael Ritchie)
- Carrie (1976, dir. Brian DePalma)
- Dazed and Confused (1993, dir. Richard Linklater)
- The Great Escape (1963, dir. John Sturges)
- His Girl Friday (1940, dir. Howard Hawks)
- Jaws (1975, dir. Steven Spielberg)
- Pretty Maids All in a Row (1971, dir. Roger Vadim)
- Rolling Thunder (1977, dir. John Flynn)
- Sorcerer (1977, dir. William Friedkin)
- Taxi Driver (1976, dir. Martin Scorsese)
Bela Tarr (The Turin Horse)
- Man With a Movie Camera (1929, dir. Dziga Vertov)
- The Passion of Joan of Arc (1928, dir. Carl theodor Dreyer)
- Alexander Nevsky (1938, dir. Sergei Eisenstein)
- M (1931, dir. Fritz Lang)
- Au hasard Balthazar (1966, dir. Robert Bresson)
- Vivre sa vie (1962, dir. Jean-Luc Godard)
- Frenzy (1972, dir. Alfred Hitchcock)
- Tokyo Story (1953, dir. Yasujiro Ozu)
- The Round-Up (1965, dir. Miklos Jancso)
- Berlin Alexanderplatz (1980, dir. Rainer Werner Fassbinder)
Edgar Wright
- 2001: a Space Odyssey (1968, dir. Stanley Kubrick)
- An American Werewolf in London (1981, dir. John Landis)
- Carrie (1976, dir. Brian DePalma)
- Dames (1934, dir. Ray Enright and Busby Berkeley)
- Don’t Look Now (1973, dir. Nicolas Roeg)
- Duck Soup (1933, dir. Leo McCarey)
- Psycho (1960, dir. Alfred Hitchcock)
- Raising Arizona (1987, dir. the Coen Brothers)
- Taxi Driver (1976, dir. Martin Scorsese)
- The Wild Bunch (1969, dir. Sam Peckinpah)
Apichatpong Weerasethakul (Uncle Boonmee Who Can Recall His Past Lives)
- Goodbye Dragon Inn (2003, dir. Ming-liang Tsai)
- A Brighter Summer Day (1991, dir. Edward Yang)
- Rain (1929, dir. Joris Ivens)
- Empire (1964, dir. Andy Warhol)
- Valentin de la Sierras (1971, dir. Bruce Baillie)
- The Conversation (1974, dir. Francis Ford Coppola)
- Full Metal Jacket (1987, dir. Stanley Kubrick)
- The Eighties (1983, dir. Chantal Akerman)
- The General (1926, dir. Buster Keaton)
- Satantango (1994, dir. Bela Tarr)

























Comments (41)
I’m absolutely shocked that there’s nary a one Todd Solondz film on Miranda July’s list.
Posted by Colin on August 6th, 2012Michael Mann, Avatar?!?!
No wonder I never like Mann’s movies – out tastes differ a LOT.
Posted by ColinZeal on August 6th, 2012M
My List…
THE BYCYCLE THEIF
Posted by Scott on August 6th, 2012THE VERDICT
SUNRISE
THE TREE OF LIFE
LAWRENCE OF ARABIA
THE DARK NIGHT RISES
BOTTLE ROCKET
BONNIE AND CLYDE
THE PLAYER
IT HAPPENED ONE NIGHT
Guess I included 11. These are fairly interesting and surprising lists. Some entries like GROUNDHOG DAY seem chosen only to cause a stir.
Posted by Scott on August 6th, 2012I love that Zodiac got mentioned.
Posted by bard on August 6th, 2012Jeff Nichols wins. He put Fletch on his list. Fletch. Beat that.
Posted by Bob on August 6th, 2012I’m very happy Fincher is on this list somewhere. And man, I need to watch 8 1/2 I guess.
Posted by Steve on August 6th, 2012Heat and Collateral are at least a billion times better than Avatar
Posted by kyri on August 6th, 2012Very interesting to see lists from Bela Tarr and Asghar Farradi, I think.
Posted by csidle on August 6th, 2012@Scott, I think you should rewatch Groundhog Day. It really is a genuinely good movie, and it almost makes my own top 10.
Posted by Zac on August 6th, 2012God I luve Tarantino: The Bad News Bears (1976, dir. Michael Ritchie)
Posted by rus in chicago on August 6th, 2012GD is a good movie, but it sure doesn’t stand up to The Verdict or something like that to me. DEFENDING YOUR LIFE is a movie in the same vein I might include in a Top 20.
Posted by scott on August 6th, 2012What about Brazil or The Gold Rush?
Posted by Zac on August 6th, 2012But you did include The Dark Knight Rises…
Posted by Zac on August 6th, 2012I was about to include The Gold Rush. Great film. DKR is a great film. Upon rematch, it plays even better. Nolan tried something here that is so subtle but done with such pomposity and grandeur. I love it.
Posted by scott on August 6th, 2012It just seems weird that you’d include DKR, rather than Memento, Nolan’s best, but that’s my opinion.
Posted by Zac on August 6th, 2012Yeah, MEMENTO is a great movie. I just love the epic scope of DKR. More of an achievement to me.
Posted by scott on August 6th, 2012But scope doesn’t mean as much without the emotional intensity. In my opinion MI4 captured that better than DKR, in regards to giant bomb going off. However, that still doesn’t mean Mission Impossible is one of my favorite movies. Rises tried to be something it’s not, and while it’s a satifying trilogy ending, it’s hardly worth being compared to the greats of cinema. That’s just my opinion though.
Posted by Zac on August 6th, 2012Seriously QT? NO ONE prefers Friedkin’s The Sorcerer over Cluzot’s Wages of Fear! Trollish pick, that.
Posted by Old Bank DVD on August 6th, 2012thats y i love David.o.russell,not being hypocritical like others.mentioned Pulp fiction
Posted by les grossman on August 6th, 2012I Had major problems with MI4. Would not put it in the same league with DKR.
Posted by Scott on August 7th, 2012MI4 was better than 2 and 3 – even competing with 1. DKR is good but overrated in my opinion.
Posted by jt on August 7th, 2012Old Bank DVD,
I prefer Sorcerer to Wages of Fear. It’s a more exciting film, plus the bridge sequence and the opening are both masterful for entirely different reasons. It’s one of my top 10 of all time.
Posted by Fatbologna on August 7th, 2012I was surprised to see “Pretty Maids All in a Row” on Tarantino’s list. Gene Roddenberry wrote it!
Posted by Reed Farrington on August 7th, 2012My seen/not seen tags for this list of movies is probably about 50/50. May list of shame grows. And I’ve seen a lot of highly rated films. The older, artsy movies can be really challenging and it’s disheartening when I don’t agree with their greatness. Sometimes I do agree, as with my recent watch of Sunrise.
This is a good eclectic group of directors that they polled, but it also makes me wish to see top 10 lists from others such as Danny Boyle, P.T. Anderson, Peter Weir, Wes Anderson, Sam Raimi, Ivan and/or Jason Reitman, Richard Donner, Walter Hill, Sofia Coppola, Judd Apatow, Steven Speilberg, Ridley & Tony Scott, Joel and/or Ethan Coen, Christopher Nolan, Clint Eastwood, and Mel Gibson.
And I’m just assuming they most took the poll as their opinion of the best, not their favorites. But I suspect there are some favorites thrown into some of these polls.
Posted by Steve on August 7th, 2012And Scott, I would not put DKR in the same league as any of the films mentioned. As you said earlier about Groundhog Day, you’re inclusion of Dark Knight Rises “seem(s) chosen only to cause a stir.”
Posted by Zac on August 7th, 2012Putting any movie that’s been out for less than a year on an all time favorite list is a little questionable. Opinions change over time and rewatches. I need to see something at least 3 times before I can fully cement my feelings on it.
Posted by Fatbologna on August 7th, 2012No one has Blade Runner on their Top 10?
What the hell?
Posted by Jeremy on August 8th, 2012@Jeremy: Only geeks like Blade Runner. The narrative (not narration) is bad. (I’m not trolling. If you disagree with me, keep it to yourself.
)
Posted by Reed Farrington on August 8th, 2012I guess the winner is:
Raging Bull (6 votes)
Followed by:
Posted by Andy on August 8th, 2012Tokyo Story (5 votes)
Citizen Kane (4 votes)
The Apartment (4 votes)
Are you kidding me? At least “Tokyo Story” is there, but really, are you kidding me? Where is “Seven Samurai”, dir. Akira Kurosawa? Number One on my list, always will be!
Posted by Cyndi on August 9th, 2012Bela Tarr’s list totally wins! Someone with a worldly and more arty selection, the finest kind of cinema!
Posted by Blaz on August 15th, 2012My List…
1. Citizen Kane (1941)
2. The Dark Knight (2008)
3. Raiders Of The Lost Ark (1981)
4. The Godfather (1972)
5. Saving Private Ryan (1998)
6. Raging Bull (1980)
7. Psycho (1960)
8. Duck Soup (1933)
9. King Kong (1933)
10. Fantasia (1940)
Posted by Alex Krajci on August 19th, 2012Fine, rounded lists from all. 10 is overrated; here are my 15 choices…
The Mosquito Coast (d. Peter Weir) 1986
Posted by ColonG on August 23rd, 2012Aliens (d. James Cameron) 1986
Cries and Whispers (d. Ingmar Bergman) 1972
Sunset Blvd. (d. Billy Wilder) 1950
Jaws (d. Steven Spielberg) 1975
The Straight Story (d. David Lynch) 1999
Back to the Future (d. Robert Zemeckis) 1985
The Thing (d. John Carpenter) 1982
There Will Be Blood (d. P.T. Anderson) 2008
The Shining (d. Stanley Kubrick) 1980
Ed Wood (d. Tim Burton) 1994
Dances with Wolves (d. Kevin Costner) 1990
Gremlins (d. Joe Dante) 1984
The Big Lebowski (d. The Coen Bros) 1998
2001 (d. THE Kubs) 1968
My Top 15 is:
Paths of Glory
Posted by Derek37 on September 8th, 20122001: A Space Odyssey
A Clockwork Orange
Barry Lyndon
The Shining
Citizen Kane
Apocalypse Now
Dances With Wolves
Alien
Terminator
Star Wars (Original)
Jaws
The Thing
Predator
The Evil Dead
Here is Tarkovsky top 10.
Le Journal d’un curé de campagne
Posted by dudester04 on September 10th, 2012Winter Light
Nazarin
Wild Strawberries
City Lights
Ugetsu Monogatari
Seven Samurai
Persona
Mouchette
Woman of the Dunes (Teshigahara)
My top 10. Blade runner , le samurai , taxi driver ,yojimbo , perrot le fou , the good the bad and the ugly , apocalypse now , on the water front ,god father , the great escape. God so many great films out there. So many great films have come out of France and Italy. Le cercle rouge by Melville is also a great film.
Posted by John lozano on September 11th, 2012Apparently hardly any decent films have been made since about 1960. Ahhh, the effect of going to prescriptive film school.
Some I would consider:
Posted by John Bailey on October 15th, 2012Clockwork Orange/Dr Strangelove/2001
The Hill
Terminator2/Aliens
The Big Lebowski/Raising Arizona
District 9
Requiem for a Dream
Close Encounters
LOTR
Cool Hand Luke
Life of Brian
The Great Escape
Contact
Why do none of the directors include their own film(s)? Scorcese should mention AT LEAST ONE of his own!
Posted by lazysupper on November 6th, 2012There are lots of raging bull choices. I know it’s a good movie but why is it so popular among the experts?
Posted by ferramenta on January 24th, 2013Damn near impossible to narrow it down to just 10. I’ll do 20. Cheating I know. But 10 is not a hard and fast rule.
In no particular order
Taxi Driver
Posted by Jeff Wilder on February 16th, 2013Apocalypse Now
Monty Python And The Holy Grail
Chinatown
Precious
Blue Velvet
Dazed And Confused
Dr. Strangelove
JFK
Do The Right Thing
Fight Club
Manhunter
Boogie Nights
The Maltese Falcon
Ferris Bueller’s Day Off (My Fletch/Groundhog Day pick)
Aliens
Last Tango In Paris
Dawn Of The Dead
Sunset Boulevard
The Big Lebowski
Leave a Reply