Nick James’ introduction to the Sight & Sound poll results gives us some insight into their methodology:
As a qualification of what ‘greatest’ means, our invitation letter stated, “We leave that open to your interpretation. You might choose the ten films you feel are most important to film history, or the ten that represent the aesthetic pinnacles of achievement, or indeed the ten films that have had the biggest impact on your own view of cinema.” Each entry on each list counts as one vote for the film in question, so personal rankings within the top tens don’t matter.
The Playlist and others have been poring over the S&S Poll issue now on newstands and have culled some of the more interesting Top Ten lists compiled by the filmmakers themselves. Whether you like to think of these as the top 10 favorite movies of your favorite directors, or the top 10 greatest films according to our greatest directors, either way I’m glad to see they’re all over the map.
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
“Persona” (1966, dir. Ingmar Bergman)
“Le Mépris” (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 & 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)
Jean-Pierre & Luc Dardenne
“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)
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)
Sean Durkin
“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)
Michel Hazavanicius
“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
“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)
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
“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 Mépris” (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
“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 & 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 & 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)
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 & 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)
