The Seven Best Film Directors of All Time

7: Francis Ford Coppola
In Seven (or more) Words: Coppola's films are analogous to works of art, each one encompassing a unique style, authenticated in every strain of performance. With his celebrated and definitive war movie Apocalypse Now, he stated that it wasn't 'a film about Vietnam, it is Vietnam'. He was able to craft reality through the lens.
The Best: To elect Apocalypse Now or The Godfather Part One or Two? The Conversation is worthy of a mention, though perhaps not big enough to be considered his very best. The Godfather Part One wins the votes.

6: John Ford
In Seven (or more) Words: The man responsible for John Wayne's titanic screen presence and the master of the Western genre, John Ford forged unsurpassed cinema.
The Best: This is difficult, with The Grapes of Wrath, How Green Was My Valley and Stagecoach all adept enough for consideration. However, The Searchers edges it, with some of the best cinematography ever filmed.

5: Akira Kurosawa
In Seven (or more) Words: The clear-cut ambassador for Japanese cinema, Kurosawa started off as a painter, moving into the film industry in 1936. Fifty years later he was the most respected director in world cinema, influencing such auteurs as George Lucas and Steven Spielberg. This means he's kind of a big deal.
The Best: Kurosawa indulged in Shakespeare and samurai warriors, with some of his notable films being Yojimbo, Throne of Blood and Ikiru. His two monumental movies are ingrained in Japanese culture; Seven Samurai is perhaps slightly inferior to Ran, his final masterpiece.

4: Orson Welles
In Seven (or more) Words: At his very worst he was woeful, at his very best he was incomparable. Known for directing the "greatest film ever made".
The Best: Citizen Kane. Although A Touch of Evil has to be seen by all film connoisseurs.

3: Alfred Hitchcock
In Seven (or more) Words: 'Hitchcock loves to be misunderstood, because he has based his whole life around misunderstandings'. A thought of Francis Truffaut about the 'Master of Suspense' that captures the Zeitgeist of Hitchcock's films. It thematically links with the "wrong man", the "ice blonde" and the purposefully placed "MacGuffin', all signatures of an Alfred Hitchcock picture. 'Misunderstanding' is why Hitchcock is beloved by all cinema aficionados.
The Best: This is to be found out in my first ever list entitled: The Seven Best Alfred Hitchcock Films.

2: Martin Scorsese
In Seven (or more) Words: Scorsese, influenced and influential, a short man with a perennial capacity to frequently deliver a range of classics. The scope includes; Goodfellas, The Departed, After Hours, Mean Streets, Taxi Driver and Raging Bull. The greatest living film director.
The Best: Goodfellas.

1: Stanley Kubrick
In Seven (or more) Words: A man who dipped his fingers in all the pies, so to speak. Every genre was trespassed, examined and packaged into some of the most important movies of the last sixty years. Lauded by Spielberg as a cinematic giant, Kubrick was a perfectionist. And for good reason. His films need to be viewed on the largest screen one can find.
The Best: Many would say 2001: A Space Odyssey or Spartacus, though for me The Shining, a grandiose and haunting picture, ranks as his absolute achievement.

The Directors Who Nearly Made It:
Billy Wilder, David Lean, Steven Spielberg, DW Griffith, Satyajit Ray and Frank Capra.

My Next Article Will Be.... The Seven Best Police Academy Films