DGA’s List of 80 Best-Directed Films Includes One Female Filmmaker

Francis Ford Coppola occupies three of the top seven spots

Kathryn Bigelow
Getty Images

The Directors Guild of America has unveiled its list of the 80 best-directed feature films since the guild’s founding in 1936 and only one female director made the list — Kathryn Bigelow for “The Hurt Locker.”

Nearly 2,200 members (13.7 percent of all DGA members) participated in the poll in honor of the guild’s 80th anniversary, though films directed by non-members were also eligible.

Francis Ford Coppola scored three of the top seven spots thanks to the first two “Godfather” movies and “Apocalypse Now.”

Meanwhile, Steven Spielberg and Stanley Kubrick each had five films on the list — “Schindler’s List,” “Jaws,” “Raiders of the Lost Ark,” “Saving Private Ryan” and “E.T.” for Spielberg, and “2001: A Space Odyssey,” “Dr. Strangelove,” “A Clockwork Orange,” “The Shining” and “Barry Lyndon” for Kubrick.

The earliest films on the list were the 1939 releases “Gone With the Wind” and “The Wizard of Oz,” both of which were directed by Victor Fleming, while Alejandro G. Iñárritu’s 2014 film “Birdman” was the most recent film on the list.

Iñárritu was the rare filmmaker of color on the DGA’s list, while openly gay director Bryan Singer also made the cut with his superb second feature “The Usual Suspects.”

Bigelow landed one spot behind her ex-husband James Cameron, whose “Avatar” came in 10 spots behind “Titanic.” Cameron’s blockbusters are the two highest-grossing movies of all-time.

Did the DGA overlook any female directors? Check out the list below and let us know which films you think should’ve made the cut.

1. The Godfather Francis Ford Coppola 1972
2. Citizen Kane Orson Welles 1941
3. Lawrence of Arabia David Lean 1962
4. 2001: A Space Odyssey Stanley Kubrick 1968
5. Casablanca Michael Curtiz 1942
6. The Godfather: Part II Francis Ford Coppola 1974
7. Apocalypse Now Francis Ford Coppola 1979
8. Schindler’s List Steven Spielberg 1993
9. Gone With the Wind Victor Fleming 1939
10. Goodfellas Martin Scorsese 1990
11. Chinatown Roman Polanski 1974
12. The Wizard of Oz Victor Fleming 1939
13. Raging Bull Martin Scorsese 1980
14. Jaws Steven Spielberg 1975
15. It’s a Wonderful Life Frank Capra 1946
16. Dr. Strangelove or: How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Love the Bomb Stanley Kubrick 1964
17. The Shawshank Redemption Frank Darabont 1994
18. The Graduate Mike Nichols 1967
19. Star Wars: Episode IV — A New Hope George Lucas 1977
20. Blade Runner Ridley Scott 1982
21. On the Waterfront Elia Kazan 1954
22. Pulp Fiction Quentin Tarantino 1994
23. E.T. The Extra-Terrestrial Steven Spielberg 1982
24. Annie Hall Woody Allen 1977
25. Saving Private Ryan Steven Spielberg 1998
26. Seven Samurai Akira Kurosawa 1954
27. A Clockwork Orange Stanley Kubrick 1971
28. Raiders of the Lost Ark Steven Spielberg 1981
29. Vertigo Alfred Hitchcock 1958
30. Sunset Boulevard Billy Wilder 1950
31. To Kill A Mockingbird Robert Mulligan 1962
32. Psycho Alfred Hitchcock 1960
33. The Searchers John Ford 1956
34. Forrest Gump Robert Zemeckis 1994
35. Singin’ in the Rain Stanley Donen, Gene Kelly 1952
36. 8 ½ Federico Fellini 1963
37. The Third Man Carol Reed 1949
38. The Best Years of Our Lives William Wyler 1946
39. Rear Window Alfred Hitchcock 1954
40. The Bridge on the River Kwai David Lean 1957
41. North by Northwest Alfred Hitchcock 1959
42. One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest Miloš Forman 1975
43. The Sound of Music Robert Wise 1965
44. Taxi Driver Martin Scorsese 1976
45. Titanic James Cameron 1997
46. The Shining Stanley Kubrick 1980
47. Amadeus Miloš Forman 1984
48. Doctor Zhivago David Lean 1965
49. West Side Story Jerome Robbins, Robert Wise 1961
50. Some Like it Hot Billy Wilder 1959
51. Ben-Hur William Wyler 1959
52. Fargo Ethan Coen, Joel Coen 1996
53. The Silence of the Lambs Jonathan Demme 1991
54. The Apartment Billy Wilder 1960
55. Avatar James Cameron 2009
56. The Hurt Locker Kathryn Bigelow 2008
57. The Treasure of the Sierra Madre John Huston 1948
58. Birdman or (The Unexpected Virtue of Ignorance) Alejandro G. Iñárritu 2014
59. All About Eve Joseph L. Mankiewicz 1950
60. The Deer Hunter Michael Cimino 1978
61. There Will Be Blood Paul Thomas Anderson 2007
62. The Sting George Roy Hill 1973
63. The Wild Bunch Sam Peckinpah 1969
64. Alien Ridley Scott 1979
65. Rocky John G. Avildsen 1976
66. The Conformist Bernardo Bertolucci 1970
67. Gandhi Richard Attenborough 1982
68. The Bicycle Thief Vittorio De Sica 1948
69. Cinema Paradiso Giuseppe Tornatore 1988
70. Brazil Terry Gilliam 1985
71. The Grapes of Wrath John Ford 1940
72. All the President’s Men Alan J. Pakula 1976
73. Barry Lyndon Stanley Kubrick 1975
74. Touch of Evil Orson Welles 1958
75. Once Upon a Time in America Sergio Leone 1984
76. Unforgiven Clint Eastwood 1992
77. The Usual Suspects Bryan Singer 1995
78. Network Sidney Lumet 1976
79. Rashomon Akira Kurosawa 1950
80. Once Upon a Time in the West Sergio Leone 1968

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