Classics and few Clunkers: The Most Consistently Good Filmmakers

Which filmmakers have the best ratio of classics to clunkers?

Minimum 10 films.
First film gets a pass if a clunker.

I can think of 3 who certainly make the grade.

Kubrick (at least 5 classics and no real clunkers)
Hitchcock (at least 10 classics and maybe a clunker or two.)
Scorsese (at least 5 classics and maybe a clunker or two)

 

Spielberg had many classics and maybe one or two clunkers (1941 was his first clunker).

 

Yes, exceptionally high quality films overall. Certainly makes the list.

 

My first thought was James Cameron, but turns out he has only directed 8 films thus far. Still, I would say:

Classics: The Terminator, Aliens, The Abyss, Terminator 2: Judgement Day, True Lies, Titanic
Clunkers: Piranha II: The Spawning, Avatar

But whatever one thinks of Titanic or Avatar, they are the top two highest grossing films ever and that counts for something. On Rotten Tomatoes, the lowest is Piranha of course (6%) but the next lowest is True Lies at 72%. 7 of his 8 films are 72% or higher.

 

That surprises me. Quality over quantity. He makes it on completed but unreleased films with Avatar 2 and 3.

 

Billy Wilder
the apartment, some like it hot, sunset boulevard, one two three, witness for the prosecution, Irma la douce, Sabrina the list goes on!

clunkers: buddy buddy
probably the best winning percentage of any director (along with...Kubrick / Hitch)

 

David Lynch

Classics
Eraserhead
Elephant Man
Blue Velvet
Wild At Heart
Twin Peaks: Fire Walk With Me
Lost Highway
The Straight Story
Mulholland Drive
INLAND EMPIRE

Clunker
Dune

 

ROBERT WISE

A Storm in Summer (TV Movie)
1989 Rooftops
1979 Star Trek: The Motion Picture
1977 Audrey Rose
1975 The Hindenburg
1973 Two People
1971 The Andromeda Strain
1968 Star!
1966 The Sand Pebbles
1965 The Sound of Music
1963 The Haunting
1962 Two for the Seesaw
1961 West Side Story
1959 Odds Against Tomorrow
1958 I Want to Live!
1958 Run Silent Run Deep
1957 Until They Sail
1957 This Could Be the Night
1956 Somebody Up There Likes Me
1956 Tribute to a Bad Man
1956 Helen of Troy
1954 Executive Suite
1953 So Big
1953 The Desert Rats
1953 Destination Gobi
1952 Something for the Birds
1952 The Captive City
1951 The Day the Earth Stood Still
1951 The House on Telegraph Hill
1950 Two Flags West
1950 Three Secrets
1949 The Set-Up
1948 Blood on the Moon
1948 Mystery in Mexico
1947 Born to Kill
1946 Criminal Court
1945 A Game of Death
1945 The Body Snatcher
1944 Mademoiselle Fifi
1944 The Curse of the Cat People
1942 The Magnificent Ambersons (additional sequences, uncredited)

 

Chaplin

 

Richard Linklater. So far he's made 18 movies proper in a range of styles, and none have been outright clunkers IMHO. Even the bowdlerized for-the-money remake of The Bad News Bears was at least fairly entertaining.

 

I think that Kubrick had at least one clunker--"Eyes Wide Shut" wasn't a very good movie.
I would give Hitchcock more than 10 classics. It just depends on how far back you go.

I would add:
Ridley Scott (The Duelists, Alien, Blade Runner, Thelma and Louise, Gladiator, Black Hawk Down, Matchstick Men, Kingdom of Heaven, America Gangster, Body of Lies, The Martian)
Spielberg (Duel, The Sugarland Express, Jaws, Close Encounters of The Third Kind, E.T., Radiers of The Lost Ark, Empire of The Sun, Jurassic Park, Schindler's List, Saving Private Ryan, Minority Report, Munich, etc.)

 

For consistency, it’s hard to top William Wyler’s run from 1936 through 1968...

Dodsworth
Dead End
Jezebel
Wuthering Heights
The Westerner
The Letter
The Little Foxes
Mrs. Miniver
The Best Years of Our Lives
The Heiress
Detective Story
Carrie
Roman Holiday
The Desperate Hours
Friendly Persuasion
The Big Country
Ben-Hur
The Children’s Hour
The Collector
How to Steal a Million
Funny Girl

 

Hitchcock would give him a run for his mone so would Billy Wilder and Howard Hawks.

 

Haha, re: Eyes Wide Shut classic to some, clunker to others. I love it.

Hitchcock yes more than 10 at least and to me as a fan closer to 20, but at least 10 irrefutable.

 

As would John Ford.

 

I almost added him but I figured I would let others chime in.

 

The film and theater critic John Simon would say (assuming he’s still with us—I believe so) that no other filmmaker came close to Ingmar Bergman for consistent greatness.

Just another filmmaker to add to the mix...

(As for me, all the directors I really love have dogs—or movies I’m just not crazy about—in their filmographies.)

 

I would agree. But obviously he is only for people who appreciate his unique style.

 

Altman
Coens

 

Totally agree about Billy Wilder....there are times I think he might be the greatest American director (or at least in my person top 5)

 

I might be the biggest altman fan around, ive obsessed over finding all of his movies, interviews, movie posters you name it, even sent him a script of Nashville asking him if he'd sign (he did!) ....but even I can say, more than a few clunkers! when he's good he's great but when he misses....watch out

 

John Ford had a large signal-to-noise ratio. -So large, that I don't feel like typing out all of the many classics he made.

 

THIS!

 

Wes Anderson and Christopher Nolan

 

Polarizing filmmakers. I am a fan of all of their films each except their first.

Nolan just makes it in with 10 films, but Anderson I think has just 9 so far, so he has some work to do!

I just today read an article where Michael Caine said that he feels Nolan is in a class with David Lean. High praise!