Best Movies of 1971 by Rank
133
1
William Friedkin
Gene Hackman, Roy Scheider, Fernando Rey, Tony Lo Bianco, Marcel Bozzuffi
Action / Thriller / Crime / Drama / Detective
USA
English
138
2
Peter Bogdanovich
Timothy Bottoms, Jeff Bridges, Cybill Shepherd, Ben Johnson, Cloris Leachman
Drama
USA
English
163
3
Stanley Kubrick
Malcolm McDowell, Patrick Magee
Crime / Drama / Sci-Fi / Cult
UK
English
329
5
Louis Malle
Lea Massari, Benoît Ferreux, Daniel Gélin, Michael Lonsdale
Drama
France / Italy / West Germany
French
434
6
Don Siegel
Clint Eastwood, Andrew Robinson, Harry Guardino, John Vernon
Action / Crime / Thriller / Drama / Detective
USA
English
443
7
Nicolas Roeg
Jenny Agutter, David Gulpilil, Luc Roeg, John Meillon, Robert McDarra, Peter Carver
Drama / Adventure
UK
English
481
8
François Truffaut
Jean-Pierre Léaud, Kika Markham, Stacey Tendeter
Romance / Drama / Period Film
France
French
534
9
Luchino Visconti
Dirk Bogarde, Romolo Valli, Mark Burns, Nora Ricci
Drama / Period Film
Italy / France
English
551
10
Joseph Losey
Julie Christie, Alan Bates
Drama / Romance / Period Film
UK
English
558
11
Alan J. Pakula
Jane Fonda, Donald Sutherland, Charles Cioffi, Roy Scheider
Crime / Drama / Mystery / Thriller / Detective / Post-Noir
USA
English
609
12
Barbara Loden
Barbara Loden, Michael Higgins, Dorothy Shupenes, Peter Shupenes
Drama
USA
English
652
13
John Schlesinger
Peter Finch, Glenda Jackson, Murray Head, Peggy Ashcroft
Drama / Romance
UK
English
738
14
Mike Hodges
Michael Caine, Ian Hendry, Britt Ekland, John Osborne
Thriller / Action / Crime / Drama / Gangster / Cult
UK
English
759
15
Sam Peckinpah
Dustin Hoffman, Susan George, Peter Vaughan, T.P. McKenna
Crime / Drama / Thriller
UK / USA
English
763
16
Dusan Makavejev
Milena Dravic, Ivica Vidovic, Jagoda Kaloper, Tuli Kupferberg
Drama / Comedy / Fantasy
Yugoslavia / West Germany
Serbo-Croatian
837
17
Monte Hellman
James Taylor, Warren Oates, Laurie Bird, Dennis Wilson
Drama / Cult
USA
English
969
18
Melvin Van Peebles
Melvin Van Peebles, Simon Chuckster, Hubert Scales, John Dullaghan
Drama / Action / Thriller / Crime / Cult
USA
English
1027
19
Milos Forman
Lynn Carlin, Buck Henry, Georgia Engel, Tony Harvey
Comedy / Drama / Music
USA
English
1035
20
Arthur Hiller
George C. Scott, Diana Rigg, Barnard Hughes, Richard A. Dysart
Comedy / Drama
USA
English
1219
21
Gordon Parks
Richard Roundtree, Moses Gunn, Charles Cioffi, Christopher St. John
Action / Crime / Drama / Thriller / Detective / Gangster
USA
English
1222
22
Hal Ashby
Ruth Gordon, Bud Cort, Vivian Pickles, Cyril Cusack, Charles Tyner
Comedy / Romance / Drama / Cult
USA
English
1287
23
Mel Stuart
Gene Wilder, Jack Albertson, Peter Ostrum, Roy Kinnear, Julie Dawn Cole
Family / Musical / Fantasy / Comedy / Adventure / Cult
USA
English
1427
24
Jan Troell
Max von Sydow, Liv Ullmann
Drama / Epic / Period Film
Sweden
Swedish
1466
25
Roman Polanski
Jon Finch, Francesca Annis, Martin Shaw, Terence Bayler
Drama / Period Film
UK / USA
English
1586
26
Elaine May
Walter Matthau, Elaine May, Jack Weston, George Rose, James Coco
Comedy / Romance / Crime
USA
English
1588
27
Ken Russell
Vanessa Redgrave, Oliver Reed, Dudley Sutton, Max Adrian
Drama / Horror / History / Period Film / Religion / Cult
UK
English
1833
29
Peter Brook
Paul Scofield, Patrick Magee, Jack MacGowran, Alan Webb
Drama
UK / Denmark
English
1956
30
Clint Eastwood
Clint Eastwood, Jessica Walter, Donna Mills, John Larch
Thriller / Crime
USA
English
1981
31
Norman Jewison
Topol, Norma Crane
Musical / Drama / Family / Comedy / Period Film
USA
English
1997
32
Jacques Tati
Jacques Tati, Tony Knepper, Franco Ressel
Comedy / Adventure
France / Italy
French
2054
33
Reginald Mills
Frederick Ashton, Alexander Grant, Julie Wood, Ann Howard, Bob Mead, Garry Grant
Family / Musical / Fantasy
UK
English
2064
34
Jerry Schatzberg
Al Pacino, Kitty Winn, Alan Vint, Richard Bright, Kiel Martin
Drama / Romance
USA
English
2075
35
Ted Kotcheff
Donald Pleasence, Gary Bond, Chips Rafferty, Sylvia Kay, Jack Thompson
Drama / Thriller
Australia / USA
English
2096
36
Mike Nichols
Jack Nicholson, Candice Bergen, Art Garfunkel, Ann-Margret
Drama / Comedy
USA
English
2102
37
John Cassavetes
Gena Rowlands, Seymour Cassel, Val Avery, Timothy Carey
Comedy / Drama / Romance
USA
English
2115
38
Ken Russell
Twiggy, Christopher Gable, Max Adrian, Bryan Pringle
Comedy / Musical / Romance
UK / USA
English
2205
39
Ken Loach
Sandy Ratcliff, Bill Dean, Grace Cave, Malcolm Tierney, Hilary Martin
Drama
UK
English
2212
40
Woody Allen
Woody Allen, Louise Lasser, Carlos Montalbán, Natividad Abascal
Comedy
USA
English
2215
41
Robert Mulligan
Jennifer O'Neill, Gary Grimes, Jerry Houser, Oliver Conant
Drama / Romance / Period Film
USA
English
2266
42
Guy Hamilton
Sean Connery, Jill St. John, Charles Gray, Lana Wood, Jimmy Dean, Bruce Cabot
Action / Adventure / Sci-Fi / Thriller / Spy / Gangster / Family / Cult
UK / USA
English
2266
42
Richard Brooks
Warren Beatty, Goldie Hawn, Gert Fröbe, Robert Webber, Scott Brady
Crime / Comedy / Drama / Caper/ Thriller
USA
English
2279
43
Federico Fellini
Federico Fellini, Riccardo Billi, Tino Scotti, Fanfulla
Comedy / Fantasy
Italy / France / West Germany
Italian
2303
44
Franklin J. Schaffner
Michael Jayston, Janet Suzman, Roderic Noble
Drama / History / Epic / Biography
UK
English
2375
45
Jacques Rivette, Suzanne Schiffman
Jean-Pierre Léaud, Bulle Ogier, Michel Lonsdale
Comedy / Drama / Thriller / Experimental
France
French
2397
46
Blake Edwards
William Holden, Ryan O'Neal, Karl Malden, Lynn Carlin, Tom Skerritt
Western
USA
English
2430
47
Robert Bresson
Isabelle Weingarten, Guillaume des Forêts, Maurice Monnoyer
Drama / Romance
France
French
2442
48
Arthur Hiller
Walter Matthau, Maureen Stapleton, Barbara Harris, Lee Grant
Comedy / Drama / Romance
USA
English
2472
50
Dalton Trumbo
Timothy Bottoms, Donald Sutherland, Jason Robards, Kathy Fields
Drama / War
USA
English
2498
51
Claude Jutra
Claude Jutra, Jean Duceppe, Lionel Villenueve, Jacques Gagnon
Drama
Canada
French
2523
52
Kamal Amrohi
Raaj Kumar, Meena Kumari, Ashok Kumar, Nadira, Veena
Musical / Romance / Drama
India
Urdu
2541
53
Walerian Borowczyk
Michel Simon, Georges Wilson, Jacques Perrin, Ligia Branice, Denise Péronne
Drama / Period Film / Romance
France
French
2541
53
Nagisa Oshima
Kenzo Kawarazaki, Atsuko Kaku, Nobuko Otowa, Kei Sato, Maki Takayama
Comedy / Drama
Japan
Japanese
2584
55
Peter Watkins
Patrick Boland, Kent Foreman, Carmen Argenziano, Luke Johnson, Katherine Quittner
Drama / Thriller
USA
English
2591
56
Floyd Mutrux
Clifton Tip Fredell, Kit Ryder, Billy Gray, Bob Graham, Nancy Wheeler
Crime / Drama
USA
English
2591
56
Claude Sautet
Michel Piccoli, Romy Schneider, François Périer, Bernard Fresson
Crime / Drama / Post-Noir / Detective
France / Italy
French
2591
56
Paul Bogart, Gordon Douglas
James Garner, Louis Gossett Jr., Susan Clark, Brenda Sykes, Edward Asner
Comedy / Western / Drama
USA
English
2628
57
Robert Fuest
Vincent Price, Joseph Cotten, Virginia North, Terry-Thomas, Sean Bury
Comedy / Horror / Mystery / Crime / Cult
UK / USA
English
2628
57
Ian MacNaughton
Graham Chapman, John Cleese, Terry Gilliam, Eric Idle, Terry Jones
Comedy
UK
English
2628
57
Sidney Lumet
Sean Connery, Dyan Cannon, Martin Balsam, Christopher Walken, Ralph Meeker
Crime / Drama / Thriller / Caper / Gangster
USA
English
2628
57
Robert Wise
Arthur Hill, David Wayne, James Olson, Kate Reid, Paula Kelly, George Mitchell
Mystery / Sci-Fi / Thriller
USA
English
2628
57
Robert Stevenson
Angela Lansbury, David Tomlinson, Roddy McDowall, Sam Jaffe, John Ericson
Adventure / Comedy / Family / Fantasy / Musical / War
USA
English
2628
57
Tom Laughlin
Tom Laughlin, Delores Taylor, Clark Howat, Victor Izay, Julie Webb, Debbie Schock
Action / Drama / Adventure / Cult
USA
English
2628
57
Stanley Kramer
Bill Mumy, Barry Robins, Miles Chapin, Darel Glaser, Bob Kramer, Marc Vahanian
Drama
USA
English
2628
57
Boris Sagal
Charlton Heston, Anthony Zerbe, Rosalind Cash, Paul Koslo, Eric Laneuville
Drama / Sci-Fi / Thriller / Action
USA
English
2628
57
Burt Kennedy
James Garner, Suzanne Pleshette, Jack Elam, Harry Morgan, Joan Blondell
Comedy / Western
USA
English
2628
57
Richard Fleischer
Richard Attenborough, Judy Geeson, John Hurt, Pat Heywood, Isobel Black
Biography / Crime / Drama / Thriller
UK
English
2628
57
Daniel Mann
Bruce Davison, Elsa Lanchester, Ernest Borgnine, Sondra Locke, Michael Dante
Horror
USA
English
2657
58
Grigori Kozintsev, Iosif Shapiro
Yuri Yarvet, Elsa Radzin, Galina Volchek, Oleg Dal, Valentin Shendrikova, Oleg Dal
Drama / Period Film
Soviet Union
Russian
2657
58
Dennis Hopper
Dennis Hopper, Stella Garcia, Julie Adams, Tomas Milian, Don Gordon, Roy Engel
Drama / Adventure / Cult
USA
English
2657
58
George Lucas
Robert Duvall, Donald Pleasence, Dan Natchsheim, Joy Carmichael, David Munson
Drama / Mystery / Sci-Fi / Thriller / Action
USA
English
2661
59
Stanton Kaye
Stanton Kaye, Michaux French, Allan McCollum
Experimental / Drama
USA
English
2661
59
Howard Alk
Fred Hampton, Rennie Davis, Skip Andrew, Edward Hanrahan, Deborah Johnson
Documentary / Biography / Crime / History
USA
English
2673
60
Elio Petri
Gian Maria Volonté, Mariangela Melato
Drama
Italy
Italian
2681
61
Bo Widerberg
Thommy Berggren, Anja Schmidt, Kelvin Malave, Evert Anderson
Drama / Biography
Sweden / USA
Swedish
2694
62
Mike Leigh
Anne Raitt, Sarah Stephenson, Eric Allan, Joolia Cappleman, Mike Bradwell
Drama / Romance
UK
English
2694
62
Norman Lear
Dick Van Dyke, Pippa Scott, Tom Poston, Edward Everett Horton, Bob Elliott
Comedy
USA
English
2694
62
Robert Kaylor
Mike Snell, Charlie O'Connell, Butch Snell, Christina Snell, Ann Colvello
Documentary / Biography / Sports
USA
English
2694
62
Alan Arkin
Elliott Gould, Marcia Rodd, Vincent Gardenia, Elizabeth Wilson, Donald Sutherland
Comedy
USA
English
2694
62
Otto Preminger
Dyan Cannon, James Coco, Jennifer O'Neill, Ken Howard, Nina Foch
Comedy / Drama
USA
English
2697
63
Stan Brakhage
Documentary / Short / Experimental
USA
English (Silent)
2697
63
Pier Paolo Pasolini
Franco Citti, Ninetto Davoli, Jovan Jovanovic, Vincenzo Amato, Angela Luce
Comedy / Drama / History / Romance / Epic
Italy / France / West Germany
Italian
2700
64
Richard Harris, Uri Zohar
Richard Harris, Romy Schneider, Kim Burfield, Maurice Kaufmann
Drama / Sports
UK / Israel
English
2700
64
Lewis Gilbert
Sean Bury, Anicée Alvina, Ronald Lewis, Toby Robins
Drama / Romance
UK
English
2700
64
Jack Lemmon
Walter Matthau, Deborah Winters, Felicia Farr, Charles Aidman
Comedy / Drama
USA
English
2700
64
Bryan Forbes
Malcolm McDowell, Nanette Newman, Georgia Brown, Bernard Lee
Drama / Romance
UK
English
2700
64
Charles Jarrott
Vanessa Redgrave, Glenda Jackson, Patrick McGoohan, Timothy Dalton
Drama / History / Epic / Biography / Period Film
UK
English
2712
65
Frank Perry
Stacy Keach, Faye Dunaway, Harris Yulin, Michael Witney, Denver John Collins
Western
USA
English
2712
65
Claude Chabrol
Stéphane Audran, Michel Bouquet, François Périer
Drama / Post-Noir / Crime
Italy / France
French
2712
65
Robert B. Bean
Renée Taylor, Joseph Bologna, Paul Sorvino, Helen Verbit, Olympia Dukakis
Comedy / Romance
USA
English
2712
65
Giuliano Montaldo
Gian Maria Volontè, Riccardo Cucciolla, Cyril Cusack, Rosanna Fratello
Drama / History / Biography
Italy / France
Italian
2713
66
Richard C. Sarafian
Barry Newman, Cleavon Little, Dean Jagger, Victoria Medlin, Paul Koslo
Action / Drama / Thriller
USA
English
2719
67
Dario Argento
James Franciscus, Karl Malden, Catherine Spaak, Pier Paolo Capponi, Horst Frank
Crime / Horror / Mystery / Thriller / Detective
Italy / France / West Germany
Italian
2730
68
Sergio Leone
James Coburn, Rod Steiger, Maria Monti, Rik Battaglia, Franco Graziosi
Adventure / Western / Action / War / Epic
Italy
English
2751
69
Werner Herzog
Lotte Eisner, Eugen Des Montagnes, James William Gledhill
Drama / Experimental
West Germany
German
2751
69
Nelson Pereira dos Santos
Arduíno Colessanti, Manfredo Colassanti
Drama / Comedy / History / Adventure
Brazil
Portuguese
2751
69
Jean Rouch
Damoure Zika, Lam Ibrahim Dia, Safi Faye, Moustapha Alassane
Comedy
France
French
2760
70
Kira Muratova
Zinaida Sharko, Oleg Vladimirsky, Tatyana Mychko, Yuri Kayurov
Drama
Soviet Union
Russian
2761
71
Maurice Pialat
Pierre Doris, Jacqueline Dufranne, Agathe Natanson, Hervé Lévy
Comedy / Drama / War
France / Italy
French
2763
72
Werner Herzog
Heinrich Fleischmann, Vladimir Kokol, Fini Straubinger
Documentary / Biography
West Germany
German
2776
73
Robert Aldrich
Kim Darby, Scott Wilson, Tony Musante, Robert Lansing
Crime / Drama / Gangster
USA
English
2776
73
John D. Hancock
Zohra Lampert, Barton Heyman, Kevin O'Connor, Gretchen Corbett
Horror / Thriller
USA
English
2776
73
John G. Avildsen
Bob Brady, Gordon Felio, Roz Kelly, Nancy Salmon
Romance / Drama
USA
English
NR
-
Steven Spielberg
Dennis Weaver, Eddie Firestone, Gene Dynarski, Tim Herbert, Charles Seel
Action / Horror / Mystery / Thriller
USA
English
NR
-
Lee H. Katzin
Steve McQueen, Siegfried Rauch, Elga Andersen, Ronald Leigh-Hunt, Fred Haltiner
Action / Adventure / Sports / Drama / Cult
USA
English
NR
-
László Benedek
Max von Sydow, Trevor Howard, Liv Ullmann, Per Oscarsson, Rupert Davies
Crime / Thriller / Horror
USA / Sweden
English
