Best Movies of 1976 by Rank
20
1
Martin Scorsese
Robert De Niro, Cybill Shepherd, Peter Boyle, Jodie Foster, Harvey Keitel
Drama / Thriller / Crime / Post-Noir
USA
English
148
2
Alan J. Pakula
Dustin Hoffman, Robert Redford, Jack Warden, Martin Balsam, Hal Holbrook
Drama / Thriller
USA
English
259
4
John G. Avildsen
Sylvester Stallone, Talia Shire, Burt Young, Carl Weathers, Burgess Meredith
Drama / Romance / Sports / Family
USA
English
534
5
Carlos Saura
Geraldine Chaplin, Mónica Randall, Florinda Chico
Drama / Crime / Mystery / Thriller
Spain
Spanish
584
6
Bernardo Bertolucci
Robert De Niro, Gérard Depardieu, Dominique Sanda, Francesca Bertini
Drama / War / Period Film
France / Italy / West Germany
Italian
815
7
Don Siegel
John Wayne, Lauren Bacall, Ron Howard, James Stewart
Drama / Western
USA
English
855
8
Brian De Palma
Sissy Spacek, Piper Laurie, Amy Irving, William Katt
Drama / Horror / Thriller
USA
English
909
9
Nagisa Oshima
Tatsuya Fuji, Eiko Matsuda, Aoi Nakajima, Yasuko Matsui, Meika Seri
Drama / Adult / Romance
Japan / France
Japanese
960
10
Clint Eastwood
Clint Eastwood, Sondra Locke, Chief Dan George
Western / Drama
USA
English
1097
11
Ingmar Bergman
Liv Ullmann, Erland Josephson
Drama / Fantasy / Horror / Mystery
Sweden
Swedish
1148
12
Wim Wenders
Rüdiger Vogler, Hanns Zischler, Lisa Kreuzer
Drama
West Germany
German
1193
13
Hal Ashby
David Carradine, Ronny Cox, Melinda Dillon, Gail Strickland
Drama / Music / Biography / Period Film / Family
USA
English
1220
15
John Carpenter
Austin Stoker, Darwin Joston, Laurie Zimmer, Martin West, Tony Burton
Action / Thriller / Crime / Cult
USA
English
1426
17
John Schlesinger
Dustin Hoffman, Laurence Olivier, Roy Scheider, William Devane, Marthe Keller
Crime / Drama / Thriller
USA
English
1580
18
John Cassavetes
Ben Gazzara, Timothy Carey, Seymour Cassel, Robert Phillips
Drama / Crime
USA
English
1589
19
Nicolas Roeg
David Bowie, Rip Torn, Candy Clark, Buck Henry, Bernie Casey, Jackson D. Kane
Sci-Fi / Drama / Cult
UK
English
1608
20
Martin Ritt
Woody Allen, Zero Mostel, Herschel Bernardi, Michael Murphy
Comedy / Drama
USA
English
1659
21
Luchino Visconti
Giancarlo Giannini, Laura Antonelli, Jennifer O'Neill, Rina Morelli
Drama / Period Film / Romance
Italy / France
Italian
1696
22
Mel Brooks
Mel Brooks, Marty Feldman, Dom DeLuise, Sid Caesar
Comedy
USA
English
1697
23
Alan Parker
Scott Baio, Jodie Foster, Florrie Dugger, John Cassisi
Comedy / Crime / Family / Musical / Gangster
UK
English
1718
24
Larisa Shepitko
Boris Plotnikov, Vladimir Gostyukhin, Sergei Yakovlev, Lyudmila Polyakova
Drama / War
Soviet Union
Russian
1788
25
Elaine May
Peter Falk, John Cassavetes, Ned Beatty, Rose Arrick
Drama / Crime / Gangster
USA
English
1859
26
Alfred Hitchcock
Karen Black, Bruce Dern, Barbara Harris, William Devane
Comedy / Thriller / Mystery / Detective
USA
English
1863
27
Jean-Jacques Annaud
Jean Carmet, Jacques Dufilho, Catherine Rouvel
Drama / War / Comedy
Ivory Coast / France / West Germany / Switzerland
French
1958
28
Elia Kazan
Robert De Niro, Tony Curtis, Robert Mitchum, Jeanne Moreau
Drama / Romance / Period Film / Biography
USA
English
2026
29
Blake Edwards
Peter Sellers, Herbert Lom, Lesley-Anne Down, Burt Kwouk
Comedy / Crime / Detective / Family
UK / USA
English
2032
30
Bruno Barreto
Sonia Braga, José Wilker, Mauro Mendonça
Comedy / Fantasy / Romance
Brazil
Portuguese
2047
31
Roman Polanski
Roman Polanski, Isabelle Adjani, Melvyn Douglas, Jo Van Fleet
Thriller / Mystery / Horror
France / USA
French
2060
32
Marcel Ophüls
Joan Baez, Karl Dönitz, Hermann Göring
Documentary / War / History
UK / USA / France / West Germany
French
2085
33
Chantal Akerman
Chantal Akerman
Documentary / Drama / Experimental
Belgium / France / West Germany
French
2109
34
Joseph Losey
Alain Delon, Jeanne Moreau, Francine Bergé, Juliet Berto, Jean Bouise
Drama / War
France / Italy
French
2122
35
Bertrand Tavernier
Philippe Noiret, Michel Galabru, Isabelle Huppert
Drama / Crime / Period Film
France
French
2169
36
Arthur Penn
Marlon Brando, Jack Nicholson, Randy Quaid, Kathleen Lloyd, Frederic Forrest
Western
USA
English
2227
37
Alain Tanner
Jean-Luc Bideau, Myriam Boyer, Jacques Denis, Roger Jendly, Dominique Labourier
Drama / Experimental / Comedy
France / Switzerland
French
2231
38
Bruce Beresford
Ray Barrett, Clare Binney, Pat Bishop, Graeme Blundell, Jeanie Drynan
Comedy / Drama
Australia
English
2313
39
Brian De Palma
Cliff Robertson, Geneviève Bujold, John Lithgow
Drama / Horror / Mystery / Thriller
USA
English
2316
40
Michael Anderson
Michael York, Richard Jordan, Jenny Agutter, Roscoe Lee Browne, Farrah Fawcett
Drama / Fantasy / Romance / Sci-Fi / Action
USA
English
2316
40
Richard Donner
Gregory Peck, Lee Remick, Harvey Stephens, David Warner, Billie Whitelaw
Horror / Mystery / Thriller
UK / USA
English
2320
41
Paul Mazursky
Lenny Baker, Shelley Winters, Ellen Greene, Lois Smith, Christopher Walken
Comedy / Drama
USA
English
2393
42
Herbert Ross
Alan Arkin, Vanessa Redgrave, Robert Duvall, Nicol Williamson
Mystery / Comedy / Crime / Detective / Period Film
UK / USA
English
2411
43
Gordon Parks
Roger E. Mosley, Paul Benjamin, Madge Sinclair, Alan Manson, Albert Hall
Biography / Drama / Music
USA
English
2445
44
Frank Pierson
Barbra Streisand, Kris Kristofferson, Gary Busey, Oliver Clark
Drama / Musical
USA
English
2447
45
Michael Ritchie
Walter Matthau, Chris Barnes, Tatum O'Neal, Ben Piazza, Vic Morrow, Erin Blunt
Comedy / Sports
USA
English
2447
45
Arthur Hiller
Gene Wilder, Jill Clayburgh, Richard Pryor, Patrick McGoohan, Ned Beatty
Action / Comedy / Crime / Romance / Thriller
USA
English
2485
46
Eric Rohmer
Edith Clever, Bruno Ganz, Peter Lühr
Drama / Period Film / Romance
West Germany / France
German
2495
47
Michael Schultz
Richard Pryor, Franklyn Ajaye, George Carlin, Darrow Igus
Comedy
USA
English
2553
48
Francesco Rosi
Lino Ventura, Tino Carraro, Marcel Bozzuffi, Paolo Bonacelli, Alain Cuny
Crime / Thriller / Mystery / Detective
Italy / France
Italian
2605
49
Werner Herzog
Josef Bierbichler, Stefan Güttler, Clemens Scheitz
Drama / Experimental / Period Film
West Germany
German
2605
49
Bo Widerberg
Carl-Gustaf Lindstedt, Sven Wollter, Thomas Hellberg, Håkan Serner
Action / Crime / Drama / Thriller / Mystery / Detective
Sweden
Swedish
2605
49
William A. Graham
Harold Sylvester, Ebony Wright, Taj Mahal, Annazette Chase, Erika Young
Drama
USA
English
2605
49
Gene Kelly
Fred Astaire, Gene Kelly, Judy Garland, Mickey Rooney, Bing Crosby, Robert Taylor
Documentary / Family / Musical / Biography
USA
English
2689
50
John Badham
Billy Dee Williams, James Earl Jones, Richard Pryor, Rico Dawson
Comedy / Sports / Drama
USA
English
2689
50
John Sturges
Michael Caine, Donald Sutherland, Robert Duvall, Jenny Agutter, Donald Pleasence
Adventure / War / Drama / Spy
UK
English
2689
50
James Fargo
Clint Eastwood, Tyne Daly, Harry Guardino, Bradford Dillman, John Mitchum
Action / Drama / Crime / Thriller / Detective
USA
English
2689
50
John Guillermin
Jeff Bridges, Charles Grodin, Jessica Lange, John Randolph, Rene Auberjonois
Action / Adventure / Fantasy / Romance / Thriller / Horror / Sci-Fi
USA
English
2689
50
Nicolas Gessner
Jodie Foster, Martin Sheen, Alexis Smith, Mort Shuman, Scott Jacoby
Drama / Mystery / Thriller
Canada / USA / France
English
2689
50
Robert Moore
Eileen Brennan, Truman Capote, James Coco, Peter Falk, Alec Guinness, Peter Sellers
Comedy / Mystery / Thriller / Crime / Detective
USA
English
2689
50
Richard Lester
Sean Connery, Audrey Hepburn, Robert Shaw, Richard Harris, Nicol Williamson
Adventure / Drama / Romance
USA
English
2740
51
Nikita Mikhalkov
Yelena Solovey, Rodion Nakhapetov, Aleksandr Kalyagin
Drama / Romance / Period Film
Soviet Union
Russian
2756
52
Les Blank
Los Alegres De Teran, Flaco Jiménez, Lydia Mendoza
Documentary / Music / Biography
USA
English
2756
52
Efrain Gutierrez
Efrain Gutierrez, Jose Armando, Margarita Armando de Hoyas, Diana Doss
Crime / Drama
USA
Spanish
2756
52
Jim Klein, Miles Mogulescu, Julia Reichert
Kate Hyndman, Stella Nowicki, Sylvia Woods
Documentary / History / Music
USA
English
2775
53
Peter Bogdanovich
Ryan O'Neal, Burt Reynolds, Tatum O'Neal, Brian Keith, Stella Stevens, John Ritter
Comedy / Drama / Period Film
UK / USA
English
2789
54
Yves Robert
Jean Rochefort, Claude Brasseur, Guy Bedos, Victor Lanoux
Comedy / Romance
France
French
2789
54
Richard Lester
Jack Weston, Rita Moreno, Jerry Stiller, Kaye Ballard
Comedy
UK
English
2789
54
Bryan Forbes
Richard Chamberlain, Gemma Craven, Annette Crosbie, Edith Evans
Adventure / Romance / Family / Musical / Fantasy / Period Film
UK
English
2789
54
Stuart Rosenberg
Faye Dunaway, Oskar Werner, Lee Grant, Sam Wanamaker
Drama / War
UK
English
2792
55
Luc Moullet, Antonietta Pizzorno
Luc Moullet, Christine Hébert, Antonietta Pizzorno
Drama
France
French
2792
55
Jean-Luc Godard, Jean-Pierre Gorin, Groupe Dziga Vertov, Anne-Marie Miéville
Documentary
France
French
2807
56
Philip Casson
Jim Henson, Frank Oz, Jerry Nelson, Dave Goelz, Eren Ozker, Richard Hunt
Comedy / Family / Music
USA / UK
English
2807
56
Bob Rafelson
Jeff Bridges, Sally Field, Arnold Schwarzenegger, R.G. Armstrong, Robert Englund
Drama / Comedy / Romance / Sports
USA
English
2816
57
Margarida Cordeiro, António Reis
Albino S. Pedro, Carlos Margarido, Mariana Margarido, Luis Ferreira, Armando Manuel
Drama
Portugal
Portuguese
2824
58
Herbert Wise
Derek Jacobi, Siân Phillips, Brian Blessed, George Baker, John Hurt
Drama / History / Epic
UK
English
2842
59
Mohammad Reza Aslani
Fakhri Khorvash, Mohamad Ali Keshavarz, Akbar Zanjanpour, Shohreh Aghdashloo
Drama / Mystery / Thriller
Iran
Persian
2860
61
Federico Fellini
Donald Sutherland, Tina Aumont, Cicely Browne, Carmen Scarpitta
Drama / Comedy / Biography / Period Film
Italy / USA
Italian
2860
61
Larry Cohen
Tony Lo Bianco, Deborah Raffin, Sandy Dennis, Sylvia Sidney
Crime / Horror / Sci-Fi / Mystery / Thriller / Detective
USA
English
