Best Movies of 1988 by Rank
171
1
Giuseppe Tornatore
Philippe Noiret, Salvatore Cascio, Marco Leonardi, Jacques Perrin, Antonella Attili
Drama
Italy / France
Italian
218
2
Pedro Almodóvar
Carmen Maura, Antonio Banderas, Julieta Serrano, María Barranco
Comedy / Drama
Spain
Spanish
347
3
Stephen Frears
Glenn Close, John Malkovich, Michelle Pfeiffer
Drama / Romance / Period Film
USA / UK
English
357
4
Robert Zemeckis
Bob Hoskins, Christopher Lloyd, Joanna Cassidy, Charles Fleischer
Animation / Comedy / Fantasy / Family
USA
English
558
5
John McTiernan
Bruce Willis, Alan Rickman, Bonnie Bedelia, Reginald VelJohnson
Action / Thriller
USA
English
598
6
Theo Angelopoulos
Tania Palaiologou, Michalis Zeke, Dimitris Kaberidis
Drama
France / Greece / Italy
Greek
635
7
George Sluizer
Bernard-Pierre Donnadieu, Gene Bervoets, Johanna ter Steege
Horror / Mystery / Thriller / Drama
Netherlands / France
Dutch
646
8
Ron Shelton
Kevin Costner, Susan Sarandon, Tim Robbins, Trey Wilson
Comedy / Drama / Romance / Sports
USA
English
662
9
Errol Morris
Randall Adams, David Harris III, Gus Rose, Jackie Johnson, Marshall Touchton
Documentary / Crime / Biography
USA
English
665
10
Hayao Miyazaki
Noriko Hidaka, Hitoshi Takagi, Chika Sakamoto, Shigesato Itoi
Animation / Family / Fantasy / Adventure
Japan / USA
Japanese
705
12
Mira Nair
Shafiq Syed, Hansa Vithal, Chanda Sharma, Sarfuddin Quarrassi, Raghuvir Yadav
Drama
UK / India / France
Hindi
819
13
Katsuhiro Ôtomo
Mitsuo Iwata, Nozomu Sasaki, Mami Koyama, Tesshô Genda
Animation / Action / Adventure / Sci-Fi / Thriller / Cult / Comic
Japan
Japanese
869
14
Charles Crichton, John Cleese
John Cleese, Jamie Lee Curtis, Kevin Kline, Michael Palin
Comedy / Crime / Caper
USA / UK
English
949
15
Isao Takahata
Tsutomu Tatsumi, Ayano Shiraishi, Yoshiko Shinohara, Akemi Yamaguchi
Animation / War / Drama
Japan
Japanese
1123
16
Philip Kaufman
Daniel Day-Lewis, Juliette Binoche, Lena Olin
Drama
USA
English
1185
17
Claude Chabrol
Isabelle Huppert, François Cluzet
Drama / War / Crime
France
French
1192
18
Krzysztof Kieslowski
Miroslaw Baka, Krzysztof Globisz, Jan Tesarz, Zbigniew Zapasiewicz
Drama / Crime
Poland
Polish
1270
19
Penny Marshall
Tom Hanks, Elizabeth Perkins, Robert Loggia, John Heard
Comedy / Family / Fantasy
USA
English
1302
20
David Cronenberg
Jeremy Irons, Geneviève Bujold, Heidi von Palleske
Drama / Thriller / Horror
Canada / USA
English
1319
21
Lawrence Kasdan
William Hurt, Kathleen Turner, Geena Davis
Drama / Romance / Comedy
USA
English
1365
22
Mike Leigh
Philip Davis, Ruth Sheen, Edna Doré, Philip Jackson, Heather Tobias
Comedy / Drama
UK
English
1374
23
Jan Svankmajer
Kristýna Kohoutová, Camilla Power
Animation / Fantasy / Experimental / Adventure
Czechoslovakia / Switzerland / UK / West Germany
English
1406
24
Mike Nichols
Harrison Ford, Sigourney Weaver, Melanie Griffith
Comedy / Romance / Drama
USA
English
1443
25
David Zucker
Leslie Nielsen, Priscilla Presley, Ricardo Montalban
Comedy / Crime / Thriller / Detective
USA
English
1451
26
Terence Davies
Pete Postlethwaite, Freda Dowie, Angela Walsh, Dean Williams
Drama / Biography
UK
English
1460
27
Marcel Ophüls
Marcel Ophüls, Klaus Barbie, Claude Lanzmann
Documentary / History / Biography / War
France / USA
French
1484
28
Martin Scorsese
Willem Dafoe, Harvey Keitel, Barbara Hershey, Harry Dean Stanton, David Bowie
Drama / Religion / Biography
USA
English
1500
29
Sidney Lumet
Christine Lahti, River Phoenix, Judd Hirsch, Jonas Abry
Drama
USA
English
1509
30
Peter Greenaway
Joan Plowright, Bernard Hill, Juliet Stevenson, Joely Richardson
Comedy / Drama
UK / Netherlands
English
1537
31
John Sayles
John Cusack, Jace Alexander, Gordon Clapp, Don Harvey
Drama / Sports / Period Film
USA
English
1633
32
Martin Brest
Robert De Niro, Charles Grodin, Yaphet Kotto, John Ashton
Action / Adventure / Comedy / Thriller
USA
English
1636
33
Alan Parker
Gene Hackman, Willem Dafoe, Frances McDormand
Crime / Drama / Thriller / Detective
USA
English
1823
34
Béla Tarr
Miklos B. Szekely, Vali Kerekes, Gyula Pauer, Hedi Temessy
Drama
Hungary
Hungarian
1954
35
Vincent Ward
Bruce Lyons, Chris Haywood, Hamish McFarlane, Marshall Napier, Noel Appleby
Fantasy / Adventure
Australia / New Zealand
English
1960
36
Francis Ford Coppola
Jeff Bridges, Joan Allen, Martin Landau, Frederic Forrest, Mako
Drama / Biography
USA
English
1999
37
Shinya Tsukamoto
Tomorowo Taguchi, Kei Fujiwara, Nobu Kanaoka, Renji Ishibashi, Naomasa Musaka
Horror / Sci-Fi / Action / Experimental
Japan
Japanese
2022
38
Bruno Nuytten
Isabelle Adjani, Gérard Depardieu
Drama / Biography / Period Film / Romance
France
French
2035
39
Fred Schepisi
Meryl Streep, Sam Neill, Dale Reeves, David Hoflin, Jason Reason
Drama
Australia / USA
English
2053
40
István Szabó
Klaus Maria Brandauer, Erland Josephson
Drama / Biography
Hungary / West Germany / Austria
Hungarian
2064
41
Claire Denis
Isaach De Bankolé, Giulia Boschi, François Cluzet
Drama
France / West Germany / Cameroon
French
2081
42
Aki Kaurismäki
Turo Pajala, Susanna Haavisto, Matti Pellonpää
Comedy / Drama / Crime / Romance / Adventure
Finland
Finnish
2171
43
Alan Rudolph
Keith Carradine, Linda Fiorentino, John Lone, Wallace Shawn
Drama / History / Comedy / Period Film
USA
English
2198
44
Frank Oz
Steve Martin, Michael Caine, Glenne Headly, Anton Rodgers
Comedy / Crime
USA
English
2202
45
John Waters
Sonny Bono, Ruth Brown, Divine, Deborah Harry, Ricki Lake
Comedy / Drama / Music / Cult
USA
English
2233
46
Chris Menges
Barbara Hershey, Jodhi May, Jeroen Krabbé, Nadine Chalmers
Drama
UK / Zimbabwe
English
2248
47
Christine Edzard
Alec Guinness, Dereck Jacobi, Joan Greenwood
Drama / Period Film
UK
English
2286
48
Clint Eastwood
Forest Whitaker, Diane Venora, Michael Zelniker, Samuel E. Wright
Biography / Drama / Music
USA
English
2306
49
Emir Kusturica
Davor Dujmovic, Bora Todorovic, Ljubica Adzovic, Husnija Hasimovic
Drama / Comedy / Crime / Romance
UK / Italy / Yugoslavia
Romany
2330
50
Ramón Menéndez
Edward James Olmos, Estelle Harris, Mark Phelan, Virginia Paris, Mark Eliot
Drama / Comedy
USA
English
2340
51
Jonathan Kaplan
Kelly McGillis, Jodie Foster, Bernie Coulson, Leo Rossi
Drama / Thriller
USA / Canada
English
2356
52
Ermanno Olmi
Rutger Hauer, Anthony Quayle, Sandrine Dumas, Dominique Pinon
Drama
Italy / France
English
2382
53
Woody Allen
Gena Rowlands, Mia Farrow, Ian Holm, Blythe Danner, Gene Hackman
Drama
USA
English
2383
54
Mike Figgis
Melanie Griffith, Tommy Lee Jones, Sting, Sean Bean
Crime / Drama / Thriller / Post-Noir / Gangster
UK / USA
English
2392
55
Claude Miller
Charlotte Gainsbourg, Didier Bezace, Simon de La Brosse
Drama / Crime / Romance
France
French
2550
56
Michel Deville
Miou-Miou, Christian Ruché, Régis Royer
Comedy / Drama
France
French
2553
57
Alan Clarke
Gary Oldman, Lesley Manville, Philip Davis, Andrew Wilde, Charles Lawson
Drama / Sports
UK
English
2556
58
Michael Apted
Sigourney Weaver, Bryan Brown, Julie Harris, John Omirah Miluwi
Drama / Biography / Adventure
USA
English
2578
59
Tim Burton
Alec Baldwin, Geena Davis, Michael Keaton, Catherine O'Hara
Comedy / Fantasy / Horror / Family
USA
English
2578
59
Mike Nichols
Matthew Broderick, Christopher Walken, Matt Mulhern, Corey Parker
Comedy / Drama
USA
English
2578
59
Vasili Pichul
Natalya Negoda, Andrei Sokolov, Yuri Nazarov, Lyudmila Zajtseva
Drama
Soviet Union
Russian
2578
59
Jonathan Demme
Alec Baldwin, Michelle Pfeiffer, Paul Lazar, Captain Haggerty
Comedy / Crime / Gangster
USA
English
2578
59
Juzo Itami
Nobuko Miyamoto, Rentaro Mikuni, Masahiko Tsugawa, Tetsuro Tamba
Comedy / Crime
Japan
Japanese
2591
60
Charlotte Zwerin
Jimmy Cleveland, Harry Colomby, John Coltrane, Ray Copeland
Documentary / Biography / Music
USA
English
2605
61
Sammo Hung Kam-Bo, Corey Yuen
Jackie Chan, Sammo Hung Kam-Bo, Biao Yuen, Pauline Yeung, Wah Yuen
Action / Comedy
Hong Kong
Cantonese
2605
61
Charles Sturridge
James Wilby, Kristin Scott Thomas, Rupert Graves, Anjelica Huston, Judi Dench
Comedy / Drama / Period Film
UK
English
2605
61
Robert Redford
Rubén Blades, Richard Bradford, Sonia Braga, Julie Carmen, James Gammon
Comedy / Fantasy / Drama
USA
English
2605
61
Nigel Noble
Leleti Khumalo, Baby Cele, Pat Mlaba, Miriam Makeba
Documentary / Music
USA
English
2633
62
George A. Romero
Jason Beghe, John Pankow, Kate McNeil, Joyce Van Patten, Christine Forrest
Drama / Horror / Sci-Fi / Thriller
USA
English
2688
63
Penelope Spheeris
Steven Tyler, Joe Perry, Alice Cooper, Gene Simmons, Paul Stanley, Lemmy
Documentary / Music / Biography
USA
English
2691
64
Roman Polanski
Harrison Ford, Betty Buckley, Emmanuelle Seigner, Djiby Soumare, Dominique Virton
Crime / Mystery / Thriller
USA / France
English
2691
64
Frank LaLoggia
Lukas Haas, Len Cariou, Alex Rocco, Katherine Helmond, Jason Presson
Fantasy / Horror / Mystery / Thriller
USA
English
2709
65
Gérard Corbiau
José van Dam, Anne Roussel, Philippe Volter, Sylvie Fennec
Drama / Period Film
Belgium / France
French
2775
67
Ted Kotcheff
Kathleen Turner, Burt Reynolds, Christopher Reeve, Ned Beatty, Henry Gibson
Comedy / Romance
USA
English
2783
68
John Schlesinger
Shirley MacLaine, Peggy Ashcroft, Twiggy, Shabana Azmi, Leigh Lawson
Drama / Musical
UK
English
2783
68
Bernard Rose
Charlotte Burke, Jane Bertish, Samantha Cahill, Glenne Headly, Sarah Newbold
Drama / Fantasy / Horror / Mystery / Romance / Thriller / Adventure
UK
English
2783
68
Marisa Silver
Alan Boyce, Keanu Reeves, Michelle Meyrink, Jennifer Rubin, Pamela Gidley
Drama / Romance
USA
English
2783
68
Oliver Stone
Eric Bogosian, Ellen Greene, Leslie Hope, John C. McGinley, Alec Baldwin
Drama / Crime
USA
English
2789
69
Krsto Papic
Davor Janjic, Alma Prica, Miodrag Krivokapic, Branislav Lecic
Drama
Yugoslavia
Serbo-Croatian
2792
70
Terry Gilliam
John Neville, Eric Idle, Sarah Polley, Oliver Reed, Charles McKeown
Adventure / Fantasy / Comedy / Family / Cult
UK / West Germany
English
2792
70
Rudy Wurlitzer, Robert Frank
Kevin J. O'Connor, Harris Yulin, Tom Waits, Bulle Ogier
Drama / Comedy / Music
Switzerland / Canada / France
English
2792
70
Luc Moullet
Françoise Buraux, Richard Copans, Luc Moullet
Short / Documentary / Comedy
France
French
2792
70
Jean-Luc Godard
Lydia Andrei, Jean Bouise, Laurence Côte
Drama / Short / Romance
France
French
2792
70
Jon Jost
Jon A. English, Barbara Hammes, Jennifer Johanson, Ed Green
Experimental / Drama
USA
English
2792
70
Rob Tregenza
Ken Gruz, Sarah Rush, Caron Tate, Henry Strozier, Dennis Jordan
Drama
USA
English
2792
70
Jacques Demy
Yves Montand, Mathilda May, Françoise Fabian
Musical / Romance / Comedy
France
French
2801
71
Harold Becker
James Woods, Sean Young, John Kapelos, Steven Hill, Kelle Kerr, John Rothman
Drama / Romance
USA
English
2801
71
James Bridges
Michael J. Fox, Kiefer Sutherland, Phoebe Cates, Swoosie Kurtz
Drama
USA / Japan
English
2801
71
Glenn Gordon Caron
Michael Keaton, Kathy Baker, Morgan Freeman, Tate Donovan, Henry Judd Baker
Drama
USA
English
2801
71
Buddy Van Horn
Clint Eastwood, Patricia Clarkson, Liam Neeson, Evan C. Kim, David Hunt
Action / Thriller / Crime / Drama / Detective
USA
English
2801
71
George Roy Hill
Chevy Chase, Madolyn Smith-Osborne, Kevin O'Morrison, Joseph Maher, Jack Gilpin
Comedy
USA
English
2801
71
Henry Winkler
Billy Crystal, Alan King, JoBeth Williams, Janet Carroll, David Ackroyd
Comedy / Drama
USA
English
2801
71
Donald Petrie
Annabeth Gish, Julia Roberts, Lili Taylor, Vincent D'Onofrio, William R. Moses
Comedy / Drama / Romance
USA
English
2801
71
Spike Lee
Laurence Fishburne, Giancarlo Esposito, Tisha Campbell, Kyme, Joe Seneca
Comedy / Drama / Musical
USA
English
2801
71
Catherine Breillat
Delphine Zentout, Etienne Chicot, Olivier Parnière
Romance / Drama
France
French
2801
71
Gregory Nava
William Hurt, Timothy Hutton, Melissa Leo, Francisco Rabal, Concha Hidalgo
Drama / War / Crime
USA
English
2801
71
Paul Bogart
Anne Bancroft, Matthew Broderick, Harvey Fierstein, Brian Kerwin, Karen Young
Drama / Comedy
USA
English
2801
71
Brian Gilbert
Judge Reinhold, Fred Savage, Corinne Bohrer, Swoosie Kurtz, Jane Kaczmarek
Comedy / Family / Fantasy
USA
English
2807
72
Allan A. Goldstein
Jan Rubes, Aaron Schwartz, Sharon Corder, Susan Douglas Rubes, Ken Zelig
Comedy / Drama / Religion / Period Film
Canada
English
2807
72
Christopher Cain
Emilio Estevez, Kiefer Sutherland, Lou Diamond Phillips, Charlie Sheen
Action / Drama / Western / Adventure / Crime
USA
English
2847
73
Krzysztof Kieslowski
Grazyna Szapolowska, Olaf Lubaszenko, Stefania Iwinska, Piotr Machalica
Drama / Romance
Poland
Polish
2860
74
Aleksandr Sokurov
Aleksei Ananishnov, Eskender Umarov, Irina Sokolova
Sci-Fi / Experimental
Soviet Union
Russian
NR
-
Luc Besson
Rosanna Arquette, Jean-Marc Barr, Jean Reno, Paul Shenar, Sergio Castellitto
Adventure / Drama / Romance
France / USA / Italy
English
