Greatest Directorial Debuts (February 2020)
This list is not a direct reflection of each film. There are a number of factors to be considered including impact of the film as well as the director's career as a whole.
60. Preston Sturges- The Great McGinty
59. Leslie Howard- Pygmalion
58. George Lucas- THX1138
57. Stephen Spielberg- Duel 56. Frank Miller- Sin City
55. David Lean- In which we serve
54. Tim Burton- Pee Wee’s Big Adventure
53. Frank Deutch- Pretty in Pink
52. John Hughes- Sixteen Candles
51. Barry Levinson- Diner
50. Satyajit Ray- Pather Panchali
49. Alain Reshais- Hiroshima Mon Amour
48. George A. Romero- Night of the Living Dead
47. Mario Van Peebles- New Jack City
46. John Singleton- Boy N’ the Hood
45. Harold Ramis- Caddyshack
44. Randal Keiser- Grease
43. George Miller- Mad Max
42. Steve Gordon- Arthur
41. Zucker, Abrams and Zucker- Airplane!
40. The Coen Brothers- Blood Simple
39. Jack Clayton- Room at the top
38. Delbert Mann- Marty
37. Gene Kelly and Stanley Dolen- On the town
36. Karl Freud- The Mummy
35. Howard Hughes- Hell’s Angels
34. Tony Kaye- American History X
33. Robin Hardy- The Wickerman
32. Mike Hodges- Get Carter
31. Kenneth Brannah- Henry V
30. Cameron Crowe- Say Anything
29. Stuart Gordon- The Re- Animator
28. Robert Redford- Ordinary People
27. Rob Reiner- This is Spinal Tap
26. Sam Mendes- American Beauty
25. Robert Wise- Curse of the cat people
24. Roland Joffe- The Killing Fields
23. Mel Brooks- The Producers
22. Terrance Malik- Badlands
21. Nicholas Roeg- Performance
20. Sam Raimi- Evil Dead
19. Frank Darabont- The Shawshank Redemption
18. Quentin Tarantino- Reservoir Dogs
17. Kevin Costner- Dances with wolves
16. Guy Ritchie- Lock, stock and two smoking barrels
15. David Lynch- Eraserhead
14. Mario Bava- Black Sunday (The mask of Satan)
13. Tony Richardson- Look back in anger
12. Lyndsey Anderson- This sporting life
11. Laurence Olivier- Henry V
10. Dario Argento- The Bird with the crystal plumage
9. Farncois Truffant- The 400 Blows
8. Dennis Hopper- Easy Rider
7. Mike Nichols- Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf?
6. James L. Brooks- Terms of Endearment
5. Adrei Tarkovsky- Ivan’s Childhood
4. Charles Laughton- Night of the Hunter
3. Sidney Lumet- 12 Angry men
2. John Huston- The Maltese Falcon
1. Orson Welles- Citizen Kane