Some argue that the mark of a great filmmaker, or any great artist, is consistency. To dispel the stench of being labeled a one-hit wonder, directors often have to outdo themselves again and again. Sometimes, they can get on a hot streak, creating multiple excellent films in a row.
These runs, characterized by a period of numerous movies of high quality for a particular filmmaker, may be regarded as their zenith. However, they are not easy to achieve and are often reserved for all-time greats. Underlining themselves in the history books, these are the best film stretches by directors.
13 The Coen Brothers — 2007-2013
The Coen brothers are two of the most beloved and revered filmmakers of their era, and critics and fans alike have discerning opinions on their best films. However, perhaps their most prized stretch, 2007 to 2013, saw the duo in full command of their directing virtuosity. In the fourth stage of their career, the run comprised five films and 22 total Oscar nominations.
Starting with No Country for Old Men, which won the Academy Award for Best Picture, the spell featured various genres, including western, drama, comedy, and musical. Ending with Inside Llewyn Davis, perhaps the most soulful film the brothers have ever created, this stretch may be the most accomplished in the Coen’s cherished history.
12 Martin Scorsese (2004-)
Here’s a run that’s still going on, and no one knows for how long. Perhaps the most important filmmaker alive, Martin Scorsese, has seemingly been at the top of his game for over 55 years. Entering his seventh decade as a director, Scorsese has an iconic movie in almost all of them, but his longest and most consistent run of films is the one he is currently on.
While other periods include maybe more legendary movies in Scorsese’s catalog, like Taxi Driver, Raging Bull, or Goodfellas, every Scorsese movie since 2004 has been at the very least splendid and at the very most exceptional. Beginning with The Aviator, which was nominated for 11 Oscars, it is yet to be seen whether Scorsese’s upcoming Killers of the Flower Moon will continue his phenomenal streak.
11 Oliver Stone (1986-1991)
Before becoming one of his era’s most polarizing and fervid filmmakers, Oliver Stone was an eminent screenwriter, penning Scarface in 1983. However, that would not be his apex, as Stone would rattle off one of the best stretches in movie history. Consisting of seven films in five years, those movies would be nominated for an unbelievable 27 Oscars combined.
Including his war trilogy, Salvador, Platoon, and Born on the Fourth of July, that period would include the hit Wall Street, the underrated Talk Radio, and two divisive epics, JFK and The Doors. What made that run even more important was that the movies were essential to their period, often urgent commentaries on the vital issues of the time, making Stone a needed and pressing voice.
10 Sidney Lumet (1973-1976)
It is a crime as great as any of the ones in his films that Sidney Lumet never won an Oscar for any of his movies. A prolific filmmaker, Lumet, on average, directed more than one picture a year since his directorial debut in 1957. An “actor’s director,” Lumet’s most famed decade was likely the 1970s when he was one of the decennary’s most prominent filmmakers.
Beginning with the underrated The Offence in 1973, Lumet followed it up with Serpico, Murder on the Orient Express, Dog Day Afternoon, and Network. Nowadays, Serpico is appreciated as one of the defining movies of the ’70s, while Murder on the Orient Express is renowned as one of cinema’s essential whodunits. Dog Day Afternoon and Network aren’t slouches either, as they have both been selected for preservation in the National Film Registry.
9 Paul Thomas Anderson (1996-)
One of, if not the most prodigious filmmakers alive, Paul Thomas Anderson hasn’t missed once. Cutting out any movies in Anderson’s filmography would be unfair when choosing his best stretch: it’s easier to include all of them.
That’s not to say they are all equal: Inherent Vice is a zany, languid trip, and There Will Be Blood is a dire, brutal film about greed and one of the best of the century. There is sort of two halves of Anderson’s career, that is pre-2002, which is mostly his early work, and post-2002, which is regarded as his more mature work. But there are so many great films on either side it would be unjust to break them apart.
8 Alfred Hitchcock (1954-1964)
The “Master of Suspense,” Alfred Hitchcock is rightfully ranked up there with the greatest and most influential filmmakers of all time. Although best associated with thrillers, hence the title, Hitchcock dabbled in numerous genres throughout his 50-year career, including horror, noir, mystery, romance, and comedy.
It may be tedious to rank his whole filmography as his best streak, so his decade from 1954 to 1964 should be sufficient. Including some of his most celebrated and obsessed over films such as Rear Window, Vertigo, and Psycho, Four of the films from that stretch were included on AFI’s 100 Years…100 Movies list, which counted down the 100 best American movies of all time.
7 David Fincher (2007-)
One of the preeminent directors of his time, the films of David Fincher are unmistakable, from their monochromatic color palette to psychological torment to technical precision. Almost every film Fincher has directed has been acclaimed, but if his best stint of movies had to be narrowed down, it would have to be the one he is currently on.
Every film of Fincher’s since 2007 has been Oscar-nominated except for Zodiac, which many critics note as his masterpiece. Curiously, his most tepidly received movie in that time period, The Curious Case of Benjamin Button, received the most Oscar nods. In 2023, Fincher will strive to keep his spell alive with The Killer for Netflix, and by the sounds of the film, there is little doubt that he will.
6 Steven Soderbergh (1998-2001)
A pioneer of independent and blockbuster filmmaking alike, Steven Soderbergh was classified as a savant when he broke out onto the scene in 1989. Since then, the prolific director has been a trailblazer in technological methodology and a maverick of style. Maybe not his most eclectic stretch, but Soderbergh’s most accomplished is certainly from 1998-2001.
1998 saw Soderbergh shift from a notable independent filmmaker who hadn’t found mainstream success to one who was working within the system. Leading with the heist filmsOut of Sight and finishing with Ocean’s 11, Soderbergh’s peak would be in 2000, when he was nominated for Best Director for two separate films, Traffic and Erin Brockovich.
5 Quentin Tarantino (1992-)
Like his contemporary Paul Thomas Anderson, Quentin Tarantino is one of the most talented directors of his generation and likely the most influential. Another architect of the independent film movement of the late ’80s and early ’90s, loyal fans can quibble over their favorite Tarantino flick, but few can dismiss any as outright lousy.
For that reason, like Anderson, Tarantino deserves every one of his films to be part of his remarkable run. Like many great directors, Tarantino’s career has gone in stages, first his hip ’90s crime stage, then his exploitation homage stage, and most recently, his historical revisionism stage. With his upcoming 10th film his supposed last, whether a new Tarantino phase will emerge is yet to be seen.
4 Hayao Mizayaki (1979-2013)
Perhaps the most revered animator in cinema history, Hayao Mizayaki’s work has continuously merged the line between magic and storytelling. Associated by many through his work with Studio Ghibli, Mizayaki’s entire filmography has been acclaimed, and thus to many, it would only seem fair to include them all.
Fans of all ages and nationalities will be largely familiar with Mizayaki’s most-known films, including movies such as My Neighbor Totoro, which was ranked the best-animated film of all time in the 2012 Sight and Sound critics poll. Other movies from Mizayaki, such as Spirited Away and Howls Moving Castle, are studied in schools and living rooms worldwide.
3 Sergio Leone (1964-1984)
A pioneer of style and camerawork, Sergio Leone is, for good reason, considered one of the most influential directors of his era. A popularizer of the Spaghetti Western, Leone’s Dollars Trilogy is the defining franchise of the genre. Although his career was cut short prematurely, and he took many lapses, Leone’s final stretch is one of the all-time greats.
Following his Dollars Trilogy, Leone made another classic Western in Once Upon a Time in the West,and the epic Mexican Revolution Wester Duck, You Sucker!, perhaps the most underrated film in his filmography. After turning down The Godfather, Leone spent much of the 1970s as a producer before working on his version of The Godfather, Once Upon A Time in America, a gangster epic that would be his last.
2 Stanley Kubrick (1956-1999)
Stanley Kubrick’s “first mature feature,” The Killing is such a raw work of magnetism that it still astounds to this day. The career zenith for almost any other director, Kubrick would only build on the ’50s noir, going from strength to strength, fierce psychological probing to fierce psychological probing, through varying genres and themes.
It’s not necessarily the diversity of Kubrick’s four-decade-spanning streak that causes jaws to drop. Instead, it’s more the striking individuality each picture holds. From A Clockwork Orange to Full Metal Jacket to Eyes Wide Shut, each of these films feel like the culmination of a career, but for Kubrick, they are just another film for his resume.
1 Francis Ford Coppola (1972-1979)
Seven years, four films, four Oscar Best Picture nominations, and two wins. 32 Oscar nominations cumulatively, a decade of cinematic supremacy for Francis Ford Coppola. Those numbers are the calculable ones. The incalculable one is how far the significance and impact of those four films stretch. Known to diehard and casual movie fans alike, these films are The Godfather, The Conversation, The Godfather Part 2, and Apocalypse Now.
The Godfather and its sequel are unmatched explorations of the American dream with two of the greatest casts ever assembled, a flawless merger of commerce and art that redefined cinema. The Conversation, Coppola’s misunderstood masterpiece, is a tragic account of post-Watergate daze and moral bewilderment. Lastly, Apocalypse Now is a haunting, hallucinatory vision of biblical proportions that can seldom be outdone.
