The Greatest Living Directors

List of the best American filmmakers who are still alive (though not necessarily still actively making films.) When discussing the finest American filmmakers of all time, a few names immediately pop to mind. John Ford. John Huston. Frank Capra. But adding in the condition that they must still be living adds a level of difficulty.

Sure, you still have a few luminaries who are with us and clearly are contenders for the title - Martin Scorsese, Woody Allen, Steven Spielberg. These guys are no slouches. But it starts to make the list a bit more challenging to compile, particularly when you consider the vast array of genres and styles in which these directors are working. Can John Lasseter's work in animation be directly compared to Sofia Coppola's atmospheric character studies? Can John Carpenter's '80s horror classics comfortably sit side-by-side with Wes Anderson's twee indie adventures? These are the kinds of tough calls Ranker listers are just going to have to make.

Another note: What makes someone an "American" director? Certainly, being born and raised in the US doesn't hurt, but I've also taken into account where the majority of the director's films were made, and where they spent the bulk of their career. So Terry Gilliam was born in the US, but his work is much closer associated with England and the British film industry. He's not on the list. Whereas Mike Nichols was born in Berlin, Germany, but has made most of his films - including "The Graduate," "Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf?" and "Working Girl" - stateside. He made the cut.

One final element to consider would be consistency. Terrence Malick has made far fewer films than most of the entrants on this list, but most (if not all) have been of a remarkably high level of quality. Does that earn him a spot above, say, Clint Eastwood, who has worked a lot but with a somewhat more spotty record? Tough choices... but isn't that what ranking is all about?