Personally I don't rate Soderbergh that highly - his films are enjoyable no doubt about it, but I wouldn't go as for as to call any one of them classics. The directors I've posted I personally consider masterful. Can't find much to rave about Baz Lurhmann either 3 films 2 were average 1 was just above (strictly ballroom).
ok here's the films by each one which really had me in awe:
Alfred Hitchcock - He is the master of suspense. North By Northwest, To Catch A Thief, Vertigo, The Man Who Knew Too Much, Rear Window, Rope, To Catch A Thief, Rear Window, Dial M For Murder, The Birds, Marnie. I love every single one of his films (I probably missed out a few but those are the ones that instantly come to mind)
Charlie Chaplin - The Kid, City lights, The great dictator.
Fritz Lang Father of film noir - M, The Big Heat, You only live once, Metropolis, Woman In the Window. These are the only ones I've seen, and I loved every one.
Woody Allen Quality before commerce -My favourites of his:- Sleeper, Manhattan, Annie Hall and Play it again, Sam (but there are many more I've enjoyed)
Sam Peckinpah Wild Bunch, Straw Dogs, Patt Garrett and Billy the Kid, Corss of Iron <-- he's obviously influenced by Kurasowa. I enjoyed the other grim and gritty styled flicks as you mentioned L.B.J such as Bring me the head of Alfredo Garcia but I don't think it cuts it with the others...
Derek Jarman He was an outspoken radical against mainstream directors and his films really did offer a genuine alternative to the other mainstream stuff . The ones I've seen: Sebastaine, Blue, Caravaggio, The last of England, Wittgenstein, The Tempest and Jubilee. Many of my mates don't really like him- I think he's a very acquired taste
Krzyzstof Kieslowski Hospital, Decalogue, Three colours red/blue and white
A short film about killing, The double life of veronique - In my opinion he's the best European Director
Roger Corman The one man film factory
I think out of the 500 odd he produced and 50 he directed the best were The Trip, Little Shop of Horrors, Fall of the House of Usher and Pit and the Pendulum (I haven't seen Premature Burial). I think its also important to recognise the people he brought into the limelight from his films...
Billy Wilder Don't think I need to say too much about him - my fav's - Double Indemnity, Sunset Blvd, The Apartment, Some Like it Hot and the Seven Year Itch. I did enjoy the others you mentioned - Irma La Douce and The Front Page, don't think I've even heard of Buddy though!
Dario Argento He is the master of horror. I think I have taken a strange liking to him where I find it hard not find something I like about any one of his films - and I've seen quite a few of his: The Bird with the Crystal Plummage was excellent, especially for a directorial debut (don't you think?) Tenebre was great, as was Deep Red, Phenomena, Opera, Suspiria oh damn it, I love em all.
Akira Kurosawa Are you trying to tell me that Seven Samurai wasn't really filmed in the 16th? Oh. (also Rashomon, Yojimbo, Throne of Blood, Drunken Angel, Red Beard, Ran, Kagemusha - the man knows how to make films, and with everyone I watch I feel I'm really there.
Francis Ford Coppola Once again don't need to say much - The Conversation, Apocalypse Now, Godfather 1 and 2, Rumble Fish, Finian's Rainbow, The Outsiders (I don't think people appreciate his diversity that much)
David Lynch Since I saw Eraserhead I've had nothing but admiration for Lynch's style. I can't possibly think of another films which feel like real art pieces as much as Lynch's flims. Once again I have nothing but admiration for all his films - even the crap ones
Elephant Man, Blue Velvet, Straight Story, Lost Highway and Mulholland Drive, Loved every one (i'm ignoring dune for now lets pretend it doesn't actually exist)
Werner Herzog the Enigma of Kasper Hauser, Wings of Hope, My Best Friend, Fitzcarraldo, my personal fave - Aguirre:Warth of God strangely compelling viewing.
Martin Scorsese I doubt anyone here isn't familiar with his works, the beauty of Scorsese is that he still hasn't lost his touch
---------Aww my fingers are hurting
. I'll come back and finish this post later------------
John Cassavates Husbands, The Killing of a Chinese Bookie, Love Streams, I like him because his films are all honest, pure and perfectly flawed, he was an actor most notably in the dirty dozen, rosemary's baby and mikey and nicky.
Stanley Kubrick Once again, YKTS, I have seen all of his films made after The Killing and have not come across one which is not perfectly directed (yes that includes eyes wide shut) Kubrick was a true original.
Francois Truffaut Critic turned filmmaker, for me his best work is: La chambre verte, La Peau Douce, Jules et Jim, Les Quatre Cent Coups - he was influenced a lot my Jean Renoir (who also made many great films)
Bernardo Bertolucci Because he is one of the few arthouse directors to play the Americans at their own game, and win - Before the Revolution, The Spiders Strategm, The Conformist, Last Tango in Paris (obviously influenced by Pasolini), he was the only european director from the sixties/seventies to win an international audience. He also directed some of the best political films ever made.
Orson Welles Citizen Cane, The Magnificient Ambersons, Lady from Shanghai, Othello, Touch of Evil, F for Fake,
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