The jump from acting to aim is one that countless doer have attempt over the years . Some have inevitably pulled that transition off good than others , while an even smaller number have terminate up making films that are rightly seen by both cinephiles and general moviegoers likewise as ranking among the greatest film of all time . A few actors have even succeed so profoundly as conductor that they ’re now remember more for their efforts behind the camera than those in front of it .
2024 alone has seen some notable directorial debuts from longtime big - screen performer like Anna Kendrick and Zoë Kravitz . Whether their film , as well as any of the other more recent additions to this niche category of movies , end up being remembered as fondly as their multi - hyphenate conductor would like remains to be seen . For now , here are the 10 salutary movies ever guide by actor , ranked .
10. Wanda (1970)
Written and directed by Barbara Loden , Wandafollows an afloat adult female drift through the small coal excavation town of eastern Pennsylvania who unknowingly becomes the partner - in - crime to a hapless male bank robber ( Michael Higgins ) . Loden also star in the film as its eponymous character — score what was at the time a rare instance of an actor writing , send , producing , and appear in the same film .
While the film ’s budgetary constraint are clear throughout it , Loden ’s empathetic , keen center allowsWandato function as both a low - grade crime drama and a nub - wrick portrait of a womanhood with limited options who is searching for some way of life to ground herself in a world that would rather take advantage of her than furnish any sustenance or security measures . It ’s the only feature film Loden ever directed , but it feels like just as fully imprint of an aesthetic affirmation as any other movie on this list .
Wandais streaming now onMax .
9. Defending Your Life (1991)
From 1979 to 1991 , Albert Brooks made a run as a writer - film director that ranks restfully as one of the most telling ever achieved by an thespian - film producer . As big as his first three celluloid are , though , Brooks ’ greatest achievement as a music director remainsDefending Your Life . A wacky yet fond romanticistic drollery , the film takes shoes in a version of the hereafter where a recently deceased person ’s time to come is determined by how many of the decision they made while they were alive were make up one’s mind by care .
Brooks stars in the moving picture , which he also wrote and directed , as Daniel , a psychoneurotic advertising administrator whose afterlife Romance language with Julia ( a luminous Meryl Streep ) is threatened by all the dreaded decisions he made on Earth . The film is just as goofy and darkly laughable as any that Brooks has ever made , but at the heart of it is an optimistic spirit that is as touching as it is truly rousing .
defend Your Lifeis useable to hire now on all major digital platforms .
8. Nope (2022)
Few movie maker have rocketed to the top of the Hollywood hierarchy as quickly or as confidently asJordan Peele . In the years since he achieved Oscar - winning success with his 2017 directorial debutGet Out , Peele has been steadily expanding the orbit of his own aesthetic reach . As a result , his follow - up moving-picture show , 2019’sUsand 2022’sNope , have felt increasingly ambitious and intemperate to pin down .
That is particularly true ofNope , a visually sensational Riffian on a UFOs - in - the - sky sci - fi thriller that repeat as a searing , terrify critique of human beings ’s own , quenchless fixation with spectacle . feature two charismatic , energetically opposed lead functioning by Daniel Kaluuya and Keke Palmer , Nopeis as profoundly indebted to sci - fi masters likeSteven SpielbergandJohn Carpenteras it is an inimitable piece of work that could only have been made by Peele himself . It ’s a megahit like any other and cogent evidence that Peele is an artist who is both willing and up to of tug himself to great acme every time he steps behind the camera .
Nopeis streaming now onStarz .
7. The Princess Bride (1987)
Rob Reiner may have first made a name for himself playing Meathead onAll in the Family , but he ’s most well - known now for his employment as a director . That ’s for good understanding , too . After puddle his directorial unveiling in 1984 with one of the most beloved clowning of all clip , This Is Spinal Tap , Reiner spend the next 11 year of his life history directing some of the most democratic and acclaimed films of the last 50 years . These includeWhen Harry Met Sally … ,A Few Good Men , Stand By Me , and arguably his greatest directorial achievement , The Princess Bride .
A mod , ironic Riffian on a traditional fairy tale , The Princess Brideis one of America ’s most quotable and wizardly phantasy films . It would n’t work virtually as well as it does , either , were it not for Reiner ’s own , steady control of tone and his steadfastly dry direction , which both reinforcesThe Princess Bride‘s comedic sharpness and gives its many jokes the blank they need to breathe and down with maximal impingement — which they do without fail .
The Princess Brideis cyclosis now onDisney+ .
6. Little Women (2019)
Coming off the succeeder of her directorial debutLady Bird , Greta Gerwigchose as her follow - upLittle Women , an adaptation of one of the most beloved and well - jazz novels of all time that had already been successfully adapted for the big and small screen several times antecedently . By cross - edit its reservoir fabric ’s matching timelines together , though , Gerwig found a way intoLittle Womenthat made her version not only unique but also more cinematic and dynamic than any late adaptation .
Through Saoirse Ronan ’s apprehend lead execution and her tout ensemble of fiercely rendered distaff characters , Gerwig also manage to create a portrayal of the distaff experience that feels both in dialogue with Louisa May Alcott ’s original novel and all her own . The result is the cinema that still feel like the purest and most stern distillation of Gerwig ’s artistic linear perspective to engagement .
Little Womenis cyclosis now onHulu .
5. City Lights (1931)
Charlie Chaplinmay be among the most recognizable figures in moving-picture show history , but it is , perhaps , a lesser - known fact outside of cinephile circles that he also directed many of his best films . While the title for his expectant work may be up for debate , few of his films enamor Chaplin ’s stand magic as both a performer and storyteller more beautifully or playfully thanCity Lights .
The film is a tripping clowning about a street tramp steamer ( Chaplin ) who falls in love with a unreasoning flower girlfriend and decides to endeavor to utilise his young , wonky friendship with a millionaire to court her and make her life story better . What ensues from there is a series of positively Chaplin - esque gag of forcible clowning , followed by an ending that is among the most splendid , simple , and travel ever devised in the story of filmmaking . Above all else , City Lightsproves that Chaplin had an understanding of the optical language of cinema that has seldom ever been matched or travel by .
City Lightsis streaming now onTubi , Max , andAmazon Prime Video .
4. A Woman Under the Influence (1974)
John Cassavetes is wide — and justifiedly — recognized as one of the pioneer of main American filmmaking . do work with a dependable work party of friends and loved ones , Cassavetes starred in , wrote , and point some of the most observant and achingly empathic film of the 1950s , ’ 60s , ’ 70s , and ’ eighty . While all of his films are beloved in their own rightfield , though , few are as revered or cast as recollective of a trace asA Woman Under the Influence .
feature a performance for the age by Cassavetes ’ real - spirit married woman , Gena Rowlands , the cinema follows Mabel , an gonzo , unstable housewife whose sometimes incomprehensible behavior is met with derision and legal opinion by strangers , her admirer , husband ( Peter Falk ) , and family member . It is a moving , uncomfortable portrait of both incompatible romance and transmitted dysfunction , and Rowlands ’ functioning is often cited as a major inspiration for many working actresses . Cassavetes , for his part , catch it in his reliably observant , uncompromising fashion .
A Woman Under the Influenceis cyclosis now onMax .
3. The Night of the Hunter (1955)
Charles Laughton’sThe Night of the Hunteris a striking , singular objet d’art of work . base on a 1953 novel by Davis Grubb , it is a gothic thriller about a consecutive orca ( Robert Mitchum ) who nonplus as a preacher , wed an unsuspicious widow ( Shelley Winters ) , and then render restrain her children into revealing where their criminal father hid the $ 10,000 he stole during a bank looting . Centered around an perfectly terrifying performance by Robert Mitchum , The Night of the Hunterpushes viewers headfirst into a ghostlike world of sinners , slant walls , shadowy Southern marshes , and monsters masquerading as devout men .
It is a foreign and knock-down film — a slice of rummy , auction pitch - black Southern Gothic fiction that entrances you and worms its way under your pelt . The fact that Laughton never got to make another cinema is a tragic crook of fate , but the one he did is more impactful than some directors ’ entire filmographies .
The Night of the Hunteris streaming now onPluto TV .
2. Citizen Kane (1941)
In the long chronicle of worker stepping behind the camera , Citizen Kanemay be the most notable example , and there ’s a good reason for that . With his first feature flick , Orson Welles not only decide to pull bivalent - duty by star in and directingKanebut he also push the established limits of accept filmmaking . Through their use of deep - stress picture taking , modest angles , and sure camera movements , Orson Welles and cinematographer Gregg Toland changed how filmmakers and studio trust films could move and count . Stylistically , Citizen Kanehas had more of a go influence than almost any other film .
The movie ’s stylus , as well as its blister take on the corrosive nature of money , power , and ambition , have imbued it with a truly rarefied kind of lasting ability . It ’s a fearless esthetic program line that Welles , thanks to the endless studio battles he faced , spent the rest of his calling fight to match . But to say that he managed to do more inCitizen Kanethan most filmmakers ever had in their first film would be an understatement .
Citizen Kaneis available to rent now on all major digital platforms .
1. Unforgiven (1992)
Very few role player have ever made the leap to directing as successfully asClint Eastwood . Over the preceding 50 years , Eastwood has assembled a collection of directing credits so impressive that it now equal his work as a performing artist . No film that he has mastermind sits high on his listing of achievement , either , thanUnforgiven . Eastwood ’s Oscar - succeed masterpiece is a thrilling and elegiac Western that simultaneously mourns the expiry of the writing style that made Eastwood a cinematic ikon , essay its debatable issue , and showcases the terrifying power of the Hollywood gunslinger .
No other flick on this listing resonates as profoundly as it does because of how it relates to its maker ’s life history , and no one else could have madeUnforgivenwith the same reverent and yet scrutinizing optic . It ’s a musical genre - specify victory — a film that resurrects , reinvents , and suppose goodbye to the Old West as moviegoers had add up to be intimate it . In many ways , Unforgivenfeels like the culmination of Eastwood ’s entire career . It also happens to be his acme as both an actor and conductor .
Unforgivenis cyclosis now onMax .
