Ranking Hitchcock

 Last year, I made it my missions to watch every Alfred Hitchcock movie. There are exactly 52 of them (because one of the silents is lost), which meant I could watch one a week. I also threw in every TV episode he directed and a couple of odds and ends. So I can now say I've finally seen his entire oeuvre (again, apart from the missing silent film, The Mountain Eagle). 

So here I present my ranking of all of Hitchcock's films, from worst to my favorite. No doubt your list would differ from mine. I expect some consternation that at least one of these didn't make my top ten. But without further ado, here is Alfred Hitchcock Ranked!

 53. Champagne

At the very bottom we have an almost entirely forgettable silent comedy that only exists because Hitchcock said, "Let's make a movie called Champagne." The movie has a goofy tone, but it's never all that funny, and the plot, such as there is one, is almost incomprehensible. Frankly, I don't even remember any of it. The only memorable moment for me, and the one merit to it, is the shot through the bottom of a champagne glass. You can always rely on Hitch to devise these crazy shots, and he's especially inventive in the early days. But once that happens you can turn it off, because everything else is forgettable.

 

 52. Easy Virtue

Though Hitch is known these days as master of suspense, much of his early work is full of love triangles and bastard children (often both). The latter is the subject of this Noel Coward adaptation and unfortunately for Hitchcock, a Coward play just doesn't translate well to the silent medium, particularly not this one. The general melodrama is fine such as it is, but nothing about it being a film elevates it in any way, and when you add in film censorship of the time the plot is almost hard to follow through the insinuation and lack of dialogue. It's generally competent, but it's not Easy Virtue.

 

 51. Juno and the Paycock

His first all sound picture, it's another stage adaptation and you can tell he doesn't quite know what he's doing. Apart from the opening street scene, the movie is locked almost entirely in one apartment and the camera rarely moves. It feels like Hitch's heart wasn't in it because while it seems a fairly faithful presentation of the stage play, it just kind of sits there, making it boring. The ending brings out a little of the emotion, as Hitch finally moves the camera, but the rest is a slog. Also, the difficulty of the poorly recorded sound is only compounded by the thick accents of the actors, which may make this film near impossible for some viewers to get through or understand. However, the story when it comes across is a good drama and the actors seems to be giving it their best. But this should have been seen live, not through Hitchcock's camera.

 

50. The Farmer's Wife

Another stage comedy transposed to a silent film comedy. This time the story works and most of the time so does the comedy. The set up is a good one: a farmer's wife dies, and she gives him her blessing to remarry. He tries out three suitors who are terrible only to discover his true love is the maid who's been living in his house all along. Very sweet, and would be fun to do onstage some day. There is some very hammy silent film acting at times, which is overboard even for a comedy (the one suitor who laughs uncontrollably is played too broadly). And the unfortunate sin of the film is it's just too long. I enjoyed it for what it was, and it was a bright spot among the silent films (the "Hitchcock Nine" as they are called these days), but its length dragged it for me.

 

49. The Pleasure Garden

This is Hitchcock's first feature. It's a love triangle, and it's a weird little movie, but it has a number of tropes that pop up in later films. It's fine, not amazing, not too long, which is why it just edges out The Farmer's Wife on this list. It's not one you're going to pop in or seek out unless you're a hardcore completionist.

 

48.Mary

This is an obscure one! This is basically a shot-for-shot German language version of Murder! This was sometimes done in the 1930s, when films would be simultaneously shot on the same sets with different casts for differentl language markets. There's famously a Spanish version of Dracula from 1931. It is interesting Hitchcock shot this one himself. The performances are pretty good, and the direction is solid, it's just that the English version is better in almost every way, especially some of the visual humor.

 

47. The Manxman

This is the last of his all silent films, based on a novel and set on the Isle of Mann. It's another drama of infidelity and pregnancy, culminating in a legal drama. It's very well made for what it is, but it's so low on the list because by this time I was wearing of these tropes. However, if you only watch one or two of the silent films and you like marital melodrama, this might be the best of that bunch.

46. Downhill

This is the story of two elite schoolmates. One takes the fall for his friend's indiscretion and it completely ruins his life, sending him on a downhill slide into poverty. There is a lot of skillful filmmaking at play here. It's another stage adaptation, but in this case Hitchcock transposes it to the medium excellently. There's a brilliant reveal at one point where you think a character is working as a waiter and possibly stealing from customers, only for the camera to pull back and reveal that the entire scene we've been watching is onstage as part of a play. Yet for all the praise I can give this film as a silent melodrama, it has a fatal flaw: it is too long. The film just overstays its welcome with descent after descent into misery and eventually you want to throw up your hands and say "I got it!" 

45. Number Seventeen

The most forgettable of Hitchcock's sound thrillers. It's mostly set in this one building (the titular number 17), and while there are goings on of various characters with different goals, it just kind of lays there. It might make for an amusing stage play, but it's rather a weak film. There isn't much of Hithchcock's style to recommend it apart from some impressive miniature work in the film's climax.

44. Under Capricorn

I so wanted to like it. I even watched it twice to make sure, but man is this movie a slog. On paper, it should work. Ingrid Bergman reteaming with Hitchcock, now in gorgeous color, a romance, an exotic locale, and yet every scene just sort of sits there. There's no tension where there's meant to be. Still, the film ranks this high for the color cinematography, which really is great, and the costuming which complements it. The Irish character, for example, is dressed in greens. But Bergman deserved better than this script. There are some excellent long takes, but they are hard to appreciate when you just don't care about any of it. This film basically ruined Hitchcock's new production company, Transatlantic Pictures, which folded after just two films.

43. The Skin Game

There's a good cast in this one. It's another silent film dealing with romance and class issues. I can't remember much about it, but you can see that Hitch is learning and is honing his craft. I enjoyed the film for what it was, even if I can't cite specifics.

42. The Ring

One of the best of his early silents, though also a bit too long, The Ring tells the story of a young boxer who's also trying to court a young lady. There are a lot of elements involved, lots of character drama, and some very inventive camera work during the boxing sequence. Hitchcock comes up with some tricks to show his POV when he's knocked out, and it's really excellent stuff, especially for a silent film of the 1920s. This one works in the visual medium and is pretty engaging, even if you're not usually into silent film. 

41. Mr. and Mrs. Smith

A lot of Hitchcock movies have funny moments. He's good at comedy, and yet he seems to constantly fail at making straight comedy films. Mr. and Mrs. Smith is a sort of stereotypical 1930s screwball comedy about a married couple who are in an argument and find out that due to a mixup with the marriage license, they might not actually be married at all, so now are free to see other people. It's a VERY sitcom plot. While it's fine, I would suggest superior movies like The Awful Truth for similar entertainment. This one is okay, but it never really takes off and the lead couple are  never likable enough. Unlike later projects that use this title, however, neither is a secret spy. So if you go in expected action shenanigans, you'll be even further disappointed.

40. Rich and Strange

This is one of the romantic comedies that I will defend. It's bizarre and not everyone's cup of tea, but I found it amusing enough. It concerns a bored middle-class couple who suddenly fall into some money and take a trip around the world and they find that the high life comes with its own problems. Their marriage is tested, some goofy stuff happens, and all ends as it began. The highlight of the film is the opening sequence, which uses choreographed umbrellas to great effect. It's a brilliant visual sequence that tells you everything you need to know about this man's life.

39. Secret Agent

As you can guess, this movie concerns a secret agent. Unfortunately, this basically describes a fair number of Hitchcock movies and they start to run together in my mind which is why this one ranks lower. It's just less memorable. It does however have one intense sequence in the Alps and a murder that occurs there. 

38. Jamaica Inn

The second of Hitchcock's Daphne Du Maurier adaptations, it's less successful than Rebecca, but still lavishly produced and pretty fun at times. The standout of this one is Charles Laughton, hamming it up. Good costumes, good sets, a horse in a dining room, pirates, not a bad way to spend a couple hours.

37. Notorious

Okay, I'll say it. I don't like this movie. I know it's one of the ones EVERYONE talks up. I like Cary Grant, I like Ingrid Bergman, I like reparte, I like them both in Hitchcock films, but this movie does NOT work for me. I've seen it now probably 4 or 5 times and every single time I am quickly bored. There are a couple of memorable bits, and there's some suspense with a teacup, but in the end I just don't care at all about the story. Whatever they were trying to say with this movie, about a notorious woman, just never got across for me. I don't like the dialogue, I don't care much for the performances, I don't think much of it is shot particularly interestingly, apart from a few bits toward the end. So this is my first act of Hitchcock heresy, but if I never watched Notorious again, I wouldn't miss it.

36. The Trouble With Harry

It's a dark comedy and I want to like it. I really do. But for me, like the body in question throughout the film, it just lies there. The color cinematography is gorgeous. It looks exactly like Vermont on film. If you want to watch a movie that feels like New England in the fall, this one does. It's also the screen debut of Shirley MacLaine. There are scenes and scenarios that should be hysterical on paper, and yet for me they are just leaden in the execution. The dialogue often isn't snappy enough from some of the cast, meanwhile MacLaine is doing her best to keep it lively. Maybe someone could remake this script and give it the zest it needs, but Hitchcock played it so droll that it stopped being funny. And when you're not enjoying the joke, then the story is just macabre. Ultimately a failed experiment which is a real shame because it looks so pretty.

35. The Wrong Man

Another failed experiment is this "docudrama" ripped from the headlines, the true story of a man wrongfully accused of murder and the toll it takes on his marriage. Henry Fonda is the perfect sort of everyman choice for the lead. The movie sticks fairly close to actual events, which do make it difficult to keep it dramatic, as so much is taken up with his legal defense. The more interesting element is that the stress causes his wife to have a full psychological breakdown and be committed, which ultimately leads to the film's biggest flaw: the ending. Mandated by the studio, there's a tacked on bit of text at the end saying she eventually got out completely cured and they lived happily ever after. It just strikes such a weird tone in the moment, when the punch is much stronger leaving the story lingering that he's been acquitted but at what cost? Otherwise a solidly made film and an interesting twist on the typical Hitchcock "wrong man" thriller because it was true.

34. Lifeboat

An interesting experiment, the whole film is set on a lifeboat after a shipwreck during World War II. There's a lot of tension built up regarding survival and whether there's a killer in their midst. It's a well-made diverting film, but I found I didn't enjoy it quite as much as I hoped I would. After awhile, there were just so many characters in this boat, it started to strike me as a little silly. But it's a good contained little war drama and if you like stories set in one tight contained setting, you might enjoy it.

33. Torn Curtain

That's the Iron Curtain for those wondering. Here we have a cold war spy story, with a romance angle thrown in. There are some wonderful scenes. Julie Andrews and Paul Newman star, though it's hard to see chemistry between them. It's pretty well made, but not nearly as interesting as this sort of thing should be.

32. The Paradine Case

I'll be honest, of all the Hitchcock legal dramas, I remember this one the least. It's definitely one of the least remembered, falling between better movies. As I recall, this is the one where the lawyer pulls a legal strategy that on The Practice they would call "Plan B". That is, they scheme to accuse someone else of the crime in open court to save their client. As an old legal drama it's a fine way to pass the time, but no classic. As Hitchcock, it's nothing special. There are some good long take shots though.

31. Blackmail

Released in both a silent version and one with sound sequences, the sound version is the way to go. This was the very first British sound picture and there is an extremely memorable and effective sequence at a dinner table where the word knife keeps coming up that must be seen. It's exceptional inventive filmmaking, especially when you consider how new these tools are. Hitchcock was already a master of sound.

30. The Man Who Knew Too Much (1934)

Fans debate which version of the film is superior. I've always held the remake to be better, though my appreciation for this version improved and the latter did feel a bit bloated on my last watch. Both are worth seeing, this one for Peter Lorre. But the movie loses me a little when the climax hinges on a wife who just happens to be an Olympic sharpshooter.

 

29. Foreign Correspondent

A tight little spy thriller that becomes a call to action for America to get involved in the war. There are fun memorable set pieces, like the windmill, and if you want a pretty enjoyable movie about espionage in Europe, you could do worse. This one was nominated for the Best Picture Oscar, but lost to Hitchcock's other film from that year, Rebecca.

 

28.  Topaz

I had the hardest time figuring out what to do with this movie. Where do I place it? It's Hitchcock's penultimate film and it's got a lot of good and a bit of confusion. The ending was enough of an issue that they shot and edited multiple versions. Based on a novel inspired by the Sapphire Affair, Topaz is a spy thriller about the growing Soviet presence in Cuba. It's good, but it's also missing something. However, the color, the layout, and certain sequences show Hitch still in good form.

27. Murder!

This is a great little movie! A real surprise from the early 1930s, and not one that gets talked about very often. There is a lot going on subtextually regarding gender. A woman is accused of murder and we follow her legal defense and the attempts to root out who the real killer is. The opening murder scene is very well staged. If you've never heard of this one, and you like early cinema, seek it out.

26. Waltzes From Vienna

Okay, okay, I'm sure I have some fans scratching their heads here. Waltzes From Vienna, also known as Strauss's Last Waltz, tells the (wholly fictional) story of how Johann Strauss composed The Blue Danube waltz. Yes, despite being based on real people, nothing in this film is truthful. And yet it settles nicely into that era of film with biopics like The Story of Louis Pasteur. At it's heart, it's both a family drama and a romantic comedy. A lot of people will consider it forgettable, but honestly, I don't care. I had a blast watching this movie. It was light and fun and funny and forgettable. It's everything you could want in disposable entertainment, showing that Hitchcock can successfully make a movie like this that isn't all thrillers and intrigue. So you can have your Notorious, I'll keep my Waltzes From Vienna.

25. I Confess

The best of the Hitchcock legal dramas, I Confess concerns a priest who is bound by church law not to present evidence in a murder case that he learned in confession. Again, not one of the obvious standouts, but I enjoyed it and had no real complaints. There were just other movies that were better.

24. Sabotage

This film is most remembered for a very suspenseful sequence involving a bomb that is set to go off at a specific time. It also features the use of a Disney cartoon (Who Killed Cock Robin?) in its climactic sequence. Setting a movie around a movie theater is an interesting gimmick, as is transporting things in film canisters. But unfortunately the movie loses steam after that famous sequence.

23. Family Plot

Though he was prepping another script after this, Hitchcock ultimately chose to retire and that film was never made, meaning Family Plot is his last movie. He puts all his years of experience to good use in this story about riches, psychics, and jewel thieves. The best way to describe it is it's a cozy mystery. There's some clues to follow, some fun little excursions, humor, relationships, and a punny title. If you like that sort of thing, I think you'll really appreciate the tone of this movie. If you go in expecting Strangers on a Train or something you might be disappointed. But if you want a nice little thing to curl up with some evening, it's fun and a nice note to end his career on.

22. Suspicion

Another nominee for Best Picture, Suspicion concerns a wife's growing... suspicions that her husband is planning to murder her. Scene after scene builds the suspense and the movie becomes very engaging. Cary Grant is perfectly cast, and he always seems to have reasonable explanations, and yet... It's a really fun little thrill ride where so much of the drama plays out in the mind. Unfortunately, the ending wraps up the whole thing in a way that's not really satisfactory.

21. The 39 Steps

Another spy thriller that has very little to do with its original source material, but 39 Steps is classic Hitchcock, a trek from setting to setting in search of some MacGuffin. The trope is done I think better in other films, but a lot of the groundwork is laid here.

20. Stage Fright

People sleep on this one, but I had a good time with it. Hitch's daughter Pat puts in a great performance. Do I remember what it was about? Nope! But I liked it enough that it's top 20.

19. Saboteur

Not to be confused with Sabotage, Saboteur is the superior film where a man is accused of causing a serious act of sabotage at his factory and being a foreign agent. The rest of the movie is a chase as he tries to clear his name, culminating in a showdown at the Statue of Liberty and if all this sounds similar to North By Northwest, maybe you should make it a double feature.

18. Spellbound

Ingrid Bergman plays a pyschoanalyst helping a man get to the heart of some dark secrets from his past and interpret his dreams. The dream sequences were devised with the help of Salvador Dali and they do get rather surreal at times. The ultimate explanation is kind of silly, but there's some good drama at play here. Watch out for the few frames of color in this black and white movie!

17. The Lady Vanishes

A bit of a silly mystery on a train, where an old woman tasked with delivering crucial secrets by train suddenly disappears. What follows is a fun little romp to locate her or stop those who are after her and entrust the information gets into good hands. 

16. The Lodger

The best of Hitchcock's silent work is also the one that's most like his later films. The Lodger concerns a couple who take in a mysterious man to rent an upstairs room, a man who it turns out may actually be a murderer. There is a lot of good tension and misdirection, some very good technical work too. There's a sequence where they can hear him pacing the floor above them, and Hitchcock conveys this by superimposing images of the man walking on a glass floor, so we see his feet moving across the ceiling. It's a well-made silent thriller and a real surprise it took him so long to return to this grenre.

15. Young and Innocent

Part "wrong man on the run" and part screwball comedy, this one really worked for me in a way it might not for others. It's got elements of 39 Steps, but I like the characters and their banter and there's more comedy to this one. There's also some more good miniature work, which Hitch got better and more ambitious with as he made each film.

14. Rope

Set entirely in one room and playing out in real time and meant to appear as almost one continuous shot, Rope is more interesting as a technical feat than a drama, but the drama still works. Inspired by the infamous Leopold and Loeb murder case and adapted from a stage script, Hitchcock's moving camera and brilliant choreography keeps it from ever being stagey while also being claustrophobic when needed. The story is that two kids, inspired by their professor, murder a classmate just for a lark to see if they can get away with it, then host a dinner party while the body is in a trunk. Jimmy Stewart is good in it, but at times isn't always convincing when the character's darker elements come into play. He sells those final monologues though. And the way the large windows are used to show the passage of time, and the use of color, it's a very well-made experiment.

13. Dial M for Murder

Another fairly amusing little crime thriller, this one was similarly an experiment in 3D. Unfortunately, the fad had already died down and the frequent use of rear projection probably didn't look great in 3D. I wasn't able to watch it in 3D (a bluray does exist, but requires a 3D television), but I have seen some of the sequences in 3D and they work. Even in 2D, it's a tight little suspense story and Grace Kelly is good in it. It's not as good or as memorable as it could be, but it's a good time. Thankfully the 3D shots, even when you can tell they are supposed to be dimensional, don't come off as too gimmicky.

12. To Catch a Thief

I struggled with placing this one. It's a good time, but almost too cute for its own good. But when I made the list, I liked that stuff. It concerns a cat burglar gone legit who's being framed for other thefts. This is the one Hitchcock film that Paramount retains the rights to. There is something hokey about two characters kissing and immediately cutting to fireworks.

11. Vertigo

Just missing my top ten, yes Vertigo is a well-made movie, but I'm just not as enamored with it as everyone else is. The basic plot concerns a man falling for a mystery woman, witnessing her murder, and then unable to get over her so he starts dating some other woman and turning her into the dead one. Oh yeah, and he's a former cop with vertigo and a psychological hangup because it cost him a case and broke his leg. This is a very weird movie. The use of color, the fancy lens tricks, the cast, that's all good. Honestly what hurts the movie for me is that the script gives him a female roommate, ostensibly as a way of getting exposition out, but I always think he has more chemistry with her than with the other woman. So I am left not caring about any of this, get back to the sexual tension with Midge! The movie also ends incredibly abruptly and it's just too abrupt for me. So I'm sorry fans, but Vertigo isn't quite it for me.

10. Marnie

Sean Connery in a Hitchcock movie! This is a good psychological thriller involving the mystery of Marnie's interior blockage, which we eventually learn was due to child sex abuse and her witnessing terrible acts. It's a mature story with a good cast that's well made. There's a controversial scene which is interpreted by some as rape (it caused the film to lose its original screenwriter), but I don't think it mars the overall impact of the film. 

 

9. Frenzy

Hitchcock went all out in the 1970s making a very adult thriller. There's actual nudity in this one. The film stars Michael Caine in the story of a rapist and murderer and the investigation on his trail. There are some very tense sequences, but also the movie is kind of a dark comedy. There are moments of very black humor that I really enjoyed. If you've only seen the "safe" Hitchcock films and want something else after Psycho, this is a good follow-up.

 

8. The Man Who Knew Too Much (1956)

I do go back and forth about how much I like this one versus the original and struggle with whether I'm ranking it too high. But I think it's a really good movie, now in color, retelling the main story beats of the first movie but embellishing. Now, some of that embellishment may be overdone and the film is noticeably longer than the original. But Jimmy Stewart puts in a good performance, as does Doris Day. I enjoy the use of singing in the climax of the film, and I think it's more believable than the original. 

 

7. The Birds

The Birds is a weird movie. It's creepy and the tension builds up but there's never any explanation for any of it. It's just a bizarre tale of a town suddenly overrun by flocks of birds that terrorize the public until the family drives away. No lessons learned, no answers given, just preying on a natural aversion to animal life. Is it a statement about nature versus civilization? Maybe. Or just an exploration of primal fears? Maybe. But it's surprisingly scary, especially in scenes where children are attacked or terrorized. A young Veronica Cartwright gives a standout child performance. She would go on to great success in other genre films such as Invasion of the Body Snatchers and Alien.

6. North By Northwest

I don't like it as much as others do, but it is a slickly made quintessential Hithchcock movie. If you were to narrow down the Hitchcock tropes of the 1940s and '50s into one film, North by Northwest is pretty much it. The story follows Cary Grant as the everyman mistakenly wound up into an intricate nation-hopping plot. It's got fun set pieces and iconic moments, so it's undeniable one of Hitchcock's most enduring classics. 

5. Rebecca

The Academy Award-winning adaptation of Daphne DuMaurier's novel is a masterpiece, even when some of its story elements had to be toned down for Hollywood censorship. When I first saw it, I was a little bored for the first hour or so. It was fine, but just seemed to be taking its time. Yet you need that deliberate pace because it creates a kind of increasing confusion and tension as we build to a climax of revelation after revelation which blew my mind when I was younger. The basic plot is that a man remarries and the new wife is constantly under the shadow of the first wife, especially under the disdainful eye of the housekeeper. It's a great film, a solid adaptation of the book, and builds to a tremendous conclusion.

4. Rear Window

This movie is excellent! It's no surprise it's been remade several times, both as a direct modern remake starring Christopher Reeve (post-accident, an inspired idea), and in some reworkings like Disturbia. The set is amazing; Hitchcock has an entire apartment complex and courtyard with various little characters in each of the windows. Jimmy Stewart is great here as a photojournalist turned voyeur recovering from a broken leg who may have stumbled upon a murder! Grace Kelly also puts in a good performance. Easily one of Hitch's best suspense films.

The last three films are so good and so close in my mind as to be basically interchangeable. On another day, I might shift the order. But this is how they shake out for now.

3. Strangers on a Train

Based on the novel by Patricia Highsmith, Strangers on a Train tells the strange tale of a couple guys who meet on a train and the more psychotic of the two suggests a plan to "swap murders". He wants his father dead, and the other fellow, a tennis star, wants out of his current marriage. Things take a terrible turn when the maladjusted fellow thinks they have a real arrangement and begins plotting to murder the wife. It's a a great story where neither guy is entirely likeable but the cast is great. There are amazing sequences with iconic shots, such as a very key scene involving a pair of glasses (with a great performance from Hitch's daughter Pat). There's great model work in the climax with a runaway carousel. This film also inspired a later comedic retelling, Throw Momma From the Train, directed by Danny DeVito.

2. Psycho

Everything just works in Psycho. It's a gritty little picture that shows Hitchcock can make tense, weird, sexual, disturbing horror films and not just slick popcorn entertainment like North By Northwest. Anthony Perkins gives a perfect performance. The narrative shifts the movie takes keep the audience guessing and have inspired countless ripoffs and homages in later films. That piercing score is still relevant and heart-pounding. Eventually the movie would inspire three direct sequels, a shot-for-shot remake, and a spinoff TV series. It's often cited as the favorite of Hitchcock fans. I've seen it so many times now since I first saw it in high school and it still holds up. If it at all seems tame to modern audiences, it certainly didn't in 1960. It's no exaggeration to say that Psycho changed cinema.

1. Shadow of a Doubt

Like I say, on another day, Psycho might take the top spot and maybe I'm just being contrarian right now as that seems to obvious. But I have always maintained that Shadow of a Doubt is my favorite early Hitchcock film (think of that as basically everything pre-Rear Window). The story of Shadow of a Doubt concerns a teen girl whose uncle comes to visit and she begins to strongly suspect he is not a good guy. It's a simple premise that is told very well with a great cast. If I have only one complaint, it's that I think the opening scene sets the film up in a way that changes the tensions in the rest of the story. But it is otherwise a perfect Hitchcock film about terrible things coming into quaint suburbia. Hitchcock cited it as possibly his favorite film he'd made. I love it and I think more people should check it out. If Psycho is too much for you, you should definitely be able to handle this one. It's got suspense and thrills, but it's not too shocking. And it remains among my very favorites.

Boy, that took a long time to complete! This year, I'm working through Martin Scorsese's entire filmography. Perhaps I will rank him too. We'll see.