Directorial Chronology - 1969

In The American Cinema: Directors and Directions 1929 - 1968, Andrew Sarris provided an extremely useful and entertaining appendix he called "Directorial Chronology." It was basically a best American film of the year list with a highly auteurist, idiosyncratic bent. So you would see things like Man's Favorite Sport (Hawks) ranked well above something more critically exalted (by the mainstream) like Fail Safe (Lumet). He did not numerically rank the films, but they are pretty clearly presented in order of preference (and preferred auteurs). Since it is my aim to pay tribute to great text by the great man, I am going to attempt to do the same.

So, here it is, the first Director Chronology starting with the first year where Sarris left off, 1969. The hope is the list will wed naturally with the categories I will be presenting over time (here is the chapter for Pantheon Directors and The Far Side of Paradise. Here is the introduction to this project. Much more to come).

Director Chronology - 1969

(remember, as in the spirit of Sarris' book, these are American-produced films only. So don't yell at me about Z or La Femme Infidele).

Sam Peckinpah The Wild Bunch
Haskell Wexler Medium Cool
Arthur Penn Alice's Restaurant
Michael Ritchie Downhill Racer
Frank Perry Last Summer
Sydney Pollack They Shoot Horses Don't They?
Elia Kazan The Arrangement
Brian de Palma Putney Swope
Milton Moses Ginsberg Coming Apart
Phil Karlson The Wrecking Crew
Woody Allen Take the Money and Run
Dennis Hopper Easy Rider
George Roy Hill Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid
Paul Mazursky Bob & Carol & Ted & Alice
Abraham Polonsky Tell Them Willie Boy is Here
Jacques Demy Model Shop
John Schlesinger Midnight Cowboy
Bob Fosse Sweet Charity
Peter R. Hunt On Her Majesty's Secret Service
Gordon Parks The Learning Tree
Mark Rydell The Reivers
Larry Peerce Goodbye, Columbus
Alfred Hitchcock Topaz
John Frankenheimer The Gypsy Moths
Richard Fleischer Che
Henry Hathaway True Grit
Brian G. Hutton Where Eagles Dare
Burt Kennedy Support Your Local Sheriff
Robert Altman That Cold Day in the Park
Alan J. Pakula The Sterile Cuckoo
Carl Reiner The Comic
Norman Jewison Gaily, Gaily