Directorial Chronology -1976

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.

Elaine May Mikey and Nicky
Alan Pakula All the President's Men
Michael Ritchie The Bad News Bears
Martin Scorsese Taxi Driver
John Carpenter Assault on Precinct 13
Richard Lester Robin and Marian
Larry Cohen God Told Me To
John Cassavetes The Killing of a Chinese Bookie
Hal Ashby Bound for Glory
Brian De Palma Carrie
Brian De Palma Obsession
Roman Polanski The Tenant
Alfred Hitchcock Family Plot
John Schlesinger Marathon Man
Arthur Penn The Missouri Breaks
Sidney Lumet Network
Radley Metzger The Opening of Misty Beethoven
Cling Eastwood The Outlaw Josey Wales
Blake Edwards The Pink Panther Strikes Again
Irvin Kershner The Return of a Man Called Horse
John Avildsen Rocky
Bob Rafelson Stay Hungry
Russ Meyer Up!
Richard Donner The Omen
George Armitage Vigilante Force
Alan Rudolph Welcome to L.A.
Peter Bogdanovich Nickelodeon
Don Siegel The Shootist
John Hancock Baby Blue Marine
Robert Altman Buffalo Bill and the Indians, or Sitting Bull's History Lesson
Martin Ritt The Front
Mel Brooks Silent Movie
Michael Schultz Car Wash
Jerry Schatzberg Sweet Revenge
James Fargo The Enforcer
Paul Mazursky Next Stop, Greenwich Village
Frank Gilroy From Noon till Three
Joe Dante and Alan Arkush Hollywood Boulevard
Arthur Hiller Silver Streak
Amos Poe The Blank Generation
Burt Kennedy The Killer Inside Me
Elia Kazan The Last Tycoon
Daniel Petrie Lifeguard
Herbert Ross The Seven-Per-Cent Solution
Peter Yates Mother, Jugs & Speed
Richard Lerner Revenge of the Cheerleaders
Peter Hunt Shout at the Devil