Directorial Chronology - 1977

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.

William Friedkin Sorcerer
Woody Allen Annie Hall
Martin Scorsese New York, New York
Bernardo Bertolucci 1900
Steven Spielberg Close Encounters of the Third Kind
David Lynch Eraserhead
Robert Altman 3 Women
Jonathan Demme Citizens Band
George Lucas Star Wars
Joan Micklin Silver Between the Lines
Robert Young Short Eyes
George Roy Hill Slap Shot
Robert Benton The Late Show
John Flynn Rolling Thunder
David Cronenberg Rabid
Cassavetes, John Opening Night
Tobe Hooper Eaten Alive
Wes Craven The Hills Have Eyes
Robert Aldrich Twilight's Last Gleaming
James Ivory Roseland
John Badham Saturday Night Fever
Larry Cohen The Private Files of J. Edgar Hoover
John Boorman Exorcist II: The Heretic
Federico Fellini Fellini's Casanova
Clint Eastwood The Gauntlet
Michael Schultz Greased Lightning
Ron Howard Grand Theft Auto
Michael Schultz Which Way Is Up?
John Landis The Kentucky Fried Movie
Greydon Clark Satan's Cheerleaders
Gene Wilder The World's Greatest Lover
Sidney Poitier A Piece of the Action
Michael Ritchie Semi-Tough
James Bridges 30-Sep-55
Ingmar Bergman The Serpent's Egg
Fred Zinneman Julia
Hal Needham Smokey and the Bandit
Lewis Gilbert The Spy Who Loved Me
Carl Reiner Oh, God!
Lamont Johnson One on One
Don Siegel Telefon
John Berry Thieves
Curtis Harrington Ruby
Herbert Ross The Turning Point
Jack Starrett Walking Tall: Final Chapter
Ralph Bakshi Wizards
Mark Lester Stunts
Charles Jarrott The Other Side of Midnight
John Cardos Kingdom of the Spiders