Every great director has a filmography with one or two movies that fly under the radar for some reason. Some of these are duds, sure, but many of them are great movies that just don't seem to get the love their other movies get. Those are the movies that this list is about, like Spielberg's Empire of the Sun, David Fincher's The Game, and Paul Thomas Anderson's Punch Drunk Love. This is our list of movies from legendary directors that are underrated.
The Game
David Fincher had a heck of a run in the late '90s and early '00s. Starting with his second movie, Seven in 1995, to Fight Club (1999), and through Gone Girl in 2014, Fincher rarely missed. One movie that is as good as all of those, but often ignored, even by Fincher fans, is 1997's The Game.
The Frighteners - Peter Jackson
Peter Jackson will rightly forever be known first for his amazing adaptation of the Lord Of The Rings trilogy. Unfortunately, that also means that some of his early films, especially The Frighteners starring Michael J. Fox, tend to get the short end of the stick. It's a really great movie.
Silence - Martin Scorsese
Ticking off a list of Scorsese classics is easy. Taxi Driver, Goodfellas, Raging Bull, The Wolf Of Wall Street, The Irishman, The Last Temptation of Christ, Gangs of New York, Casino, and so many more, the list just goes on and on. One movie that should be easily included in that list but almost never is, is 2016's The Silence. It took the legendary director decades to get the movie made and it was worth the wait.
Near Dark - Kathryn Bigelow
Director Kathryn Bigelow made a name for herself with 1991's Point Break and won a Best Director Oscar for The Hurt Locker, legendarily beating out her ex-husband James Cameron and his hit Avatar. Bigelow's first movie, Near Dark is a horror flick that even people that don't love horror can get into.
Topaz - Alfred Hitchcock
There is no bigger director in film history than the great Alfred Hitchcock. He literally wrote the book on how to direct a modern film and re-invented himself and his style many times over his decades-long career. Of all those movies, one that doesn't get enough attention is one of his last films, 1969's Topaz a spy movie that is soaked in the master's deft touch.
The Killing - Stanley Kubrick
Stanley Kubrick only made 13 movies in his career and basically all of them starting with his fourth, Paths of Glory in 1957 are considered masterpieces. His film just before Paths of Glory, the noir The Killing, is every bit as good as The Shining, Full Metal Jacket, and Dr. Strangelove, but hardly ever even gets mentioned with the rest because it was so early in his career. He was a genius from the beginning though.
25th Hour - Spike Lee
Edward Norton is one the best actors of his generation and teaming with Spike Lee for The 25th Hour, about a man spending his last day of freedom before going to prison is a great movie. Still, when people make lists of Lee's best work, it's rarely on the list, though it maybe should be near the top.
Somewhere - Sofia Coppola
Few people in showbiz start when they are just babies, but Sofia Coppola's did when she was just an infant when her father "cast" her in The Godfather in 1972. She found her ultimate voice as a director with hits like Lost In Translation and The Virgin Suicides, but one movie that isn't as revered but is just as good is the more personal family drama Somewhere.
The Rainmaker - Francis Ford Coppola
When you've directed The Godfather, The Godfather Part 2, and Apocalypse Now, it's reasonable that some of your other movies, no matter how good, will always be secondary. Francis Ford Coppola will always be remembered first for those three classics, but a lot of his other movies are great, especially The Rainmaker with Matt Damon. It's a fast-paced legal drama based on a John Grisham book and it's worth anyone's time if they haven't seen it.
Bird - Clint Eastwood
Charlie Parker was one of the greatest jazz musicians in the heyday of the genre. He was also an incredibly complicated person who struggled with some scary personal demons that led to his infamous addition and eventual death at age 34. The Clint Eastwood-directed movie, starring Forest Whitaker as Parker, is fantastic. Both stars are at there best here.
Empire Of The Sun - Steven Spielberg
It's hard to find a movie by Steven Spielberg that isn't lauded in some way, but still, rarely is Empire Of The Sun mentioned among the legendary director's best movies, even though it's really great in every way. From the acting performances by John Malkovich and a teenage Christian Bale to the screenplay by Tom Stoppard, to Spielberg's deft touch behind the camera, the movie should be considered one of his best.
The Life And Times Of Judge Roy Bean - John Huston
Director John Huston is one of the most famous directors from the Golden Age of Hollywood, most famous for his sweeping Westerns. He's the kind of director that one wouldn't expect would have kept up with the changing values of Hollywood in the 1970s. Instead, he teamed up with Paul Newman to make The Life And Times Of Judge Roy Bean, which fits in perfectly with the style of cinema in 1972.
A Passage to India - David Lean
When you hear the name David Lean, you probably think of one of three stone-cold classics, The Bridge on the River Kwai, Dr. Zhivago, or Lawrence Of Arabia. If those were the only films Lean ever made, his reputation would be forever cemented, but he made quite a few other movies, including what turned out to be another classic, and his final film, A Passage to India.
The Man Who Wasn't There - The Coen Brothers
With the exception of Ladykillers, which ranks pretty low on any list of the Coen Brothers' best movies, Joel and Ethan Coen haven't really made a bad movie. Still, some, like The Man Who Wasn't There are criminally underrated compared to their most loved movies. Billy Bob Thornton and Frances McDormand carry the movie and both are brilliant, as you expect and the dialog oozes Coen Brothers.
I Will Follow - Ava DuVernay
Mainstream audiences really started paying attention to Ava DuVernay after she delivered Selma to the world, but film fans were well aware of the director after her debut, I Will Follow in 2010. It's a movie all film fans should check out.
Big Fish - Tim Burton
There are few directors with a style as distinct as Tim Burton. At his best, any viewer would know directed a film as quickly as they would recognize a Burton film. That very much includes Big Fish which doesn't have the cache of Beetlejuice, nor did it make as much money as Alice In Wonderland. It is, however just as good as both of those movies.
Jackie Brown - Quentin Tarantino
Like a few other directors on this list, it's hard to pick a Quentin Tarantino movie that is underappreciated, but Jackie Brown definitely is. It doesn't have the pace that his other movies have, but that's on purpose and while it isn't the kind of movie everyone loves the first time they see it, it is the kind of movie that rewards a second, third, and fourth viewing. Maybe more than his other movies.
Johnny Dangerously - Amy Heckerling
Amy Heckerling is certainly best known for Fast Times Art Ridgemont High and Clueless, and even fans of Johnny Dangerously may not realize Heckerling directed the farce starring Micheal Keaton as a 1930s gangster. It's a cartoonish movie, by design, but it's got more heart than, say, Dick Tracy, and it's actually really funny with a ton of quotable lines.
Punch-Drunk Love - Paul Thomas Anderson
Other director on this list who hardly ever "misses" with a movie is Paul Thomas Anderson. His sprawling epics are always "must sees" when he releases a new one. For some reason, Punch-Drunk Love is never thought of the same way movies like Boogie Nights, There Will Be Blood, and The Master are, though it should be and ultimately, it's one of Anderson's most approachable movies.
Steve Jobs - Danny Boyle
Michael Fassbender brought Steve Jobs to life, but director Danny Boyle's vision made it a great movie. Boyle has a long list of fantastic movies like Slumdog Millionaire (for which he won an Oscar), The Beach, and, of course, 28 Days Later (and its 2025 sequel, 28 Years Later). This movie, about Apple founder Jobs, gets lost in the mix, but it's great.
Baby Boy - John Singleton
John Singleton burst onto the scene with Boyz n the Hood and he continued to churn out great movies until his untimely and tragic death in 2019 at age 51. Mixed in between Higher Learning, Shaft, and 2 Fast 2 Furious is Baby Boy, which is a smaller, more personal film and while not the blockbuster some of his other films were, is a really excellent movie.
Matchstick Men - Ridley Scott
No matter what, Ridley Scott movies always make an impression. They tend to either be classic, like Alien or Gladiator or they are polarizing like Napoleon or Gladiator II. They always spark conversation. One that doesn't seem to garner the same kind of discussion is Matchstick Men. Nicolas Cage puts in one of his best performance as a con man with Tourette's syndrome.
The Prestige - Christopher Nolan
Christopher Nolan hasn't made a bad movie but lost in the shuffle between The Dark Knight trilogy, Inception, and Dunkirk is The Prestige. Christian Bale and Hugh Jackman are fantastic as rival magicians and the movie contains all of Nolan's signature tricks, like playing with time and practical effects.
Prince Of The City - Sidney Lumet
Few directors make such a huge impression on their first go as Sidney Lumet did with 12 Angry Men in 1957. For the next 50 years, Lumet churned out hit after hit, with movies like Serpico, Dog Day Afternoon, and Network. The director received nominations for Best Director for all four of those films and he received a fifth nomination for Best Screenplay for Prince of the City, yet that movie isn't talked about nearly as much.
Backdraft - Ron Howard
Ron Howard has a portfolio of movies that range the gamut from thrillers like The Da Vinci Code and Apollo 13 to comedies like Parenthood and Splash to serious dramas like A Beautiful Mind (for which he won an Oscar). One of his most thrilling movies has to be Backdraft, which is admittedly a little dated, the the fire scenes are incredible.
Solaris - Steven Soderbergh
Solaris, from director Steven Soderbergh, is a polarizing film. Some people love and some people hate and that is probably why it seems so underrated by those that like it. Sure, it doesn't have the charm or the appeal of Ocean's 11, or Magic Mike and it's certainly a darker and more mysterious movie than his most-loved work, but it's great to see a director like Soderbergh dip into sci-fi and mystery.
The Straight Story - David Lynch
Director David Lynch made his career on the off-beat and weird. He was, himself, off-beat and weird in all the best ways. Audiences loved his movies because his mind worked in such a unique way. The only thing off-beat and weird about The Straight Story is the story itself and for that, it makes it one of the more interesting entries in Lynch's catalog, because he plays it so... straight in his direction.
Talk Radio - Oliver Stone
Over the years, Oliver Stone's conspiracy-minded work has gone further and further afield, but one movie that really nailed a vision of the future that not everyone was seeing was the prescient Talk Radio based on the true story of the murder of radio host Alan Berg. Bombastic, overly political talk radio really hadn't sunk into the culture the way it would in the years following the movie's release in 1988.
Fantastic Mr. Fox - Wes Anderson
It's easy to include the Fantastic Mr. Fox from Wes Anderson on this list because in many ways it's the most quintessential Wes Anderson movie, including all his usual quirks and stylistic choices. It's got the great music, symmetrical camera shots, and quippy dialog we all love, but because it's animated, it doesn't seem to have the same cache with fans as his other movies have.
In The Cut - Jane Campion
It's not strange for Jane Campion's work to not be appreciated in the moment, only to find a cult audience and a critical re-evaluation later. That is certainly the case with In the Cut.
Children Of Men - Alfonso Cuarón
Alfonso Cuarón's Children of Men is not an easy movie to watch. It may be a bit of a stretch to call it underrated, but many will argue it's his best movie. That's a bold claim, but no one who watches it soon forgets it and there is something to say for that.
Taking Off - Miloš Forman
The first Oscar Miloš Forman won was for One Flew Over The Cuckoo's Nest, a movie that was a deep dive into mental health. Just before that legendary movie, Forman made a very weird, but very cool movie called Taking Off which explores seemingly normal people trying new things and throwing off the shackles of "normal" society.
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