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John Sayles

American film director (born 1950)

2.92body-of-work score · ranked #379 of 2631 directors · 8 films in our library

A director's score is the sum of their films' composite canon scores — methodology.

Born
September 28, 1950 · Schenectady
Nationality
United States
Work
film director, screenwriter, writer, film editor
Reference
Wikipedia · Wikidata
Portrait of John Sayles
Festival Internacional de Cine en Guadalajara · CC BY 2.0

Films in our library, ranked

Ranked by composite canon score across 20+ authoritative lists, awards and polls — our ordering, with every placement citing its evidence on the film's page.

  1. 1
    Lone Star

    1996 · United States · crime, romance, drama

    Sarris's annual top 10 1996 #3 · Ebert's annual top 10 1996 #4 · Siskel's annual top 10 1996 #5

    1.176 citations
  2. 2
    Passion Fish

    1992 · United States · comedy, drama

    Sarris's annual top 10 1992 #1

    0.501 citation
  3. 3
    Matewan

    1987 · United States · drama

    National Film Registry (inducted 2023) · Criterion Collection spine #999

    0.392 citations
  4. 4
    Return of the Secaucus 7

    1980 · United States · drama

    National Film Registry (inducted 1997)

    0.231 citation
  5. 5
    City of Hope

    1991 · United States · drama, crime

    Sarris's annual top 10 1991 #5

    0.191 citation
  6. 6
    Eight Men Out

    1988 · United States · drama

    NYT Best 1,000 Movies

    0.171 citation
  7. 7
    Men with Guns

    1997 · United States · drama

    Sarris's annual top 10 1998 #null

    0.141 citation
  8. 8
    The Secret of Roan Inish

    1994 · United States · fantasy

    Sarris's annual top 10 1995 #12

    0.141 citation

Complete filmography

All 18 directorial credits recorded on Wikidata, in chronological order; films in our library link to their canon-score page.