History of Movies
My Library

John Waters

American filmmaker, actor, comedian and writer (born 1946)

2.20body-of-work score · ranked #481 of 2631 directors · 6 films in our library

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

Born
April 22, 1946 · Baltimore
Nationality
United States
Work
television actor, film actor, film director, screenwriter
Movement
contemporary art
Reference
Wikipedia · Wikidata
Portrait of John Waters
PhilipRomanoPhoto · CC BY 4.0

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
    Hairspray

    1988 · United States · comedy, romance, musical

    National Film Registry (inducted 2022) · Empire 500 (2008) #444 · Criterion Collection spine #1315

    0.785 citations
  2. 2
    Pink Flamingos

    1972 · United States · comedy, drama, crime

    Sight & Sound 2022 critics' poll #211 · National Film Registry (inducted 2021) · Criterion Collection spine #1131

    0.783 citations
  3. 3
    Multiple Maniacs

    1970 · United States · comedy

    Criterion Collection spine #863

    0.161 citation
  4. 4
    Female Trouble

    1974 · United States · comedy, crime

    Criterion Collection spine #929

    0.161 citation
  5. 5
    Desperate Living

    1977 · United States · comedy, crime, fantasy

    Criterion Collection spine #1316

    0.161 citation
  6. 6
    Polyester

    1981 · United States · comedy, drama

    Criterion Collection spine #995

    0.161 citation

Complete filmography

All 16 directorial credits recorded on Wikidata, in chronological order; films in our library link to their canon-score page.