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Nicholas Ray

American film director (1911-1979)

6.66body-of-work score · ranked #156 of 2631 directors · 11 films in our library

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

Born
August 7, 1911 · La Crosse
Died
June 16, 1979 · New York City
Nationality
United States
Work
film director, screenwriter, actor, director
Reference
Wikipedia · Wikidata
Portrait of Nicholas Ray
Nat Dallinger · Public domain

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
    Rebel Without a Cause

    1955 · United States · drama

    Cahiers du Cinéma annual top 10 1956 #3 · AFI 100 (1998) #59 · National Film Registry (inducted 1990)

    1.678 citations
  2. 2
    In a Lonely Place

    1950 · United States · drama, romance, film-noir

    Sight & Sound 2022 critics' poll #211 · TIME All-TIME 100 · National Film Registry (inducted 2007)

    1.397 citations
  3. 3
    Johnny Guitar

    1954 · United States · western, drama

    Sight & Sound 2022 critics' poll #122 · Cahiers du Cinéma annual top 10 1955 #9 · National Film Registry (inducted 2008)

    1.376 citations
  4. 4
    Bigger Than Life

    1956 · United States · drama

    Cahiers du Cinéma annual top 10 1957 #7 · Criterion Collection spine #507 · Edgar Wright's 1,000 favorite movies

    0.724 citations
  5. 5
    They Live by Night

    1948 · United States · crime, drama, film-noir

    NYT Best 1,000 Movies · Criterion Collection spine #880 · Edgar Wright's 1,000 favorite movies

    0.554 citations
  6. 6
    The Savage Innocents

    1960 · France / United Kingdom / Italy · adventure

    Sarris's annual top 10 1961 #6 · Rosenbaum's Essential Cinema

    0.292 citations
  7. 7
    King of Kings

    1961 · United States · drama, biography

    Sarris's annual top 10 1961 #4

    0.221 citation
  8. 8
    The Lusty Men

    1952 · United States · western

    Rosenbaum's Essential Cinema

    0.111 citation
  9. 9
    Bitter Victory

    1957 · France / United States · war

    Rosenbaum's Essential Cinema

    0.111 citation
  10. 10
    Party Girl

    1958 · United States · drama, film-noir

    Rosenbaum's Essential Cinema

    0.111 citation
  11. 11
    Wind Across the Everglades

    1958 · United States · drama

    Rosenbaum's Essential Cinema

    0.111 citation

Complete filmography

All 26 directorial credits recorded on Wikidata, in chronological order; films in our library link to their canon-score page.