Huston. Huston’s strength is his depth of filmography. He’s a style-minus director so he needs that filmography to compete on this list. When Bogart gems like Key Largo and Beat the Devil are a director’s 8th and 9th best film it means you really have director with an abundance of great films. Of course Huston’s two best films (both in the top 500 of all-time) are also largely carried on the back of Bogart as well and I would listen to an argument that Huston should be closer to #150-200 on this list and that Bogart is one of the very rare actor as auteur examples. That’s the counter to Huston. Still, Huston had 18 archiveable films which is really remarkable- in any era (as far as modern auteurs only like likes of Linklater can touch) and has 5 films in the top 100 of their respective decade (which is going to be a good number as we start counting down from 100 to 200 on this list). During the 1960’s Huston was viewed as an average director (who made failed big name literary adaptation projects) and then came back with a vengeance in the 1970’s and 80’s (4 of the top 10 films I list below are from the 70’s or 80’s).

Best film: The Treasure of the Sierra Madre. I’m not one to often cite Best Director Academy Award wins (though it has been almost spot on from like 2013-2019) often but this is deserved here and Sierra Madre is an exceptionally directed masterpiece even if Huston is a “style-minus” director overall and is on this list not because of his visual style and form necessarily but his body of work. This film may be the biggest exception to that rule on Huston.

the the opening and closing of Sierra Madre are hands down the best work of Huston’s career

total archiveable films: 18

top 100 films:  0

top 500 films:  2 (The Treasure of the Sierra Madre, The Maltese Falcon)

there is a consistency in the themes in Huston’s work. Look at his top 4 films below: Greed. Whether it’s the gold in Sierra Madre, the titular idol in Maltese, the ego in Man Who Would Be King and the downfall of the crew in Asphalt Jungle. The theme is there.

top 100 films of the decade:  5 (The Treasure of the Sierra Madre, The Maltese Falcon, The Asphalt Jungle, The Man Who Would be King, The Dead)

most overrated:  The Dead comes in at #437 all-time on TSPDT and that is just too lofty. It is broody, and atmospheric and a great film but not in the top 500.

most underrated:  The Man Who Would be King. I have it has Huston’s 3rd and TSPDT has it as his 7th best. I absolutely love this movie. It’s underrated and I have it as the #2 Michael Caine performance of all-time and the #3 Sean Connery performance of all-time. That’s high praise for those two great actors.  It’s got action, is entertaining, and is funny as hell.

the best of the non-Bogart (Bogart and Huston made 5 archiveable films together) Huston films

gem I want to spotlight:     Key Largo/Beat the Devi. Like I said at the top having these two films to round out your top 10 is impressive. They’ve both incredibly rewatchable and feature Bogart in his prime doing top work. What’s also nice about both is there’s really strong second performance (from Edward G. Robinson in Key Largo and Robert Morley in Beat the Devil), big performances that are needed from professional, seasoned actors to keep from being blown off the screen by Bogart.

stylistic innovations/traits:    Of course Huston got his start as a screenwriter (he wrote like 25 Hollywood screenplays including many of his own films he directed) and remained a very literary director for the remainder of his career.  He’s probably still a writer first and director second, and that’s why despite making some of the best films of the Hollywood era (all the Bogart stuff, a key film noir (The Asphalt Jungle)), he can’t crack the top 100 directors on this list. He was uneven having success with his adaptations- I mean Moby Dick isn’t great but The Dead is a pretty wonderful adaptation of Joyce (and making a film adaptation of Joyce is… well… brave). And again although he had the luxury of working with Bogart (and Nicholson, Caine, Hepburn, Finney…more of a trivia note but he directed both his daughter and father to acting Oscars) he wasn’t simply filming Bogart acting out his screenplay. The opening 10 minutes and final 10 minutes of Sierra Madre may be as finely directed as any segment of films in the 1940’s outside of Welles or Powell. Though the visual consistencies aren’t there and he’s no Jarmusch or WKW when it comes to film form—there is a consistency in the themes in Huston’s work. Look at his top 4 films below: Greed. Whether it’s the gold in Sierra Madre, the titular idol in Maltese, the ego in Man Who Would Be King and the downfall of the crew in Asphalt Jungle. The theme is there.

one of the most important works in film noir

top 10

  1. The Treasure of the Sierra Madre
  2. The Maltese Falcon
  3. The Man Who Would be King
  4. The Asphalt Jungle
  5. The Dead
  6. The African Queen
  7. Fat City
  8. Beat the Devil
  9. Key Largo
  10. Under the Volcano

By year and grades

1941- The Maltese Falcon MP
1948- Key Largo R
1948- Treasure of the Sierra Madre MP
1949- We Were Strangers
1950- The Asphalt Jungle HR/MS
1951- The African Queen HR
1951- The Red Badge of Courage R
1953- Beat the Devil R
1956- Moby Dick R
1961- The Misfits R
1964- The Night of the Iguana R
1966- The Bible: In the Beginning… R
1972- Fat City HR
1975- The Man Who Would Be King MS
1979- Wise Blood R
1984- Under the Volcano R
1985- Prizzi’s Honor R
1987- The Dead HR

*MP is Masterpiece- top 1-3 quality of the year film

MS is Must-see- top 5-6 quality of the year film

HR is Highly Recommend- top 10 quality of the year film

R is Recommend- outside the top 10 of the year quality film but still in the archives