Well, this is how I think the list should be ranked. This is not strictly in preferential order - personal favourites are in a slightly different order to ranking.

Directorial mastery comes in many forms; as a result, there are masterpieces according to visionary genius, actor/director collaborations of the highest order, and titanic technical ingenuity - or a combination of all in many cases.

2001: A SPACE ODYSSEY (Stanley Kubrick) (1968)

ANDREI RUBLEV (Andrei Tarkovsky) (1966)

PERSONA (Ingmar Bergman) (1966)

A CLOCKWORK ORANGE (Stanley Kubrick) (1971)

SOLARIS (SOLYARIS) (Andrei Tarkovsky) (1972)

AGUIRRE, THE WRATH OF GOD (Werner Herzog) (1973)

CHINATOWN (Roman Polanski) (1974)

COME AND SEE (Elem Klimov) (1985)

TAXI DRIVER (Martin Scorsese) (1976)

DOCTOR STRANGELOVE (Stanley Kubrick) (1964)

RASHOMON (Akira Kurosawa) (1950)

CITIZEN KANE (Orson Welles) (1941)

THE WAGES OF FEAR (Henri-Georges Clouzot) (1953)

THE SHINING (Stanley Kubrick) (1980)

APOCALYPSE NOW (Francis Ford Coppola) (1979)

TOUCH OF EVIL (Orson Welles) (1958)

FIVE EASY PIECES (Bob Rafelson) (1970)

THE TREASURE OF THE SIERRA MADRE (John Huston) (1948)

THE SEVEN SAMURAÏ (Akira Kurosawa) (1954)

THE RED CIRCLE (LE CERCLE ROUGE) (Jean-Pierre Melville) (1970)

VERTIGO (Alfred Hitchcock) (1958)

ROSEMARY’S BABY (Roman Polanski) (1968)

YÔJIMBO (Akira Kurosawa) (1961)

BLADE RUNNER (Ridley Scott) (final cut) (1982)

ONCE UPON A TIME IN THE WEST (Sergio Leone) (1968)

OTTO E MEZZO (8½) (Federico Fellini) (1963)

THE WILD BUNCH (Sam Peckinpah) (1969)

NIGHT OF THE HUNTER (Charles Laughton) (1955)

FAIL-SAFE (Sidney Lumet) (1964)

LOLITA (Stanley Kubrick) (1962)

WAR & PEACE (Voyna i mir) (Sergei Bondachuk) (1968)

REPULSION (Roman Polanski) (1965)

BONNIE AND CLYDE (Arthur Penn) (1967)

MARKÉTA LAZAROVÁ (František Vlácil) (1967)

ERASERHEAD (David Lynch) (1977)

BLOW-UP (Michelangelo Antonioni) (1966)

SORCERER (William Friedkin) (1977)

THE EXTERMINATING ANGEL (Luis Buñuel) (1962)

THE FACE (Ingmar Bergman) (1958)

NETWORK (Sidney Lumet) (1976)

THE FRENCH CONNECTION (William Friedkin) (1971)

THE MIRROR (Andrei Tarkovsky) (1975)

THE SEVENTH SEAL (Ingmar Bergman) (1957)

RAGING BULL (Martin Scorsese) (1980)

THE MAGNIFICENT AMBERSONS (Orson Welles) (1942)

SHADOW OF A DOUBT (Alfred Hitchcock) (1943)

PATHS OF GLORY (Stanley Kubrick) (1957)

THE SACRIFICE (Andrei Tarkovsky) (1986)

THE THIRD MAN (Carol Reed) (1949)

BARRY LYNDON (Stanley Kubrick) (1975)

THE SILENCE (Ingmar Bergman) (1963)

THE SHADOW ARMY (Jean-Pierre Melville) (1969)

THE GODFATHER (Francis Ford Coppola) (1972)

BRAZIL (Terry Gilliam) (1985)

ONE FLEW OVER THE CUKOO'S NEST (Miloš Forman) (1975)

HOUR OF THE WOLF (Ingmar Bergman) (1968)

STALKER (Andrei Tarkovsky) (1979)

SÁTANTANGÓ (Béla Tarr, 1994)

FACES (John Cassavetes) (1968)

PSYCHO (Alfred Hitchcock) (1960)

A MAN ESCAPED (Robert Bresson) (1956)

NO COUNTRY FOR OLD MEN (Joel Coen & Ethan Coen) (2007)

THERE WILL BE BLOOD (Paul Thomas Anderson) (2007)

THE GODFATHER: PART II (Francis Ford Coppola) (1974)

THE GOOD, THE BAD AND THE UGLY (Sergio Leone) (1966)

THE MANCHURIAN CANDIDATE (John Frankenheimer) (1962)

SEVEN DAYS IN MAY (John Frankenheimer) (1964)

ALIEN (Ridley Scott) (1979)

REAR WINDOW (Alfred Hitchcock) (1954)

THE GRADUATE (Mike Nichols) (1967)

SANJURO (Akira Kurosawa) (1962)

NORTH BY NORTHWEST (Alfred Hitchcock) (1959)

GOODFELLAS (Martin Scorsese) (1990)

THE KILLING OF A CHINESE BOOKIE (John Cassavetes) (1977)

WERCKMEISTER HARMONIES (Béla Tarr) (2000)

LA DOLCE VITA (Federico Fellini) (1960)

ASCENSEUR POUR L'ECHAFAUD (Louis Malle) (1958)

LA JOVEN (THE YOUNG ONE) (Luis Buñuel) (1960)

MULHOLLAND DRIVE (David Lynch) (2001)

WHO'S AFRAID OF VIRGINIA WOOLF? (Mike Nichols) (1966)

Directorial mastery comes in many forms; as a result, there are masterpieces according to visionary genius, actor/director collaborations of the highest order, and titanic technical ingenuity - or a combination of all in many cases. See list below :-