The 75 Best Edited Films’ years of release range from the 1920s to the 2010s — with 3 titles each in both of those decades. Most of the films cited are from the 1970s (17), followed by the ‘90s (16), the ‘60s (13), the ‘50s (8), the ‘00s (7), the ‘80s (5) and the ‘40s (3). Curiously, there were no films chosen from the 1930s.
Four years account for 3 films each on the list: 1969, 1974, 1999 and 2001. The winning year is 1974, with all 3 of its titles in the top 31 films. There is a run of 15 consecutive years (1968-82) with a film or more on the list for each year. This is followed by 8 years with no films on the list.
The Directors
As for directors, Alfred Hitchcock is the most often cited, making the list 5 times (although not placing in the top 10), and spanning 3 decades. Right behind him are Steven Spielberg and Francis Ford Coppola, both of whom made the list 4 times. Like Hitchcock, Spielberg’s pictures were released over 3 decades. Coppola’s pictures, however, were all released in the 1970s — with 2 in 1974 (the only director with 2 films in a single year). All of his pictures placed in the top 22 films, with 3 of them in the top 11. At the other end of the continuum, there were 33 years between Terrence Malick’s 2 films on the list.
Directors Stanley Kubrick and Martin Scorsese follow, with 3 films each making the cut. Tied with Malick for 2 pictures are Bob Fosse, William Friedkin, Akira Kurosawa, Christopher Nolan, Ridley Scott, Steven Soderbergh, Orson Welles and Bob Wise; all others received 1 mention.
