Top 10 Cinematographers*

...Plus the films and directors they’re best associated with.

1. Gregg Toland [Citizen Kane, The Grapes of Wrath] Key director: Orson Welles
2. Gordon Willis [Manhattan, The Godfather I &II] Key directors: Woody Allen, Francis Coppola, Alan Pakula
3. Vilmos Zsigmond [The Long Goodbye, McCabe and Mrs Miller, Close Encounters of the Third Kind] Key directors: Robert Altman, Steven Spielberg
4. Raoul Coutard [A Bout de Souffle, Le Mepris, Weekend] Key director: Jean-Luc Godard
5. Nestor Almendros [Ma Nuit chez Maud, Maîtresse, Days of Heaven] Key directors: Eric Rohmer, Francois Truffaut
6. Vittorio Storaro [Apocalypse Now, Reds, Last Tango in Paris] Key director: Bernardo Bertolucci
7. Robby Müller [The American Friend, Paris, Texas, Down by Law] Key directors: Wim Wenders, Jim Jarmusch
8. Christopher Doyle [Chungking Express, In the Mood for Love] Key director: Wong Kar-wai
9. Laszlo Kovacs [Easy Rider, Five Easy Pieces, New York, New York] Key directors: Dennis Hopper, Peter Bogdanovich
10. Frederick Elmes [Eraserhead, Blue Velvet] Key director: David Lynch

I’ve had to leave out Haskel Wexler, Russell Metty and Nicolas Roeg. Sorry.

*Nowadays more prosaically called Directors of Photography. There is a subtle difference apparently, but I’m not sure what. Look it up.