Interesting… I knew there was some appreciation for Fidani around here but I wouldn’t have expected him to end up on any one’s list of top directors
Warms the heart, it does. 
Very difficult question but here are my favorite (non italian) directors.
Samuel Fuller (I shot Jesse James, The Big Red One)
Jean-Luc Godard (Le mépris, A bout de souffle, Le vent d’est)
Francois Truffaut (Les quatres cents coups, Fahrenheit 451)
John Cassavates (The Killing of a Chinese Bookie, Love Streems)
John Ford (My Darling Clementine, The Man Who Shot Liberty Valance)
Sam Packinpah (Pat Garrett and Billy the Kid, Ride the High Country)
Werner Herzog (Jeder für sich und Gott gegen alle, Nosferatu, Woyzeck)
Marcel Carné (Les enfants du paradie, Le jour se lève)
Aki Kaurismäki (Far Away the Clouds Escape, I hired a contract killer)
Rainer Werner Fassbinder (Angst essen Seele auf, Warnung vor einer heiligen Nutte)
I know, I know, I’m ashamed of this fact as well. I only descovered him a few months ago (how’s that for a excuse?).
This is a tough one to answer…because I have a lot of favorites!!
Here are a few, in no order of preference:
- Sergio Leone (For a Few Dollars More, Once Upon a Time in the West, etc.)
- Jean-Pierre Melville (Le Samourai, Le Deuxieme Souffle, Le Doulos)
- Toshio Masuda (Red Quay, Velvet Hustler, Gangster VIP)
- Howard Hawks (Scarface, Rio Bravo, The Big Sleep)
- Sergio Corbucci (The Mercenary, Django, The Great Silence)
- Sam Peckinpah (Ride the High Country, The Wild Bunch, Pat Garret & Billy the Kid)
- Budd Boetticher (Buchanan Rides Alone, Ride Lonesome, The Tall T)
- Seijun Suzuki (Branded to Kill, Youth of the Beast, Tokyo Drifter)
- Johnnie To (The Mission, Exiled, A Hero Never Dies)
- Teruo Ishii (Flower Storm and Gang, Gang vs. Gang, etc.)
And I didn’t even get to Kurosawa, Robert Aldrich, William Wellman, Kinji Fukasaku, Ram Gopal Varma, Tarantino, Robert Rodriguez, Ringo Lam, Samuel Fuller, and on and on…
and Orson Welles… ?
Agast at how you can include a director who has a section all to himself in the book “The Worlds Worst Movies”.
Well…no offense to anyone…but, Orson Welles is not one of my favorites. I understand his importance and especially the importance of some of his film such as CITIZEN KANE and TOUCH OF EVIL (which I do like a great deal). But, if we are talking strictly about “favorites” here…I cannot honestly say Welles is one of mine.
Incidentally, I also feel the same way about John Ford! I understand why people revere him, why he is so important to the history of cinema (and the Western film in particular), and I can appreciate his visual and technical skills; but, he is not a favorite of mine, either.
I do love MY DARLING CLEMENTINE and THE SEARCHERS and find others among his work entertaining enough. But, I wouldn’t necessarily go out of my way to watch a film simply because Ford directed it.
Thus, he isn’t a “favorite”.
Same with me - I listed my favorites not the best but then again the best is subjective (unless you list say Fred Olen Ray, Ed Wood, or Jerry Warren in your top ten )
I know your comment was not directed towards me; so, please forgive me for butting in! But…
Again, we are talking about FAVORITES here and everyone is entitled to their own, for their own reasons.
I think you can “sophisticate” yourself away from the total enjoyment of cinema by only adhering to what others have listed in books as THE BEST, or THE WORST, and so on.
All of that is so subjective and personally biased.
For example, the film JOHNNY GUITAR (which I happen to think is great) is often listed as being one of the worst films ever made (it even won a Golden Turkey Award).
Also, keep in mind that only until the past 20 years, or so, were any of the Spaghetti Westerns or their directors even remotely taken seriously. I distinctly recall A FISTFUL OF DOLLARS, DEATH RIDES A HORSE, and FOR A FEW DOLLARS MORE (not to mention THE GOOD, THE BAD & THE UGLY) being tossed aside by “serious” film buffs and critics as worthless drivel during the 60’s, 70’s, and even beyond.
As for Winner…
Well…as a person he was atrocious (according to many people I know that worked with him); but, he did make some decent films such as SCORPIO (with Delon and Lancaster), LAWMAN (Lancaster, again), and a few more.
Does he deserve to be among the Worst Filmmakers of all-time? Who knows? That is entirely personal and subjective.
Of course, you have every right to be “agast” as Col. Mortimer has every right to list Winner as a favorite.
Exactly right, amigo!! Precisely!!
I should have added Ulmer. Detour and Menschen am Sonntag are pretty good films.
I like the movies of Tod Browning as well. 
Uups, John Cassavetes should also be in my list. How could I forgot him?
Winners most fruitful period was between around 1970 to 1975 for me.
He made some good movies during that time mostly with Charles Bronson. I also appreciate Lawman a lot.
Just realized that I’m missing John Huston cause The Maltese Falcon is one of my favourites. Not to forget Robert Altmann … 8)
fuck it… I’ll add Corbucci to my list as well
[quote=“Chris_Casey, post:90, topic:2038”]As for Winner…
Well…as a person he was atrocious (according to many people I know that worked with him); but, he did make some decent films such as SCORPIO (with Delon and Lancaster), LAWMAN (Lancaster, again), and a few more.
Does he deserve to be among the Worst Filmmakers of all-time? Who knows? That is entirely personal and subjective.
Of course, you have every right to be “agast” as Col. Mortimer has every right to list Winner as a favorite.[/quote]
When I said I was agast, I ment the fact that quite a few members (in a differant thread) said that Winners “Death Wish 3” definatly belongs to the “So Bad its Good” catorgry. So I was rather shocked to see him placed ahead of some prehaps more deserving directors (as Paco Roman suggested, Tod Browning would be a good choice for number ten).
P. S. It’s okay for you to butt in, after all, this is a forum!
Leone
Corbucci
Carnimeo
Scorcese
Haneke
Tarantino
DePalma
Stallone
Winner
Coen Bros
Melville
Welles
Kubrick
Leone
Kurosawa
Fuller
Scorsese
Sollima
Fincher
What avatar have you changed to Rif!