Which US state produces the best movie directors?
by yrnej | created - 17 Jan 2015 | updated - 17 Jan 2015 | PublicDiscuss the list here
*I left the following states off as they only had one or no substantive directors listed as being born there: Alabama, Alaska, Delaware, Hawaii, Idaho, Iowa, Maine, Nevada, New Hampshire, North Dakota, Oregon, South Carolina, Utah, Vermont, Washington, West Virginia, Wyoming
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1. Raising Arizona (1987)
PG | 94 min | Comedy, Crime
When a childless couple of an ex-con and an ex-cop decide to help themselves to one of another family's quintuplets, their lives become more complicated than they anticipated.
Directors: Joel Coen, Ethan Coen | Stars: Nicolas Cage, Holly Hunter, Trey Wilson, John Goodman
Votes: 123,539 | Gross: $22.85M
Arizona - Jared Hess, Kirby Dick, Nicole Conn, Lee Frost, Jack Hannah
2. I'm from Arkansas (1944)
70 min | Adventure, Comedy, Music
The national spotlight falls on Pitchfork, Arkansas when a local farmer's sow has 18 piglets. How the townspeople relate to city folk and handle fame is the ingredient for laughs.
Director: Lew Landers | Stars: Slim Summerville, El Brendel, Iris Adrian, Bruce Bennett
Votes: 137
Arkansas - Jeff Nichols, David Gordon Green, Jason Moore, James Bridges, Mary Lambert
3. California Suite (1978)
PG | 103 min | Comedy, Drama, Romance
Misadventures of four groups of guests at the Beverly Hills Hotel.
Director: Herbert Ross | Stars: Jane Fonda, Alan Alda, Maggie Smith, Michael Caine
Votes: 6,325
California - Tim Burton, Robert Redford, Ben Affleck, Clint Eastwood, Paul Thomas Anderson
4. The Man from Colorado (1948)
PG | 100 min | Romance, Western
At the end of the Civil War, two friends return home to Colorado and one of them has changed and is violent and erratic.
Director: Henry Levin | Stars: Glenn Ford, William Holden, Ellen Drew, Ray Collins
Votes: 1,450
Colorado - David Fincher, Trey Parker, Derek Cianfrance, Chris Sanders, Lon Chaney
5. A Connecticut Yankee in King Arthur's Court (1948)
106 min | Comedy, Family, Fantasy
A singing mechanic from 1912 finds himself in Arthurian Britain.
Director: Tay Garnett | Stars: Bing Crosby, Rhonda Fleming, Cedric Hardwicke, William Bendix
Votes: 2,086
Connecticut - Seth McFarlane, Rebecca Miller, Brad Anderson, DJ Caruso, Troy Duffy
6. Vernon, Florida (1981)
55 min | Documentary, Comedy
A documentary on the eccentric residents of Vernon, Florida.
Director: Errol Morris | Stars: Albert Bitterling, Roscoe Collins, George Harris, Joe Payne
Votes: 2,965
Florida - Brett Ratner, Phil Lord, Scott Frank, Lawrence Kasdan, Daniel Myrick
7. Georgia (1995)
14A | 115 min | Drama, Music
Sadie is desperately looking up to her older sister Georgia who is a famous C&W artist. Her desperate need to be accepted by her sister is constantly complicated by her drug and alcohol problems.
Director: Ulu Grosbard | Stars: Jennifer Jason Leigh, Mare Winningham, Ted Levine, Max Perlich
Votes: 2,763 | Gross: $1.11M
Georgia - Steven Soderbergh, Ray McKinnon, Spike Lee, James Keach, Ossie David
8. Abe Lincoln in Illinois (1940)
110 min | Biography, Drama, History
Humble Abraham Lincoln gains the respect of his Illinois neighbors, growing in stature and respect until he is elected President in 1860 and departs for Washington.
Director: John Cromwell | Stars: Raymond Massey, Gene Lockhart, Ruth Gordon, Mary Howard
Votes: 1,620
Illinois - Michael Mann, Terrence Malick, Robert Zemeckis, The Wachowskis
9. Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade (1989)
PG | 127 min | Action, Adventure
In 1938, after his father Professor Henry Jones, Sr. goes missing while pursuing the Holy Grail, Professor Henry "Indiana" Jones, Jr. finds himself up against Adolf Hitler's Nazis again to stop them from obtaining its powers.
Director: Steven Spielberg | Stars: Harrison Ford, Sean Connery, Alison Doody, Denholm Elliott
Votes: 672,864 | Gross: $197.17M
Indiana - Sydney Pollack, Ryan Murphy, Stephen Sommers, Howard Hawks, Robert Wise
10. Kansas (1988)
PG | 108 min | Crime, Drama, Romance
A young man returning home to attend a wedding hooks up with a drifter who turns out to be a violent bank robber. Before he knows it, the man finds himself involved in the robber's plans.
Director: David Stevens | Stars: Matt Dillon, Andrew McCarthy, Leslie Hope, Alan Toy
Votes: 911 | Gross: $2.43M
Kansas - Buster Keaton, Darren Lynn Bousman, Michael Almereyda, Fatty Arbuckle, Gordon Parks
11. The Kentucky Fried Movie (1977)
18A | 83 min | Comedy
A series of short, highly irreverent, and often tasteless skits.
Director: John Landis | Stars: Evan C. Kim, Bong Soo Han, Bill Bixby, George Lazenby
Votes: 16,733
Kentucky - Gus Van Sant, Stephen Gaghan, DW Griffith, Allison Anders, Tod Browning
12. Louisiana Purchase (1941)
98 min | Comedy, Musical
A bumbling senator investigating graft in Louisiana is the target of a scheme involving a Viennese beauty.
Director: Irving Cummings | Stars: Bob Hope, Vera Zorina, Victor Moore, Irène Bordoni
Votes: 398
Louisiana - The Duplass Brothers, Tyler Perry, Godfrey Reggio
13. Walking to Maryland (2009)
Drama
Walking to Maryland is the latest addition to Ascension Entertainment's collection of motion pictures. Join us as we follow two people through life, a life where anything is possible and at... See full summary »
Director: Shawn Willis | Stars: Nikki Allred, Melissa Anne, Greg Baldwin, Shawn Berry
Votes: 9
Maryland - Spike Jones, John Waters, Barry Levinson, Rian Johnson, Mark Pellington
14. The Kennedys of Massachusetts (1990)
278 min | Drama
This sweeping mini-series profiling the Kennedy family ran three nights. The film chronicles 55 years in the lives of the family opening in 1906 with the marriage of Joseph P. Kennedy, a ... See full summary »
Stars: Casey Affleck, Cindy Baer, Deborah Bancroft, Paul Bronk
Votes: 115
Massachusetts - Eli Roth, Rob Zombie, Andrew Stanton, Mike Flanagan, Cecil B. DeMille
15. 321 días en Michigan (2014)
Drama
Antonio, a successful executive found guilty of financial crimes, has to go to prison for two years but doesn't want anyone to find out.
Director: Enrique García | Stars: Virginia DeMorata, Chico García, Hector Meres, Virginia Muñoz
Votes: 165
Michigan - Francis Ford Coppola, Sam Raimi, McG, Paul Feig, Joe Swanberg
16. Feeling Minnesota (1996)
R | 99 min | Comedy, Crime, Drama
An ex-convict and his bumbling crook brother fight for the same woman.
Director: Steven Baigelman | Stars: Keanu Reeves, Vincent D'Onofrio, Cameron Diaz, Delroy Lindo
Votes: 10,330 | Gross: $3.10M
Minnesota - The Coen Brothers, Terry Gilliam, Mark Steven Johnson, George Roy Hill, Pete Docter
17. Mississippi Burning (1988)
14A | 128 min | Crime, Drama, History
Two F.B.I. Agents with wildly different styles arrive in Mississippi to investigate the disappearance of some civil rights activists.
Director: Alan Parker | Stars: Gene Hackman, Willem Dafoe, Frances McDormand, Brad Dourif
Votes: 84,719 | Gross: $34.60M
Mississippi - Jim Henson, John Fortenberry, Charles Burnett, Patrik-Ian Polk, Larry Semon
18. The Missouri Breaks (1976)
PG | 126 min | Drama, Western
Tom Logan is a horse thief. Rancher David Braxton has horses, and a daughter, worth stealing. But Braxton has just hired Lee Clayton, an infamous "regulator", to hunt down the horse thieves; one at a time.
Director: Arthur Penn | Stars: Marlon Brando, Jack Nicholson, Randy Quaid, Kathleen Lloyd
Votes: 9,211 | Gross: $14.00M
Missouri - James Gunn, Robert Altman, John Huston, Betty Thomas, John Milius
19. Montana (2014)
108 min | Action, Crime, Drama
In the mean streets of London's East End, a former Serbian commando and a fourteen-year old boy plot revenge against a powerful crime lord and his ruthless lieutenants.
Director: Mo Ali | Stars: Lars Mikkelsen, Ashley Walters, McKell David, Adam Deacon
Votes: 1,323
Montana - David Lynch, Brad Bird, John Dahl
20. Nebraska (2013)
14A | 115 min | Adventure, Comedy, Drama
An aging, booze-addled father makes the trip from Montana to Nebraska with his estranged son in order to claim a million-dollar Mega Sweepstakes Marketing prize.
Director: Alexander Payne | Stars: Bruce Dern, Will Forte, June Squibb, Bob Odenkirk
Votes: 110,110 | Gross: $17.65M
Nebraska - Alexander Payne, Harold Lloyd, Joan Micklin Silver, Fred Niblo, Patrick Rea
21. New Jersey Drive (1995)
R | 98 min | Crime, Drama
Jason and Midget are two young, black teenagers living in Newark,New Jersey, the unofficial car theft capital of the world. Their favourite pastime is that of everybody in their ... See full summary »
Director: Nick Gomez | Stars: Shar-Ron Corley, Gabriel Casseus, Saul Stein, Gwen McGee
Votes: 2,790 | Gross: $3.57M
New Jersey - Kevin Smith, Danny DeVito, Jerry Lewis, Brian De Palma, Christopher McQuarrie
22. New Mexico (1951)
76 min | Western
A cavalry captain has great difficulty keeping the peace between his tyrannical colonel and an Indian chief bent on revenge.
Director: Irving Reis | Stars: Lew Ayres, Marilyn Maxwell, Andy Devine, Robert Hutton
Votes: 122
New Mexico - Jay Roach, Les Mayfield, William Hanna, Frank Zuniga
23. Gangs of New York (2002)
18A | 167 min | Crime, Drama
In 1862, Amsterdam Vallon returns to the Five Points area of New York City seeking revenge against Bill the Butcher, his father's killer.
Director: Martin Scorsese | Stars: Leonardo DiCaprio, Cameron Diaz, Daniel Day-Lewis, Jim Broadbent
Votes: 394,709 | Gross: $77.81M
New York - David O. Russell, Woody Allen, Jon Favreau, Ben Stiller, Martin Scorsese
24. Leave a Scar: Live in North Carolina (2014)
92 min
Blackberry Smoke is one of the hardest working bands in the music industry. Follow them as they play a sold out show in North Carolina. The film also includes footage of them at home and ... See full summary »
North Carolina - Peyton Reed, Fred Durst, Jody Hill, Ramin Bahrani, Tom DiCillo
25. The Prize Winner of Defiance, Ohio (2005)
PG | 99 min | Biography, Drama
In order to support her ten children, Evelyn Ryan enters a commercial jingle-writing contest.
Director: Jane Anderson | Stars: Julianne Moore, Woody Harrelson, Laura Dern, Trevor Morgan
Votes: 6,959 | Gross: $0.63M
Ohio - Steven Spielberg, Jim Jarmusch, Wes Craven, David Wain, Stephen Gyllenhaal
26. Oklahoma! (1955)
PG | 145 min | Comedy, Drama, Musical
In Oklahoma, several farmers, cowboys and a traveling salesman compete for the romantic favors of various local ladies.
Director: Fred Zinnemann | Stars: Gordon MacRae, Gloria Grahame, Gene Nelson, Charlotte Greenwood
Votes: 11,011
Oklahoma - Ron Howard, Tim Blake Nelson, Blake Edwards, Larry Clark, Jerry Hopper
27. The Prince of Pennsylvania (1988)
87 min | Comedy, Drama
A teenager in love, who needs money to arrange his future life with his mistress, kidnaps his own father for ransom, but nobody cares.
Director: Ron Nyswaner | Stars: Fred Ward, Keanu Reeves, Bonnie Bedelia, Amy Madigan
Votes: 1,046
Pennsylvania - Antoine Fuqua, Adam McKay, Lee Daniels, Gene Kelly, Chris Columbus
28. Getting Out of Rhode Island (2003)
103 min | Drama
Morgan Stipe is not a film maker. He is a self centered dreamer from small town Rhode Island, obsessed with becoming a Hollywood player, regardless of the cost. Driven by ego, Morgan ... See full summary »
Director: Christian de Rezendes | Stars: Robert Azevedo, Jeremy Banks, Craig Berube, Richard Binkowski
Votes: 31
Rhode Island - Damien Chazelle, Bobby Farrelly, Brian Helgeland, Robert Aldrich, David S. Ward
29. South Dakota (2017)
127 min | Drama, Romance
South Dakota portrays two dramatic stories about unplanned pregnancies: Barb is a real life "Juno" in South Dakota - a fourteen old high school track star and cheerleader in love with her ... See full summary »
Director: Bruce Isacson | Stars: Tessa Thompson, Amanda Aday, Reid Ewing, Allen Maldonado
Votes: 76
South Dakota - Christopher Cain, Alfred L. Werker, Michael Steinberg, James Landis, Ben Pluimer
30. Tennessee (2008)
R | 99 min | Adventure, Comedy, Drama
The story of three people who strive to realize their dreams. Brothers Carter and Ellis set out on a road trip to their childhood home in a desperate search for their estranged father, who may hold the key to their future.
Director: Aaron Woodley | Stars: Adam Rothenberg, Ethan Peck, Mariah Carey, Lance Reddick
Votes: 743 | Gross: $0.02M
Tennessee - Quentin Tarantino, Gore Verbinski, Robert Ben Garant, Andrew Stevens, Ira Sachs
31. Texas Across the River (1966)
PG | 101 min | Comedy, Western
In 1845 Texas, a Louisiana belle is courted by a wanted Spanish nobleman and a Texas brawling gunrunner but her suitors' passionate duel is interrupted by the cavalry and a Comanche attack.
Director: Michael Gordon | Stars: Dean Martin, Alain Delon, Rosemary Forsyth, Joey Bishop
Votes: 1,315
Texas - Wes Anderson, Richard Linklater, Forest Whitaker, Tommy Lee Jones, Robert Rodriguez
32. Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf? (1966)
(Banned) | 131 min | Drama
A bitter, aging couple, with the help of alcohol, use their young houseguests to fuel anguish and emotional pain towards each other over the course of a distressing night.
Director: Mike Nichols | Stars: Elizabeth Taylor, Richard Burton, George Segal, Sandy Dennis
Votes: 67,312
Virginia - Warren Beatty, Scott Cooper, Richard Kelly, Josh Boone, Tom Shadyac
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