The Sorrow and the Pity is a documentary film, over four hours long, made in 1969 by Marcel Ophüls, a German born French-Jewish filmmaker. Ophüls interviewed a number of Nazi-collaborators in French, made easier by making the film only twenty five years after the fall of the Nazi-supported Vichy regime. The Sorrow and the Pity is widely held as one of the most important documentaries in film history, for both its filmmaking techniques and its ability to find information from important historical figures.

Alfred Hitchcock was a British director who began directing films in America in the late 1930s and became one of the most well known and popular filmakers in Hollywood for the next two decades. Among his works were Psycho, Strangers on a Train, Rear Window, and Vertigo. Raging Bull was a 1980 film directed by Martin Scorsese.

The film Birth of a Nation was a massive success, becoming the first film ever shown at the White House. However, its heroic depiction of the Ku Klux Klan and virulent depiction of African-Americans caused criticism to be launched at its director, D.W. Griffith. In response, Griffith's next film, Intolerance, told the story of five civilizations who were ruined by their various forms of intolerance.

The Godfather, based on a book by Mario Puzo, was released to great acclaim in 1972, and propelled its director Francis Ford Coppola and its stars Al Pacino, Diane Keaton, and Robert Duvall to fame. The Godfather films were all influential in moving the "gangster film" out of B-movie limbo into being considered a type of great film. The first two parts of the trilogy are considered among the greatest films of all time.

Charlie Chaplin was perhaps the biggest star of the silent film era, writing, directing, and starring in films starring his character of "The Tramp." Featuring Chaplin's trademark bowler hat, cane, and toothbrush mustache, films like The Kid (1921), The Gold Rush (1925), and City Lights (1931) helped pioneer comedic tropes and gags in film. Chaplin adapted poorly to using sound in film and also had a controversial personal life which saw his star diminish in the 1930s.

The Marx Brothers, Groucho, Chico, Harpo, and Zeppo, began their career in the vaudeville era, and translated their success there into Broadway success as zany comedians. As soon as sound entered pictures, the Marx Brothers started making films, which were among the first commercially successful comedies, including 1930's Animal Crackers, 1932's Horse Feathers, and 1933's Duck Soup.

Although it may seem as if Stephen Spielberg has directed (or at least been involved with) every major blockbuster movie series in the last 50 years, Star Wars is a notable exception. George Lucas wrote, directed and produced the original Star Wars movie in 1977. Lucas and Spielberg teamed up to create Indiana Jones and the Raiders of the Lost Ark in 1981, but Spielberg actually directed the movie.

Billy Wilder was born to a Jewish family in Germany in 1906, but had to flee the Nazis' rise in the early 1930s. Arriving in Hollywood in 1933, Wilder first gained note as a screenwriter, but had a hit with his third directorial effort, 1944's Double Indemnity. That film noir set a mark for Wilder in its success, but stylistically he took many chances, from 1950's sweeping drama Sunset Boulevard to the farces The Seven Year Itch (1955) and Some Like It Hot (1959).

Jean-Luc Godard was the leading filmmaker of the French New Wave in the 1960s. His films like Breathless, from 1960, and Masculine, Feminine, from 1966, are simultaneously deeply imbued with politics and philosophy, while also being deep homages to his favorite filmmakers. Godard has been one of the most influential filmmakers from any country and in any genre.

The French New Wave was a label applied to a group of French filmmakers in the 1960s who all sought to create narrative ambiguity, a realistic shooting style, and modern stories. Among the New Wave directors were figures such as Éric Rohmer, André Bazin, François Truffaut, and Jean Luc Godard. One of their chief influences was the earlier filmmaker Jean Renoir.