Every Best Director Oscar Winner of the 1990s, Ranked

The Academy Award of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences has been recognizing the greatest directing achievement in the film industry since 1929; and soon enough, that Oscar became the single most prestigious award a filmmaker could possibly aspire to. Only 75 different individual directors have proven themselves worthy of the award throughout history, and the 1990s in particular saw 9 of the greatest and most impactful winners in the category’s history.

Whether it’s for a Best Picture darling like The English Patient, or for a movie that was snubbed for Best Picture, like Saving Private Ryan, the Best Director winners of the ’90s are all absolutely stunning displays of artistic ambition. Some, of course, are significantly better than others; but this is one of those decades that didn’t have a single Best Director winner that was downright bad.

10

Anthony Minghella — ‘The English Patient’ (1996)

Image via Miramax

Based on the 1992 novel by Canadian writer Michael Ondaatje, The English Patient is arguably the weakest Best Picture winner of the ’90s, but there’s no denying that it’s an impressive feat of filmmaking nonetheless. Winner of a whopping nine Oscars, more than most other films in history, it’s one of the most romantic Best Picture winners of all time.

The film was directed and written by British playwright and filmmaker Anthony Minghella, who did a stunning job of taking such an impossibly dense story and transforming it into a beautiful, emotional, fluidly-paced epic film. However, it’s undeniable that Minghella is often so focused on aesthetics and melodramatic emotion that he ends up flattening the postmodern complexity that makes Ondaatje’s novel such a cornerstone of 1990s English-language literature.

9

Sam Mendes — ‘American Beauty’ (1999)

There is probably no Best Picture winner from the ’90s more controversial or divisive than Sam Mendes‘ American Beauty. Whereas some call it one of the most brilliant suburban satires in cinema’s history, others would confidently say that it’s among the most pretentious movies of the last 30 years. That sort of analysis, of course, is almost purely subjective. And when it came for the Academy to express their opinions, they decided to grant the movie five Oscar wins—including Best Director for Mendes.

American Beauty‘s epicness level isn’t even remotely on the same scale as most Best Director-winning movies of the ’90s, but that’s exactly what makes Mendes’ directorial display so special. Brilliantly surreal and nearly perfect in how it balances satire, melodrama, and eroticism, his direction is some of the most layered that has ever made it to the Dolby Theatre stage. That being said, there’s a lack of subtlety and self-awareness in Mendes’ direction that’s difficult to deny, at times making the film feel smug and condescending in its thematic work.

8

Mel Gibson — ‘Braveheart’ (1995)

Image via Paramount Pictures

Mel Gibson‘s career on the big screen kicked off in the late ’70s, and he soon established himself as one of the biggest stars on the planet. It wasn’t until 1993 that he would make his directorial debut with The Man Without a Face, and it’s nothing if not immensely admirable that a film as huge as Braveheart was only his second-ever effort as a director.

Winner of five of the ten Oscars it was nominated for, this gem also featured Gibson as the star and producer, and it may well be one of the most perfect action movies based on true stories. There’s not much artistic nuance or emotional complexity to Gibson’s direction, but its strength lies in his beautifully empathetic approach to the characters, as well as in his borderline-flawless way of directing massive action sequences.

7

Kevin Costner — ‘Dances With Wolves’ (1990)

Image via Orion Pictures

By the time the ’90s rolled in, the Western genre was already—for lack of a better term—dead and buried in Hollywood. It was thanks to filmmakers like Kevin Costner that a neo-Western wave started to gain strength. Dances With Wolves is a revisionist Western epic that’s unlike anything else the genre has produced since, and it’s absolutely stunning that it was only Costner’s first-ever time sitting in the director’s chair.

If there ever was a decade that proved actors could be Oscar-worthy directors, though, it was the ’90s, and Costner succeeded at that task marvelously. One of the best blockbuster Western movies ever, Dances With Wolves may at times feel too classical and traditional for its own sake, but Costner’s direction is undeniably gorgeous in terms of visuals, story, and tone. The sense of epic immersion that the actor-director achieves here immediately established him as a filmmaker to look out for going forward.

6

Robert Zemeckis — ‘Forrest Gump’ (1994)

Image via Paramount Pictures

The conversations on what the best movies of 1994 were can be an endless one, because that truly was not just the best year of the ’90s for cinema, but perhaps even one of the greatest of all time. When it came down to the Academy’s decision, however, they went with Robert Zemeckis‘ Forrest Gump. And even though there are elements of the film, particularly when it comes to its screenplay, that haven’t aged the best, one thing that’s almost beyond reproach is Zemeckis’ direction.

The script at times limits Zemeckis’ creativity, but whenever the director is allowed to go big or go home, he goes all the way. From the deeply emotional nature of its story, to the harrowing way in which it depicts the Vietnam War, to the perfect way in which the retelling of a character as fascinating as Forrest is paced, Forrest Gump is a fully-rounded cinematic experience, and that’s mostly thanks to how vibrant Zemeckis’ direction is.

5

Clint Eastwood — ‘Unforgiven’ (1992)

There aren’t very many genuinely perfect Western movies, but Clint Eastwood‘s Unforgiven is most certainly one of them. Pretty soon into his career, Eastwood became the face of spaghetti Westerns, and one of the poster boys of the Western genre as a whole. As such, it feels only fitting that it was him who directed this brilliantly metatextual deconstruction of the myth of the Wild West and its heroes.

Just like the script by David Webb Peoples, Eastwood’s direction in Unforgiven is deceptively simple, weaponizing the classic tropes and aesthetics of Westerns to constantly turn the genre on its head. The lighting is beautifully dark, the violence is ugly rather than glamorized, the pacing is perfectly meditative, and the whole thing feels as elegant as it does gritty. It may not be quite as big or loud as some other Oscar-winning directing jobs from the ’90s, but it sure is one of the most masterfully consistent.

4

Steven Spielberg — ‘Saving Private Ryan’ (1998)

Image via DreamWorks Pictures

Only a handful of directors have ever won two Best Directing Oscars within the same decade, and Steven Spielberg was one of those masters. Though he’s the father of blockbusters, Spielberg has also proven himself to be perfectly capable of making prestige dramas, and it feels fitting that his two Directing Oscars came for precisely those sorts of films. Case in point: Saving Private Ryan, which brought its director his second Best Director win.

Even though it’s undeniably best-known for its harrowing D-Day sequence, the exceptional quality of Saving Private Ryan comes from far more the opening that instantly enshrined it as one of the most intense WWII movies of all time. There’s virtually nothing here that Spielberg doesn’t get exactly right, but what’s most admirable is the flawless balance that he strikes between the heartfelt emotion of the narrative and the gut-wrenching brutality of the action sequences.

3

James Cameron — ‘Titanic’ (1997)

Image via Paramount Pictures

James Cameron has always been a visionary, but never before had that been clearer than when the world was treated to Titanic, one of the biggest and most impressive achievements in the history of cinema. Far more than just a romantic epic, this period piece is a true cinematic colossus, one built on such a jaw-dropping scale that it’s surprising just how intimately emotional the story remains after almost 30 years.

Through it all, Cameron remains in perfect control of the production, delivering a sort of epic directing effort that hadn’t quite been seen in Hollywood in many years. Of course, it all leads to one of the saddest movie endings of all time, but even that is part of the pure movie magic that Cameron delivers with Titanic. There are those who may argue that there isn’t much psychological sophistication here for Cameron’s directing effort to truly be one of the ’90s’ best, but the sheer scale of the production is so unprecedented that it would be silly to fully deny it.

2

Jonathan Demme — ‘The Silence of the Lambs’ (1991)

Image via Orion Pictures

Jonathan Demme‘s The Silence of the Lambs is one of the best psychological thrillers of the last 45 years, one so incredibly tense and suspenseful that it can even be considered psychological horror. The film became the third (and latest) ever to win all Big Five Oscars after It Happened One Night and One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest: Best Picture, Director, Actor, Actress, and Screenplay.

All of those were well-deserved, Best Director for Demme definitely being no exception. As enrapturingly atmospheric as it is terrifying, The Silence of the Lambs is a masterpiece in thriller and horror direction in every sense imaginable. Visually striking, full of excellent performances, packed with memorable scenes, and with an excellent balance between subtle subtext and an absorbing tone, it’s undeniably one of the best-directed masterpieces of the ’90s.

1

Steven Spielberg — ‘Schindler’s List’ (1993)

Image via Universal Pictures

It was Schindler’s List from 1993 (the same year of the release of Jurassic Park, which remained the highest-grossing film of all time until Titanic smashed the record) that gave Steven Spielberg his first Best Director Oscar ever, and what a well-deserved piece of praise it was. To this day, this is still considered not only one of the best biopics of all time, but even just one of the best films ever made.

Spielberg’s direction in what’s arguably his magnum opus is a masterclass in tonal control, potent visual storytelling, pacing, emotional depth, and balance between scale and heart. It’s a directing effort that’s virtually perfect in every sense imaginable, resulting in a World War II drama that’s undeniably heartbreaking without ever sacrificing its deeply hopeful and humanist core. The Academy often got it right throughout the ’90s when it came to awarding the best directing effort of each year—never more so than at the 1994 Academy Awards.