Sam Peckinpah - Bring Me the Head of Alfredo Garcia (1974)

From IMDB:
A family scandal causes a wealthy and powerful Mexican rancher to make the pronouncement--'Bring me the head of Alfredo Garcia!' Two of the bounty-hunters thus dispatched encounter a local piano-player in their hunt for information. The piano-player does a little investigating on his own and finds out that his girlfriend knows of Garcia's death and last resting place. Thinking that he can make some easy money and gain financial security for he and his (now) fiancée, they set off on this goal. Of course, this quest only brings him untold misery, in the form of trademark Peckinpah violence.

Victor Sjöström - Körkarlen AKA The Phantom Carriage (1921)

The last person to die on New Year’s Eve before the clock strikes twelve is doomed to take the reins of Death’s chariot and work tirelessly collecting fresh souls for the next year. So says the legend that drives The Phantom Carriage (Körkarlen), directed by the father of Swedish cinema, Victor Sjöström. The story, based on a novel by Nobel Prize winner Selma Lagerlöf, concerns an alcoholic, abusive ne’er-do-well (Sjöström himself) who is shown the error of his ways, and the pure-of-heart Salvation Army sister who believes in his redemption. This extraordinarily rich and innovative silent classic (which inspired Ingmar Bergman to make movies) is a Dickensian ghost story and a deeply moving morality tale, as well as a showcase for groundbreaking special effects. (-Criterion)

Rainer Werner Fassbinder - Despair (1978)

Germany in the early 1930s. Against the backdrop of the Nazis' rise, Hermann Hermann, a Russian émigré and chocolate magnate, goes slowly mad. It begins with his seating himself in a chair to observe himself making love to his wife, Lydia, a zaftig empty-headed siren who is also sleeping with her cousin. Hermann is soon given to intemperate outbursts at his workers, other businessmen, and strangers. Then, he meets Felix, an itinerant laborer, whom he delusionally believes looks exactly like himself. Armed with a new life insurance policy, he hatches an elaborate plot in the belief it will free him of all his worries. (IMDb)

Buddy Van Horn - Any Which Way You Can (1980)

Seeing Every Which Way But Loose was like having deja vu; I know I'd seen the movie before (and in the last few years, no less), but had little recollection about its content or story. As the movie lurched forward it felt like recalling a dream—pieces and characters were recognizable, though fuzzy in my memories. Clint Eastwood is certainly not the face you think of when you think of comedy. In fact, I may go so far as to say he's the OPPOSITE of what you see when you think of comedy. Eastwood conjures up thoughts of comedy as often as Adolph Hitler makes you think of Cabbage Patch Kids. And yet, he made two movies with a co-star whose side hobbies include picking grubs off his friends and eating them. Every Which Way But Loose was released after Eastwood had come off of a string of Spaghetti westerns which reinforced his tough guy image. Legend has it that Eastwood's closest confidants did not think making a movie about a man and an orangutan was a very good idea. When Every Which Way But Loose was released the film was a critical failure but a box office sensation—clearly, people wanted to see the most stoic actor on the planet paling around with a hairy, lippy monkey with bad teeth and an affinity for dressing in women's clothing. They may not have known this at the time, but dammit Warner Brothers was going to give it to them, anyway!

Barbet Schroeder - More (1969)

Quote:
Stefan (Klaus Grünberg) hitchhikes to Paris and there at a party meets Estelle (Mimsy Farmer), a beautiful but elusive American. Soon afterwards, she leaves for Ibiza and an already smitten Stefan vows to follow her, but he has to help out in a robbery to raise the cash to do so. Finally, he meets up again with Estelle and the two become lovers. In an atmosphere of easy sex, nude sunbathing and lots of drugs, Stefan\'s hold on his life begins to crumble.
More was Barbet Schroeder\'s directorial debut and it set the Iranian-born, French-national writer, director, producer and occasional actor on a fascinatingly wayward career. He has made films all over the world, often tackling \'difficult\' subject matter (drugs here, sadomasochism in Maitresse, also available as a DVD from the BFI). Unfortunately the last decade or so has been spent making increasingly routine material in Hollywood.