Director: Don Siegel

Don Siegel made economical genre films for four decades and influenced a generation that included Clint Eastwood, who has repeatedly named him as his teacher. The films are short, fast and shot without decoration.

Invasion of the Body Snatchers is the one that endures, a small science fiction picture that has been read as anti-communist and anti-McCarthyist with equal conviction since 1956. Siegel declined to settle the question.

Dirty Harry, made with Eastwood, was accused of fascism on release and remains contested. Riot in Cell Block 11, The Killers and Escape from Alcatraz are the other titles worth seeking out.