PETER YATES

England has produced a bunch of excellent movie directors and one of the very best was Peter Yates. A life-long Brit, he died at 81, having directed thoughtful, engaging movies for many years. 
Secret Agent (1965-67) is actually a TV series starring the late Patrick McGoohan. It was in many ways a ground-breaking series from which many have borrowed. When he tries to retire from the Secret Service, he is kidnaped and transported to an idyllic location for retired agents. He is having none of this, and wants to escape back to the real world. Almost 50 years old now, it still packs a punch. 
The car chase has become a staple of action movies. There still has never been a better one than in Bullitt (1968), with Steve McQueen in a heart-stopping chase across and over the San Francisco hills. A laconic very straight cop, he is suspicious of his assignment to guard a government witness. He was right to be. 
The Dresser (1983) features two British icons. Albert Finney is Sir, an aging actor with a Himalayan ego that must be fed on a daily basis for his mere survival. Tom Courtenay is Norman, his dresser and ultimate prop. The performances elicited by Mr. Yates, and his uncanny capturing of wartime England and a down-at-the-heels touring theater troupe, are just superb. Don’t miss the scene in which Mr. Finney commands a moving train to stop! Mr. Yates was nominated for an Oscar, but lost to James L. Brooks for Terms of Endearment.
In Eleni (1985), Mr. Yates plumbs the depths of the gnawing demon, revenge. John Malkovich, in one of his first and best roles, is the son of a Greek mother murdered during the civil war by Communists. Mr. Malkovich plays a New York Times reporter who returns to Greece to unmask his mother’s killers. 
Breaking Away (1979) is in my all-time top 10. If you’ve never seen it, treat yourself. Dennis Christopher is a teen-age bicycle racer absolutely ga-ga over the Italian racing team. He mimics them in every possible way, including speaking pidgin-Italian. Barbara Barrie and Paul Dooley are very good as his long-suffering parents. The young racer experiences the feet of clay most idols possess, but is undaunted and continues to race the wind. Mr. Yates was nominated for Oscar, but had the misfortune of being in the same year as Robert Benton, who directed Kramer v. Kramer. 
The Friends of Eddie Coyle (1973) stars Robert Mitchum and Peter Boyle in a very dark and very low-key depiction of cops and crooks in Boston. You decide who the bad guys are!
All of the movies in this article are fine for 10 and up. All are available on DVD, including the Secret Agent TV series.