favorite director of all time?

[MisterCairo]

I personally cannot stand Woody Allen. He's pretentious and I don't think he's funny. He also can't act at all, and stumbles all over his lines. In fact, one of his greatest blunders in Annie Hall is attributed as one of his greatest moments.

:eusa_clap

 

[Edward]

I've not seen by any means all of Woody Allen's oeuvre, but he's done some great stuff. I adored Celebrity (Lenny Dicaprio's satire of his own image at the time, the dialogue - "I watch it too." "Yes, but I exercise to it." / "He filmed it in black and whitre, so pretentious" - and Kenny Branagh's incredible impersonation of Allen himself). The best of his I've seen ,though, is Midnight in Paris. I honestly don't think anyone should be allowed to claim to be "into vintage" without first being obliged to watch and understand that film.

I fully expect to be excoriated for this, but in the modern world, I have been very impressed with many of Tarantino's movies. "Pulp Fiction" is an incredibly complex movie that delves deeply in the psyche and motivation of various elements in the underworld and one whose violence is plot driven and not, as many movies are today, driving the plot. Much of dialogue in the movie are different character's life philosophy masquerading as conversation that, IMHO, makes the movie watchable multiple times. Plus Uma and Travolta's Jack Rabbit Slim scene is better by itself than most movies are in full.

Reservoir Dogs - the dialogue is complex, overlapping (the way people really talk) and - for the time - outrageous

Inglorious Bastards - Played fast and lose with WWII facts, but the story and characters were so engaging it didn't matter.

Django Untamed - honestly, I think Tarantino just dumped some of the excess craziness in his head onto the screen for this one and made it work by dint of will - for the most part

Kill Bill Vol. 1 & 2 - While Uma Thurman's movies, it took Tarantino to pull of an off-beat martial arts movie

I'm a fan, have been since ...Dogs. Personally, I loved that he so radically changed history in ...Basterds. It's clearly a nod to the enormous liberties the WW2 film genre has always taken with the actual truth of the war and even specific events depicted.

(Crickets chirpin' in the da background)

.... No love for Woody Allen I see.... or my personal fave... Mel "Springtime for Hitler and Germany" Brooks.....

Not throwin' stones.... Jes sayin'.....

Worfster

I adore The Producers. Loved the stage show when I saw it too, and the subsequent film version of that, which brought something new to it. Young Frankenstein is a work of utter, utter genius, even if it has rendered it impossible for me to nowl isten to Puttin' On The Ritz without tourettesing lines in the style of the monster...

 

[Stanley Doble]

I don't know what anybody sees in Woody Allen or Mel Brooks. While we are at it let's not forget Jerry Lewis, another all star stinker.

Now Billy Wilder, there's a director.

 

[Seb Lucas]

I love Woody Allen, especially his early funnier films.

Orson Welles for me. His innovative visual power in films like Touch of Evil or The Trial make even the visually rococo Hitchcock look bland. Actually I'm not keen on Hitchcock but I rate Psycho as one of cinema's greatest movies - lean, focused, stark and a hell of a black comedy.

John Ford's work I've never connected with. For Westerns I greatly prefer the more dystopic Sergio Leone.

 

[LizzieMaine]

There are few movies of the last fifty years that made me laugh harder than Woody Allen's "Zelig." The best mockumentary ever made, and the special effects, made long before CGI, are astonishing.

But for modern directors, give me the Coen Brothers. "O Brother Where Art Thou?" is by far the most brilliant piece of filmmaking of the past twenty years.

Jerry Lewis could have been a very clever comedian if Frank Tashlin had directed all of his films.

 

[MisterCairo]

How could I possibly have forgotten to include the Cohen brothers!

Raising Arizona, Miller's Crossing, Fargo, The Big Lebowski, O Brother, No Country for Old Men, and on and on...

 

[Ed Bass]

FF, I'm totally with you on Pulp Fiction and Reservoir; a couple of the finest pieces of film work to come along in decades. You know they are good because they've withstood the test of time (so far) and you can watch them over and over. Tarantino got every single thing he needed from every single actor in PF. No one was superfluous in that film. It was.......Perfect. However, I thought Basterds was so poor I couldn't believe it came from the same director. In fact I was so disappointed after watching this film I wanted to drive over to Tarantino's house and punch him in the throat. But then I figured, Oh well, everyone's allowed one stinker I suppose. Then.....along came Django. Puerile idiocy. The worst piece of film work to ever disgrace a screen. I lost what remaining respect I had for Quenny after this tripe. Poor on every level possible. I've never been a fan of revisionist history in the movies and this one brought that home completely. Even more so than Basterds did.

I think Tarantino has become the Orson Welles of this time. He started out as the golden boy, masterpiece movie maker, and then simply fizzled out. Maybe neither one of them could live up to their own colossal reputations. Tarantino is dead.

 

[Kinney]

I don't know that I'd call O Brother Where Art Thou the best film of the last 20 years but I agree that it is immensely watchable. It's in my personal top 5 or 10.

That said, Charlie Chaplin is my pick. I'm blown away every time I rewatch something.

To end, Bicycle Thieves is the finest film of all time.

 

[V.C. Brunswick]

Erich von Stroheim
Fritz Lang
Stanley Kubrick

 

[Bamaboots]

How could I possibly have forgotten to include the Cohen brothers!

Raising Arizona, Miller's Crossing, Fargo, The Big Lebowski, O Brother, No Country for Old Men, and on and on...

"Blood Simple" was one of my favorites, as well.

 

[Blackthorn]

For thirty years my favorite director was John Huston. I have loved almost all of his movies, and he was a great screen writer, too. I still think he is almost as good as John Ford.

My favorite director of modern films is Clint Eastwood. He has earned my respect.

 

[Naphtali]

I find it verging on unbelievable that Howard Hawks has not yet made anyone's list but mine - even as an "also ran." He is slightly ahead of William Wyler and Billy Wilder for me.

1. Twentieth Century

2. His Girl Friday

3. Bringing Up Baby

4. Only Angels Have Wings

5. Scarface

6. Ball of Fire

7. Viva Villa

8. Sergeant York

9. The Big Sleep

10. Red River

11. The Big Sky

 

[DanielJones]

Yeah I would have to agree with Howard Hawks, with John Ford right on his heels.

Of course you can't forget these in that Howard Hawks list.

Rio Bravo
El Dorado
Rio Lobo
Hatari!
The Thing from Another World


Third on my list would be William Wyler.
While his early pre WWII work seemed a bit too sentimental, they were good stories, like Mrs. Miniver, his later work reflected his experience as a film maker during WWII. Right out of the gate The Best Years of our Lives hit it home. One of my favorites is The Desperate Hours.

Cheers!

Dan

 

[Naphtali]

Dan:

My only reason for not ranking John Ford with Wyler and Wilder is a personal gripe. In many of his films, there occurs a long fist fight in which no one is seriously injured and is supposed to be great fun to view. Howard Hawks' fights and shootings are over in seconds - no substantial glorification.

Hand-to-hand combat aka fist fights are not fun. And losers and, usually, winners tend to be seriously injured. Gun fights are over in seconds. Having limited, albeit way too much, experience with both, I don't find Mr. Ford's presentations pleasant. Having typed that, the remainder of such movies of his are excellent.

 

[DanielJones]

And you are entitled to that view. I might add, that unlike todays films, gunshots and injuries seldom bled or showed up back then. So the lack of injuries I think were an industries way of possibly protecting the viewer from too much human horror. How many western have we seen that didn't have massively bleeding gun wounds? If it grazed their temple, there was a little trickle of orange blood. Back then they went for emotion, and less with the visual horrors. In a way it was almost classy.
I would also agree that Ford's fist fights went on a tad too long. You could go get a coke, come back, and they still hadn't figured out their differences or grievances. So you have that too. For me there is some good gritty emotion that I enjoy with Ford. Hawks more so. You get to see a different John Wayne with the two directors.

Cheers!

Dan

 

[DanielJones]

Now when it comes to musicals, Mark Sandrich had it nailed. Song, dance, comedy, & a misunderstanding all tied together in an entertaining package.

Cheers!

Dan

 

[Wally_Hood]

I love movies too much to pick a single director, but it's pretty hard to argue with either Hitchcock or Ford. Some others that come to mind:

Stanley Kubrick - This would have been my immediate answer as a youth, though most of his films are so cold and clinical, with barely a trace of human warmth. Still, as a technician and visionary, he's right up there. Paths of Glory, Spartacus, Dr. Strangelove, 2001, A Clockwork Orange, The Shining...

Billy Wilder - Master of dramatic comedy and comedic drama. Such a cynic! Sunset Blvd., The Apartment, Some Like It Hot, Ace In The Hole, Double Indemnity, Sabrina, A Foreign Affair...

William Wyler - Probably the best director of actors ever. The Best Years of Our Lives, Dodsworth, Dead End, The Little Foxes, These Three & The Children's Hour, Roman Holiday, Ben Hur...

Michael Powell & Emeric Pressburger - For sheer, unbridled creativity and gonzo Englishness. Black Narcissus, The Red Shoes, A Matter of Life and Death, The Life and Death of Colonel Blimp, Thirty-Ninth Parallel, I Know Where I'm Going!, Tales of Hoffmann...

Orson Welles - Obviously.

Cecil B. DeMille - Much of his work is broad and overdone and has aged poorly, but he set the template for the Hollywood director. Films for de millions! The Ten Commandments (both versions), Cleopatra, Sign of the Cross, The Crusades, Samson and Delilah, The Greatest Show On Earth...

Frank Capra - The great American populist made some wonderful films. It Happened One Night, Mr. Smith Goes to Washington, It's A Wonderful Life...

Preston Sturges - The first well-known screenwriter to turn director (ahead of Wilder, Huston, etc.), his hilarious comedies are loaded with truth. The Great McGinty, The Palm Beach Story, The Lady Eve, Sullivan's Travels...

John Huston - Another great writer turned director. The Maltese Falcon, The African Queen, Treasure of the Sierra Madre, The Asphalt Jungle...

David Lean - Master of literary adaptations and colorful epics. Great Expectations, Bridge on the River Kwai, Lawrence of Arabia, Dr. Zhivago, A Passage to India...

Studio system stalwarts who did a wide range of styles well: Michael Curtiz, George Cukor, John Sturges, Howard Hawks, Robert Wise, Fred Zinnemann...

The comic genius writer/director/stars: Charlie Chaplin, Buster Keaton, Mel Brooks, Woody Allen...

The younger generations: Robert Altman, Sidney Lumet, Stanley Kramer, Franklin Schaffner, Francis Coppola, Arthur Penn, John Frankenheimer, Steven Spielberg, John Milius, Marty Scorsese, Terrence Malick, Guilermo del Toro, the Coen Bros., Peter Jackson, Neil Jordan, David Lynch, Lee (Spike and Ang), Darrin Aronofsky, Clint Eastwood, Pedro Almodovar, Alfonso Cuaron, David Cronenberg, Christopher Nolan, David Fincher, etc.

And the classic foreign greats - Akira Kurosawa, Ingmar Bergman, Federico Fellini...

(Yeah, I've been a serious film buff for a REALLY LONG time!)

Due to an oversight, I have missed this thread, but I could not express myself and my tastes better than this list. Thank you , Dr. Strange.
For those who are only aware of Kurosawa as a director of samurai period films, he has several "contemporary" (that is, post war settings) classics, i.e., Stray Dog and The Bad Sleep Well, that are worth watching despite being in a foreign language.

 

[Doctor Strange]

Thanks, Wally. And I totally agree about Kurosawa's contemporary-set films. Ikiru is a personal fave.

I also like his late multi-part film, Dreams: not every segment in it works, but any Japanese-language film that's got Martin Scorsese playing Vincent Van Gogh and bellowing (in English!), "The sun compels me to paint!" is too interesting to skip.

 

[Blackthorn]

Dan:

My only reason for not ranking John Ford with Wyler and Wilder is a personal gripe. In many of his films, there occurs a long fist fight in which no one is seriously injured and is supposed to be great fun to view. Howard Hawks' fights and shootings are over in seconds - no substantial glorification.

Good point, totally. And that reminds me of how much respect I have for Huston's depiction of both: the fistfight in the beginning of Treasure of the Sierra Madre (that bar fight sure looked like the real deal) and the one-second-long shootout in Asphalt Jungle between Sterling Hayden and the other heavy. Both we very realistically done.

 

[Trenchfriend]

Jean-Pierre Melville, to me.