Best film directors of the 20th century
Submitted by zambelli on Tue, 02/20/2001 - 09:12
Tags:
- Stanley Kubrick
- Alfred Hitchcock
- Terry Gilliam
- David Lynch
- Quentin Tarantino
- Orson Welles
Author Comments:
OK, so maybe I left out a lot of great ones, like Martin Scorsese, David Cronenberg, Francis Coppola, and many others. The only reason why I left them out is because I haven't seen that many of their movies, and it wouldn't be fair to put them on MY list if haven't actually seen their movies, right?
Anyway, the most underestimated director from my list is definitely Terry Gilliam, and therefore, he is probably my favorite one.
would gilliam be on your list if he didn't make 12 monkeys?
Does that question imply that you consider 12 Monkeys to be Gilliam's only great film? Personally, I love Brazil and Fisher King, and really like both 12 Monkeys and Time Bandits. The only Gilliam movie that disappointed me was Baron Munchausen.
mike nichols! "the graduate" and "who's afraid of virginia woolf?" are two of the most startling and refreshing films to have broken the medium!
Mike Nichols is good, but I would definitely suggest the following names instead: David Lean, Billy Wilder, Frank Capra, John Huston, Stephen Spielberg, John Ford, Elia Kazan, Stanley Kramer, Mel Brooks, Sidney Lumet, and Woody Allen, who I am not a huge fan of, but I can't disregard his talent. This does not even consider great foreign directors: Kurosawa, Fellini, Bergman, Truffaut, Almodovar, Kieslowsi, etc., etc. I am forgetting too many names as well, but there are at least 15 other directors that I would mention before Nichols. In reviewing Nichols career, his first 5 movies were all great efforts : Virginia Woolf, Graduate, Catch-22, Carnal Knowledge, and Day of the Dolphin. His last 10-15 years have included the following: Heartburn, Working Girl, Biloxi Blues, Postcards from the Edge, Regarding Henry, Wolf, The Birdcage, and Primary Colors. Some of these are good films, but I don't consider any of them great. A great director needs to consistently create great movies throughout his career.
Mighty hard to argue with these suggestions. As far as Nichols goes, do you really believe Day of the Dolphin to be a great effort? While not great, surely Silkwood (which you railed to mention) or Working Girl is better than Day of the Dolphin.
Shalom, y'all!
L. Bangs
Actually, I omitted Silkwood because it is a very good movie and does not represnet the demise of his movies. I saw Day of the Dolphin a long time ago, but I remember really liking it. Maybe I should see it again. Working Girl is a good film, but I do not think it deserved an oscar nomination whatsoever. Regardless, I will give Nichols both Silkwood and Working Girl, and accept them as great movies. However, I found indisputable evidence of Nichols' demise, his 2000 directorial effort, What Planet Are You From? I have a hard time believing that anyone could have liked this film, let alone seen it since it only grossed about $10 million (this may be a generous guess on the gross). If a movie flops that much and is a major studio effort, then it is a permanent stain on a director's resume.