My Top 10 Favorite Directors of All Times

1. Hitchcock has wide body of work, most of which I like. Some of the horror may seem campy by today's standards, but Henry Ford had to make the Model T before Steve McQueen could drive a Mustang. So give the master some credit.

2. Again a wonderful body of work within a short amount of time. Most of the Coen Brothers'movies are worth watching more than once, and anything they made is worth watching at least once. Since Ethan usually produces and Joel does the directing, Joel gets the directorial credit. Ethan is a helluva writer though.

3. The great teaser. He know how to pull me into almost any movie he's made, whether mediocre or great. I thought Hook was nauseating and A.I. was too slow, but mostly anything else this guys from Arizona has done is a great movie going experience. A love-hate relationship. Love his style, but hate how he can always draw me in. His later stuff has take a darker, moodier edge since Saving Private Ryan. But I think he deserved the two Oscars he got. John Madden did a great job on Shakespeare In Love, but he still couldn't make D-Day look so brutal and realistic.
For some reason, am not an E.T. fan.

4. Brought Shakespeare into an interesting light. Was a skillful and ingenuous. Made Citizen Kane into a brilliant epic/biopic with a small budget. Touch of Evil, The Trial, The Lady From Shanghai, Othello, MacBeth, King Lear.

5. The Informer, Stagecoach, The Grapes of Wrath, How Green Is My Valley, She Wore A Yellow Ribbon, Fort Apache, Rio Grande, and the Quiet Man, My Darling Clementine. Recreated the Irish story formula so many times. Also lost his eye during World War 2 aerial battle, so he had balls for a film director. Could be dictatorial as a director and sometimes even physically rough. Another love-hate relationship.

6. Praise him for deglamorizing and glamorizing the life mafiosos in Goodfellas, Casino, and Mean Streets. Beautiful grit in both Taxi Driver and Raging Bull. Had the gutts to make The Last Temptation of Christ. Even director Kundun, a fine film about the Last and Outlawed Dali Lama of Tibet which had beautiful cinematography. Also want to watch the Best of The Blues, a documentary series he presented.

7. His Night of The Living Dead, the original 1968 version, helped changed the formula of Horror films. Think he deserves to be considered part of the new wave of film directors in the late 1960s and 1970s called the Brat Pack Generation, when guys like Scorcese, Spielberg, Lucas, Friedkin, Polanksi, Milius, and Coppola appeared. He showed that you can still make an entertaining movie with a shoe-string budget. I like the apocalyptic ending in his zombie movies. I feel his Dawn of The Dead is still the better of the two. Of course, he's from my home town of Pittsburgh, PA, so I'm rooting for a fellow Burgher. But for very good reasons.

8. Love his Spaghetti western movies, which brought a ballsier edge to the western formula. Good guys weren't always good and bandits were sometimes of likable. Only dislike the masoginistic qualities in his movies, but every filmmaker has a flaw or two.

9. Has a large body of work. And has a brought a fresh, creative style to comedies in the 1970s. Also deserves to be called a Brat Packer. Annie Hall, Manhattan, Play It Again Sam, Radio Days, Mighty Aphrodite, Shadows and Fog, Manhattan Murder Mystery, Crimes and Misdemeanors, Hannah and Her Sisters. Has a knack for bringing beautiful and/or interesting actresses to the screen. Has an enormous, rather eclectic list of actors and actresses whom he has directed in his movies. I hear he is making a movie with Scarlett Johannson in the cast. Has also had the good grace to sometimes keep himself out of his movie, and act solely as director and writer.

10. Large Body of work. Visionary filmmaker in any sens of the word. Was just watching the first part of Full Metal Jacket. Sgt. Hartman is an insane piece of work. His Dr. Strangelove is one of my favorite comedies. His Paths of Glory is the finest anti-war narrative I have ever seen. THe Shining is still probably one of the best Horror films. 2001: Space Odyssey is a breathtaking visual experience, even if the story is somewhat vague. Barry Lyndon was beautifully shot, but I was bored stiff with Ryan O'Neal. The Killing is a fine piece of film noir. "This is my rifle, this is my gun. This is for shooting, this is for fun."