The world's 5 best directors (and their best films)?

Don't you find that lots of people comment on the "directing" without really knowing what they mean? People often say this about a film which they have enjoyed regardless of what the "direction" was actually like.

it's all very well saying that somebody is a great director but it would be better to back it up with concrete examples (not just names of films but aspects of the direction
 
I have not seen every film unfortunately (especially the pre-1970 ones) however, I will offer my choices based on the following main criteria -

1 Consistently makes films that I enjoy and remember.
2 Makes films that other people very different to me also enjoy and remember. (It is impossible to please everyone)
3 Able to accomplish a great deal with very little. (Bang for Buck although I do not mean bang literally)
4 Able to make great films without great actors (This is where I have to exclude Scorsese as I believe De Niro is the greatest actor of my experience and I am not sure how much is attributable to him - I have yet to see Gangs of New York. Same thing goes for Coppola - De Niro, Pacino, Duvall, Brando and Sheen - and I do not particularly think much of his non-Godfather films)
5 The film made is brave or ambitious. (Fincher I cannot include because of Panic Room and Alien 3)

So here are my choices -

James Cameron - Terminator, Titanic ( not another Titanic remake - he must be crazy)
Ridley Scott - Alien, Bladerunner
Roman Polanski - Chinatown, Rosemary's Baby, The Pianist
William Wyler - Ben-Hur, Roman Holiday
Hitchcock - North by Northwest, Rear Window
Billy Wilder - Some like it Hot, Double Indemnity, The Apartment
Victor Fleming - Gone with the Wind, Wizard of Oz
Mel Gibson - Braveheart, The Passion of Christ (He has only done 3 films and even The Man Without a Face is a good)
Oops that's eight directors.

Honourable mentions go to -
Wolfgang Petersen - Das Boot, Troy ( It IS an adaptation after all )
Luc Besson - Fifth Element, Leon, Nikita
Spielberg - Raiders of the Lost Ark (Think about it)
 
3,000 word essay on auteurism on my desk by midday this afternoon! :D ;)



Yet you chose James Cameron...interesting....;)

I would say that Fincher was both brave AND ambitious for directing Alien 3. D'you know they hell he went through with that? A few clues from the IMDB trivia section for you...
 
Well, not quite. But I have still to read a convincing actor. I could also make up a list of films which I enjoy by the same director, but a lot of my enjoyment is due to the writer surely?

I'd like to know what people class as "good direction".
 
Well that's the whole point of the thread really - what, in your own terms, would you define as 'good' direction?



You get those perfectly right and you have yourself a perfectly directed film. Gather at least two or three of those together and you have a 'good' director. As I pointed out in my previous post, to go through each individual choice and explain exactly what makes them so good would require a good few thousand worRAB each. If you are really want to know what everyone considers so good about each director, pick up a book relating to their work or do a quick google on them and you'll soon find out...;) :)
 
1. George Lucas - Star Wars
2. Stephan Speilburg - Indiana Jones, The Goonies, Band Of Bros + Saving Private Ryan
3. Peter Jackson - Lord Of The Rings
4. Quntin Taretino - Kill Bill + Pulp Fiction
5. David Zucker - THe Naked Gun Trilogy, Space Balls
 
Yes, you're probably right. What bothers me more is when people criticise the direction but basically they mean that they just didn't like the film.

I suppose that directors are pretty high profile nowadays and people can often put faces to names. The downside of this is that directors can be blamed for films which may be perfectly well directed and technically impressive but they are just badly written and acted (although arguably, bad acting may well be the fault of the director :))
 
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