Always was released after Last Crusade.
And I skipped Twilight Zone because I don’t think anthologies should count. It’s unfair to give Spielberg the credit (or the blame, if you prefer) for that one.
So apparently Spielberg lost it sometimes between May 24, 1989 and December 22, 1989. This makes me wonder what it even means for a director to have a streak. Surely Spielberg was working on Always as he was finishing up Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade.
David Lynch: Eraserhead, The Elephant Man, Dune, Blue Velvet, Wild at Heart
Scorcese had two streaks…
1st: Mean Streets, Alice Doesnt Live Here Anymore, Taxi Driver
2nd: The Last Temptation of Christ, Goodfellas, Cape Fear, The Age of Innocence
Oh, no.
If Dune is a “classic”, then the oeuvre of Uwe Boll is next.
Temple of Doom was not very good.
Haven’t seen Miller’s Crossing, but their first 8 is pretty impressive:
1984 Blood Simple.
1987 Raising Arizona
1990 Miller’s Crossing
1991 Barton Fink
1994 The Hudsucker Proxy
1996 Fargo
1998 The Big Lebowski
2000 O Brother, Where Art Thou?
You can argue Barton and the Hudsucker Proxy (though I love them both), but Fargo-Lebowski-O Brother is definitely a winning streak.
Hayao Miyazaki:
Nausicaä of the Valley of the Wind, 1984 film
Castle in the Sky, 1986 film
My Neighbor Totoro, 1988 film
Kiki’s Delivery Service, 1989 film
Porco Rosso, 1992 film
Princess Mononoke, 1997 film
Spirited Away, 2001 film (winner, Academy Award for Best Animated Feature, 2002)
Howl’s Moving Castle, 2004 film (nominee, Academy Award for Best Animated Feature, 2005)
Ponyo, 2008 film
I haven’t seen Porco Rosso, but it rates about even with** Ponyo** in the IMDB.
Then there’s Brad Bird:
The Iron Giant (1999)
The Incredibles (2004)
Ratatouille (2007)
Temple of Doom was not very good compared to Raiders and Last Crusade. As a movie it’s still ridiculously great.
Depending on how you feel about “12 chairs” which the critics seem to like, Mel Brooks had a pretty good run for a while.
The Producers (1968)
The Twelve Chairs (1970)
Blazing Saddles (1974)
Young Frankenstein (1974)
Silent Movie (1976)
His next two also have a lot of fans, but are less universally respected.
High Anxiety (1977)
History of the World, Part I (1981)
The less said about his more recent works, the better.
You forgot Spaceballs. Which has been sliding more and more into the “classic Mel Brooks canon” for years now.
Thought about it, but I checked Mel’s wiki page, and it lists only 54% critic support at Rotten Tomatoes for Space Balls. On the other hand, his lowest rating for the first 5 is 89%. Either way, a hell of streak.
Has anybody else directed two classics that came out the same year?
On a smaller, more “Indie Classics” way, Tom McCarthy is hitting 1000% with the first three film’s he’s written and directed:
The Station Agent
The Visitor
Win Win
Warren Beatty only directed four movies, each of which was nominated for Best Motion Picture at the Golden Globes: Heaven Can Wait (which won, and got him an Oscar nomination for acting and one for writing and one for producing along with the one for directing), Reds (which likewise got him Oscar nominations for acting and writing and producing, but this time got him the win for directing) Dick Tracy (which did exactly what he produced it to do, grossing a ton of money as a fun popcorn movie that looked like a comic book come to life – promptly winning the Oscar for Best Art Direction) and Bulworth (which got him yet another Oscar nomination, because, hey, that’s what he does).
Victor Fleming directed Gone With The Wind, and co-directed The Wizard Of Oz, in 1939.
Spielberg, 1993: **Jurassic Park **and Schindler’s List.
Preston Stuges again:
1940 – Christmas in July & The Great McGinty
1941 – The Lady Eve & Sullivan’s Travels
1944 – The Miracle of Morgan’s Creek & Hail the Conquering Hero
John Ford:
1939 – Stagecoach & Young Mr. Lincoln
Michael Curtiz: Adventures Of Robin Hood and Angels With Dirty Faces in 1938, Casablanca and Yankee Doodle Dandy in 1942.
These streaks from Ingmar Bergman come to mind:
Smiles of a Summer Night (1955)
The Seventh Seal (1957)
Wild Strawberries (1957)
The Face aka The Magician (1958)
or
Through a Glass Darkly (1961)
Winter Light (1962)
The Silence (1963)
Persona (1966)
Hour of the Wolf (1968)
Shame (1968)
How about Federico Fellini then:
Nights of Cabiria (1957)
La Dolce Vita (1960)
8 1/2 (1963)