# Favorite Directors **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [May 22, 2003, 7:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/favorite-directors/176874 "2003-05-22T19:53:15Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![vl\_mungo](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/v/bc8723/32.png) [@vl\_mungo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/vl_mungo)\ **Post date:** [May 22, 2003, 7:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/favorite-directors/176874/1 "2003-05-22T19:53:15Z")
Just finished watching **Sunshine State** directed (and written by) **John Sayles** … it’s yet another great addition to his catalogue of fine films. With that in mind, here are some of my favorite directors and some of the films that make them my favorites: [John Sayles](http://us.imdb.com/Name?Sayles,+John) - Sunshine State, Eight Men Out, Matewan, Brother From Another Planet and Lone Star [Akira Kurosawa](http://us.imdb.com/Name?Kurosawa,+Akira) - The Seven Samauri, Ran, Kagemusha, Rashômon and Yojimbo [John Carpenter](http://us.imdb.com/Name?Carpenter,+John) - Dark Star, Halloween, Big Trouble in Little China, The Thing, Escape From New York and Assault on Precinct 13 [Francis Ford Coppola](http://us.imdb.com/Name?Coppola,+Francis+Ford) - Dementia 13, Godfather (1 & 2), Apocalypse Now and Rumblefish [Terry Gilliam](http://us.imdb.com/Name?Gilliam,+Terry) - Brazil, Time Bandits, Monty Python & The Holy Grail and The Adventures of Baron Munchausen [John Houston](http://us.imdb.com/Name?Huston,%20John) - Treasure of the Sierra Madre, The Maltese Falcon and The Man Who Would Be King Some other definitely worth a mention… Sam Peckinpah Alfred Hitchcock Marc Caro & Jean-Pierre Jeunet Stanley Kubrick Richard Lester Joel & Ethan Coen Sergio Leone Martin Scorsese Bruce McDonald Fritz Lang So… got some favorites??? ---
**Author:** ![Lisa-go-Blind](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/7c8e57/32.png) [@Lisa-go-Blind](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lisa-go-Blind)\ **Post date:** [May 22, 2003, 8:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/favorite-directors/176874/2 "2003-05-22T20:59:30Z")
Wes Anderson–Bottle Rocket, Rushmore, and The Royal Tenenbaums Christopher Guest–Waiting for Guffman, Best in Show, A Mighty Wind Yeah, I realized I just named all of their films…but they’re all my favorites. 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![Moirai](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/96bed5/32.png) [@Moirai](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Moirai)\ **Post date:** [May 22, 2003, 9:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/favorite-directors/176874/3 "2003-05-22T21:10:21Z")
Adding to those already mentioned- Bob Fosse Keith Gordon Clint Eastwood Ridley Scott Jonathan Demme Woody Allen ---
**Author:** ![C\_K\_Dexter\_Haven](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/b2d939/32.png) [@C\_K\_Dexter\_Haven](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/C_K_Dexter_Haven)\ **Post date:** [May 22, 2003, 9:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/favorite-directors/176874/4 "2003-05-22T21:30:05Z")
Well, back in my younger day, I met (as in spent several hours with) Alfred Hitchcock and John Ford (separately)… who are my two “most favorite”. But don’t forget such greats as Howard Hawks, Charlie Chaplin, and… ---
**Author:** ![MovieMogul](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/f08c70/32.png) [@MovieMogul](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MovieMogul)\ **Post date:** [May 22, 2003, 10:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/favorite-directors/176874/5 "2003-05-22T22:37:20Z")
If I was on a desert island and could only have the complete filmographies of 10 directors, I think those 10 would probably be: Luis Bunuel (_El, The Discreet Charm of the Bougeoisie_) Stanley Donen (_Singin’ in the Rain, The Pajama Game_) Howard Hawks (_Rio Bravo, Only Angels Have Wings_) Alfred Hitchcock (_Vertigo, North by Northwest_) Chuck Jones (_Duck Amuck, Past Perfumance_) Buster Keaton (_The General, Seven Chances_) Fritz Lang (_Scarlet Street, Metropolis_) Kenji Mizoguchi (_Ugetsu Monogatari, Sisters of the Gion_) Michael Powell (_Black Narcissus, The Life & Death of Colonel Blimp_) Eric Rohmer (_Chloe in the Afternoon, The Marquise of O_) ---
**Author:** ![Labdad](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/439d5e/32.png) [@Labdad](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Labdad)\ **Post date:** [May 23, 2003, 1:26am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/favorite-directors/176874/6 "2003-05-23T01:26:15Z")
So many of my favorites have already been mentioned (Kubrick, Hitchcock, Peckinpah, Ford, et al, but there’s one notable omission from the list: [Roman Polanski](http://us.imdb.com/Name?Polanski,+Roman). If all he’d ever done was make _Chinatown_ he’d be one of my favorites. But add _Repulsion_, _Cul-de-Sac_, _Rosemary’s Baby_, _The Fearless Vampire Killers_ and now _The Pianist_. He’s a giant. Oh, and let’s add Fredrico Fellini and Michelangelo Antonioni to the list as well. ---
**Author:** ![Tangent](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tangent/32/3098_2.png) [@Tangent](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tangent)\ **Post date:** [May 23, 2003, 1:59am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/favorite-directors/176874/7 "2003-05-23T01:59:32Z")
Tim Burton ---
**Author:** ![green\_bladder](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/73ab20/32.png) [@green\_bladder](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/green_bladder)\ **Post date:** [May 23, 2003, 2:17am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/favorite-directors/176874/8 "2003-05-23T02:17:35Z")
Stanley Kubrick Fracis Ford Coppola Quentin Tarantino Alejandro Amenabar No one mentioned Spielberg? ---
**Author:** ![Marley23](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/45deac/32.png) [@Marley23](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Marley23)\ **Post date:** [May 23, 2003, 2:37am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/favorite-directors/176874/9 "2003-05-23T02:37:47Z")
Stanley Kubrick and Orson Welles. ---
**Author:** ![jools](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/b3f665/32.png) [@jools](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jools)\ **Post date:** [May 23, 2003, 3:35am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/favorite-directors/176874/10 "2003-05-23T03:35:16Z")
In no particular order Alfred Hitchcock David Lynch Christopher Nolan Martin Scorsese Brian Di Palma Stanley Kubrick ---
**Author:** ![SlickRoenick](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/e68b1a/32.png) [@SlickRoenick](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SlickRoenick)\ **Post date:** [May 23, 2003, 5:47am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/favorite-directors/176874/11 "2003-05-23T05:47:01Z")
James Cameron Ron Howard ---
**Author:** ![sirtonyh](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/ad7895/32.png) [@sirtonyh](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/sirtonyh)\ **Post date:** [May 23, 2003, 6:44am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/favorite-directors/176874/12 "2003-05-23T06:44:21Z")
**Takashi Miike** - I’ve only recently discovered this Japanese auteur an I’m discovering he can really make sensational movies. The first 5 and last 10 minutes of Dead or Alive is some of the most inventive filmaker I’ve seen in a long time. Ichi The Killer is quite simply a sensational gangster movie and Audition left me cowering behind the sofa. **David Fincher** - Alien3, The Game, Fight Club, Panic Room. I love this guy’s style of filmaking. Fight Club is especially wonderful. I consider him a toned down & slightly less inventive than Miike but still capable of wonderous things. **Robert Altman** - Has done an awful lot of crap in his career but when he is on form he is outstanding. The Player, Short Cuts, McCabe and Mrs Miller are my favorites. **John Woo** - I love his pre-American films when he had more freedom. The Killer, Hard Boiled and A Better Tomorrow are 3 of the finest action/gangster films ever made. **James Cameron** - Directs action and special effects better than most. T2 and True Lies are terrific action films. **Peter Greenaway** - Studied Fine Arts at university and it shows. Outstandingly beautiful films to look at. The Cook, The Thief, His Wife and Her Lover and Prosperos Books ar career highlights. **Stephen Frears** - The Grifters and High Fidelity are superb films. Seems to work very well with John Cusack in my opinion ---
**Author:** ![don\_t\_ask](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/e68b1a/32.png) [@don\_t\_ask](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/don_t_ask)\ **Post date:** [May 23, 2003, 7:57am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/favorite-directors/176874/13 "2003-05-23T07:57:58Z")
Billy Wilder alone will do me on a desert island - The Front Page (1974) The Private Life of Sherlock Holmes (1970) The Fortune Cookie (1966) Irma la Douce (1963) The Apartment (1960) Some Like It Hot (1959) Witness for the Prosecution (1957) The Spirit of St. Louis (1957) The Seven Year Itch (1955) Sabrina (1954) Stalag 17 (1953) The Big Carnival (1951) Sunset Blvd. (1950) A Foreign Affair (1948) The Lost Weekend (1945) Double Indemnity (1944) Five Graves to Cairo (1943) ---
**Author:** ![Moirai](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/96bed5/32.png) [@Moirai](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Moirai)\ **Post date:** [May 23, 2003, 10:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/favorite-directors/176874/14 "2003-05-23T22:06:06Z")
Neil Jordan makes films that are so beautiful to look at. ---
**Author:** ![ioioio](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ioioio/32/316_2.png) [@ioioio](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ioioio)\ **Post date:** [May 24, 2003, 12:07am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/favorite-directors/176874/15 "2003-05-24T00:07:46Z")
\*\*[Jim Jarmusch](http://www.geocities.com/SoHo/Cafe/1280/) \*\* (Night on Earth, Mystery Train) ---
**Author:** ![Gail](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/b9e5f3/32.png) [@Gail](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gail)\ **Post date:** [May 24, 2003, 4:12am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/favorite-directors/176874/16 "2003-05-24T04:12:11Z")
Kevin Smith (Clerks, Mall Rats…) Ron Howard Christopher Guest Alfred Hitchcock M. Night Shyamalan (not sure about the spelling) ---
**Author:** ![peterW](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/bb73d2/32.png) [@peterW](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/peterW)\ **Post date:** [May 24, 2003, 4:54am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/favorite-directors/176874/17 "2003-05-24T04:54:00Z")
No one other than me likes Michael Bay? Bad Boys The Rock Con Air Armageddeon Pearl Harbor ---
**Author:** ![sirtonyh](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/ad7895/32.png) [@sirtonyh](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/sirtonyh)\ **Post date:** [May 24, 2003, 6:44am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/favorite-directors/176874/18 "2003-05-24T06:44:24Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by peterW \* > **No one other than me likes Michael Bay?** Probably not ---
**Author:** ![Dr.Rieux](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/aeb1de/32.png) [@Dr.Rieux](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dr.Rieux)\ **Post date:** [May 24, 2003, 7:03am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/favorite-directors/176874/19 "2003-05-24T07:03:02Z")
Michael Bay didn’t direct _Con-Air_–that was Simon West, IIRC. Some of my favorites who haven’t been named yet: John Boorman David Lean James Whale Richard Lester ---
**Author:** ![peterW](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/bb73d2/32.png) [@peterW](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/peterW)\ **Post date:** [May 24, 2003, 3:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/favorite-directors/176874/20 "2003-05-24T15:44:21Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Dr. Rieux \* > **Michael Bay didn’t direct _Con-Air_–that was Simon West, IIRC.** Your right. I must have associated one too many of Jerry Bruckheimer films with Michael Bay. [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/favorite-directors/176874.md?page=2)