# Favorite Directors?

**URL:** https://boards.straightdope.com/t/favorite-directors/842053
**Category:** Cafe Society
**Tags:** movies
**Created:** [October 20, 2019, 10:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/favorite-directors/842053 "2019-10-20T22:04:25Z")
**Posts on this page:** 20
**Page:** 1

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### Author: ![MortSahlFan](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/3bc359/32.png) [@MortSahlFan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MortSahlFan)
#### Post date: [October 20, 2019, 10:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/favorite-directors/842053/1 "2019-10-20T22:04:25Z")

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In order (if you can)

Vittorio De Sica, Robert Bresson, Frank Capra, Luchino Visconti, Ken Loach, Mike Leigh, John Cassavetes, Ingmar Bergman, John Huston, Akira Kurosawa, Elia Kazan, Robert Altman, Billy Wilder, Aki Kaurismaki, William Wyler, Paul Mazursky, Sidney Lumet, Abbas Kiarostami, Stanley Kubrick

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### Author: ![Anny\_Middon](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/bc79bd/32.png) [@Anny\_Middon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Anny_Middon)
#### Post date: [October 20, 2019, 10:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/favorite-directors/842053/2 "2019-10-20T22:11:01Z")

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I’m not so much into movies that I can come up with a list, but I know Terry Gilliam would be on it.

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### Author: ![CalMeacham](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/calmeacham/32/35_2.png) [@CalMeacham](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CalMeacham)
#### Post date: [October 20, 2019, 11:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/favorite-directors/842053/3 "2019-10-20T23:12:26Z")

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Stanley Kubrick, Fred Zinneman, Akira Kurasawa, John Huston, Rouben Mamoulian, Chuck Jones, Stephen Spielberg, John Carpenter, Nicholas Meyer, Robert Wise, Merian C, Cooper, George Lucas (Yes, really), Woody Allen, The combination of (Zucker, Zucker, and Abrahams). Not in that order.

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### Author: ![RealityChuck](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/realitychuck/32/195_2.png) [@RealityChuck](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RealityChuck)
#### Post date: [October 20, 2019, 11:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/favorite-directors/842053/4 "2019-10-20T23:18:08Z")

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Hitchcock, Chaplin, Keaton, Hawks, Altman, Wilder, Bergman, Allen, Gilliam, Scorsese, Tati, Kurosawa, Miyazaki, Brad Bird, Nick Park, John Sayles, Louis Malle, Bill Forsyth, Burton, the Coens, Tarantino, Orson Welles, et. al.

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### Author: ![QuickSilver](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/quicksilver/32/7832_2.png) [@QuickSilver](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/QuickSilver)
#### Post date: [October 20, 2019, 11:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/favorite-directors/842053/5 "2019-10-20T23:32:35Z")

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I rarely pay attention to directors. But Birdman was directed by Alejandro González Iñárritu, and I found that memorable.

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### Author: ![Dropo](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/ce7236/32.png) [@Dropo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dropo)
#### Post date: [October 20, 2019, 11:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/favorite-directors/842053/6 "2019-10-20T23:47:20Z")

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In alphabetical order:

Frank Borzage  
Luis Buñuel  
Philippe de Broca  
Hideo Gosha  
Fritz Lang  
Joseph H. Lewis  
Carol Reed  
Joseph von Sternberg  
Jacques Tourneur  
Edgar G. Ulmer  
Orson Welles

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### Author: ![LC\_Strawhouse](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/e19adc/32.png) [@LC\_Strawhouse](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/LC_Strawhouse)
#### Post date: [October 20, 2019, 11:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/favorite-directors/842053/7 "2019-10-20T23:53:57Z")

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Paul Verhoeven , William Friedkin, Abel Ferrara.

Not all of their movies are good of course, but when on top of their game they can’t be beat for entertainment (and there are some obscure absolute gems in their back catalog)

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### Author: ![BobLibDem](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/boblibdem/32/3149_2.png) [@BobLibDem](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BobLibDem)
#### Post date: [October 20, 2019, 11:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/favorite-directors/842053/8 "2019-10-20T23:59:30Z")

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In no particular order: Hitchcock, Coppola, Lynch, Scorsese, Spielberg. Probably of all these, Coppola.

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### Author: ![EinsteinsHund](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/einsteinshund/32/8400_2.png) [@EinsteinsHund](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/EinsteinsHund)
#### Post date: [October 21, 2019, 12:15am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/favorite-directors/842053/9 "2019-10-21T00:15:51Z")

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I have so many favorites that I will only mention the two very best: Billy Wilder and Akira Kurosawa.

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### Author: ![Ukulele\_Ike](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/u/df788c/32.png) [@Ukulele\_Ike](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ukulele_Ike)
#### Post date: [October 21, 2019, 12:24am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/favorite-directors/842053/10 "2019-10-21T00:24:02Z")

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Luis Bunuel, Carl Theodor Dreyer, Fritz Lang, F.W Murnau, Buster Keaton, Ernst Lubitsch, Billy Wilder, James Whale, Jim Jarmusch, Alfred Hitchcock, William Dieterle, Kenneth Anger, William Frankenheimer.

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### Author: ![EinsteinsHund](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/einsteinshund/32/8400_2.png) [@EinsteinsHund](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/EinsteinsHund)
#### Post date: [October 21, 2019, 12:27am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/favorite-directors/842053/11 "2019-10-21T00:27:02Z")

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> [@Ukulele\_Ike](#):
>
> Luis Bunuel, Carl Theodor Dreyer, Fritz Lang, F.W Murnau, Buster Keaton, Ernst Lubitsch, Billy Wilder, James Whale, Jim Jarmusch, Alfred Hitchcock, William Dieterle, Kenneth Anger, William Frankenheimer.

Ok, I said I would only name my two favorites, but you named the next ones on my list, Lang, Murnau, Lubitsch, Jarmusch and Hitchcock. But you missed Kubrick ;).

ETA: and Aki Kaurismäki.

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### Author: ![Dropo](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/ce7236/32.png) [@Dropo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dropo)
#### Post date: [October 21, 2019, 2:13am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/favorite-directors/842053/12 "2019-10-21T02:13:55Z")

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I neglected Karel Zeman and Siu-Tung Ching.

> [@Ukulele\_Ike](#):
>
> …William Frankenheimer.

That would be John.

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### Author: ![Ike\_Witt](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ike_witt/32/283_2.png) [@Ike\_Witt](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ike_Witt)
#### Post date: [October 21, 2019, 4:18am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/favorite-directors/842053/13 "2019-10-21T04:18:23Z")

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Alan Smithee.

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### Author: ![Tim\_R.Mortiss](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tim_r.mortiss/32/142_2.png) [@Tim\_R.Mortiss](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tim_R.Mortiss)
#### Post date: [October 21, 2019, 6:18am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/favorite-directors/842053/14 "2019-10-21T06:18:36Z")

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David Lynch  
Orson Welles

\*\*\*\* those two stand head and shoulders above all others in my pantheon. Then…

John Carpenter  
John Huston  
Michael Curtiz  
William Wyler  
John Ford

\*\*\*\*\* and then most of the others listed above. Except for Spielberg. I hate that cheap-shot manipulative bastard.

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### Author: ![cochrane](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cochrane/32/10441_2.png) [@cochrane](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/cochrane)
#### Post date: [October 21, 2019, 6:48am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/favorite-directors/842053/15 "2019-10-21T06:48:45Z")

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Clint Eastwood  
Rob Reiner  
Tim Burton  
Richard Donner  
Penny Marshall  
John Badham  
Ron Howard (yes, I said it)

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### Author: ![Spyrith](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/f1d935/32.png) [@Spyrith](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Spyrith)
#### Post date: [October 21, 2019, 9:42am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/favorite-directors/842053/16 "2019-10-21T09:42:13Z")

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Akira Kurosawa  
Steven Spielberg  
Quentin Tarantino  
Christopher Nolan

They’re pretty commercial, but I like almost all of their movies and if they put something out I’ll probably go see it without even watching what the plot is about and who stars in it.

Other directors I’m keeping my eyes on as of now: Cary Joji Fukunaga, Gareth Edwards and J.J. Abrams

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### Author: ![MortSahlFan](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/3bc359/32.png) [@MortSahlFan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MortSahlFan)
#### Post date: [October 21, 2019, 11:03am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/favorite-directors/842053/17 "2019-10-21T11:03:34Z")

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> [@Tim\_R.Mortiss](#):
>
> \*\*\*\*\* and then most of the others listed above. Except for Spielberg. I hate that cheap-shot manipulative bastard.

🙂

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### Author: ![JKellyMap](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jkellymap/32/15880_2.png) [@JKellyMap](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/JKellyMap)
#### Post date: [October 21, 2019, 11:05am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/favorite-directors/842053/18 "2019-10-21T11:05:25Z")

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All of the above (the ones I know) I think are great. I’ll add Peter Weir to the list.

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### Author: ![CalMeacham](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/calmeacham/32/35_2.png) [@CalMeacham](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CalMeacham)
#### Post date: [October 21, 2019, 12:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/favorite-directors/842053/19 "2019-10-21T12:52:45Z")

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Damn. Knew I’d forget some. How could I have forgotten Hitchcock, Sayles, Fritz Lang, and others. I’d also like to throw in a vote for Robert Zemeckis.

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### Author: ![Paintcharge](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/paintcharge/32/7946_2.png) [@Paintcharge](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Paintcharge)
#### Post date: [October 21, 2019, 3:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/favorite-directors/842053/20 "2019-10-21T15:31:19Z")

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The Coen brothers need to be on the list.

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