I suggest John Mackenzie. Solid gold with The Long Good Friday, featuring an amazing turn from Bob Hoskins and (trying not to avoid spoilers), the sheer guts of that last endless close up that ends the film. Amazing. After that? Not much of note - The Fourth Protocol seems to be his only other film of note and I didn’t think that was anything exciting, although it’s been many years since I watched it.
Martin Brest. Midnight Run is one of my favourite movies of all time and I actually ration how often I let myself see it because I’m scared one day I’ll just know it too well and the magic will be lost. But other than Beverley Hills Cop, his films have been terrible. Gigli, anyone?
Guy Hamilton. Apart from a few Agatha Christie adaptations, he’s mostly known for his work on the Bond films. But I think Goldfinger really fires on all cylinders, and for this reason defined the whole feel of the Bond films for decades but that they could never quite recreate that perfect yet weird mix of styalised glamour, humour (Bond emeging from his wetusit to reveal he is wearing White Tie, for instance) crazy but beautiful sets, memorable villains and that underlying sadism of the central character. I also have affection for *The Mirror Crack’d *but I think I’m on my own with this one.
I suspect I’m sticking my neck out a little here but Don Siegel. There’s a whole lot of nothing between *Invasion of the Body Snatchers *and Dirty Harry. I vastly prefer the 70’s remake of Body Snatchers but it seems churlish not to acknowledge the original. *Dirty Harry *is one of those films that seems to really piss a lot of people off whose opinions I usually agree with. Strange, because I think it’s a classic and one of those films that can stand as if not genre defining then certainly genre popularising.
It’s certainly pretty bleak and explores a number of controversial questions about how much force is justifed in the pursuit of the greater good. And there’s precious little hope in it. But the film feels honest to me - unlike the zillions of films that copied this template of the maverick cop and wrong headed commander or Mayor, this central character seems to take little satisfaction from his grim duties. The film doesn’t allow the audience to relish the sadistic torturing of lowlifes - we never see Callaghan enjoying beating up suspects. (The camera pulls back away and upwards into chaotic, murky darkness in the grim scene where Callaghan stands on Scorpio’s leg).
We never see him enjoying much of anything, really. This is a character emotionally dead, adrift in a world without meaning since the pointless death of his wife in a drunk driving accident. It also brought (to me) the most frighteningly convincing screen psychopath of all time and thus one of the truly great screen acting roles from Andrew Robinson. One of my all time favourite films, but not one I can sit down and watch too often because the bleakness is so overwhelming to me.
Oh wow, then give me a whole lot of nothing. Siegel is one of those directors that whenever I happen upon one of his films I haven’t seen yet I get a little thrill of excitement. Which hopefully will continue to happen: so many of his movies remain unavailable. Some of his movies came closer to achieving greatness than others, of course. The two you mention, sure, but his 1964 remake of ***The Killers ***is, well, awesome. And Ronald Reagan’s turn as a true sleazeball is easily the best of his career. Madigan, Coogan’s Bluff, Two Mules for Sister Sara, Charlie Varrick–not all masterpieces, but all entertaining in a solid, honest way.
Well firstly, I almost certainly led with my chin and assumed the films that are unavailable and hence I’ve not seen had dropped out of circulation because they weren’t very good. I concede this isn’t fair. I’ve only seen part of The Killers too (that’s the one with Angie Dickinson in that bright yellow top, right?) so I’ll look into seeing the rest of it.
However, as to the rest, well I like those films too for much the same reason you do. I think they’re solidly constructed films, refreshingly lean and focused. But I think the jump in quality with them and Dirty Harry is huge. Take Coogan’s Bluff for instance. I remember this as perfectly enjoyable as far as it goes but for instance, the treatment of the female characters is pretty lousy. Coogan casually uses them then they’re thrown aside. Now again, it’s been several years since if watched the film and I’m serious that now I think about it, maybe this is intentionally calling this behaviour into question? I don’t really recall any ironic or challenging undertone, thought. I thought it seemed to applaud Clint’s character being not only a supercool guy who you didn’t mess with but as a hell of a lad with the ladies too. Dirty Harry and Eastwood’s own (Siegel mentored) Play Misty for Me, otoh strike me as going beoynd just reinforcing certain standards of behaviour and instead dug at what Eastwood’s characters might mean for all concerned. Anyway, my point is I don’t think Siegel’s that bad. Or indeed bad at all - I just think a couple of times in his career he astonishingly raised his game above his regular standard, which is why I picked him.
Only someone who hasn’t seem most of his films could suggest such a thing. Tourneur is probably the perfect example of someone who is given sub-par material and consistently manages to fashion miniature little gems. Most of his films are B-films, but that’s a function of their studio and budget, not their quality. Out of the Past, I Walked with a Zombie, Night of the Demon, Cat People all manage to transcend their modest origins and resonate in a really indelible way. And that’s not counting quite a few of his other films which function as reliable (if light) entertainment, but far from lacklustre.
Not really. Tourneur has an unusually high ratio of masterpieces over his career. Not only the extremely influential Cat People, Leopard Man, and*** I Walked a Zombie***, but many people consider Out of the Past the quintessential film noir. And ***Canyon Passage, Stars in My Crown, ***and ***Night of the Demon ***are personal favorites. Of mine and others.
(Sorry, AG. I had my reply window open without saving for almost an hour and didn’t see that you’d already responded. If you haven’t seen Canyon Passage, you should definitely check it out. Also a film that greatly transcends its genre. A rather generic Western script, but placed in the newly settled frontier town of Portland Oregon, it’s a Western that takes place against a lush, technicolor-green background; a rainy Western, where most of the compositions are governed by the vertical lines of trees rather than the horizontal lines of the prairie. And of course it has a great cast–Dana Andrews, Susan Heyward, Ward Bond, Brian Donleavy, and Hoagy Carmichael as a kind of Greek chorus, a wandering minstrel commenting on the action with little snippets of musical wisdom.)