# The greatest director in cinema history? **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [December 22, 2002, 1:05am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-greatest-director-in-cinema-history/144297 "2002-12-22T01:05:12Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 14\ **Page:** 4
**Author:** ![NailBunny](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/ecae2f/32.png) [@NailBunny](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/NailBunny)\ **Post date:** [December 27, 2002, 11:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-greatest-director-in-cinema-history/144297/61 "2002-12-27T23:35:13Z")
Lucio Fulci. šŸ˜ƒ ---
**Author:** ![ozziemaland](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/f07891/32.png) [@ozziemaland](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ozziemaland)\ **Post date:** [December 27, 2002, 11:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-greatest-director-in-cinema-history/144297/62 "2002-12-27T23:48:13Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Mahaloth \* > \*\*No mentions of Stanley Kubrick? > > I know he made few films, but heā€™s the best in my opinion. Very different movies. \*\* I wholeheartedly endorse this opinion._Dr. Strangelove, Lolita, 2001_ ā€“ and his lesser efforts, place him at the very top. ---
**Author:** ![I\_am\_Sparticus](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/c68b51/32.png) [@I\_am\_Sparticus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/I_am_Sparticus)\ **Post date:** [December 27, 2002, 11:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-greatest-director-in-cinema-history/144297/63 "2002-12-27T23:56:35Z")
Nobody has mentioned squealer **Elia Kazan** yet. He should definitely get a mention. ---
**Author:** ![Walloon](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/fbc32d/32.png) [@Walloon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Walloon)\ **Post date:** [December 28, 2002, 12:12am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-greatest-director-in-cinema-history/144297/64 "2002-12-28T00:12:21Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by McJohn \* > **(That, half a century later, an explosive racial conflict broke out between klueless Klansmen and African-American residents of a town called Vidor in Texas is another one of those little cosmic ironies that annoy me from time to time.)** The Texas town was named after King Vidorā€™s ancestors. > [@](#): > > **3.) He had the unenviable and uncredited task of handling the black-and-white sequences in ā€œThe Wizard of Ozā€ when Victor Fleming was hastily called away to the set of ā€œGone With the Windā€ to replace the dismissed George Cukor (whose only crime appears to have been that, as an openly gay man in Hollywood, he just _might_ have known how rugged he-man hero Clark Gable got that screen test in the first place). Iā€™m not certain about this, but recall reading someplace that he also worked on ā€œGWTWā€ for a while in the directorial ruckus, but also didnā€™t get a lick worth of appreciation for that either.** Several corrections here. First, King Vidor had nothing to do with _Gone With the Wind_. _GWTW_ā€™s uncredited directors were George Cukor, Sam Wood, and William Cameron Menzies. Second, the Gable/Cukor story referred to is salacious hogwash. Gable signed on to _GWTW_ with Cukor already in place as director. No actor in the 1930s, not even Gable, had the power to have a director replaced in mid-production. Especially an actor who was no even at his home studio, but on loanout. There is ample evidence from producer David Selznickā€™s internal memos about his friction with Cukor over script problems, and his unhappiness with the scenes Cukor filmed (only about half of Cukorā€™s work was retained in the final film; many of his scenes were reshot). ---
**Author:** ![Walloon](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/fbc32d/32.png) [@Walloon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Walloon)\ **Post date:** [December 28, 2002, 12:20am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-greatest-director-in-cinema-history/144297/65 "2002-12-28T00:20:23Z")
Specifically, Vidor, Texas was named after King Vidorā€™s father, lumberman Charles Shelton Vidor, who acquired the Beaumont Sawmill Company and later established the Miller-Vidor Lumber Company, around which the town of Vidor grew. ---
**Author:** ![ozziemaland](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/f07891/32.png) [@ozziemaland](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ozziemaland)\ **Post date:** [December 28, 2002, 12:41am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-greatest-director-in-cinema-history/144297/66 "2002-12-28T00:41:09Z")
Alan J. Pakula directed these: Pelican Brief, The (1993) (also producer) Consenting Adults (1992) (also producer) See You in the Morning (1989) (also producer) Orphans (1987) (also producer) Dream Lover (1986) (also producer) Sophieā€™s Choice (1982) (also producer) Starting Over (1979) (also producer) Parallax View, The (1974) (also producer) Love and Pain and the Whole Damn Thing (1972) (also producer) Klute (1971) (also producer) Sterile Cuckoo, The (1969) (also producer) ā€¦ aka Pookie (1969) (UK) Stalking Moon, The (1969) (also producer) Up the Down Staircase (1967) (also producer) Inside Daisy Clover (1965) (also producer) Baby the Rain Must Fall (1965) (also producer) Love with the Proper Stranger (1963) (also producer) To Kill a Mockingbird (1962) (also producer) Fear Strikes Out (1957) (also producer) This is a hugely impressive list. People want to forget him because of the way he died, IMHO. He was driving a couple of miles from his home in Melville, NY (Long Island) to get syrup for his family. A length of pipe had fallen off a vehicle in front of him and the car directly in front of him hit the end of the pipe, causing it to flip up in the air high enough to come down through Pakaulaā€™s windshield and kill him. Billy Wilder in ā€œSunset Boulevardā€ directed the closing scene where Gloria Swanson, after having shot her young jounalist friend (William Holden) surrenders to police by staging an exit scene down the spiral staircase in her Beverly Hills mansion, but that scene, great as it is, may be upstaged by the drive for syrup. ---
**Author:** ![Belowjob](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/82dd89/32.png) [@Belowjob](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Belowjob)\ **Post date:** [December 28, 2002, 1:18am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-greatest-director-in-cinema-history/144297/67 "2002-12-28T01:18:41Z")
I generally agree with the aforementioned choices. Iā€™d rank Kurosawa 1st , Renoir 2nd, Wells 3rd, Fellini and Bergman in a tie for 4th, Hitchcock 6th, Scorsese and Kubrick tied for 7th. Some contenders not yet mentioned: Cassavetes (the best, if you ask Ray Carney), Capra (another favorite of Carney), Altman (Iā€™d rank him at least 8th), and Ozu (the greatest filmmaker who works largely outside of the American-European aesthetic tradition?). Kurosawa is my idea of an all around film artist, and his films had a huge influence on blockbusters like Star Wars (see The Hidden Fortress) and The Magnificent Seven (see Seven Samurai). ---
**Author:** ![McJohn](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/b2d939/32.png) [@McJohn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/McJohn)\ **Post date:** [December 28, 2002, 4:08am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-greatest-director-in-cinema-history/144297/68 "2002-12-28T04:08:38Z")
Thanks for the corrections and amplifications on King Vidor. As with so many of the sensational stories Kenneth Anger told in ā€œHollywood Babylonā€, a lot of the antique gossip doesnā€™t hold up once you start digging into it. Frank Capraā€™s reputation during his career was largely that of a purveyor of unabashed sentimentalityā€“his films were called ā€œCapra-cornā€ā€“and I think that the modern equivalent is Ron Howard. It doesnā€™t occur to anybody to consider that someone who presents a plausible miracle on film is a great directorā€¦ ā€œItā€™s a Wonderful Lifeā€, which must surely be one of the most-broadcast movies of the Christmas season by now, didnā€™t do so hot when it first came out (perhaps Iā€™d better hedge now and say that that assessment depends very much on just how you define success). Similarly, although people remember ā€œThe Princess Brideā€ and ā€œApollo 13ā€, the astoundingly positive ā€œCocoonā€ appears to have been a bit optimistic to be enshrined in the pantheon of truly great movies. As an aside, a friend once told me how sheā€™d have fixed the almost universally-scorned ending of ā€œThe Abyssā€ (which I didnā€™t think stunk nearly as badly as everyone saidā€“it was hard to believe, sure, but no more so than anything else that had happened in the movie. It was when we saw the sets, substantial constructs in fiberglass and pastel paint intended to match the whimsy of the delicate animation, that the entire fantasy came crashing to the ocean floor. So this friend goes, ā€œThey couldā€™ve fixed the whole thing if theyā€™d just shot it at night.ā€ ---
**Author:** ![litost](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/c4cdca/32.png) [@litost](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/litost)\ **Post date:** [December 28, 2002, 4:21am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-greatest-director-in-cinema-history/144297/69 "2002-12-28T04:21:08Z")
Akira Kurosawa and Satyajit Ray. The two most complete film directors. Technique, story-telling, lighting, composition, editing, musicā€¦ two stalwarts. Every film they have made is also incredibly humane. Closely followed would be Stanley Kubrick just for his sheer uniqueness. Iā€™d also vote for Win Wenders and Mike Leigh. (We got to be careful about this because there are so many great directors in Asia, emerging especially in the Arab world, and in South America who just donā€™t get international visibility) ---
**Author:** ![Kaitlyn](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/73ab20/32.png) [@Kaitlyn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kaitlyn)\ **Post date:** [December 28, 2002, 9:22am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-greatest-director-in-cinema-history/144297/70 "2002-12-28T09:22:04Z")
Overall: Alfred Hitchcock Silent: Buster Keaton Golden Age: Alfred Hitchcock Modern: Martin Scorsese Suspense: Alfred Hitchcock Horror: Dario Argento Western: John Ford Comedy: Buster Keaton Writer/Director/Actor: Buster Keaton Science Fiction: Stephen Spielberg Animation (short): Tex Avery Animation (feature): Hayao Miyazaki Action: John Woo Adventure: Stephen Spielberg Drama: Orson Welles Crime: Martin Scorsese Musical: Stanley Donen ---
**Author:** ![Typo\_Negative](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/typo_negative/32/484_2.png) [@Typo\_Negative](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Typo_Negative)\ **Post date:** [December 28, 2002, 10:28am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-greatest-director-in-cinema-history/144297/71 "2002-12-28T10:28:16Z")
Gonna have to give a shout out for the **Coen Brothers!!!** _Blood Simple Raising Arizona Millerā€™s Crossing_ One of the most underrated flicks ever _Barton Fink The Hudsucker Proxy Fargo the Big Lebowski O Brother, where art thou? The Man who wasnā€™t there_ Great films all. Quirky and original. ---
**Author:** ![HPL](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/3da27b/32.png) [@HPL](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/HPL)\ **Post date:** [December 28, 2002, 10:36am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-greatest-director-in-cinema-history/144297/72 "2002-12-28T10:36:52Z")
Nobodyā€™s Mentioned Sergio Leone yet? While not the greatest director ever, he broke a bit of new ground in westerns, giving them a more epic feel. The Spagetti Western Trilogy(_Fistful of Dollars, For a Few Dollars More and The Good, the Bad and the Ugly_) as well as \*Once upon a time in America \*. ---
**Author:** ![Tblue](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/278dde/32.png) [@Tblue](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tblue)\ **Post date:** [December 28, 2002, 12:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-greatest-director-in-cinema-history/144297/73 "2002-12-28T12:24:18Z")
**Peter Jackson** **Buster Keaton** The first, because his films are among the very few things Iā€™ve seen that have ever brought me out of my complacency. So the trilogy is based on someone elseā€™s book. He still filmed them bloody well IMO. And he has stuck to his f-ing DREAMS which is more than I can say for myself. The man has been making films by the leanest scrapingist means ever since he first could, and in this country, thatā€™s a damn hard achievement. And I like what he has done. Yay my damned patriotism, Yay Him. Buster Keaton I have long admired - his works being among the few that I have actively sought to view. Another man who followed his lifeā€™s dream. He was creative, innovative. Screw the film effects, he could do that on his own. So I havenā€™t seen Kurosawa - not yet, although I have heard his films through the walls of my flat in the wee small hours when most people try to sleep. And I thought that (what the hell was it?) Oh I canā€™t even remember its name. It had a desert in it somewhere. (not Lawrence of Arabia) - Well, I must have found it dull. I am happy to say that on this evening I was well inspired to a state of emotional frustration by a repeat screening of Peter Jacksonā€™s latest offering, as to be halfway to drunkeness in frustration at my own failures, which no movie has ever done to me before. Any emotion is better than complacency. Fantasy rocks. So does Buster Keaton. Yay f-ing me. ---
**Author:** ![Tblue](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/278dde/32.png) [@Tblue](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tblue)\ **Post date:** [December 28, 2002, 12:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-greatest-director-in-cinema-history/144297/74 "2002-12-28T12:26:12Z")
Oop! Nearly forgot. **Jim Henson** and **Terry Gilliam** Personal heroes, both. Yay them. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-greatest-director-in-cinema-history/144297.md?page=3)