Yes we all hear Kubrick, Scorsese, Spielberg, Coppola, and others as great directors, but when was the last time you’ve heard about the works of Alan Parker and Peter Weir; two great, unsung directors. They’ve made some great films but inexplicably are rarely discussed. Parker with The Wall, Angel Hear, and though I haven’t seen it, I’ve heard good things about The Life of David Gale. And Weir Mosquito Coast (a favorite of mine), The Truman Show, and most recently Master and Commander.
So in this thread, pay your respects to those unsung directors who never seem to get the recognition they deserve.
(For the record, my favorite director is Sam Peckinpah. I considered putting him in the above, but decided against it since he does, sometimes, get a little bit of recognition, though not as much as he deserves.)
Todd Solandz, credits include Welcome to the Dollhouse, Happiness and Storytelling. I think he is one of the best writer/directors currently working. Very acerbic and witty
Tony Scott, credits include Crimson Tide, Top Gun, Enemy of the State and True Romance. Now, I don’t think he is neccessarily a great director in the same sense as Kubrick or Scorcese but he is one of the best at what he does which is popcorn action movies.
**Hal Hartley & David Mamet ** - Two of the few directos out there who have truly distinctive acting and writing styles in their movies. Julie Taymor - Titus was the most inspired version of a Shakespeare since Olivier’s Henry V.
Out of curiosity, how in the hell can you say that Robert Zemeckis, Barry Sonnenfeld and Tony Scott are underappreciated and underrecognized?
Unless that wooshing sound isn’t the air purifier I’m sitting next too.
Howzabout:
Erich Von Stroheim
Jacques Tati
Josef Von Sternberg
Carl Theodore Dreyer
William Wellman
Every one of these directors is well know, but Peter Weir is a good call. He should be the most popular director on earth. Most movies that he makes make people reassess the actors he uses:
Gallipoli
The Year of Living Dangerously made Mel Gibson a star.
Witness turned Harrison Ford from bit player to leading man.
Dead Poets Society showed more depth to Robin Williams.
Green Card made Gérard Depardieu a sex symbol for a while (look at the guy to see what an achievement this is). Unfortunately he also boosted Andie MacDowell’s career as well.
The Truman Show let Jim Carrey expand his horizons.
All things being equal I expect Paul Bettany, Master and Commander: The Far Side of the World will star in a huge hit in the next year or two.
The lost footage of Greed is one of filmdom’s holy grails, I hardly think he’s underappreciated. Granted not as well known now, but then most of his original audience is dead.
Give you the other four though and add - Jacques Demy, for the Umbrellas of Cherbourg alone.
Uh, you mean other than Star Wars, Blade Runner and Raiders Of The Lost Ark and Temple Of Doom?
I’m sticking with Von Stroheim. He was underappreciated in his lifetime, and now, so he gets a pass.
He’s the main character in The Reckoning and the trailer looks pretty cool. He’s also a lead (I think he’s the lead) in a movie called Wimbledon (about guess which sport). Both of them have very respectable casts, one of them has to hit big.
He’s the main character in The Reckoning and the trailer looks pretty cool. He’s also a lead (I think he’s the lead) in a movie called Wimbledon (about guess which sport). Both of them have very respectable casts, one of them has to hit big.
Both of these guys’ careers have been examples of steady mainstream success. Weir and Parker make slightly more interesting choices than the whoriest of hollywood directors (e.g., Ron Howard, Rob Reiner, Michael Bay, Garry/Penny Marshall, and the old queen who ruined the Batman franchise, whose name escapes [mercifully] for the moment)–but ONLY slightly. Personally, either name on a movie poster (Parker, Weir) is more likely to make me think twice before getting in line than encourage me to do so.
IMHO, a serious filmlover could avoid these guys entirely and not really miss anything.
Extremely important directors whose stuff is not even easily available: Rossellini, Mizoguchi, Tourneur, Sirk, etc. etc. Nicholas Ray, Wellman (as pointed out above), Leo Carey, and on and on.
Now there’s someone who is unsung and underappreciated! No one could direct the late great Warren Oates the way Hellman could (see Two Lane Blacktop, Cockfighter and China 9, Liberty 37).
1) Lars von Trier
Yes, his Dogme films can suck it, but The Kingdom I and II are the best mini series ever made. Even better than Band of Brothers. Dogville looks promising too. 2) Jim Jarmusch
Master off quirky non-pretentious independent movies. “If looks could kill, I am a-dead now.” 3) Jean-Pierre Jeunet
His visual style is so unique. I mean, you could pick a frame from any of his movies, at random, and it would be fit for framing above your fireplace like a piece of art. May he never set a foot inside of Hollywood again. My favorite of his is Delicatessen. The City of Lost Children really, really needs the full Criterion treatment. The version I own is dubbed in English, just horrible. 4) Alex Proyas
For Dark City alone. That movie is so criminally under appreciated, even amongst movie geeks. I don’t think I’ll embarass myself too much when I say that this is one of my all time favorite movies.
Are you serious? Rob Reiner has had some bad movies, but the director of “The Princess Bride” and “This Is Spinal Tap” in no way deserves to be listed with Michael [cough]hack[cough] Bay. Sheeesh.
Some times a director’s failures can make us overlook their talent.
John Frankenheimer for example. While I have no intention of watching some of his latter movies (ie, Reindeer Games), some of his earlier films are impressive. Seven Days in May is excellent, and The Manchurian Candidate is a masterpiece. Likewise, the superb noir thriller “The Third Man” proved that Carol Reed had undeniable talent, even if he never made another movie that matched it.
I’ll agree with Hüsker Düde that Alex Proyas is underrated. Dark City is a visual delight.
Lets see… of course, there are plenty of excellent directors such as Hayao Miyazaki who are under-appreciated in America but are well known elsewhere.
Nicholas Ray? Roberto Rosselini? Bah, mainstream fluff!
Try Im Kwon-Taek–terrific director, but virtually unknown outside Korea. His films most familiar to Western filmgoers are Sopyonje, Chunhyang, and Chihwaseon. Criterion will get to him eventually and break his films out to a larger audience.
How about Jafar Panahi, director of The White Balloon and The Circle? Some of the most provocative films of the last decade have come from Iran, but they get virtually no play here in the States outside NYC and LA.
And let’s not forget about Yasujiro Ozu (Tokyo Story, Floating Weeds), Juzo Itami (The Funeral, Tampopo, A Taxing Woman), and Satyajit Ray (Pather Panchali, Aparajito, Apu Sansar). I’d mention Akira Kurosawa, but I’m sure his films are far too familiar to Dopers to consider him an unsung director.
And Alan Parker is a hack–Mississippi Burning, anyone? You ought to hear what Roger Waters and Gerald Scarfe have to say about him on the Pink Floyd’s The WallDVD commentary.
