Coppala? Tarentino? Speilberg?
Wasn’t Citizen Kane Orson Wells’ first movie? I’d have to go with that one.
What were the first films of these three? I don’t think I have seen them. David Lean’s debut: In Which we Serve is pretty good.
Is the question “For which directors is it true that their first film is their best?”, or is it “Considering all films which are their director’s first, which is the best?”?
Citizen Kane is clearly a strong contender on both counts, as is the Maltese Falcon ( 1941 version, of course). Also, I don’t think that Quentin Tarantino has ever bettered Reservoir Dogs or that Baz Luhrmann has improved on Strictly Ballroom.
Spike Jonze has a lot of work left in him, but I think he’ll find it hard to top Being John Malkovich.
Darren Aronofsky’s Pi was also an amazing first work.
If it is, as much as I love Much Ado About Nothing and Hamlet, I don’t think Kenneth Branagh has topped Henry V yet…
Tarantino’s Reservoir dogs… was great
Not only is Charles Laughton’s first film, Night of the Hunter, his best film, it’s his only film. And it’s one of my ten favorite movies, so good job, Chuck.
Of the three directors listed, I think Tarantino made the strongest debut, but both Spielberg and Coppola have made better films than Tarantino’s best. (Not by a wide margin, though.)
Terrence Malick,Badlands
Ridley Scott’s The Duelists
In general, I’d say Tarantino and Reservoir Dogs, but I must give a bonus prive to Spielberg and Duel, simply for the creativity of the latter.
I’ll have to go with Orson Welles for Citizen Kane whilst giving kudos to Quentin Tarantino for Reservoir Dogs and Kevin Costner for Dances With Wolves
David Lynch, Eraserhead
I’d have to go with Charles Laughton, among those mentioned (though it’s a pretty limited pool so far: where’s The 400 Blows? or Breathless? or My Name Is Ivan?). Night of the Hunter outshines Kane, Pi, Eraserhead, Reservoir Dogs, and even my second favorite mentioned so far, Badlands, but a long shot.
“but” ??? by
Duel was a made-for-TV movie. Does it count? Then how about the episode of Night Gallery he did (It was from the opening extra-long entry, and is arguably a TV-movie), or the sf-episode of The Name of the Game? Both of these preceded Duel. (As did a lot of other TV episodes I never heard of, apparently – see http://www.imdb.com/name/nm0000229/ )
Arguably, Amblin’ was his first film, and a favorite of his, since he named his company after it. The first “commercial” film listed for him is The Sugarland Express.
Preston Sturges’ The Great McGinty (1940) was nothing to be sneezed at.
On a more obscure front…how about Michael Lehmann whose first feature was Heathers in 1989. His resume since includes Hudson Hawk, My Giant, and 40 Days and 40 Nights.
Duel was a made-for-TV movie. Does it count? Then how about the episode of Night Gallery he did (It was from the opening extra-long entry, and is arguably a TV-movie), or the sf-episode of The Name of the Game? Both of these preceded Duel. (As did a lot of other TV episodes I never heard of, apparently – see http://www.imdb.com/name/nm0000229/ )
Arguably, Amblin’ was his first film, and a favorite of his, since he named his company after it. The first “commercial” film listed for him is The Sugarland Express.
Forgot about that, oddly enough, even though I’ve watched Miracle of Morgan’s Creek three times this week.