# Who's Your All-Time Favorite Director? **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [October 11, 2011, 4:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whos-your-all-time-favorite-director/599318 "2011-10-11T16:35:14Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![SkipMagic](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/skipmagic/32/20706_2.png) [@SkipMagic](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SkipMagic)\ **Post date:** [October 11, 2011, 4:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whos-your-all-time-favorite-director/599318/1 "2011-10-11T16:35:14Z")
Who is your favorite director? Please limit your answer to just one director. Mentions of runners-up are fine, of course, but choose one as your favorite. I mentioned _Out of the Past_ in **carnivorousplant** ’s [What is your favorite movie of all time?](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?t=627417) thread, but that choice only barely edged out _Faust_ and _Sunrise_, both directed by F.W. Murnau. Murnau was a product of Universum Film AG (UFA), whose list of famous early directors also included Fritz Lang. Murnau’s films made heavy use of chiaroscuro and stylized, uneven sets popular at the time with German Expressionism. His _Faust_ is my favorite filmed adaptation of the tale, and Emil Jannings’ portrayal of Mephisto the most satisfyingly sinister I’ve seen. (This despite Jannings’ own Faustian bargain with the Nazis a decade later.) _Sunrise_, _Faust_, _The Last Laugh_, all these Murnau films (and more besides) are the ones I go back to again and again. And while I love Noir as a genre more than even these silent German Expressionism films, there is no one director responsible for more of my favorites than Murnau. ---
**Author:** ![infinitii](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/e8c25b/32.png) [@infinitii](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/infinitii)\ **Post date:** [October 11, 2011, 4:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whos-your-all-time-favorite-director/599318/2 "2011-10-11T16:42:25Z")
Krzysztof Kieslowski is my favourite of all time. His movies are all European (his older ones specifically Polish) and his last directed movie as over 15 years ago, but they all seem fresh and modern to me. I completely ‘get’ his artistic works in a way I do with only a very few others. ---
**Author:** ![silenus](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/silenus/32/166_2.png) [@silenus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/silenus)\ **Post date:** [October 11, 2011, 5:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whos-your-all-time-favorite-director/599318/3 "2011-10-11T17:00:16Z")
John Ford ---
**Author:** ![Sage\_Rat](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/sage_rat/32/399_2.png) [@Sage\_Rat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sage_Rat)\ **Post date:** [October 11, 2011, 5:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whos-your-all-time-favorite-director/599318/4 "2011-10-11T17:23:25Z")
Probably Ridley Scott. ---
**Author:** ![Jack\_Batty](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jack_batty/32/3201_2.png) [@Jack\_Batty](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jack_Batty)\ **Post date:** [October 11, 2011, 5:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whos-your-all-time-favorite-director/599318/5 "2011-10-11T17:53:07Z")
I’ve always been a big Kubrik fan. ---
**Author:** ![Living\_Well\_Is\_Best\_Revenge](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/6bbea6/32.png) [@Living\_Well\_Is\_Best\_Revenge](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Living_Well_Is_Best_Revenge)\ **Post date:** [October 11, 2011, 6:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whos-your-all-time-favorite-director/599318/6 "2011-10-11T18:05:23Z")
Kubrick and Bergman ---
**Author:** ![The\_Second\_Stone](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/bbe5ce/32.png) [@The\_Second\_Stone](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/The_Second_Stone)\ **Post date:** [October 11, 2011, 6:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whos-your-all-time-favorite-director/599318/7 "2011-10-11T18:08:27Z")
Welles ---
**Author:** ![Scubaqueen](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/c0e974/32.png) [@Scubaqueen](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Scubaqueen)\ **Post date:** [October 11, 2011, 6:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whos-your-all-time-favorite-director/599318/8 "2011-10-11T18:10:37Z")
Alfred Hitchcock, closely followed by Steven Spielberg. ---
**Author:** ![Yaxche](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/y/8dc957/32.png) [@Yaxche](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Yaxche)\ **Post date:** [October 11, 2011, 6:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whos-your-all-time-favorite-director/599318/9 "2011-10-11T18:17:36Z")
…specifically, a couple of brothers? ---
**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 11, 2011, 6:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whos-your-all-time-favorite-director/599318/10 "2011-10-11T18:19:55Z")
Alfred Hitchcock, with second place to Howard Hawks. ---
**Author:** ![MostlyClueless](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/ba9def/32.png) [@MostlyClueless](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MostlyClueless)\ **Post date:** [October 11, 2011, 6:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whos-your-all-time-favorite-director/599318/11 "2011-10-11T18:23:31Z")
David Fincher. ---
**Author:** ![JCorre](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/3da27b/32.png) [@JCorre](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/JCorre)\ **Post date:** [October 11, 2011, 6:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whos-your-all-time-favorite-director/599318/12 "2011-10-11T18:38:51Z")
Coen Brothers ---
**Author:** ![Mahaloth](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mahaloth/32/1079_2.png) [@Mahaloth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mahaloth)\ **Post date:** [October 11, 2011, 6:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whos-your-all-time-favorite-director/599318/13 "2011-10-11T18:39:55Z")
Stanley Kubrick followed by Spielberg(whose best movie, I believe, is Minority Report). ---
**Author:** ![Labdad](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/439d5e/32.png) [@Labdad](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Labdad)\ **Post date:** [October 11, 2011, 7:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whos-your-all-time-favorite-director/599318/14 "2011-10-11T19:07:36Z")
Stanley Kubrick (and John Ford, and Alfred Hitchcock, and Howard Hawks, and Billy Wilder…) ---
**Author:** ![janeslogin](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/df788c/32.png) [@janeslogin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/janeslogin)\ **Post date:** [October 11, 2011, 7:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whos-your-all-time-favorite-director/599318/15 "2011-10-11T19:37:52Z")
[Fassbinder.jpg (image)](http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_DB06CdeHh9I/S4wtiRUNAAI/AAAAAAAAANA/-WqRbTzeFNA/s1600-h/Berlin_Fassbinder.jpg) ---
**Author:** ![gallows\_fodder](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/8c91f0/32.png) [@gallows\_fodder](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/gallows_fodder)\ **Post date:** [October 11, 2011, 7:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whos-your-all-time-favorite-director/599318/16 "2011-10-11T19:56:13Z")
Terence Malick ---
**Author:** ![SkipMagic](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/skipmagic/32/20706_2.png) [@SkipMagic](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SkipMagic)\ **Post date:** [October 11, 2011, 8:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whos-your-all-time-favorite-director/599318/17 "2011-10-11T20:13:15Z")
> [@Yaxche](#): > > …specifically, a couple of brothers? Sounds reasonable to me. ---
**Author:** ![I\_Made\_French\_Toast\_For\_You](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/858c86/32.png) [@I\_Made\_French\_Toast\_For\_You](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/I_Made_French_Toast_For_You)\ **Post date:** [October 11, 2011, 8:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whos-your-all-time-favorite-director/599318/18 "2011-10-11T20:20:18Z")
Woody Allen, though my (tragically) recent discovery of John Cassavetes may eventually change that. ---
**Author:** ![Jim\_s\_Son](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/e19adc/32.png) [@Jim\_s\_Son](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jim_s_Son)\ **Post date:** [October 11, 2011, 9:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whos-your-all-time-favorite-director/599318/19 "2011-10-11T21:05:55Z")
Michael Curtiz ---
**Author:** ![Moonchild](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/d9b06d/32.png) [@Moonchild](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Moonchild)\ **Post date:** [October 11, 2011, 9:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whos-your-all-time-favorite-director/599318/20 "2011-10-11T21:08:57Z")
Steven Spielberg by a healthy margin. I’d consider David O. Russell if he had a bigger resume. [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whos-your-all-time-favorite-director/599318.md?page=2)