The Greatest American Director Working Today (1 Viewer)

[george kaplan]

I think Frank Capra was pretty much a household name.

And (at least during their time) I think the same would be true of Preston Sturges, Ernst Lubitsch and Billy Wilder, although none are probably so today.

Certainly Buster Keaton, Orson Welles, Clint Eastwood, Gene Kelly, George Lucas.

 

[JonZ]

"One other guy I really love, and I know there are few here who agree, is Oliver Stone. Up until post-1995, he was a roman god."

I agree. For me it was heartbreaking to sit thru Uturn when it came out.

But Platoon, Born On The Fourth Of July,Heaven & Earth,JFK,Nixon,The Doors and NBK - what a list!

I wish he could have gotten the financing for King.

Recently my G/F asked if I could have dinner with any director working today who would it be...Oliver Stone?

I said NO, he was too smart and I dont think I could keep up with him

I have high hopes Alexander is a return to the 86-96 Stone magic.Especially since hes said hes only doing a couple more films before retiring from filmmaking.

 

[Phil L]

I don't see how Tarantino's personal life pertains to the question at all.

Greatest living American Director? :Terry Gilliam, though he lives in England. David Lynch might be somewhere close.

Anthony Minghella is the best English director.

Wong Kar Wai is the great living director.

My list, of course.

 

[Ernest Rister]

"I don't see how Tarantino's personal life pertains to the question at all."

Because the the title of the thread is greatest LIVING American Director.

Anyone else note Tarantino's request on the MTV Movie Awards for people to revere him as if he were dead?

Guys, you're looking at a man with the flame-out afterburners on full thrust. Showing up on Leno drunk, boasting about the drugs he took shooting Kill Bill, asking people to praise him as if he was already dead....what does this have to do with Tarantino's career? Cause he's not going to HAVE a career if he he drives stoned and drunk and wraps his car around a tree speeding down Cahuenga. You can't be one of America's greatest living directors if you've bled out all over your dashboard.

 

[Matt_M]

Speaking of Oliver Stone I would also add Salvador to the list of his great movies. The circumstances he had to deal during the production of this movie were pretty amazing. Running out of money, fights between the main actors having the negative of the movie held for ransom. Despite all this he still maneged to make a great movie. I think overcoming such obstacles and in the end making everything work is also a mark of a great director.
Anyhow great subject keep it going.

 

[Phil L]

Is Tarantino alive? Is he working today? Yes, and sort of.

He qualifies.

 

[Pete-D]

If you mean by "working director" I think Wes Anderson or Quentin Tarantino are the director's that I feel are really on top of their game right now.

I think those two guys are really in their golden years and will make some great, great stuff.

M. Night Shymalan could get there I think if he expands himself beyond the Twilight Zone genre.

Spielberg and Scorcese are great, no doubt they ruled the roost for certain periods of time, but I just don't think they're at the peak of their careers right now.

I don't think its fair to criticize Tarantino for drug use (lol). You have no idea how many directors and actors in Hollywood consistently abuse substances and still have long careers.

The stories of Scorcese and De Niro get coked out of their minds in their hotel rooms during the Toronto Film Festival back in the 80s are pretty legendary.

 

[Kevin Grey]

George Lucas. Consider him a great director or not but household name he is.

 

[Pete-D]

I think Lucas could've been, but he really hasn't done anything but Star Wars, and the new Star Wars have really been a "like it or hate it" type of thing.

I think he had a lot of talent, unfourtunately the studios clamping down on him for American Grafitti and Star Wars really soured him on directing. By the time he got back in the groove, artisitically I think he had dulled a bit.

He's a household name (more like a brand really), sure but then again so is McDonalds.

I am curious to see what types of films he does after Episode III though.

 

[Ernest Rister]

"The stories of Scorcese and De Niro getting coked out of their minds in their hotel rooms during the Toronto Film Festival back in the 80s are pretty legendary."

And if either of them had died from an overdose, we never would have received GoodFellas, The King of Comedy, and Casino. Perhpas Tarantino is simply going through some nihilistic phase right now, but I hope he works his way out of it before I open up my morning news to read, "Speed Ball Takes Life of Tarantino, Fans Wonder What Could Have Been".

 

[Pete-D]

Well like I said I doubt Tarantino is the only director/actor/producer in Hollywood that behaves that way.

Besides a lot of creative types like to "indulge" themselves, I really wouldn't worry about it.

Maybe he's just miffed that he couldn't land Uma and now that he's moved on to Sofia Coppolla he'll straighten up.

 

[Tony-B]

I really think that Spielberg deserves my vote. Just take a look at how many classic movies he has done. ET, Raiders Of The Lost Ark, Saving Private Ryan, Close Encounters Of The Third Kind, Schindler's List, Jurassic Park, Jaws, Duel, and so on. And his modern films are great too! I absolutely loved AI, Minority Report, and Catch Me If You Can. Don't forget that he also helped to push digital sound into theaters. Remember how he had a huge marketing push for theaters to install DTS when Jurassic Park came out? I really think that is another important thing that he did.

Other directors that I would consider to be great are George Lucas, Robert Zemeckis, Martin Scorsese, James Cameron, and Clint Eastwood.

 

[Anthony Neilson]

Yes, even though I wouldn't cite him as my personal favourite director, I think the case can be made most strongly for Spielberg.

Most film-lovers would agree that JAWS, CLOSE ENCOUNTERS OF THE THIRD KIND, RAIDERS OF THE LOST ARK and SCHINDLERS LIST are simply classic American movies that will last forever.

The kind of technical facility and sheer ease behind JURASSIC PARK and the opening sections of SAVING PRIVATE RYAN and INDIANA JONES AND THE TEMPLE OF DOOM are breathtaking imo. Even a relative dud like THE LOST WORLD still has that absolutely masterful moment with the cracking glass.

The true mark of his greatness is that, at this stage in his life, he's upped his work rate and produced his most experimental films to date - AMISTAD,A.I, MINORITY REPORT and CATCH ME IF YOU CAN are all flawed, perhaps, but they show an ever-growing flexibility of style. He just seems to have absolute command over the medium.

His Achilles' heel, of course, is this tendency to be over-sentimental, which has left many of his films short of greatness ; though even that - early rumours about THE TERMINAL notwithstanding - seems to be coming under control.

Like I said, there are directors whose work and sensibilities I like more. But if we're talking about a director who can please himself as well as the masses, and who is obviously a film-maker to his very bones, then Spielberg gets my vote.

That said, HOOK was one of the worst films of all time.

 

[Rob Tomlin]

Scorsese

Spielberg

Coens

Jim Jarmusch

I have also been a pretty big fan of Michael Mann, but I hated Ali so much, I started rethinking this. Perhaps Mann will impress me again with Collateral (with Tom Cruise).

Edited to add:

Eastwood

Tarantino

Michael Mann (he is back on my list with the terrific effort with Collateral!

 

[Ernest Rister]

Bumping in honor of Clint Eastwood and his latest quiet, powerful, no frills knockout....Million Dollar Baby

 

[ThomasC]

If the words "Paul Thomas Anderson" are on the movie, my ass is in the theater opening night. No other director has that kind of influence on me.

 

[David Rogers]

Really don't feel there's any question it's Spielberg. One of the greatest and most influential directors ever to work the craft, one who's still got decades ahead of him to look forward to. Of course, opinions vary.

 

[Brajesh Upadhyay]

Best: Clint Eastwood (he's never been better); Quentin Tarantino
Runners-up: Steven Spielberg; the Coen brothers
Most overrated: Martin Scorsese (my fav until 'Goodfellas')

 

[George See]

Spielberg is definitly the best over the long haul but my personal favorites are Tarantino and John Lasseter. Clint Eastwood is definitly impressing if he keeps knocking them out of the park he'll definitly be remembered as one of the great directors. I haven't had the chance to see million dollar baby yet but i'm definitly looking forward to it.

 

[Brook K]

I take this to mean "Who's the greatest right now?", thus my answer is Paul Thomas Anderson.

He has a superb visual sense, understands how to use the camera, he understands sound, he knows what a score is and should do and knows how to put together a soundtrack. He also has a personal visual style altogether lacking in most newer directors who simply try and emulate everyone else or who ruin their film's visual sense with filters and lighting effects they don't know how to use properly. But best of all is that he is also an outstanding writer, not only in terms of story/conception, but in dialogue. He's simply one of the best writers of dialogue we have in movies. Anderson understands in a way that far too few of his English-speaking colleagues do, that the best special effect in movies is two people in a room talking to one another.

In 2nd I would place Spike Lee, because he is one of the only remaining voices in socially critical non-documentary American cinema. He is unafraid of damaging his marketability and reputation by attacking and critquing the ills he sees in the tradition of the socially relevant cinema of the 50's-60's produced by directors like Nicholas Ray and Samuel Fuller. His reach may exceed his grasp on a frustrating number of occasions, but at least he reaches.

Director's like Eastwood, Scorsese, Woody Allen and Spielberg have their undeniable place in American cinema, but seem to me that, while they can still produce work of quality, their best work is behind them. (This is said without seeing Million Dollar Baby or The Aviator, so in a couple of weeks could look very foolish.)

And it is sad for me to say, but while a few year's ago my answer would have clearly been The Coen Bros., they seem to have fallen into a creative rut that I sincerely hope they can extricate themselves from.