Directors' One-Hit-Wonders (1 Viewer)

[Rob Tomlin]

I agree the film was ahead of its time. In fact, when I first watched it, I couldn't believe that it was released in 1955!

That is very interesting regarding Laughton hating children and Mitchum helping out in the directing. The children all did great jobs too!

 

[Mark Basile]

I know it's slightly off-topic, but Jim Cameron has done NOTHING since 1997s "Titanic". Does he even have a project lined up? I think the point of the thread is "What happened to this director?"

 

[Richard Kim]

I know it's slightly off-topic, but Jim Cameron has done NOTHING since 1997s "Titanic". Does he even have a project lined up? I think the point of the thread is "What happened to this director?"

Well Cameron was set to direct the remake of Solaris, but instead opted to produce, with Steven Sodeburgh as director.

 

[Phil Kim]

Phil Alden Robinson

I quite like Phil Alden Robinson.

• The Sum of All Fears
• Sneakers
• Field of Dreams
• In the Mood

While both The Sum of All Fears and In the Mood are both decent-to-mediocre efforts at best, both Sneakers and Field of Dreams are darn good films (if somewhat overrated).

 

[Colin Dunn]

Brett Leonard directed "The Lawnmower Man," but that was his only half-decent effort. Everything else he has done before or since is awful, both from an artistic and commercial standpoint. He is unfortunately responsible for "Virtuosity," quite possibly THE worst movie I have ever seen...

 

[Christopher P]

Could we include Nicholas Meyer of Star Trek 2: The Wrath of Khan? I'd say that was a big hit in it's day, and still a popular movie, and other than The Undiscovered Country hasn't done hardly any directing.
Chris

 

[Andy Sheets]

I can't recall seeing Meyer direct anything since Star Trek 6, although earlier in his career he did Time After Time, which is a fairly well liked cult film at least. I think he's talented but he doesn't seem like a very prolific director

 

[MarcusUdeh]

Director Betty Thomas has three real hit films to her name: The Late Shift (made for cable) The Brady Bunch Movie & Private Parts. Then she fell off the map with 28Days and Eddie Murphy's I Spy.

 

[Jean-Michel]

Ngai Kai Lam had a breakout of sorts with The Story of Ricky, then (according to the IMDb, at least) made only one more film in 1992 (which as far as I can tell has never been properly released in the U.S. or the UK) and hasn't made anything since. I have no clue what's become of him.

Part of the reason Nicholas Meyer isn't a particuarly prolific director is because he isn't really a director; he's primarily a writer (starting out as a novelist, then working his way into screenwriting) who happens to have directed a few films. Although his only directing credit since Star Trek VI was a made-for-TV movie with Chris Walken (Vendetta) he hasn't exactly disappeared; the IMDb credits him with seven scripts since Star Trek VI.

Director Betty Thomas has three real hit films to her name: The Late Shift (made for cable) The Brady Bunch Movie & Private Parts.

Let us not forget the $150 million grosser Doctor Doolittle. Or better yet, let's do forget it.

 

[Shane Dodson]

Has anybody mentioned this one-hit director yet...

Dean Parisot

"Galaxy Quest"...great movie, so-so box office. Not a blockbuster, not a bomb, either. It pulled in a tad over $70 million domestically. He did a great job helming that one, especially considering it was an ensemble piece.

He hasn't done anything since that I'm aware of.

Regards,

- S.D.

 

[Jason Seaver]

Parisot has done some TV (The Tick, which had a number of feature directors during its short run), and he's had a weird project about ditzy flight attendants winding up 20 years in the past simmering ever since Galaxy Quest.

 

[Chris]

Russell Mulcahy.

Did Highlander, a fair success in 1986, then was tapped for the sequel (Highlander 2) and since then, he's done almost solely TV.


Hmm. I guess I'm wrong, I'm seeing franchise history saying the first Highlander only made $5M at the box? For some reason, I was thinking more then that. Surprising that such a small film would end up with three crap sequels and TV series, then.. hmm.

 

[Josh Simpson]

It's interesting looking back at this thread now. In the beginning we had Mel Gibson and Kevin Costner. Do we consider The Passion of the Christ and Open Range big enough hits to take them off the one-hit-wonder list? What do you think?

 

[LarryDavenport]

Not exactly a hit, but as far as I am concerned, Kevin Reynolds has only made one good film, and that is Fandango.

 

[ZacharyTait]

David Anspaugh directed Hoosiers, Rudy, and not much else.

I think Anspaugh should stick to the sports genre and make a hockey and baseball movie. Then we could see if the magic continues. I consider Hoosiers the best basketball movie ever made and Rudy, the best football movie ever made.

 

[L. Anton Dencklau]

..

 

[Joe Schwartz]

I know it's slightly off-topic, but Jim Cameron has done NOTHING since 1997s "Titanic".

He directed Ghosts of the Abyss, a 3D revisiting of the Titanic.

 

[Jason Walstrom]

Not exactly a hit, but as far as I am concerned, Kevin Reynolds has only made one good film, and that is Fandango.



He directed the excellant, THE BEAST starring Jason Patric. I've saw it on HBO awhile back and really liked it.

 

[Ernest Rister]

"Kevin Costner is the best example from this list along with the guy who made The Deer Hunter"

Kevin Costner's Open Range was one of the best-directed films I saw in 2003.

 

[MitchellD]

I'm not sure you can include Lucus as a one hit wonder, since he already had THX1138 and American Graffiti under his belt, both very successfull, before he made Star Wars in 1977.
I'm not sure you can include Cameron because he already had Aliens under his belt before he did Titanic.
I agree with the post about Richard Rush and The Stunt Man. Several years ago I met Mr. Rush, and he is one of the nicest people in the world. His comment about the film was that it wasn't really released, it escaped.
/Mitchell