You only get to watch the creations of 5 directors…. Deserted island (1 Viewer)

[Chris Maynard]

OK, you are limited to only viewing the creations from 5 different directors. Not talking about Producers, composers, etc….

Just content that was directed by these talented folks….

What’s your five? Explain or don’t explain. It’s YOUR choices.

Me?
In no particular order:

Steven Spielberg
Ridley Scott
Martin Scorsese
Christopher Nolan
J.J. Abrams

Flamesuit on!!!

 

[Patrick Sun]

Alfonso Cuaron
David Fincher
Stanley Kubrick
Coen Brothers
Ridley Scott

 

[Robert Crawford]

Getting old as I forgot my favorite film noir director Robert Siodmak.

John Ford
Alfred Hitchcock
Michael Curtiz
Robert Wise
Robert Siodmak John Sturges/Robert Aldrich/Anthony Mann (I can't decide which of the three)

 

[Jake Lipson]

Wow, this is really hard. Without question, Ron Clements and John Musker would be on top for me. They count as one because they work as a directing team. Pete Docter would be my second choice.

 

[Walter Kittel]

Stanley Kubrick
Martin Scorsese
Quentin Tarantino
William Wyler
Alfred Hitchcock

There are some difficult omissions from this list, but I almost universally love the entire outputs of these directors (with a few exceptions) so that was sort of the criteria for inclusion.

- Walter.

 

[Bernard McNair]

John Ford
Alfred Hitchcock
Howard Hawks
David Lean
Clint Eastwood

 

[dana martin]

Tex Avery
Stanley Kubrick
Alfred Hitchcock
John Ford
Steven Spielberg

 

[Joe Wong]

Steven Spielberg
Christopher Nolan
James Cameron
Quentin Tarantino
David Fincher

Honorable mentions: Alfred Hitchcock, Frank Capra, Billy Wilder, Martin Scorsese, Denis Villeneuve

EDIT: Another honorable mention is John McTiernan. Though his career was curtailed due to legal troubles, I think he's one of the better directors of action, and his resume is not too shabby: Die Hard, Predator, The Hunt for Red October, The Last Action Hero, The Thomas Crown Affair, The 13th Warrior, to name a few. The 1st 3 are generally highly regarded, I thought Thomas Crown Affair was slick and compelling, I laughed at Last Action Hero's in-jokes (maybe it was ahead of its time!) and I found sections of 13th Warrior to be very suspenseful.

 

[roxy1927]

Jean Renoir
Carl Dreyer
Victor Sjostrom
David Lean
Stanley Donen

I could easily come up with another 10 whose work I love equally.

 

[Winston T. Boogie]

Getting old as I forgot my favorite film noir director Robert Siodmak.

John Ford
Alfred Hitchcock
Michael Curtiz
Robert Wise
Robert Siodmak John Sturges/Robert Aldrich/Anthony Mann (I can't decide which of the three)

This is the hard thing about doing a list like this, but this is the thing with a list like this...you have to kill your darlings. Being made to limit it to 5 is very hard and cuts out all kinds of pictures you love.

What does this kind of list making do? Basically it shows the directors that most people think very highly of.

Ford, Hitchcock, Kubrick are very hard to omit for us older folks. There is a language of film in their work that does define filmmaking even now.

The Coen Brothers have a body of work that allows me to watch any of their pictures over and over and be completely entertained every time.

So, there I am already at 4 and am only allowed one more. Very tough choice. Eastwood comes to mind because of his large and diverse body of work. Plus Unforgiven is just one of the greatest Westerns ever made. Should I go for quantity because stuck on an island more films would be better?

I've loved all of Paul Thomas Anderson's pictures. I could make him number 5. I am a huge Tarkovsky fan as well. I love all of Wes Anderson's work too. Howard Hawks is also awesome. Peckinpah is a guy that I watch his films over and over. Willaim Friedkin? Hard to live without The French Connection, The Exorcist, Sorcerer.

Decisions, decisions...

I guess I may go with Francis Coppola as my 5. I just can't see life without Apocalypse Now, The Godfather films, and The Conversation.

 

[Peter Apruzzese]

Stanley Kubrick
Akira Kurosawa
Alfred Hitchcock
John Ford
The fifth is a Sophie's Choice among Robert Wise, Michael Curtiz, Francis Coppola, Martin Scorsese, Anthony Mann, William Wyler, Billy Wilder, Charlie Chaplin, and too many others.

 

[dana martin]

I could easily come up with another 10 whose work I love equally.

Yep, I think we "ALL" could, that's what makes this such a challenge

and out of that extra number, I would have placed another Animation Director on my list. Looking over complete body of work, is what I think a lot of us are using as deciding factors.

bigger challenge would have been to pare the directors listing down to just 1!

puts things in a different perspective then.

 

[JohnRice]

This is the hard thing about doing a list like this, but this is the thing with a list like this...you have to kill your darlings. Being made to limit it to 5 is very hard and cuts out all kinds of pictures you love.

What does this kind of list making do? Basically it shows the directors that most people think very highly of.

Ford, Hitchcock, Kubrick are very hard to omit for us older folks. There is a language of film in their work that does define filmmaking even now.

The Coen Brothers have a body of work that allows me to watch any of their pictures over and over and be completely entertained every time.

So, there I am already at 4 and am only allowed one more. Very tough choice. Eastwood comes to mind because of his large and diverse body of work. Plus Unforgiven is just one of the greatest Westerns ever made. Should I go for quantity because stuck on an island more films would be better?

I've loved all of Paul Thomas Anderson's pictures. I could make him number 5. I am a huge Tarkovsky fan as well. I love all of Wes Anderson's work too. Howard Hawks is also awesome. Peckinpah is a guy that I watch his films over and over. Willaim Friedkin? Hard to live without The French Connection, The Exorcist, Sorcerer.

Decisions, decisions...

I guess I may go with Francis Coppola as my 5. I just can't see life without Apocalypse Now, The Godfather films, and The Conversation.

Contemplating my list, I agree that volume of work and variety would be major factors. So, Todd Field makes outstanding movies, but he's only made two, so no way I choose him. This priority makes the Coen Brothers an automatic. Probably Ridley Scott as well. Do I go with Aronofsky? Maybe. Possibly @Todd Erwin could chime in on that one. And YES, you will never live that down.

 

[Keith Cobby]

Numero uno for me has always been Hitchcock: North by North West, To Catch a Thief, Rear Window

The other 4 in alphabetical order are:

Michael Curtiz: Casablanca, The Adventures of Robin Hood, White Christmas

Stanley Kubrick: 2001, Barry Lyndon, Spartacus

Christopher Nolan: The Dark Knight trilogy, Dunkirk, Tenet

John Sturges: Gunfight at the O.K. Corral, The Great Escape, Ice Station Zebra

My three favourite films from each of them.

 

[Chris Will]

This is tough but, I think this is my list. Ask me tomorrow and it could be almost completely different, well except for Spielberg and Cameron.

Steven Spielberg
James Cameron
Peter Jackson
Ridley Scott
Tony Scott

 

[Tino]

Spielberg
Scorsese
Curtiz
Ford
Cameron

 

[JohnRice]

If I could veto one director, it would be James Cameron.

Flame Away.

 

[Mikael Soderholm]

Peter Jackson has to be there, because LOTR.
Steven Spielberg, because of his variety.
Stanley Kubrick, because of course.
PTA, also variety, and detail, and interesting plots and dialogue
And lastly, can't decide between Martin Scorsese or James Cameron, need some action as well, but with a gun to my head, Scorsese, because more varied action.

 

[BobO'Link]

Roger Corman
John Ford
Billy Wilder or Terry Gilliam - can't decide so it's a toss up
Howard Hawks
Stanley Kubrick

 

[Angelo Colombus]

My five plus a special mention to The Archers (Powell & Pressburger).

Orson Welles
David Lean
Francois Truffaut
Federico Fellini
John Ford