Top 5 Directors of all time

[The Naitch]

Need you to list the top 5, gonna do some research on them :y:

Could do a top 10 if you want

[RP]

Stephen Speilsberg

[Joey Slugs]

My personal top 5:


Martin Scorsese
Quentin Tarantino
Brian De Palma
Federico Fellini
Steven Spielberg

[Boondock Saint]

No order:

Stephen Spielberg
Martin Scorsese
Alfred Hitchcock
Orson Welles
Ingmar Bergman
Sam Peckinpah
Michael Mann
Terrence Malick
Ridley Scott
Howard Hawks

Stanley Kubrick, Nicholas Ray, John Ford, Sergio Leone, François Truffaut, Akira Kurosawa, Elia Kazan all get honorable mentions.

[FakeLaser]

KUBRICK

[Blitz]

My personal faves, in no order

David Fincher
Sam Mendes
Quentin Tarantino
Steven Spielberg
Robert Rodriguez

Off the top of my head, may have to update later.

[What Would Kevin Do?]

Honestly, I know shit about directors, and my list is pretty generic and ignorant, but....

Kitano "Beat" Takeshi ( I seriously fucking love this guys directing.)
Kurosawa
Kubrick
Kevin Smith
Steven Spielberg
Also, from what I've seen, Guy Ritchie.

[Triple A]

Stanley Kubrick (A Clockwork Orange, Full Metal Jacket) - Easily GOAT
David Lynch (Mulholland Dr., Eraserhead)
Todd Solondz (Happiness, Welcome to the Dollhouse)
Paul Thomas Anderson (Boogie Nights, Punch-Drunk Love)
Joel & Ethan Coen (The Big Lebowski, Fargo)
Martin Scorsese (Goodfellas, Raging Bull)
Lukas Moodysson (Lilja 4-ever, Show Me Love)
Quentin Tarantino (Pulp Fiction, Reservoir Dogs)
Takashi Miike (Audition, Gozu)
Woody Allen (Annie Hall, Crimes and Misdemeanors)

[What Would Kevin Do?]

FUCK! Forgot The Coen Brothers and Woody Allen.

Miike I'm really iffy on. He's done some good stuff, but a lot of pretty meh stuff.

Seriously though, Takeshi Kitano is the shit. He's one of the few directors I could watch a random movie and say he definately directed it.

[Triple A]

Yeah I have disliked a lot of Miike's movies but his directing style is incredible. The atmosphere and mood he sets up is so good.

[Blitz]

Forgot Kevin Smith :rant:

[Destor]

5. Brain De Palma (Untouchables, Carlito's Way, Scarface, I could really keep going.)
4.Orson Welles. It's Orson Fucking Welles except his greatness.
3. Martin Scorsese (Taxi Driver anyone?)
2. Quetin Tarantino. I need no examples.
1. Alfred Hitchcock. Period

[Bad Company]

Francis Ford Coppola

[John la Rock]

Martin Scorcese (Goodfellas, Taxi Driver, Raging Bull)
Quentin Tarrantino (Pulp Fiction, Reservoir Dogs)
Steven Speilberg (Saving Private Ryan, Schindler's List)
Francis Ford Coppolla (The Godfather, The Godfather Part II, Apocalypse Now)
Bryan Singer (The Usual Suspects, X-Men)
David Fincher (Seven, Fight Club)
and
Michael Mann (The Insider, Heat, Collaterall)

[Lock Jaw]

Hitchcock
Spielberg
Kurosawa
Coppola
Kubrick

[Fryza]

Akira Kurosawa, Ryuhei Kitamura, Steven Spielberg, Alfred Hitchcock, Guy Ritchie, Christopher Nolan.

Not saying they ARE the best, but they're worth looking into if you don't know them (granted, everyone should know Spielberg).

[Lara Emily]

In no order

Hitchcock
Kubrik
Nolan
Jean Renoir
Orson Welles

[loopydate]

Greatest Directors Of All-Time

1) Akira Kurosawa
2) Billy Wilder
3) Stanley Kubrick
4) Steven Spielberg
5) Alfred Hitchcock

Not my personal favorites, but what I would consider the 5 best overall directing careers ever. I'm not a huge Kubrick fan, for example (though I loved "A Clockwork Orange" and "Dr. Strangelove"), but there's simply no denying his appeal.

Honorable Mention: Charles Chaplin, Francis Ford Coppola, Sergio Leone, Quentin Tarantino

[Indifferent Clox]

Kubrick, Tarantino, Welles, Woody Allen, Michael Moore(JK), Spike Lee

[Aussie Skier]

Kevin Smith

Martin Scorsese

Coen bros.

QUentin Tarrantino

[Fox]

Can't believe George Lucas hasn't been mentioned yet.

He may not have the greatest recent track record (with his horrible direction of the last 3 SW movies), but his work on the first Star Wars is enough to cement his name as on the greatest directors of all time.

[loopydate]

Can't believe George Lucas hasn't been mentioned yet.

He may not have the greatest recent track record (with his horrible direction of the last 3 SW movies), but his work on the first Star Wars is enough to cement his name as on the greatest directors of all time.

The only one of the original trilogy that he directed was the first one. One movie doesn't make a career. Aside from that, the only other mainstream movies he's directed were the new trilogy, THX 1138, and American Grafitti.

If he had one more classic movie to add to A New Hope and Grafitti I might consider adding him. But as a director, the bad outweighs the good.

As a producer, you'd have a better case, since he produced all of the SW movies, plus the Indiana Jones series, and cult favorites like Labyrinth and Willow.

[Fox]

The only one of the original trilogy that he directed was the first one. One movie doesn't make a career. Aside from that, the only other mainstream movies he's directed were the new trilogy, THX 1138, and American Grafitti.

If he had one more classic movie to add to A New Hope and Grafitti I might consider adding him. But as a director, the bad outweighs the good.

As a producer, you'd have a better case, since he produced all of the SW movies, plus the Indiana Jones series, and cult favorites like Labyrinth and Willow.

I disagree. Maybe he did only direct A New Hope, but he revolutionized the entire movie industry. If it wasn't for what he did with Star Wars, guys like Steve Spielberg couldn't make the movies they do.

[loopydate]

I disagree. Maybe he did only direct A New Hope, but he revolutionized the entire movie industry. If it wasn't for what he did with Star Wars, guys like Steve Spielberg couldn't make the movies they do.

This is true.

BUT

Being an innovator doesn't make you a great director. Alan Crosland directed the first "talkie," which revolutionized the entire movie industry. If it wasn't for what he did with The Jazz Singer, no one would make the movies they do. The Lumiere Brothers directed the first movie, which created the entire movie industry. If it wasn't for what they did with capturing and projecting moving images, guys like Alan Crosland couldn't make the movies they did. Neither of them come up in the "Top Directors Of All Time" debate.

One great movie, no matter how great, doesn't make you a great director. Otherwise, we'd be talking about Frank Darabont, Fernando Meierelles, and Bryan Singer, who have all made one or two great movies, but don't have the breadth of filmography that Billy Wilder, Kurosawa, Hitchcock, Kubrick, Scorsese, Orson Welles, Woody Allen, Frank Capra, Spielberg, Renoir, Fellini, Leone, et al have.

[OssMan]

Yeah I have disliked a lot of Miike's movies but his directing style is incredible. The atmosphere and mood he sets up is so good.
ichii the killer is a good example although i liked it very much. one of the most bizarre movies i have ever seen but everything is put together in the perfect order and it has the same feeling throughout the entire movie. it rokc

[Fox]

This is true.

BUT

Being an innovator doesn't make you a great director. Alan Crosland directed the first "talkie," which revolutionized the entire movie industry. If it wasn't for what he did with The Jazz Singer, no one would make the movies they do. The Lumiere Brothers directed the first movie, which created the entire movie industry. If it wasn't for what they did with capturing and projecting moving images, guys like Alan Crosland couldn't make the movies they did. Neither of them come up in the "Top Directors Of All Time" debate.

One great movie, no matter how great, doesn't make you a great director. Otherwise, we'd be talking about Frank Darabont, Fernando Meierelles, and Bryan Singer, who have all made one or two great movies, but don't have the breadth of filmography that Billy Wilder, Kurosawa, Hitchcock, Kubrick, Scorsese, Orson Welles, Woody Allen, Frank Capra, Spielberg, Renoir, Fellini, Leone, et al have.


Though I completely agree with all of those directors being great, I disagree that this thread over "Top Directors of All Time" is a debate at all. It is simply a matter of opinion.

In my opinion, "Star Wars" is a worthy enough accomplishment to secure George Lucas as one of the greatest directors of all time. It stands alone as a testament, not only the movie industry, but to the creativity and imaginative genius of one man. It's movies like "Star Wars" that change the world.

Is Martin Scorcese a great director? Of course he is. "Taxi Driver," "Raging Bull," "The Last Temptation of Christ," "Goodfellas," "Cape Fear," "Gangs of New York;" all of them prove that the man is brilliant. But none of these movies have had even near the impact of George Lucas' "Star Wars" on the movie industry as a whole. "Star Wars" stands as a monument, a mile stone, in the history of American cinema. This, in my eyes, makes George Lucas one of the greatest directors of all time.

[loopydate]

Though I completely agree with all of those directors being great, I disagree that this thread over "Top Directors of All Time" is a debate at all. It is simply a matter of opinion.

In my opinion, "Star Wars" is a worthy enough accomplishment to secure George Lucas as one of the greatest directors of all time. It stands alone as a testament, not only the movie industry, but to the creativity and imaginative genius of one man. It's movies like "Star Wars" that change the world.

Is Martin Scorcese a great director? Of course he is. "Taxi Driver," "Raging Bull," "The Last Temptation of Christ," "Goodfellas," "Cape Fear," "Gangs of New York;" all of them prove that the man is brilliant. But none of these movies have had even near the impact of George Lucas' "Star Wars" on the movie industry as a whole. "Star Wars" stands as a monument, a mile stone, in the history of American cinema. This, in my eyes, makes George Lucas one of the greatest directors of all time.

I understand where you're coming from, and you've done a good job laying out your rationale, but I just have to disagree. I guess our criteria for greatness is different.