BO.com 100 Greatest Directors PRESENTATION

[baumer]

Yes, lost in all of this is that Lisa did a fantastic job with this list.  

 

Thank you Lisa.

[Walt Disney]

The Must Have Directors  -these are the directors that just had to find their way onto a top 100 greatest directors list. They are not ranked in order.

 

1) John Lasseter (Toy, Story, Toy Story 2, Cars)

 

John Lasseter is one of the most influential directors in the history of animation. That is not a controversial statement. Lasseter revolutionized animation with Toy Story; it was a game changer. It is embarrassing that he was left off this list. To make it even more glaring, people actually voted for Miyazaki extremely high.

 

Miyazaki is not influential. Miyazaki is not well known outside of a very niche audience. Yet, he is higher on this list than truly revolutionary figures (like DW Griffith). It's embarrassing that he would be on this list and John Lasseter would not. Lasseter beats Miyazaki in influence and box office. Lasseter changed an industry. JAPANimation has changed nothing. Toy Story will be talked about for years to come, while only the most hardcore fans will remember the bulk of Miyazaki's work.

 

2) The Farrelly Brothers (Dumb and Dumber, King Pin, There's Something about Mary)

 

Comedy is an art form. Making truly funny movies is not as easy as it looks because there is a fine line between too stupid and just stupid enough. The Farrelly Brothers have proven to be in the top tier when it comes to approaching but not crossing that line.

 

I'd argue that some of the best (if not the best) that comedy has had to offer was Ace Ventura Pet Detective and Dumb and Dumber. The director of Ace Ventura Pet Detective never really followed that up with anything great. The Farrelly Brothers continued to excel in the field of comedy with truly hilarious films like King Pin and There's Something about Mary. They continued on with Hall Pass and Me Myself, and Irene. The Farrelly Brothers have transcended the comedy genre and have to be considered one of the 100 greatest directors of all-time.

 

3) Vincente Minnelli (Meet Me in St. Louis, An American in Paris, Gigi)

 

He made very well crafted films. He was a big director of musicals and melodramas. He won the 1958 Oscar for Best director for his work on the film Gigi. He directed the original Father of the Bride film. It's a shame that he didn't get recognized for his greatness on this list.

 

4) Tony Scott (Top Gun, The Last Boy Scout, Crimson Tide)

 

Tony Scott directs great action films. They are well crafted action films and the kind that leave a lasting impression. Top Gun is one of the films that defined the 80s. The Last Boy Scout and The Fan were excellent. Crimson Tide was one of the better submarine movies, featuring Denzel Washington squaring off against Gene Hackman. The Taking of Pelham 1,2,3 and Unstoppable were solid efforts.

 

Tony Scott is one of the better action directors. They are not boring and their characters have real depth. His films are memorable, which is something that you can't say for some of the directors on this list. Tony Scott needed to be in the top for greatest directors of all-time.

 

5) M. Night Shyamalan (The Sixth Sense, Signs, Unbreakable)

 

There is no way this guy could miss this list. He is one of the directors that has a true unique style and name. The Sixth Sense was both a box office and critical success. When you have guys like Linklater and Anderson on your list, then there is no way that a guy like Shyamalan can miss it. Shyamalan's work has been spoofed in movies (one indicator of success). 

 

It is okay to not love all of a director's films, but still appreciate his greatness as a director. It is not okay to put average directors with average work ahead of a great director. Nothing that Linklater or Anderson will ever do will make the impact that The Sixth Sense has made. It is a huge travesty that M. Night Shyamalan is not on a list of the 100 greatest directors of all-time.

 

6) William A Wellman ( A Star is Born, The Public Enemy, The Ox-Bow Incident)

 

Directed one of the first true gangster films in The Public Enemy with James Cagney. He directed the first best picture winner at the Oscars (a movie called Wings). Wellman was a versatile director that could direct many different kinds of films. He is truly a legendary director.

 

7) Robert Wise (Westside Story, The Sound of Music, Star Trek The Motion Picture)

 

Robert Wise made his mark in musicals. He is the director on 2 of the best musicals of all-time. You may despise Broadway, but you should be able to appreciate great musicals. West Side Story was a film that Wise co-directed with Jerome Robbins. Just a wonderful film. Wise followed that up with the monster box office hit The Sound of Music.  That alone should put him into the top 100 easily. However, he went on to direct Star Trek, the movie whose success has spawned a franchise that is still going until this day. However, Star Trek may not have been his best directed sci fi effort, as he also directed the excellent The Day the Earth Stood Still. Robert Wise is a truly fantastic director.

 

8) Fred Zinnemann (High Noon, From Here to Eternity, A Man for All Seasons)

 

Fred Zinnemann created cautious dramas. His film High Noon was one of the first 25 movies to be named to the National Film Registry when it came out. That's called impact. That is something that some of the directors on this list will never have. Zinnemann won the Oscar for best director for his work on From Here to Eternity. Zinnemann went on to win another best director Oscar for A Man for All Seasons.

 

Clearly, Zinnemann was recognized by the National Film Registry and the Academy Awards as a great director. It is sad that this list did not list him on its top 100 greatest directors list.

 

9) Nicholas Ray (Flying Leathernecks, Rebel Without a Cause, In A Lonely Place)

 

Nicholas Ray was a hugely influential director. He had real influence (unlike Linklater who has none) as he was very influential on the French New Wave and specifically on Jean Luc Goddard. Nicholas Ray made great contributions to the world of film noir with movies like In a Lonely Place and On Dangerous Ground. His most famous film is Rebel Without A Cause because it is a the quintessential James Dean film. In conclusion, Nicholas Ray was a great director and easily one of the top 100 greatest directors of all-time.

 

 

 

[baumer]

And just for the record, I understand if people have their own choices.  There are a lot of really good directors out there.  

[DAR]

If you want to talk range in different genres, Ron Reiner should be much higher as well.

 

Horror

Coming of age

Comedy

Romantic Comedy

Courtroom/law drama

Mockumentary

 

The man has done it all and done it well.

Auto correct?

[baumer]

I had Tony Scott on my list as well.  He's unquestionably, imo, one of the influential directors of the last 30 years.  

[baumer]

Auto correct?

 

Typo.

 

I do know Rob's name is Rob.  

 

N is right next to B on the keyboard.

Edited February 12, 2014 by winter baumer

[Kvikk Lunsj]

Great job Lisa. You put a lot of hard work into this list and it showed. Thank you for all you effort and  time to make a list of greatest directors as voted by forum members. 

[BadAtGender]

The Must Have Directors  -these are the directors that just had to find their way onto a top 100 greatest directors list. They are not ranked in order.

 

1) John Lasseter (Toy, Story, Toy Story 2, Cars)

 

John Lasseter is one of the most influential directors in the history of animation. That is not a controversial statement. Lasseter revolutionized animation with Toy Story; it was a game changer. It is embarrassing that he was left off this list. To make it even more glaring, people actually voted for Miyazaki extremely high.

 

Miyazaki is not influential. Miyazaki is not well known outside of a very niche audience. Yet, he is higher on this list than truly revolutionary figures (like DW Griffith). It's embarrassing that he would be on this list and John Lasseter would not. Lasseter beats Miyazaki in influence and box office. Lasseter changed an industry. JAPANimation has changed nothing. Toy Story will be talked about for years to come, while only the most hardcore fans will remember the bulk of Miyazaki's work.

 

While I can understand an argument for Lasseter being on the list, I can't see any argument for him being ranked above Miyazaki. (Or above Stanton, Doctor, or Sanders, truth be told.) He had influence and affected the faces of animation, but those efforts were something he did more as a producer than a director. The quality of his direction lags behind a number of other animators.

 

And as far as Miyazaki's influence, um... he's influenced a TON of animators, including Lasseter. He is, bar none, the best animation director ever. The fact that he's Japanese and creates movies for his own cultural market isn't something that should be held against him.

[4815162342]

I agree with Walt that Zinnemann should have been on the list. I had him in my #11-20 block.

[rukaio101]

The Must Have Directors  -these are the directors that just had to find their way onto a top 100 greatest directors list. They are not ranked in order.

 

1) John Lasseter (Toy, Story, Toy Story 2, Cars)

 

John Lasseter is one of the most influential directors in the history of animation. That is not a controversial statement. Lasseter revolutionized animation with Toy Story; it was a game changer. It is embarrassing that he was left off this list. To make it even more glaring, people actually voted for Miyazaki extremely high.

 

Miyazaki is not influential. Miyazaki is not well known outside of a very niche audience. Yet, he is higher on this list than truly revolutionary figures (like DW Griffith). It's embarrassing that he would be on this list and John Lasseter would not. Lasseter beats Miyazaki in influence and box office. Lasseter changed an industry. JAPANimation has changed nothing. Toy Story will be talked about for years to come, while only the most hardcore fans will remember the bulk of Miyazaki's work.

I have so many issues with this I'm not even sure where to start....

 

All I'll say is go up to people like the Wachowski's, Gullermo Del Toro, Terry Gilliam, Wes Anderson, James Cameron, Steven Spielberg and all those influenced by said directors and tell them 'JAPANimation has changed nothing'. I'm sure they will laugh. Hell, Spielberg believes that the Castle of Cagliostro (Miyazaki's first film) has the best car chase in any movie ever.

[Walt Disney]

Directors that should have made the list -these are the directors that should have been in the top 100 greatest directors list, unless you found some flaw that kept them from making the list in your eyes. Once again, these are not ranked in order.

 

Part I

 

1) King Vidor (War and Peace, Duel in the Sun, The Big Parade)

 

King Vidor is a director that has spanned decades in Hollywood. He made one of the first big box office silent hits with The Big Parade. He was nominated for 5 Academy Awards as best director. He directed the monster box office hit Duel in the Sun. Also, Vidor made the ground breaking film Hallelujah! which featured an African American cast.

 

The flaw for Vidor are that he never won an academy award for best director, but that shouldn't really matter. He was able to successfully transition from silent films to sound and made some great movies in his long and successful career. He should have made the top 100.

 

2) George Cukor (My Fair Lady, Adam's Rib, Gaslight)

 

Calling George Cukor a great director isn't controversial. Neither is Cukor winning the Academy Award for best director for My Fair Lady. If the standard for being a top 100 director is to have 3 truly great movies (not 1 like the Wachowskis have) then Cukor should be there. Gaslight, Adam's Rib, and My Fair Lady are all great movies. Cukor was an actor's director, as he directed more academy award winning best actors than any other director. However, his reputation was that he was an actresses director, since he was known for directing many great performances from women.

 

His flaw may be that he is under-appreciated because there aren't many directors who are known for getting great performances out of their leading ladies. That talent of his may be over-looked by some. However, he was great at directing actors as well. He was a great director and should be on this list.

 

3) Mike Nichols (The Graduate, Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf, The Birdcage)

 

Mike Nichols did the unthinkable. He made a ground breaking independent film called The Graduate and won the best director award for his effort. The unthinkable part was that it was an independent film and not a big studio film. He made more great films with Catch 22, Biloxi Blues, Working Girl, and The Birdcage. Nichols directed big time actors in big time performances.

 

Unless you really just despised his body of work, he should have made this list.

 

4) John Schlesinger (Midnight Cowboy, Marathon Man, Darling)

 

He won the academy award for best director for the film Midnight Cowboy. He was known for making movies about loners and people living outside the clean world. He made the films The Day of the Locust, Sunday Bloody Sunday, and Marathon Man.

 

His flaw is that other than Midnight Cowboy, the rest of his work is very subjective. It's possible that his other films aren't as highly regarded by some. However, if his work is highly regarded, then he should have made the list.

 

5) David O Russell (The Fighter, Silver Linings Playbook, American Hustle)

 

A lot of the more recent directors do not deserve their place on this list. As much as I like Edgar Wright, he hasn't made a great movie. The Wachowski's had 1 great movie. However, David O Russell has made multiple great films. He had the wonderful Silver Linings Playbook and followed that up with the excellent American Hustle. He also made The Fighter, which was another film that garnered critical acclaim. He is clearly a director who right now is making some very well crafted films.

 

His flaw is that he doesn't have a huge body of work. However, a director who can make a few great films is better than a director who makes a lot of average films. David O Russell has garnered more critical acclaim already than a guy like Mel Gibson. David O Russell should have made this list.

 

6) Bob Fosse (Cabaret, All that Jazz, Lenny)

 

Bob Fosse is one of the great musical directors in the history of film. His smash hit Cabaret won him the Oscar for best director over Francis Ford Coppala who directed The Godfather that year. That's how critically respected Cabaret is. He directed the Lenny Bruce biopic Lenny. Also, he directed All That Jazz.

 

His flaw is that he had a very short directorial career. He had much more impact on Broadway. But, if you're going to put directors who made only one great hit on this list (and you are because you voted for Kathryn Bigelow) then Bob Fosse should be there. Cabaret is a much better film than The Hurt Locker. Bob Fosse should have made this list.

 

7) Joseph L. Mankiewicz (All About Eve, Cleopatra, A Letter to Three Wives)

 

This is someone that has had a very esteemed career. Mankiewicz won back to back best director Oscars for A Letter to Three Wives and All About Eve. That is quite the accomplishment. Also, he directed Julius Caesar and Guys and Dolls.  He also directed the excellent Suddenly, Last Summer

 

His flaw is that he had trouble with the ever difficult Elizabeth Taylor on Cleopatra and that caused massive delays and a lot of money. However, Mankiewicz directed some very successful films and deserves to be on this list.

 

8) George Stevens  (Giant, A Place in the Sun, Shane)

 

George Stevens directed two of the most famous documentaries ever. He directed The Nazi Plan and Nazi Concentration Camps. Both of those were used as evidence against accused Nazi's in the Nurenberg trials. You have probably seen footage from the Nazi Plan without realizing it. Beyond that, Stevens directed the wonderfully crafted Gunga Din. He went on to direct A Place in the Sun and Shane. His greatest success was Giant, which is the last film to star James Dean (Giant was for Dean as TDK was for Heath Ledger).

 

George Stevens really has no flaw. If you didn't appreciate his documentaries, then you may have downgraded him. However, he still made more great movies than Kathryn Bigelow and Mel Gibson. George Stevens should be on this list.

 

9) Ernst Lubitsch (Ninotchka, The Shop Around the Corner, To Be or Not to Be)

 

Ernst Lubitsch directed a unique style of comedy. His films were graceful, sophisticated, and witty. He was nominated for 3 Academy Awards.

 

His flaw is that he didn't win any of the Academy Awards for best director. He did receive an honorary Academy Award from Hollywood in 1947. He may be overlooked by some because Ninotchka got lost in the shuffle during the year of the movie (1939), even though it did receive a best picture nomination that year. Also, Lubitsch's style may not be appreciated, since it was sophisticated. However, Lubitsch should have had a spot in the top 100.

 

 

To be continued.....next will come Part II of the directors that should have made this list.

Edited February 12, 2014 by Walt Disney

[Walt Disney]

I have so many issues with this I'm not even sure where to start....

 

All I'll say is go up to people like the Wachowski's, Gullermo Del Toro, Terry Gilliam, Wes Anderson, James Cameron, Steven Spielberg and all those influenced by said directors and tell them 'JAPANimation has changed nothing'. I'm sure they will laugh. Hell, Spielberg believes that the Castle of Cagliostro (Miyazaki's first film) has the best car chase in any movie ever.

 

And go up to any of them and say did you ever hear of computer animation. They will all say yes. Thank you, John Lasseter.

[rukaio101]

And go up to any of them and say did you ever hear of computer animation. They will all say yes. Thank you, John Lasseter.

Last I checked, John Lasseter didn't invent computer animation. He just happened to be the first to direct a full-length feature film with it. And if you're trying to say that him being the first somehow makes him a better director than Miyazaki, surely you must consider the Lumiere brothers the greatest directors of all time for being the first people ever to make a film.

[Phil in the Blank]

This list got the number 1 director of all-time right, so I guess there isn't much to complain about. However, there are some bad choices on this list and the rankings of some of the truly great directors are very low.  The problem that this list had was what people consider to be great or influential has arbitrary standards. There wasn't a lot of perspective. Ex. The Coen Brothers over Coppala, Cameron, and Nolan.

 

The scoring system didn't help because there were way too many ties and the tie breakers were based on the ranking of the movies, whereas the points were usually based on a range. So, if 1 person put a director at number 51 and 7 put him at 95, and the same 8 people put another director at 52, those directors would accumulate the same number of points; using Lisa's tie-breaker the director with the number 51 vote would win the tie-breaker, despite the latter director actually being more highly regarded and voted for.

 

I am going to have 3 follow-up posts. I will list the directors who needed to be on the list (the true must have directors), the directors that should have made this list (unless there was some serious flaw in them), and the directors that could have made the list but not having them on the list is understandable.

 

Look Walt, You just need to accept that these are the 100 best directors of all time. That's a fact jack!

[4815162342]

Walt's very opinionated, I'll give him that.But this is a Top 100 list. There's no way everyone you want will make it in. Also, not everyone judges directors in the same way. So Walt, you gotta start letting it go.

[DAR]

I say this about a Tony Scott film, you always knew when you were watching a film of his.  They always had that look of being filmed through a mini-blind.

[Walt Disney]

Last I checked, John Lasseter didn't invent computer animation. He just happened to be the first to direct a full-length feature film with it. And if you're trying to say that him being the first somehow makes him a better director than Miyazaki, surely you must consider the Lumiere brothers the greatest directors of all time for being the first people ever to make a film.

 

He was more than the first to direct a computer animated film. That is an over-simplification of what he did. His Luxo Jr. short showed that computer animation was possible. His Toy Story movie revolutionized a genre. He was a director that revolutionized an industry. Animation before Lasseter was hand drawn. After Lasseter, it is almost exclusively computer animated.

 

The Lumierre Brothers may have been the first (and that's debatable), but motion pictures were coming with or without them. Someone was going to get there...probably Edison. However, computer animation was nowhere to be seen. It wasn't on the map or even approaching the map. The Luxo Jr. short and Toy Story changed the game. Nothing that Miyazaki did changed anything.

[Walt Disney]

Look Walt, You just need to accept that these are the 100 best directors of all time. That's a fact jack!

 

Yes, I do. But surely me showing the accomplishments of some of the other directors who did not make this list doesn't hurt you. Surely the directors on this list won't be diminished from the meager accomplishments of a few directors that I am talking about.

[BadAtGender]

The Lumierre Brothers may have been the first (and that's debatable), but motion pictures were coming with or without them. Someone was going to get there...probably Edison. However, computer animation was nowhere to be seen. It wasn't on the map or even approaching the map. The Luxo Jr. short and Toy Story changed the game. Nothing that Miyazaki did changed anything.

 

Are you seriously arguing that because Miyazaki didn't develop new technologies, he's a lesser director?

[Plain Old Tele]

Billy Wilder, Frank Capra, and Howard Hawks (among many others) didn't invent or innovate any new technology either. Should they not be considered all-time greats?