Greatest director of all time?

If I had done a top 12 list now, given the information I learned, it would be:

- Akira Kurosawa (Japan)
- Yasujiro Ozu (Japan)
- Satyajit Ray (India)
- D. W. Griffith (Hollywood)
- Charles Chaplin (Hollywood)
- John Ford (Hollywood)
- Alfred Hitchcock (Hollywood)
- Orson Welles (Hollywood)
- Fritz Lang (Europe)
- Sergei Eisenstein (Europe)
- Jean Renoir (Europe)
- Lean Luc Godard (Europe)

Out:

- Stanley Kubrick
- Andrei Tarkovsky
- Ingmar Bergman
- Federico Fellini

Those out are less influential than pioneers such as Eisenstein, Chaplin, Griffith and Lang.

I'm not terribly sure but just 13896% positive Eisenstein isn't European. Why the hell would you remove those three anyway? It's rhetorical, I don't really care, these types of threads mean nothing.

If you are not interested why post? Just because you hate me?

He's defended you in the past.

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In the past.

I mean he's never shown any bad feelings toward you, or am I mistaken?

It's a question of history of film. Anyway, now I think that to narrow down to a single one is too difficult. My top 12 above looks satisfactory to me.

I think you are mistaken. He called me a "fool" in another thread.

I have indeed defended you in the past. Also, I'm sorry if you were offended by my calling you a fool, when I say it I don't mean to be hateful, just that your logic at that point in time was foolish.
I had to correct your Eisenstein label, in typical internet tone. I hate very few people.

12 most influential (no order):

-Griffith
-Dreyer
-Eisenstein
-Lang
-Hitchcock
-Ford
-Welles
-Chaplin
-Kurosawa
-Renoir
-Godard
-Bunuel

So there's early pioneers (Griffith, Dreyer, Eisenstein, Lang, Chaplin); Golden Age Hollywood (Hitchcock, Ford, Welles); we've already covered in detail why Kurosawa and Renoir are significant; Godard's Breathless alone has influenced countless others (not the least of whom are Tarantino and the rest of the French New Wave); Bunuel is the father of cinematic surrealism. I'm not sure how Ozu and Ray are 'influential' (I could be wrong). Fashionable in arthouse circles these days for sure, but not necessarily influential.

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If you were to make a "family tree" of cinematic influence, you would need an entire wall (or four), for all these great directors were influenced by someone most people don't acknowledge as "great" or "best" or whatever other hollow label given. For the record, Ozu's influence is easily trackable, and Ray's influence over his region I'm sure is immeasurable; maybe not worldwide, but it all comes full circle at some point.

I don't know if it's because they are Asian which makes them seem less "influential" than the so-called "pioneers". I'm pretty sure that Edward Yang and Hou Hsiao Hsien are highly influential in Asian cinema, at least paving the way for future directors from the region to overturn decades of Eurocentrism.

for fun, i decided to look up how many films the most famous directors have in the Top 1000 ranked movies by users on flickchart.com
http://www.flickchart.com/charts

this is how it came out:

Alfred Hitchcock- 22
Martin Scorsese- 15
Steven Spielberg- 14
Woody Allen- 14
Akira Kurosawa- 11
Stanley Kubrick- 10
Billy Wilder- 10
the Coen Brothers- 10
Ingmar Bergman- 10

all the other directors i can think of are in single digits

now, one can argue 'greatness' can come in the form of quality over quantity, but as far as a body of work, this at least seems reasonable

the King:

Martin Scorsese
Steven Spielberg

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Woody Allen- 14 . WTF! Is that 4 a typo?

nope.

#122. Annie Hall
#135. Manhattan
#237. Crimes and Misdemeanors
#259. Hannah & Her Sisters
#371. the Purple Rose of Cairo
#385. Love and Death
#523. Sleeper
#583. Zelig
#624. Midnight in Paris
#771. Take the Money and Run
#775. Bananas
#788. Broadway Danny Rose
#900. Radio Days
#944. Husbands and Wives

i've seen one of these (Midnight in Paris, thought it was enjoyable)

not sure how he's done so well. i suspect chick voters

Chicks tend to dislike him. Well, my daughter loves him, but I corrupted her. Several more films could be added, including my personal fave, Manhattan Murder Mystery.

Lists are like backsides...

i really have no a leg to stand on when it comes to Woody Allen, so disregard my ignorance.

But, like, who cares about statistics, just watch the movies...

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