Top 10 American Directors?

You didn't but if you know the best director of all time, you certainly need to know every director.

I try my best, I've seen films from most of Europe, the Middle East and Asia, it's not complete, but it could never be.

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Mubi

AdamnHanks, I personally have no problem with your opinion that Spielberg is the greatest American director. It's a pretty fair claim, I don't see it as outlandish.

The problem is that you said that it's not even debatable, which was not the right thing to say, because it is debatable.

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Here, if you have a milkshake, and I have a milkshake, and I have a straw. There it is, that's a straw, you see? You watching?. And my straw reaches acroooooooss the room, and starts to drink your milkshake... I... drink... your... milkshake!
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I have already addressed my point.You have to prove yourself in the big league(English movies) to be called the greatest.

I believe movies are supposed to be about entertainment.Movies aren't art to me.And I don't think anyone has done it better than Spielberg.He appeals to a larger section of movie going audiences than any filmmaker

Actually I liked his 1980's movies and T2. After T2, James Cameron died. His later movies were just average though they were well made, Titanic and Avatar have drama that is a bit forced and cardboard archetypal characters. His early movies were greatly superior.

But Hollywood is set up to tailor itself to a very specific audience of white males between around 15 to 21, I'd like to think that films made for annoying, horny, self-centered American boys (I'm one of them) aren't the best the world has to offer.

Me the typical movie critic ok, i heard "Objectively,Spielberg is the greatest" , sounds good.

You can actually say that from 1975 onwards the single most influential and popular director from a global perspective was Spielberg. Miyazaki was also very influential (given his enormous influence over all genre movies made today) but I think that Spielberg's influence is even greater given that he made the formula of the blockbuster movie that captivates the greatest number of people, so, without taking into account Indian directors, the living director whose influence on the movies watched by the average moviegoer is the largest is Spielberg.

But from a long run perspective is may be either Kurosawa, Hitchcock or Welles.

I was referencing a quote from Cameron that I think is a total mess. He said that 3D was the only way for movies because we perceive the world in 3D. I guess this explains why nobody paints anymore, that flat stuff is nothing compared to sculptures. While I don't think he's ever been a great filmmaker, he has fallen victim to an unfortunate case of unlimited resources which causes his films to lack any sort of ingenuity.

Do you think that's a fair statement?Hollywood movies appeal to audiences worldwide.No wonder some movies that don't do well in North America do very well in Asian Countries etc

As most influential? If so I think Griffith is the obvious choice, seeing that he basically wrote continuity film language. Though, he was one of the first, so it's tough for anyone not in that period to have as fundamental an impact as him.

They are certainly appealing to a wider audience than that demographic. The classic blockbuster movies like Jaws and E.T. are made for very broad demographic appeal, basically everybody from the age of 6-7 to 90's.

Star Wars also has broad demographic appeal though it's also clear it's center of gravity are males between the ages of 10 and 20.

Since around 1967, with the success of films like Bonnie and Clyde and The Graduate, Hollywood has made films expressly designed for this market. I'm not saying there aren't variations, and that none of them have any broader reach than that, but it was and is designed to capture that specific audience.

I think few movies like American Pie or Superbad are targeted towards that audiences.But movies like Jurassic Park,E.T,Jaws,Titanic and Avatar appeal to all demographics.

Well, the guy who invented the camera them...

No, before the 60s, movies in America were generally not produced for any specific audience, but then Hollywood realized that male teenagers were a very key demographic, and they tried and are trying very hard to capture that specific audience. I don't think my grandmother cared much for any of those movies you mentioned, I didn't either.

Yes, that's true. American Pie and Superbad are movies that are really targered at people from the ages 14 to 21. While these superblockbusters are made for all demographics since that's the way they can become superblockbusters.

That would work if the history of that weren't ever changing. But not really, because picture != motion picture. A lot of the things Welles is commonly credited with inventing were from Griffith and Ford anyways, which isn't to say that Welles is a phony or a bad director, he never claimed to invent any of this, and he's a great director.

So there were 100 million male teenagers in the US in 1997 when Titanic came out. When I watched Titanic at the theater with my family there were no teenagers: two kids and my parents.

Titanic is obviously a movie not made for male teenagers. Some blockbusters clearly have more appeal (Spider Man, for instance) but these films also have broad demographic appeal than movies that are clearly made for males aged 14-21 such as Superbad.

And Hollywood is making movies with an eye demographics in their audiences for a very long time.

Ok you win. That guy you cited is the greatest director ever.