The Greatest Director of All Time

OK this poll isn't for your own personal favorite director or the director who made your favorite movie. This poll is for the directors are can honestly be called the best in every aspect of cinema. Im putting up the most known by name if you think somebody else is better choose other.

Wheres kurosawa? Pigsnie be livid.

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I said Kubrik. Haven't seen all of his movies, but the ones I have are amazing. Mark, get Clockwork Orange back yet?

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Pigsnie I decided to put up only the most well known directors for voting purposes. I didn't want there to be 50% in the others category.

I don't get the Kubrick thing -- too artsy for me. I don't know who The Greatest Director of All Time is, but I do know that of those listed, Spielberg is my favorite. Jurassic Park is a good movie, AND an exciting movie -- that's hard to pull off.

I love Kubrick visually but his films are so emotionally detached that it's hard to actually love the films. You will never cry, rarely laugh (except Dr Strangelove) and never get a fright (eg The Shining) in a Kubrick film. I prefer a filmmaker who can pull the heartstrings a bit. Kubrick makes my head work but he never touches my heart.

Spielberg is at the opposite end of the spectrum. Nobody is manipulative as Spielberg, in a good way. ET will always be his best work and that's a great movie as is Schindler's List. My problem with Spielberg is the lack of personality to his projects. The man is so commercial. He doesn't take risks. He never shows us anything of himself and because of this, he can never be classified as a great artist.

I picked Scorsese. Watch Raging Bull. Watch The King of Comedy. Watch Goodfellas. I shouldn't have to say anymore. Visually Scorsese is a genius (opening credits to Raging Bull) but he's also able to move the audience (De Niro telling his girlfriend to turn on the TV in King of Comedy). He's the best American Filmmaker of the last thirty years, maybe of all time. I'm really looking forward to his "Gangs of New York". He's proven he can do period drama with Age of Innocence. I think Gangs could be really special.

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If you ask me, not taking risks is probably a good thing, but from what I read, a recurring theme throughout his movies has to do with parenthood, and fathers in general.

Anyway, I think you'll love AI -- the thought-invoking nature of Kubrick, and emotional tug or Spielberg. Even though I'm not as excited about AI as I am about Star Wars: Episode 2, The Matrix 2: Reloaded, or LOTR, I still think it will be one helluva movie.

What's with all the Americans?

Speilberg is probably the most important (not best) filmmaker of the past thirty or some-odd years. But he is exceedingly commercial and impersonal with his films; I doubt that in the future film classes will study his films to analyze his style. However, as a storyteller, he is certainly one of the best. The man is certainly an artist, and he is great at what he does.

Kubrick's films are CLEARLY emotionally detached, but to see his body of work as a whole gives great insight to the man's feelings and beliefs. His films indicate how deeply pessimistic he was, and perhaps seeing the body of work as a whole instead of as individual films would help to understand his artistry. But I don't think he's the greatest of all directors. Not once did he ever truly make me FEEL something. I can admire, but not love.

Welles was a genius. Citizen Kane is maybe the greatest of all American films, he had a signature style and was a great actor to boot. The Magnificent Ambersons, Touch of Evil, F for Fake - the man's body of work is incredible. But he isn't the absolute greatest.

Oliver Stone is, along with Spike Lee, the most iconoclastic of modern directors. He breaks apart convention and formulaic techniques with a breathtakingly visceral and brilliant style, then reassembles the pieces. But nearly all of his films have "important" messages. Not to say they aren't entertaining, but just once I would like to see him make a real comedy, not just a satire or a heavy drama.

Out of all of these directors, no one has made more entertaining, powerful films than Martin Scorsese. Think about it: Who has had more masterpieces in this group than him? Mean Streets, Taxi Driver, Raging Bull, GoodFellas. But what about The King of Comedy, After Hours, The Age of Innocence, Bringing out the Dead? Even Cape Fear was inspired and entertaining. To put it quite simply, Scorsese is easily one of the greatest of all directors, and for me, the best out of these nominees.

But I'm voting "Other".

You left out so many wonderful filmmakers! What about Wilder, Ford, Fellini, Bunuel, Truffaut, Godard, Kurosawa, Ozu, Herzog, Allen, Mizoguchi, Fassbinder, Coppola, Malick, Renoir? I don't know which one director is the greatest of all time, but I do know that it can't be narrowed down to just five nominees.

Hey Commish, what do you mean not taking risks is a good thing? Wouldn't you rather see something new, rather than something cliched and convoluted?

Oops I forgot:

Hitchcock - Vertigo, Psycho, Rear Window, North By Northwest, Notorious, The Birds, Shadow of a Doubt, Strangers on a Train, etc. You can't argue with him. He has over a dozen films that can be called "great".

Lean - Brief Encounter, Lawrence of Arabia, Dr. Zhivago, The Bridge on the River Kwai...More great epics to his name than anyone, except maybe Kurosawa.

Alain Resnais - Last Year at Marienbad. Need I say more?

Altman - MASH, McCabe & Mrs. Miller, 3 Women, Nashville, The Player, Short Cuts, Cookie's Fortune. One of the American greats.

Weir - Picnic at Hanging Rock, Witness, The Year of Living Dangerously, Gallipoli, The Truman Show. One of the most talented Australian directors; made a helluva an actor out of Jim Carrey. The Truman Show is EXTREMELY underrated.

Just because it's commercially viable/successful, doesn't mean it has to be a cliche -- I think A.I. is a perfect example of this. Their Internet campaign is original, and the story is focusing on a very REAL future -- a very real conflict we may have to deal with.

If I'm a Director, I have to wonder what's going to reach the most people: a film that totally expresses my thoughts, and is only seen by a handful of people, or a film that's popular because it's interesting, but still expressess some of the basics of my style and beliefs. Sometimes, if the volume of people it reaches is large enough, the latter is preferable.

What worries me about AI is the deep contrasts in style between Kubrick and Spielberg. I fear it could be a mess. Kubrick was visually spectacular. Almost every scene in 2001 was picturesque. The underground lair in Dr Strangelove will be forever etched in memories. Clockwork Orange, Barry Lyndon, Full Metal Jacket. Each one is a feast for the eyes.

Spielberg's films are often drab and atypical. None of his films have ever made us open our eyes wider. Zero frames from his films could be considered photographic. ET is ugly in places. Jurassic Park was surprisingly boring visually. And Hook, this was the opportunity for Spielberg to show exceptional art direction, was an abysmal failure in design.

I hope. My expectations are high. Let's hope Artificial Intelligence (AI's) sets aren't too artificial.

I don't think A.I. will retain enough of Kubrik's ideas to make it obviously a Kubrik piece. I think Spielberg will distort it enough to call it his own.

So do I -- and that's how it should be. Kubrick passed a concept to him, and as the Director, he should do with it as he sees fit -- I doubt Kubrick intended anything less.

However, it's the concept of the film in general that makes you think. If you think about Jurassic Park in an interesting, hypothetical way, you won't think about them climbing a tree, or a T-Rex eating a bad guy, you'll think about the consequences of "playing God", and what you might do if given the choice to revive dinosaurs.

Given this, I think that the film, while not "feeling" like a Kubrick film, will probably make you think in an interesting matter, while still holding our attention with ease.

Very hard to decide between those in the list, Kubrick and Scorcese make such different types of movies. Kubrick shades it for me however, the reasons, well the visual brilliance and scope of his work regarding the settings, yet still stamping his own personality on them all

ps First post, good to be here

I'm not pretty sure...Kubrick is a genius. Just think about Clockwork Orange, Full Metal Jacket and Dr. Strangeove

But my favorite one is surely Tarantino. Maybe he is not the best, but Pulp Fiction and Reservoir Dogs were both master-pieces.
I'll cast my vote for Tarantino!!!!!

I am a Bollywood movie Fann
I love Sanjay Leela Bhansali

No love for PTA here so i'm gonna say PTA/Scorsese

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The Truman Show is EXTREMELY underrated.


Agreed. This may be the most difficult question ever posed on this site...I think coming up with a top ten would be a monster task, let alone naming the greatest director of all time.

I'll give it a shot.
1. Hitchcock
2. Kubrick
3. Lynch
4. Scorsese
5.Wilder
6. Allen
7.A.K
8. PTA
9. Francis ford Coppola
10. Lumet

Kubrick, Kazan, Capra, Huston, Wilder, Bergman, Altman, Lumet, Fellini, Richard Brooks

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