As for some other directors to examine...
John Cassavetes
Cassavetes is a love-him or hate-him filmmaker, but whether or not you respond to his work he is the undisputed godfather of American independent cinema and a true actor's director. I'd suggest
A Woman Under the Influence (1974),
Opening Night (1977),
The Killing of a Chinese Bookie (1976),
Faces (1968) and
Minnie & Moskowitz (1971) as a good jumping off point to see if you groove to him. His most frequent on-screen collaborator was his wife, the great Gena Rowlands.
John Huston
One of the prototypical writer/directors of Hollywood's Golden Age, a Hemingwayesque figure who worked steadily until his death in 1987 at the age of eighty-one. Huston's work covers a wide spectrum of genres, styles and techniques. His early great works include
The Maltese Falcon (1941),
The Treasure of the Sierra Madre (1948),
The Asphalt Jungle (1950) and
The African Queen (1951), his middle career has such flicks as
Moulin Rouge (1952),
The Misfits (1961),
The List of Adrian Messenger (1963) and
The Night of the Iguana (1964), with latter greats such as
Fat City (1972),
The Man Who Would Be King (1975),
Prizzi's Honor (1985) and
The Dead (1987). He had six pairings with his friend Humphrey Bogart but also worked with generations of actors from Bette Davis, John Garfield and Edward G. Robinson to John Wayne, Robert Mitchum and Burt Lancaster to Marlon Brando, Paul Newman, Sean Connery and George C. Scott to Jack Nicholson, Jeff Bridges, Albert Finney and even Sylvester Stallone.
François Truffaut
Probably the best-known and perhaps the best-loved of the French New Wave filmmakers, a cinema critic turned iconic writer/director with beloved Humanistic characters and a playful sense of humor who became an international sensation starting with his feature debut
The 400 Blows (1959). His influence and popularity continued from
Shoot the Piano Player (1960) and
Jules & Jim (1962) to
The Bride Wore Black (1968) and
Mississippi Mermaid (1969) to
Day for Night (1973) and
The Story of Adele H. (1975) to
The Last Metro (1980) and
Confidentially Yours (1983). Great at writing for and capturing marvelous performances from children and women and, well...just about everyone, actually.
Preston Sturges
Maverick raconteur who quickly ascended from screenwriter to a writer/director who had a relatively brief but practically perfect run in the 1940s as one of the smartest purveyors of screen comedy, romance, wit and satire. His reign in actual production was short, but the celluloid jewels he left us are timeless and incessantly influential. See for yourself and fall in love with
The Lady Eve, The Palm Beach Story, Sullivan's Travels, The Miracle of Morgan's Creek, Christmas in July, Hail the Conquering Hero and
Unfaithfully Yours (1948).
Also check out the individual threads devoted to Marty Scorsese
HERE, the German director Werner Herzog
HERE, the controversial but often brilliant Roman Polanski
HERE, American comic genius Albert Brooks
HERE and the fantastic worlds of Terry Gilliam
HERE.
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