The What the F@#* Happened to That Great Director Thread

[Qrazy]

I'll start with three nominations. Now I wouldn't necessarily call of these guys great but I'd say that at their best they're at least very good. Also the films I list aren't representative of their entire careers. All three made other quality films which I'm not listing just because I feel like keeping the sections to only one film.

John Schlesinger
Jim Sheridan
Arthur Penn

All of these guys started strong, peaked and then proceeded to make horrible garbage.

Schlesinger:

Start: Billy Liar
Peak: Midnight Cowboy
Garbage: The Next Best Thing

Arthur Penn

Start: The Miracle Worker
Peak: Bonnie and Clyde
Garbage: Penn and Teller Get Killed

Jim Sheridan

Start: My Left Foot
Peak: In the Name of the Father
Garbage: Get Rich or Die Tryin'

Feel free to make your own nominations. Also some directors which deserve a nom did thankfully have a few more gems in their later career.

[Winston*]

Can you really write Jim Sheridan off based on on film?

[Qrazy]

Can you really write Jim Sheridan off based on on film?

I can and I will.

...

Ok no but if he dies tomorrow... then yes.

...

Also you're supposed to add some of your own not critique mine. Match-cut is a very predictable place in this regard.

[transmogrifier]

Perhaps W* was just seeking clarification as he has a host of directors he's super keen to write off after one film, but didn't want to embarrass himself by posting without said clarification and inviting the wrath of the threadstarter.

[Qrazy]

Perhaps W* was just seeking clarification as he has a host of directors he's super keen to write off after one film, but didn't want to embarrass himself by posting without said clarification and inviting the wrath of the threadstarter.

So just ignore Sheridan and come up with your own then you twats.

[B-side]

I haven't seen enough of his films to really say, but something tells me this would be agreeable to a lot of folks:

Dario Argento:
Start: The Bird With the Crystal Plumage
Peak: Suspiria
Garbage: Phantom of the Opera? Mother of Tears?

[ledfloyd]

he's bounced back with his last effort but i nominate my favorite director. are we supposed to use their best film as their peak? cause for allen his peak IMO is annie hall, though he kept making great films for 15 years after that.

Woody Allen:
Start: Take the Money and Run
Peak: Annie Hall (or Husbands & Wives)
WTF: Cassandra's Dream

the obvious one

Francis Ford Coppola:
Start: Dementia 13
Peak: Apocalypse Now
WTF: Jack

Mike Nichols
Start: Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf?
Peak: Carnal Knowledge
WTF: Biloxi Blues

[Robby P]

Coppola arguably made the four best movies of the 1970s. I haven't seen his newest movie with Tim Roth, but nobody is even comparable to him with regards to the topic at hand.

[Sven]

Garbage: Penn and Teller Get Killed

WRONG

[Qrazy]

WRONG

Oh man I remember it being so terrible. What did you like about it?

[baby doll]

Peter Greenaway

Start: The Falls (1980)
Peak: A Zed and Two Noughts (1985)
Garbage: Nightwatching (2007)

[Qrazy]

Peter Greenaway

Start: The Falls (1980)
Peak: A Zed and Two Noughts (1985)
Garbage: Nightwatching (2007)

Ah that sucks, haven't gotten around to Nightwatching. I guess I won't now. What about The Tulse Luper Suitcases trilogy? Seen them? Any good?

[baby doll]

Ah that sucks, haven't gotten around to Nightwatching. I guess I won't now. What about The Tulse Luper Suitcases trilogy? Seen them? Any good?I downloaded them, but haven't gotten around to watching them.

[Ezee E]

William Friedkin goes from one of the most important 70's directors with The French Connection and The Exorcist, and ends up doing near-exploitation films like Hunted and Bug.

[Winston*]

William Friedkin goes from one of the most important 70's directors with The French Connection and The Exorcist, and ends up doing near-exploitation films like Hunted and Bug.
I thought Bug was good.

[Ezee E]

I thought Bug was good.
I did too. But we're pretty low in that consensus. Very very low.

[Raiders]

Bug is terrific. But then, so is The Hunted.

[Boner M]

But then, so is The Hunted.
^Auteurism run amok.

And E, WTF? The Exorcist and to a certain extent The French Connection are exploitation films, both moreso than Bug at least.

[Benny Profane]

Mike Nichols
Start: Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf?
Peak: Carnal Knowledge
WTF: Biloxi Blues


WTF is WTF about Biloxi Blues?

[B-side]

I thought Bug was good.

Yup. Great performances, too.

[Ezee E]

^Auteurism run amok.

And E, WTF? The Exorcist and to a certain extent The French Connection are exploitation films, both moreso than Bug at least.
What's the exploitation about The Exorcist? Seems pretty serious to me.

[ledfloyd]

WTF is WTF about Biloxi Blues?
it's terribly mediocre. you could replace it with the birdcage or what planet are you from? if it makes you happy.

[baby doll]

William Friedkin goes from one of the most important 70's directors with The French Connection and The Exorcist, and ends up doing near-exploitation films like Hunted and Bug.While I haven't seen The Exorcist, The French Connection doesn't strike me as all that great to begin with. It's major claim to fame is adapting the style of the French New Wave to an entirely conventional detective movie with clear-cut heroes and villains (even the fact that Gene Hackman is gritty and unlikeable is, in the film, a mark of integrity next to Fernando Rey's suave drug dealer). I don't think low enough of the 1970s to consider Friedkin one of the decade's most important directors when it had Altman, Fassbinder, Malick, Elaine May and Wenders to name a few.

[Amnesiac]

I really couldn't get too interested in Bug. The characters, by and large, annoyed me and I didn't feel like the story went anywhere interesting.

Also, I didn't know Jim Sheridan did Get Rich Or Die Trying. So, the man who directed some of Daniel Day-Lewis' most celebrated performances also directed Curtis "50 Cent" Jackson... how that worked out, I don't know, as I haven't seen the film and I'm not too eager to get going on that.

[balmakboor]

Friedkin would've applied here if he'd been hit by a bus right after Deal of the Century. But he's made some very good films (including The Hunted and Bug) since then including his best film To Live and Die in LA.

[balmakboor]

How about Hal Ashby?

First: The Landlord

Hot Streak: Harold and Maude, The Last Detail, Shampoo, Bound for Glory, Coming Home, Being There

Followed by: Lookin' to Get Out, The Slugger's Wife, 8 Million Ways to Die (which I actually kinda liked but few others did)

[balmakboor]

Coppola arguably made the four best movies of the 1970s. I haven't seen his newest movie with Tim Roth, but nobody is even comparable to him with regards to the topic at hand.

While I found some things to like about it, I concluded, sadly, that Youth Without Youth is also pretty terrible.

[Ezee E]

While I found some things to like about it, I concluded, sadly, that Youth Without Youth is also pretty terrible.
Youth Without Youth is at least an interesting failure though.

I think he's on his way back, as his 90's films were mostly made to get himself funded for his wining company.

But still, Jack.....

[balmakboor]

Youth Without Youth is at least an interesting failure though.

I think he's on his way back, as his 90's films were mostly made to get himself funded for his wining company.

But still, Jack.....

Yes, I'll give it interesting and it does have some truly great moments, but it is oh so inert. The great loss with Coppola is that the great storyteller of the 70s has left the building.

With recent revisits, two of his post Apocalypse Now films that I onced liked a lot have soured -- One From the Heart and Rumblefish. I'm almost afraid to rewatch the other three that I really liked -- Cotton Club, Peggy Sue Got Married, and Tucker.

---

George Lucas (who seems like Coppola to truly be an experimental filmmaker at heart)

First Feature: THX 1138
Best Feature: TXH 1138
Latest Features: Star Wars PT

It's probably a matter of my own strange personal tastes, but I like his early student shorts the best of all.

P.S. - I don't hate the Star Wars PT. They've actually grown on me a bit.

[Raiders]

I still love Coppola's 80s efforts for the most part, especially Rumble Fish and One from the Heart.

And no way is Lucas even close to being an experimental filmmaker at heart. If he was, he might have shown it over the past 35 years at least once instead of piecing together the same mega-budget crap over and over again. Besides, THX 1138 is every bit as lame as most of his other movies.

[Ezee E]

Yeah, I like most of Coppola's 80's efforts as well. Even Bram Stoker's Dracula has some magnificent moments.

[balmakboor]

I still love Coppola's 80s efforts for the most part, especially Rumble Fish and One from the Heart.

And no way is Lucas even close to being an experimental filmmaker at heart. If he was, he might have shown it over the past 35 years at least once instead of piecing together the same mega-budget crap over and over again. Besides, THX 1138 is every bit as lame as most of his other movies.

I find that One From the Heart swings back and forth between things I love and things I can't stand and those swings get more pronounced every time I watch it. Things I love are the opening scenes, every scene between Forrest and Kinski, and the music by Waits and Gayle. Things I can't stand are pretty every scene between Garr and Julia, especially the scene in the restaurant and the dance number that spills out into the street. Ultimately, I think the script is to blame. It's just way too sketchy.

Rumblefish just fell flat for me this latest time. I still love the look of the film, but the characters and dialog all seemed pretty silly. Like what was on the page in the script -- as with One From the Heart -- wasn't worth all the fuss and effort on Coppola's part as a director.

I love THX and the short film that inspired it. What can I say? Maybe it's just that I love all stories of its type going back to 1984, Brave New World, and Fahrenheit 451.

You have hit on my biggest frustration with Lucas though. I honestly do think there is an Arthur Lipsett or something lurking in there trying to get out. But why he hasn't made any short experimental films over the years -- he certainly could -- is beyond me. Maybe you're right and he's just a money grubbing fake.

[balmakboor]

Yeah, I like most of Coppola's 80's efforts as well. Even Bram Stoker's Dracula has some magnificent moments.

Oh man. I forgot about that one. I actually still love his take on Dracula.