I saw a mention of this in a thread recently and thought it would be a great idea...a tournament (64 participants) of the greatest movie directors of all-time. I went through several sites and performed the arduous task of trying to rank 64 movie directors. I tried to go with primarily current directors but I also included some directors that were in their heyday back in the 30s, 40s, and 50s. Invariably, there are going to be some people who didn't make the cut but that is life. I am going to list the 64 that did get in by alphabetical order and later this evening, I will reveal the seedings. My plan is to have the first round start (at least half of it) on Monday and have voting last 48 hours. The votes can be done on the BBS or by email (my email is manny_ramirez73@yahoo.com). But you Clutchfans will determine who the greatest movie director is of all-time! Here are the participants, once again in alphabetical order: Adrian Lyne Alejandro Gonzalez Inarritu Alfonso Cuaron Alfred Hitchcock Amy Heckerling Ang Lee Billy Wilder Brian DePalma Cameron Crowe Cecil B. DeMile Christopher Nolan Clint Eastwood Coen Brothers Danny Boyle Darren Aronofsky David Fincher David Lynch Federico Fellini Francis Ford Coppola Frank Capra George Cukor George Lucas Guillermo del Toro Ida Lupino Ingmar Bergman J.J. Abrams James Cameron John Carpenter John Ford John Hughes Kathryn Bigelow King Vidor M. Night Shyamalan Martin Scorsese Mel Brooks Michael Mann Mike Nichols Milos Forman Nancy Meyers Nora Ephron Oliver Stone Orson Welles Paul Thomas Anderson Pedro Almodovar Quentin Tarantino Ridley Scott Rob Reiner Robert Zemeckis Roman Polanski Ron Howard Sam Mendes Sergei Eisenstein Sergio Leone Sidney Lumet Spike Lee Stanley Kubrick Steven Soderbergh Steven Spielberg Tim Burton Victor Fleming Wes Anderson William Friedkin William Wyler Woody Allen
George Miller, Russo Brothers Mad Max, Babe, Happy Feet, Lorenzo’s Oil Hands down the best Marvel Movies made by the Russos (Except Thor 3)
The Wachowskis were in one of the lists that I saw - I don't think I saw Tony Scott in any of the lists. As mentioned in the opening post, there are going to be people not in the tournament that can make an argument they should be there but with only 64 spots, some are going to get left out.
I could make very good arguments for Tony Scott and George Miller being on that list over several others.
It's possible that I might rescind one or even two spots in the field and give that spot or spots to both Scott and Miller. The final field with the seedings will be revealed sometime after 4 this afternoon.
I would drop M. Night and J.J. Abrams. I like their stuff, but I don't consider them 'greats'. I think M. Night has potential to get into that list but he needs more 6th Sense level stuff first. (which is why the Wachowski's really shouldn't be on it, most of their films are mediocre at best outside of The Matrix and V). There's a dearth of comedy directors and with The Green Book, I think the Farrellys deserve a spot, but I can't think of who to cut outside of the two I just noted. Maybe Lynch since a lot of his cachet comes from Twin Peaks, which isn't a movie. Maybe Ida Lupino, but TBH, I'm hesitant to touch the pre 1960s film directors because I'm not a fan of old black and white films except for a select few; I find them terribly dull.
I have to wonder if there isn't another director that could be placed ahead of Nora Ephron (perhaps Mel Gibson or Fred Zinnemann?). She was a very talented writer (Silkwood, When Harry Met Sally, My Blue Heaven & more), but the only significant movie she directed, at least that I'm familiar with, is Sleepless in Seattle.
I am going to go ahead and reveal the brackets - first round matchups for East and Midwest will start tomorrow and last 48 hours and have its own dedicated thread. The first round matchups for West and Southeast will start Tuesday and last 48 hours and also have its own dedicated thread. East Regional 1 - Stanley Kubrick 16 - Amy Heckerling 8 - Cecil B. DeMile 9 - Victor Fleming 5 - Sidney Lumet 12 - Nancy Meyers 4 - Orson Welles 13 - M. Night Shyamalan 6 - Ang Lee 11 - Alfonso Cuaron 3 - Ridley Scott 14 - Tony Scott 7 - Steven Soderbergh 10 - John Hughes 2 - Coen Brothers 15 - Danny Boyle Midwest Regional 1 - Steven Spielberg 16 - George Cukor 8 - George Lucas 9 - Ron Howard 5 - Clint Eastwood 12 - Mike Nichols 4 - David Fincher 13 - Roman Polanski 6 - Tim Burton 11 - Spike Lee 3 - James Cameron 14 - William Friedkin 7 - Frank Capra 10 - Ingmar Bergman 2 - Quentin Tarantino 15 - George Miller 2nd half of bracket will be in the following post....
West Regional 1 - Alfred Hitchcock 16 - Ida Lupino 8 - Wes Anderson 9 - Woody Allen 5 - Kathryn Bigelow 12 - Billy Wilder 4 - John Ford 13 - Sam Mendes 6 - Michael Mann 11 - Adrian Lyne 3 - Alejandro Gonzales Inarritu 14 - Cameron Crowe 7 - Oliver Stone 10 - Federico Fellini 2 - Francis Ford Coppola 15 - Rob Reiner Southeast Regional 1 - Martin Scorsese 16 - King Vidor 8 - Robert Zemeckis 9 - John Carpenter 5 - Pedro Almodovar 12 - Sergei Eisenstein 4 - Brian DePalma 13 - William Wyler 6 - David Lynch 11 - Milos Forman 3 - Paul Thomas Anderson 14 - Mel Brooks 7 - Darren Aronofsky 10 - Guillermo del Toro 2 - Christopher Nolan 15 - Sergio Leone
