Put me in the pro Under Capricorn group as well. I like his use of long takes there and Cotten does nice work. The real Hitch clunkers for me are Stage Fright, Topaz and Torn Curtain (minus the killer gas stove scenes, which is excellent).
Never seen a bad film by most of my faves (Pabst, Murnau, Lang, Renoir, von Sternberg, Buñuel, Ophüls, Riefenstahl, Vigo, Carné, Reed, Lean, Hamer, Mackendrick, Chuck Jones or Edward D. Wood Jr).
However, here are some total duds by a few fine directors:
Michael Curtiz → White Christmas
John Huston → Victory
Mel Brooks → Silent Movie, Spaceballs and Robin Hood: Men in Tights
Woody Allen → Zelig, Match Point and Vicky Cristina Barcelona
funny I find some of those to be those guy’s best work
particularly Mel (tho we agree on Men in Tights)
“Dennis ^ …is John Derek a fav director ?”
and Tarzan is really not a clunker, would give it 2 1/2 stars but in comparison to rest of work it is.
silkj205
I also like Under Capricorn quite a bit, so did the Cahiers du Cinema crowd back in the day. Gothic and moody period piece.
For me
Jacques Rivette-Merry go Round-I really wanted to love it. It has interesting moments but they’re just that. Towards the end it just seems to give up completely. An improvisation film made with someone who didn’t want to improvise.
Fritz Lang-Human Desire-I liked Bete Humaine a lot, and I also love Lang, but this left me fuming. Almost all moral ambiguity-particularly the ending, fumbled and dropped. Defend any other Lang to me but this one.
Fred Schepisi-Plenty. I love Meryl Streep, but this was just all of her worst qualities writ large. The film becomes a vanity project, soft-pedaling the flaws in her character. I came out hating Meryl and Schepisi for letting it happen. I forgave her after Doubt
Woody Allen-Melinda and Melinda-didn’t even have the incidental pleasures of other Woody faliures. Everyone playing it so low key. The funny parts aren’t funny. I still defended it at the time (fool)
Alan Rudolph: Endangered Species . It was done for the money and it’s ok little thriller but there are fewer pleasures than Rudolph’s other “for the money” projects (Songwriter, Made in Heaven, Mortal Thoughts)