Great films by terrible filmmakers.
Chasing Amy
@ THE DUDE -
I can’t be objective about The Towering Inferno. That was the biggest film of my childhood and those of us who were allowed to see it were treated as kings of the fourth grade. I did, however, have to look up the entire canon of director John Guillermin, and I have to smile because he does, indeed, have quite a few big piles of mess to his name, but they’re very entertaining big piles of mess. The Blue Max, a few Tarzan titles, the 1976 King Kong remake, Death on the Nile … none of them are particularly awful, and all have their respective charms. But I’m with you that The Towering Inferno is definitely the jewel of that crown.
La Haine is a horrible film. Ghetto fetishized. Heads explode.
One Crazy Summer is as good as Better Off Dead.
I would mention Bubble
I would say Donnie Darko
I’d nominate Bob Clark too. Love Black Christmas, but most of his other films are crap. There are a couple of alright ones though.
Foley too, definitely, although last time we all agreed on that Mr.Parks challenged us :-) Either way, i think Glengarry is the clear standout in his filmography. I think he got lucky.
Irvin Kershner as well. Would have liked to mention David Gordon Green but i checked out George Washington a few weeks ago and while it’s definitely an interesting film, it’s nowhere near great in my view.
Maybe Besson? Leon is quite good, although it’s nowhere near the film i thought it was in the mid 90’s. Kassovitz is tempting but i haven’t seen the film Ari mentioned earlier. The rest of the films i’ve seen of him are dire though. e.g Crimson Rivers, Babylon A.D etc.
I can also understand people nominating Toback if they loved FIngers and hated everything else. Fingers is his only great film to me, but some of his others are decent. He has made terrible ones too.
Jirin – Oh yeah completely forgot, maybe that’s why Empire was so good.
Jerry – It’s much better than Catwoman.
Bob Clarks Deathdream is one of the best Zombie films ever made. He’s probably the only person who could make a Zombie film relevant other than Romero.
Pffft. Black Christmas. I don’t know what people see in that dreck.
Yay, populist me: A Christmas Story.
Michael Cimino for The Deer Hunter
Billy’s coming to get you, Giosue.
The Rock.
There… I said it. At least Sean Connery was entertaining.
“Billy’s coming to get you, Giosue.”
that’s right Tommy!!
RGRIMES: The funny thing about Deer Hunter is that Cimino’s flaws are quite clearly evident in that film, but they don’t ruin the overall effect. It all went a bit lopsided after that, although i still like Heaven’s Gate. The rest of his films are duds though. The Silician and Desperate Hours are 1 star films.
American Beauty and Trainspotting.
Falling Down
^^I don’t know, Schumacher made a few decent ones. e.g Lost Boys, Phone Booth, Tigerland etc. I’d say that, overall, he is a bit of a hack, but he occasionally comes good. and his commentary tracks are always entertaining. hehe
i think St Elmo’s Fire needs a sequel
“The funny thing about Deer Hunter is that Cimino’s flaws are quite clearly evident in that film, but they don’t ruin the overall effect. It all went a bit lopsided after that, although i still like Heaven’s Gate. The rest of his films are duds though. The Silician and Desperate Hours are 1 star films.”
Yeah, but Thunderbolt and Lightfoot is much better than The Deer Hunter.
Snow Angels and Undertow are great!
I have not seen Undertow yet (I can’t bring myself to watch anything by DGG these days, feelings of anger and betrayal, ect.) but Snow Angels seemed completely forgettable to me….
@ DUST IN LOVE
Definitely Donnie Darko., good call.
What is a terrible filmmaker?
“Definitely Donnie Darko., good call.”
Not so much. It’s a film where the director’s later output reveals the flaws in his first film.
“What is a terrible filmmaker?”
Not what! Who.
“but Snow Angels seemed completely forgettable to me….”
I still say Snow Angels is DGG’s finest accomplishment.
Here’s the thing about Lucas. I’ve heard that Harrison Ford ad-libbed a lot of his lines because he read the script that Lucas wrote and said to him “Nobody would ever say this shit.” Lucas is good at the sort of high level imagination part of production, and very bad at the details of connecting plot points. That’s why the good Star Wars films are the ones where Lucas had the least direct control. Lucas is a big picture idea guy, but he needs somebody to be able to tell him “No, this is stupid, trust me.”
And he needed to realize that most of his existing fan base was 20-40, not 6.
I suppose it’s 6 now. :)
To those who mention Star Wars: have you seen Look at Life, 1:42.08, The Emperor, Filmmaker, or Electronic Labyrinth: THX 1138 4EB?
Throw in THX 1138 and American Graffiti, and you have far better than a “terrible filmmaker”… three bad films should not weigh down his solid body of work in the ’60s and ’70s — let alone qualify him as a “terrible filmmaker”.
I agree with Joks, Schumacher has made a couple films of quality entertainment. I might even suggest that The Lost Boys is better than Falling Down (or at the very least, just as good).
I wouldn’t consider the likes of Irvin Kirshner, Michael Cimino or Sam Mendes terrible, but I would consider this lot…
A Christmas Story – Bob Clark
This is Spinal Tap – Rob Reiner
10 Rillington Place, Narrow Margin – Richard Fleischer
Champion, The Harder they Fall, Bedlam – Mark Robson
What are people’s thoughts on Arthur Hiller? He directed the great Americanization of Emily, The Hospital and The In-Laws, but then also the likes of Making Love, Author! Author!, Carpool, Nightwing, Promise Her Anything and so many other dogs
TAKING OF PELHAM ONE TWO THREE — Joseph Sargent’s masterpiece, one of the great American thrillers, tight as a drum and damn near perfect, and the only film Sargent ever made I’d even consider sitting through.
Schlesinger is pretty bad imo, outside of 2 or 3 movies.
mark robson’s best film imo was his debut the seventh victim (1943)
also re: fleischer, soylent green and the vikings are least good fun
“TAKING OF PELHAM ONE TWO THREE — Joseph Sargent’s masterpiece, one of the great American thrillers, tight as a drum and damn near perfect, and the only film Sargent ever made I’d even consider sitting through.”
A good choice but White Lightning is damn fun.
Bob Clark was not a terrible filmmaker. He directed some crap but the guy helmed 2-3 masterpieces, and a couple of good to very good films in between.
I’d vote for “Kalifornia”
Ari
It pains me to mention Bob Clark since I do like a few of his films but he has one great film (Black Christmas) and mostly god-awful crap (Baby Geniuses). Savage Steve Holland made the greatest 80s teen film Better off Dead and now makes awful tv crap.