Alejandro Jodorowsky… for FANDO Y LIS, EL TOPO, THE HOLY MOUNTAIN, and SANTA SANGRE.
Only 4 from 1967 to 1989.
Jean Cocteau, Charles Laughton, Jean Vigo, Gillo Pontecorvo, Erich von Stroheim, Paul Leni, and I guess considering the amount of time his films cover, you could say Sergei Eisenstein.
Sadao Yamanaka, John Abraham
runs the gamut
Vigo
Cocteau
and…
Savage Steve Holland (in the world of goofy teen angst films, he’s made three classics!)
Jack Garfien (The Strange One, Something Wild)
Ulu Grosbard
Elaine May
Albert Brooks
Jacques Audiard
Bennett Miller
Ted Demme
Andrew Niccol
Tomas Alfredson
Robert De Niro
Fernando Arrabal
John Ford… just kidding…
Tarkovsky if 7 feature films counts as “a few”
Malick is a great choice
If we’re counting directors who are relatively new and still making films, I think Aronofsky is currently among the best in the world
Richard Rush (?) is he a great director or so-so director who happened to direct ONE great movie (THE STUNT MAN)?
I’m torn on Richard Rush. The Stunt Man IS a great movie, Color of Night is one of my guiltiest of pleasures, but Freebie and the Bean is repulsive and I haven’t seen any of his earlier work.
Larry David
Ron Rice (my #1… he only made four films before he passed away at the age of 29)
Jean Vigo (no brainer)
Terry Zwigoff (5 films in the past 27 years)
Peter Whitehead (only made a few films, many of which are hard to track down)
Forgot Sergei Paradjanov.
Juan Pablo Rebella
Bob Fosse
Sweet Charity
Cabaret
Lenny
All That Jazz
Star 80
and then poof! Like a puff of (five packs of cigarettes) smoke, he was gone
Sergio Leone.
RYAN! damn…i wish i thought of Leone! KUDOS to you.
how about Larisa Shepitko? I’ve only seen WINGS and THE ASCENT, which are fabulous. She died in a car crash while working on THE FAREWELL, which her husband, Elem Klimov, finished. I’ve not seen YOU AND I.
How about Leanord Castle and his only film THE HONEYMOON KILLERS 1970. Criterion released and really a great one.
Zoltán Huszárik
Tati and CIMINO!
James Gray, too, maybe
Lodge Kerrigan.
His film “Clean, Shaven” made a huge impact on me, and it saddened me that the film never really got much critical notice, neither then nor now. :-(
Here’s one
Jack Garfein
Only a handful of films and I haven’t seen most of them, but Something Wild(1961) is nothing short of amazing. I saw it at a double feature, and most people were there to see his other film. At the end of the film everyone seemed to be holding there breath. Really an unexpected amazing experience.
Jean Eustache and Andrei Tarkovski
Morris Engel
Remy Belvaux.
Viking Eggeling made only one film before he died and it’s still a landmark of avant-garde cinema: Diagonal Symphony.
Jean Vigo, Jean Eustache, Charles Laughton. Maybe Von Stroheim, though he had made more films than the previous 3 mentioned.
I would say CHARLES LAUGHTON, since he made only one film (Night of the Hunter), and today it’s still a masterpiece.
Elvis Is King
Carroll Ballard with only six between 1979 and 2005.