Great Films and Filmmakers

[AlienBoy]

I like to categorize "great" filmmakers as those filmmakers that have made at least three outstanding films - and each of those film sis so outstanding that portions of it have become part of the contemporary lexicon, that is, a part of our culture so that references to it are immediately understood and recognized.

For instance, because of the film 2001: A Space Odyssey, we associate Strauss's "Also Sprach Zarathustra" with space imagery. Or the line "I'm not animal!" from the film "Elephant Man".

These are my favorite directors, and the films that I think puts them into the outstanding category:


Stanley Kubrick:

Dr. Strangelove
A Clockwork Orange
2001: A Space Odyssey


Steven Soderbergh:

Sex Lies and Videotape
Traffic
Ocean's Eleven


Francis Coppolla:

The Godfather
The Godfather Part II
Apocalypse Now!


Martin Scorsesse:

Taxi Driver
Goodfellas
Raging Bull
King of Comedy


James Cameron:

The Terminator
Aliens
True Lies


Oliver Stone:

Platoon
Wall Street
The Doors


Milos Forman:

One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest
Amadeus
The People vs. Larry Flynt


Terry Gilliam:

Brazil
The Fisher King
Twelve Monkeys



What are yours?

AB