PG Cooper
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Post by PG Cooper on May 14, 2015 15:35:39 GMT -5
On a Facebook group I'm in, a debate broke out regarding if you could place four filmmakers on a Mount Rushmore celebrating the best/most important directors of all-time, who would you choose? I interpreted the question as being the directors who served most as pioneers for the art and have influenced filmmaking the most.
My four:
D.W. Griffith
John Ford
Fritz Lang
Orson Welles
Who are your four? Do you lean towards the important filmmakers, are you looking at the best?
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Doomsday
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Post by Doomsday on May 14, 2015 15:46:19 GMT -5
Well since this is Mt. Rushmore does that mean they have to be American? If not, where should we put the monument?
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Post by SnoBorderZero on May 14, 2015 16:00:07 GMT -5
This is really, really tough.
Orson Welles
Stanley Kubrick
Federico Fellini
Ingmar Bergman
But man, this is so tough, I could've easily gone so many different ways but these are the ones who really stand out for me.
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Post by Neverending on May 14, 2015 16:13:30 GMT -5
The real Mt. Rushmore has George Washington (our first President), Thomas Jefferson (who wrote the Declaration of Independence), Abraham Lincoln (who freed the slaves and prevented this country from falling apart) and Teddy Roosevelt (who turned the U.S. into a super power).
So with that in mind...
A cinematic Rushmore would have to include Thomas Edison (the person who introduced movies to the public), Cecil B. DeMille (the person who promoted the idea of movies being larger than life), Stanley Kubrick (the person who never sacrificed art in his work), and Steven Spielberg (the most successful filmmaker of all-time).
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SnoBorderZero
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Post by SnoBorderZero on May 14, 2015 16:17:18 GMT -5
Orson Welles would probably demand his own monument. And the sculptor would have to do Citizen Kane-era Welles, he wouldn't be able to fit Welles onto any mountain after he became a giant bowling ball later in life.
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Post by Neverending on May 14, 2015 16:23:41 GMT -5
Orson Welles would probably demand his own monument. And no one would listen. Orson Welles peaked early. He had his super star career in radio during the 1930's and then a handful of well-regarded movies in the 1940's and 50's. But in the last 25 years of his life he became a D-list celebrity. The fact that his final roles were on Magnum, P.I. and Transformers: The Movie says it all. I know you guys will single out the editing techniques in F or Fake or whatever that shit was called, but the real credit for that should probably go to Richard Donner (of Superman and Lethal Weapon fame): |
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SnoBorderZero
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Post by SnoBorderZero on May 14, 2015 16:30:47 GMT -5
Lol, that clip was amazing, Richard Donner did that?
Welles peaked with the greatest film ever made, so yeah, he was bound to go backwards. "F for Fake" isn't just the editing though, it's also his clever use of editing and narration to "trick" the audience into being unable to separate fact from fiction at times, such as the Pablo Picasso story. I personally think that movie is amazing, but I have some friends who just find it pretentious. "Chimes at Midnight" from 1966 (I believe) is also no slouch, and is very highly regarded. The man never made a bad movie, though some of his efforts from the '40s like "The Stranger" and "Macbeth" are just okay.
Yeah, he became a joke later in life, but he's still one of the best if not the best ever. And he hated the Transformers movie, I think he had a really fun quote when someone asked him what it was about and he condescendingly replied "it's about a bunch of toys who fight other toys". Classic Orson.
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Post by Neverending on May 14, 2015 16:52:06 GMT -5
Lol, that clip was amazing, Richard Donner did that? He worked on television before his movie career. He directed episodes of Steve McQueen's Wanted: Dead or Alive, The Twilight Zone (he made the FAMOUS airplane episode with William Shatner), The Man from UNCLE (which just got a movie adaptation by Guy Richie), Gilligan's Island, Perry Mason, Get Smart, The Fugitive, Wild Wild West and Kojak just to name a few. I don't care what AFI says, Citizen Kane is not the greatest movie of all-time. |
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SnoBorderZero
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Post by SnoBorderZero on May 14, 2015 17:05:01 GMT -5
It's not just AFI that says that, pretty much every legit film ranking has it at number 1. Is it the greatest ever? Idk, but I can't think of a film that would be a better option for the top spot.
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Post by Neverending on May 14, 2015 17:08:07 GMT -5
Pretty much every legit film ranking has it at number 1. Didn't Sight & Sound - the AFI of Europe - give Vertigo the #1 spot in their last ranking? |
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PG Cooper
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Post by PG Cooper on May 14, 2015 17:10:33 GMT -5
After giving it to Kane since the 60s.
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PG Cooper
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Post by PG Cooper on May 14, 2015 17:13:13 GMT -5
Well since this is Mt. Rushmore does that mean they have to be American? If not, where should we put the monument? I don't think they should have to be American. |
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Post by Neverending on May 14, 2015 17:17:08 GMT -5
After giving it to Kane since the 60s. Clearly there's a generational shift. |
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Post by PG Cooper on May 14, 2015 17:21:35 GMT -5
I'll represent the youth and say Citizen Kane is worthy of being called the greatest film of all-time.
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SnoBorderZero
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Post by SnoBorderZero on May 14, 2015 17:22:26 GMT -5
After giving it to Kane since the 60s. Clearly there's a generational shift. Could be, but then again a lot of people approach the film knowing it's title as GOAT and expect to be blown away like it's "Star Wars" and are disappointed. It's not a spectacle in that sense though, it's a film that demands repeat viewings and a full understanding of what makes it such a landmark film. So yeah, it's easy for people to write it off as boring and pompous, and "Vertigo" is certainly a lot more entertaining so I'm not surprised. I don't think "Vertigo" is a better movie, but they're both 10's so it is what it is. |
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Post by Neverending on May 14, 2015 17:41:46 GMT -5
I don't think "Vertigo" is a better movie. I do. Alfred Hitchcock > Orson Welles |
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Doomsday
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Post by Doomsday on May 14, 2015 18:20:57 GMT -5
Speaking as representative of Los Angeles, I will tell you that you will run into trouble building your filmmaking Rushmore unless you have adequate minority, female and transgender representation.
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Post by Neverending on May 14, 2015 18:33:28 GMT -5
Speaking as representative of Los Angeles, I will tell you that you will run into trouble building your filmmaking Rushmore unless you have adequate minority, female and transgender representation. All right... Mary Pickford, Ed Wood, Bruce Lee and Steven Spielberg. |
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donny
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Post by donny on May 15, 2015 9:35:03 GMT -5
Hitchock should be on it, I feel.
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SnoBorderZero
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Post by SnoBorderZero on May 15, 2015 10:04:01 GMT -5
I don't think "Vertigo" is a better movie. I do. Alfred Hitchcock > Orson Welles Yes and no, Hitchcock's body of overall work is probably more impressive, but I think "Citizen Kane" and "Touch of Evil" both top anything Hitchcock did, and I'm a huge fan of Hitchcock. |
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Post by Neverending on May 15, 2015 14:10:03 GMT -5
I think "Citizen Kane" and "Touch of Evil" both top anything Hitchcock did. Nonsense! |
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PG Cooper
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Post by PG Cooper on May 15, 2015 14:22:17 GMT -5
I think Kane does, but not Touch of Evil.
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Post by donny on May 15, 2015 15:05:43 GMT -5
I'll take Vertigo over Kane.
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Post by SnoBorderZero on May 15, 2015 17:44:54 GMT -5
I think "Citizen Kane" and "Touch of Evil" both top anything Hitchcock did. Nonsense! Hitchcock never had a shot as good as the opening crane shot in "Touch of Evil", not even in "Psycho". |
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Post by PG Cooper on May 15, 2015 17:52:02 GMT -5
Charlton Heston playing a Mexican is too ridiculous to let slip by. Beyond that, much as I enjoy Touch of Evil, Hitchcock's masterpieces are a lot tighter.
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