Name great directors that became B-movie directors?
03-06-11 | 10:24 AM
#52
DVD Talk Special Edition
Re: Name great directors that became B-movie directors?
I can. The director pays his dues and establishes his credibility by making a "great film or two." The studio then trusts him to handle its biggest investments: the "crap films".
03-06-11 | 12:32 PM
#54
DVD Talk Hero
03-06-11 | 01:06 PM
#55
Re: Name great directors that became B-movie directors?
You might as well list every director out there who makes Hollywood movies. Everyone stumbles, has studio interference or deals with pain-in-the-rear know-it-all actors.
03-06-11 | 03:03 PM
#56
Re: Name great directors that became B-movie directors?
Right, eventually every director is going to fail. It's easier to list the handful of sickos like Kubrick who were insanely disciplined and never cashed in.
03-06-11 | 06:51 PM
#57
Re: Name great directors that became B-movie directors?
I completely understand how directors can go from greatness to crap, and don't believe that book authors are immune to this, and don't consider Roeg, De Palma, or Coppola to be crap directors. I also think Walter Hill has made some remarkable films and that Peterson and Verhoeven's "old ways" were quite grungy and low-budget before they moved to Hollywood.
So what I'm saying is I disagree with absolutely everything in your post.
Except....
Irvin Kershner
Sam Peckinpah
George Lucas
Alfred Hitchcock
Stanley Kubrick
Alan Pakula
--all made crap before they died.
(Yes, I know Lucas is still alive.)
So what I'm saying is I disagree with absolutely everything in your post.
Except....
Irvin Kershner
Sam Peckinpah
George Lucas
Alfred Hitchcock
Stanley Kubrick
Alan Pakula
--all made crap before they died.
(Yes, I know Lucas is still alive.)
03-06-11 | 07:08 PM
#58
Re: Name great directors that became B-movie directors?
Orson Welles became a B-movie director but that did not interfere with his skills as a master.
Films like 'The Trial', 'Othello' & 'Mr. Arkadin' were low budget & European financed.
Yet that does not take away from a master filmmaker with limited resources.
Films like 'The Trial', 'Othello' & 'Mr. Arkadin' were low budget & European financed.
Yet that does not take away from a master filmmaker with limited resources.
03-06-11 | 07:22 PM
#59
DVD Talk Legend
Re: Name great directors that became B-movie directors?
Curtis Hanson also came to mind, but it seems he just struck gold once with L.A. Confidential. I thought 8 Mile was decent though.
03-06-11 | 07:35 PM
#60
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Re: Name great directors that became B-movie directors?
Plus, early on Hanson elevated some B-movie material to near-A quality, like the HUGELY underrated The Hand That Rocks the Cradle.
03-07-11 | 03:18 PM
#61
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03-08-11 | 08:40 PM
#64
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Re: Name great directors that became B-movie directors?
He had a couple duds, but he's been pretty consistent. Here's a trailer for his new movie:
<iframe title="YouTube video player" width="640" height="390" src="http://www.youtube.com/embed/z17OEqbrOOQ" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen></iframe>
<iframe title="YouTube video player" width="640" height="390" src="http://www.youtube.com/embed/z17OEqbrOOQ" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen></iframe>
03-09-11 | 06:30 PM
#65
Senior Member
Re: Name great directors that became B-movie directors?
The problem with being a director as opposed to an author is that you have to rely on other people (actors/producers/dps) to produce a quality product. An author doesn't have that problem.
I think on the whole directors are given too much credit for the good movies they make, and also too much blame when bad movies turn out bad. Sometimes you get lucky and sometimes you don't.
Tarantino for example is a great director (and my favorite director), but he's been lucky enough to have great actors editors and everything else to help make his movies great. How good a film is comes down to the group effort, and like I said before sometimes you get lucky and sometimes you don't.
I think on the whole directors are given too much credit for the good movies they make, and also too much blame when bad movies turn out bad. Sometimes you get lucky and sometimes you don't.
Tarantino for example is a great director (and my favorite director), but he's been lucky enough to have great actors editors and everything else to help make his movies great. How good a film is comes down to the group effort, and like I said before sometimes you get lucky and sometimes you don't.
03-09-11 | 06:48 PM
#66
DVD Talk Legend
Re: Name great directors that became B-movie directors?
I would argue that some of Roger Corman's Poe films, particularly Fall of the House of Usher, and Masque of the Red Death, were very well-directed, excellent movies. He did tend to go downhill just a bit, though.
03-09-11 | 07:42 PM
#67
DVD Talk Legend
Re: Name great directors that became B-movie directors?
It's my understanding that he was in very poor health and most of the movie was actually directed by James Coburn.
Somebody mentioned Paul Verhoeven. While I would not classify him as a crap director, I wouldn't say his American material is A-movie. The closest is Basic Instinct, which is still full of faults. Robocop, Total Recall, and Starship Troopers all fall under fun B-movies IMO. Showgirls serves its purpose from time to time.
