Sergio Leone- Great or greatest director
 

He made only 7 movies but from that alone, he is like his contemporary of the time when they were peaking, Kubrick, only instead of Kubrick whose works were masterpieces of thought, Leone's were masterpieces of feeling. I really obsessed over this short fat Italian.

Re: Sergio Leone- Great or greatest director
 

He's only at his greatest if Delli Colli and Morricone are involved (One of the main reasons why Colossus of Rhodes isn't as well remembered)

IMO, nobody has ever filmed flashback sequences better than him.

Re: Sergio Leone- Great or greatest director
 

Once Upon A Time in The West made me want the hero to take out the bad guy like never before. Amazing..simply amazing scene.

Re: Sergio Leone- Great or greatest director
 

Anyone who thinks Kubrick films were strictly cerebral exercises didn't get them at all.

But yes, Leone was a Great director. Greatest? Ahhh no.

Re: Sergio Leone- Great or greatest director
 

I have to give Kubrick the edge because pretty much any movie he directed within a genre became a classic of that genre. Not many directors can lay claim to such. Leone was pretty much a Spaghetti Western individual.

Re: Sergio Leone- Great or greatest director
 

I don't much care for Westerns / gangster movies but its the style.

Re: Sergio Leone- Great or greatest director
 

Leone is one of the greatest filmmakers ever. He's not the greatest though. Kubrick for sure is much more talented than Leone, in terms of his direction in general. Leone oozed a lot more style than Kubrick...but Kubrick was better thank Leone. Also...well...he didn't die so fat.

Re: Sergio Leone- Great or greatest director
 

Leone - Great : Yes / Greatest : No

Kubrick - Great : Yes / Greatest : No, but IMO greater than Leone

Re: Sergio Leone- Great or greatest director
 

While everyone's (Deservedly) quick to point out OUATITW's flashback sequence, I've always felt that Duck You Sucker's flashbacks are just as intriguing.
The Irish pub betrayal/shoot-out is just as hauntingly beautiful to me as "Keep your lovin' brother happy".

Re: Sergio Leone- Great or greatest director
 

Just curious, who would you say is the greatest?

Re: Sergio Leone- Great or greatest director
 

Not the greatest, but certainly one of the greats. His use of leitmotifs is unparalled, as are his closeups.

Re: Sergio Leone- Great or greatest director
 

Agreed. That's an underrated flick.

Re: Sergio Leone- Great or greatest director
 

Leone had Clint as a star and Morricone doing the music.
There for I put Leon in company of all the James Bond movie directors of the 60's, 70's and 80's.

Re: Sergio Leone- Great or greatest director
 

....What?

Re: Sergio Leone- Great or greatest director
 

John Ford + Akira Kurosawa = the greatest

Leone borrowed from/was influenced by both, but he's a pale echo in comparison.

Re: Sergio Leone- Great or greatest director
 

Personally...I'd say Kurosawa was the best. He grew as a filmmaker w/ every film he did and it showed. Literally watch his films and you see a man get better and better w/ his technique. You see the style become formed. I got that Post War Kurosawa set and it was amazing seeing a younger AK become a legend slowly through each film.

Re: Sergio Leone- Great or greatest director
 

He gave these guys their breaks though, not since have they been as good. Delli Colli was responsible definitely though, i mean the Good, the Bad and the Ugly looks better shot than some 90s movies ffs. Also explains why Duck you Sucker looked more rigid and grimey since he was not apart of it afterward.

Re: Sergio Leone- Great or greatest director
 

Kubrick could ooze style when he wanted too. Clockwork Orange is one of most stylized films ever made. Kubrick just made very few films and was always making something different. But I'd also put Kubrick ahead of Leone. The comparison is so funny because between them they didn't even make 20 films.


If I was picking number one alltime. It would have to be John Huston. The guy started with a masterpiece and ended with one. He was so consistent throughout the years. No one ever talks about John Huston as anything but an old hollywood director. But in the 70's and 80's his output was on par with any other American filmmaker of that era. He just doesn't get any acclaim for it because of his age at that time, and the fact that he made his bones in the 40's/50's. But yeah Huston would be my numero uno.

Re: Sergio Leone- Great or greatest director
 

Really wish they would release a BD set live we had on DVD aka the Leone Anthology. Was a great set.

Get better BD transfers too. I wish...

Re: Sergio Leone- Great or greatest director
 

That's a tough one, today I will go with Andrei Tarkovsky.

Re: Sergio Leone- Great or greatest director
 

Fair enough.

To me, I'd have to say Kubrick is in the conversation, if not, the conversation.

Re: Sergio Leone- Great or greatest director
 

Don't get me wrong, I love Kubrick but there are so many good ones that it is difficult to choose just one.
When you asked me that question I was juggling a few names to see if I could pick just one and it was difficult.
Like I said, Tarkovsky for today.

Tomorrow could be :

Luis Buñuel
Michelangelo Antonioni
Alfred Hitchcock
Orson Welles
Ingmar Bergman
Robert Bresson

Re: Sergio Leone- Great or greatest director
 

That's pretty amusing that your criteria is between "great" or "greatest". Leone is hard to measure because, like Kubrick, his film volume is low and, unlike Kubrick, his variety was narrow.

I think Leone could have been one of the greatest of film makers had he been a younger man when "A Fistful of Dollars" was made. You can tell that he's was just getting his beak wet as the film is a carbon copy of Kurosawa. By the time he made "The Good, the Good, and the Ugly", his has found his own voice.

I think "Once Upon a Time in the West" is one of the finest films ever created. I think the two films that followed don't hold the same brilliance. "America" for example, echoes some brilliance but carries too many flaws. It's almost as if Leone had reached his peak by the time "West" was made.

You've given me an idea. I should do a retrospective of Leone on my blog sometime. It would be interesting to compare how he progressed as a film maker.

As far as Kubrick--he's one of the best, if not the greatest. Although, I don't even love all of his features, he was always striving for a new genre. I think both Kubrick and Leone show some versatility, but not to the same degree as a Howard Hawks. But films are art and you should create what you know and what comes from the heart. Leone certainly did that, even with just a handful of films.

Re: Sergio Leone- Great or greatest director
 

Good post there.

The only complaint i have with Leone is cause of his narrow genre like others mention, unlike Kubrick's varied ones. But purely style-wise i am willing to forego that downside (and coming from someone who does not give a shit about westerns/gangsters), the style hidden throughout. America proved he could do it with ANY genre the closeup faces and ponderous aimless drifting around. Oh and i also dont care for the Once Upon trilogy, just on Dollars. He should have stuck with the b-movie fare and not get serious.

Re: Sergio Leone- Great or greatest director
 

Once Upon trilogy? There are only 2. In the West and In America.