Breaking into Hollywood is tough sledding, particularly if you want to get behind the camera. As a big fan of Kevin Smith movies, I wondered one day what the best movies were that were made by young directors. Smith was 24 when he made ‘Clerks’ for less than thirty thousand dollars. Robert Rodriguez was 24 when he made ‘El Mariachi’ for about $7,000 – he raised the money by submitting himself to a medical laboratory for experimental drug treatments. There are plenty of older directors out there who, for the most part, got their start by directing episodic television. With the vast amounts of money it takes to make a movie these days, the major studios want to decrease the risk of a movie bombing by giving the directing duties over to a seasoned pro. Giving a young, unproven director the reigns to a movie is risky business. So when it does happen, usually there is real and burgeoning talent. Younger directors today have other avenues to get their start, music videos, commercials and the internet.
One of my main criteria for paying money to watch a movie is who is directing it. Instead of being intrigued with the storyline or getting excited by the trailer, I have certain directors that I will watch, no matter what the movie is about. A few of my favorites appear below. There are some of these movies I confess I haven’t seen, so I relied mainly on IMDB and the AMC film site to make the list. Here are 15 great movies made by directors age 30 and under. They aren’t necessarily ranked, however it’s pretty much implied that Orson Welles should be considered the best of the lot. There might be some spoilers, but I’ll do my best.
Director and Age: John Singleton (23)
Other Notable Movies: Poetic Justice, Shaft, Rosewood
An explosive story of four friends growing up in south central Los Angeles. Some pin their hopes on going to college, others are mired in the daily drama of gangs, violence and drugs. Cuba Gooding Jr. plays Tre, a boy dropped off by his well-to-do mother at his father’s house in hopes of having a good role model and helping him become a man. Ice Cube plays Doughboy, one of Tre’s gangster friends. Morris Chestnut plays Doughboy’s brother, who’s headed off to college on a football scholarship. Singleton was nominated for best director for this story of growing up in a violent world.
Buy the DVD at Amazon: Boyz ‘N the Hood
Director and Age: Louis Malle (24)
Other Notable Movies: Au revoir les enfants, Elevator to the Gallows
Known for tackling touchy subjects later in his career, Malle got his start with the help of Jacques Cousteau aboard the Calypso. The Silent World was one of the first movies to use underwater cinematography in color. It opened up an amazing world of undersea adventures. The movie, a documentary, won the Palm d’Or at the 1956 Cannes Film festival and the Academy Award for best documentary. Amazingly, Cousteau got into some hot water later when it was discovered he had killed a school of sharks who were attracted to a dead whale carcass and using dynamite on a coral reef during the making of this movie.
Buy the DVD at Amazon: The Jacques Cousteau Odyssey – The Complete Series
Director and Age: Paul Thomas Anderson – (29)
Other Notable Movies: Boogie Nights, There Will Be Blood, Cigarettes and Coffee
Anderson was well on his way to making it big in Hollywood even before Magnolia came out as he made Boogie Nights two years before that film. One characteristic of his movies are ensemble casts, and Magnolia is one of the best examples of this. The characters and story are intertwined as people pay for the choices they have made in life. Themes of regret, abuse, loneliness and failed relationships as well as redemption are all explored here. Personally I’ve never really cared for the film, but Tom Cruise gives a blistering performance as sort of a misogynistic evangelist on techniques for bagging women, perhaps his best performance ever.
Buy the DVD at Amazon: Magnolia
Director and Age: George Lucas (29)
Other Notable Movies: the Star Wars series
Lucas’s coming of age period movie was a story that revolved around a typical night in 1962 California. Lucas describes it as the end of an era as some kids went to college and some kids went to Vietnam. As he felt by the time the story ends, America underwent a drastic change. It was Curt Henderson (Richard Dreyfuss) and Steve Bolander’s (Ron Howard), last night in town as they were set to go to college back east. John Milner (Paul Le Mat) was the town tough guy and Terry \”The Toad\” Fields (Charles Martin Smith) was the high school nerd. Lucas pitched his script to several Hollywood studios and was denied before Universal picked it up. Lucas ended up writing the script himself with his large 45 record collection of 50’s and 60’s music playing as he wrote, and had a song in mind for every scene. A young Harrison Ford makes an appearance as a drag challenger to Milner.
Buy the DVD at Amazon: American Graffiti (Collector’s Edition)
Director and Age: Orson Welles (27)
Other Notable Movies: Citizen Kane, Lady From Shanghai, A Touch of Evil
Orson Welles never really seemed to get along with RKO Studios. RKO was bitter because it seemed like his movies never made any money. Welles was always battling them on everything about how a movie is made. Ambersons is no different. After making Citizen Kane, you would think he’d have a little more clout with the suits about getting things done. But the studio re-edited this film when Welles was out of town and gave it a more sentimental ending. Welles didn’t appear in this movie, but his touch is all over it with brilliant lighting, innovative camera work, and smart editing. (sans the Studio interference) In spite of all the problems, it was still a great film and nominated for four Academy Awards.
Buy the DVD at Amazon: The Magnificent Ambersons
Director and Age: Francois Truffant (27)
Other Notable Movies: The Wild Child, Shoot the Piano Player, Fahrenheit 451
One of the best movies and examples of the French New Wave, The 400 Blows is a story of the injustices done to juvenile offenders in France during that time. After a life of abuse and petty crime, a boy is sent to a work camp by the sea. The film ends with him escaping to see the ocean, essentially freeing him from his troubled past. Truffant won best director honors at the 1960 Cannes Film Festival and was nominated for best original screenplay at the Academy Awards. You can also see Truffant acting in Spielberg’s Close Encounters of the Third Kind.
Buy the DVD at Amazon: The 400 Blows – Criterion Collection
Director and Age: George Romero (28)
Other Notable Movies: Dawn of the Dead, Land of the Dead
I don’t think anyone’s going to step up and say this is necessarily a ‘great’ movie on par with the other directors on this list. However, this movie practically started a new genre. There were stories of the undead before this, but this one spawned a thousand imitators. And it is one of the movies registered with the National Film Registry for preservation. An interesting experiment would be to watch this movie and then watch ‘Shaun of the Dead,’ to see how many parallels there are in dialog and references.
Buy the DVD at Amazon: Night of the Living Dead
Director and Age: Quentin Tarantino (29)
Other Notable Movies: Pulp Fiction, Jackie Brown, Kill Bill, Grindhouse
Love him or hate him, you’ve got to hand it to Quentin Tarantino. There really isn’t anyway a great movie like Pulp Fiction would have been made had he not shown his passion for film like he did in Reservoir Dogs. Violent and slick, snappy dialog and a good story with a great cast makes for a great movie. Reservoir Dogs also marked the start of the new wave of independent movies. Tarantino has also gotten in some hot water by being accused of ripping off the Asian movie “City on Fire.” But you can look that up and decide for yourself whether this is a ripoff or another one of Tarantino’s oft used ‘homages.’
Buy the DVD at Amazon: Reservoir Dogs (15th Anniversary)
Director and Age: Kenneth Branagh (29)
Other Notable Movies: Hamlet, Dead Again, Frankenstein
No one brings the Bard to the big screen quite like Branagh. There are some fantastic Shakespeare adaptations by Lawrence Olivier and Orson Welles, but this Henry V breathed new life into Shakespeare on screen. A simple comparison of Olivier’s Agincourt speech and Branagh’s brings out these differences in film making and eras. There is a richness of the characters and modern feel as well as a faithfulness to the story in his versions. Branagh’s Henry V also has a fantastic cast featuring Derek Jacoby as Chorus, Brian Blessed as Exeter, Ian Holm as Fluellen, Judy Dench, Christian Bale, Paul Scofield and Christopher Ravenscroft. Branagh was nominated for both best actor and best director at the Academy Awards.
Buy the DVD at Amazon: Henry V
Director and Age: Charlie Chaplin (26)
Other Notable Movies: The Gold Rush, Modern Times, City Lights
One of Hollywood’s first superstars, Chaplin had already made several movies before the Tramp, but this is probably the best example of his early work. Chaplin had played a down on his luck character before, but this marked the beginning of the character, The Tramp.’ And it was a little less slapstick than his earlier work.
Buy the DVD at Amazon: The Little Tramp: The Charlie Chaplin Collection
Director and Age: Buster Keaton (29)
Other Notable Movies: The General, Our Hospitality, The Navigator
As a movie projectionist and janitor is wooing a girl whose got another man after her, Keaton is accused of stealing the girl’s father’s watch. He falls asleep and dreams of being a detective and solving the problem ala Sherlock Holmes style. Just like Chaplin, Keaton had already made several movies before this one. Being seasoned as he is, Keaton shows us some brilliant special camera effects. The entire movie is 45 minutes long and chock full of comedic brilliance. Keaton fractured his neck during the production of this movie which he didn’t discover until years later when migraines drove him to the doctor.
Buy the DVD at Amazon: Our Hospitality/Sherlock, Jr.
Director and Age: Stephen Speilberg (29)
Other Notable Movies: The Color Purple, Schindler’s List, Close Encounters of the Third Kind, ET, Saving Private Ryan, Indiana Jones series
“We’re gonna need a bigger boat.” With Jaws, the summer blockbuster was born. Speilberg had learned his chops working in television including a couple episodes of Night Gallery. Jaws came out of a novel by Peter Benchley. Because of mechanical failures of the mock-up shark, Speilberg was forced to change the movie in such a way as to build tension and fear by not actually seeing the monster, in this case a killer shark. The ploy worked brilliantly, and the film set all kinds of box office records, becoming the first movie to surpass $100 million in ticket sales. Jaws was nominated for best picture but lost to One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest.
Buy the DVD at Amazon: Jaws (30th Anniversary Edition)
Director and Age: Jean-Luc Godard (30)
Other Notable Movies: Band of Outsiders, Contempt
Godard once said, “All you need to make a movie is a girl and a gun.” Breathless certainly is the embodiment of that quote. Another one of the pivotal movies of the French New Wave, Roger Ebert simply says, ‘modern movies begin here.’ He goes on to say that numerous characters from many films that followed are derivatives of characters in this movie – especially from Warren Beatty in ‘Bonnie and Clyde.’ Michel, the main character is a thug who patterns himself after Humphrey Bogart. He is hiding in his girlfriend’s home after he shot a policeman. Godard’s editing and jump cuts were one of the main features that makes this film stand out. Interestingly this movie was co-written by Godard’s friend at the time, Francois Truffant.
Buy the DVD at Amazon: Breathless – Criterion Collection
Director and Age: Sergei Eisenstein (27)
Other Notable Movies: Strike, Ten Days that Shook the World
At the 1958 World’s Fair in Brussels, Battleship Potemkin was hailed as the greatest film of all time. It is quite possibly also the greatest piece of propaganda as well, rivaling the Nazi ‘Triumph of the Will’ by Leni Reifenstahl. It’s a story of a group of mutinous Russian sailors who battle their oppressive Tsarist officers. The Odessa Steps scene in which Tsarist soldiers massacre a group of civilians is one of the most powerful sequences in movie history. So much so, that some believe it actually happened. One particular shot of a baby in a carriage falling down the steps was influential in a similar scene in ‘The Untouchables,’ where Ness is waiting for the accountant at the train station. Eisenstien at the time was experimenting with film editing, and cut this movie to ensure the greatest emotional response from the audience. Roger Ebert has a great review of the power of this movie here.
Buy the DVD at Amazon: The Battleship Potemkin (Enhanced Edition) 1925
Director and Age: Orson Welles (26)
Probably the most shocking thing about Citizen Kane is that it didn’t win the best picture Academy Award. In fact it was nominated for several things but only won for best original screenplay. Film critics and several polls rank it the best movie ever made. Subjective, to be sure, but it certainly was one of the most innovative as well. Deep focus, where everything in a scene is in sharp focus, low angle cinematography, time compression, makeup and soundtrack were all aspects of Welles technical genius. And Welles himself at age 26 played a very convincing middle aged man. The film is loosely based on William Randloph Hearst who was so enraged with the picture he offered RKO $800,000 to destroy the prints and the negative. An interesting note is that both Citizen Kane and The Magnificent Ambersons were flops at the box office, which pretty much spelled the end of RKO studio. They went on to make a series of low budget but very good horror movies (The Cat People, I Walked With a Zombie, etc) produced by Val Lewton.
Buy the DVD at Amazon: Citizen Kane (Two-Disc Special Edition)
Lock, Stock and Two Smoking Barrels (1998) Guy Ritchie – 30
Clerks (1994) Kevin Smith – 24
Memento (2000) Christopher Nolan 30
Evil Dead (1981) Evil Dead 2 – (1987) Sam Raimi – 22, 28
Blood Simple – (1984) Ethan Coen 27 (Joel was 30)
Sex, Lies and Videotape (1989) – Stephen Soderbergh – 26
She’s Gotta Have It (1986) – Spike Lee – 29
The Sixth Sense (1999) M. Night Shyamalan– 29
Usual Suspects (1994) – Brian Singer – 29
Mean Streets (1975) – Martin Scorcese – 31
Shaun of the Dead (2004) – Edgar Wright – 30
El Mariachi (1992) – Robert Rodriguez – 24
Contributor: bucslim
“From Dusk to Dawn…”
Salma Hayek……….LORDY!!!!!!!
I did tiptoe around that issue britexan. It might be blasphemy to say that I like Branagh’s performance better, but if I’m honest, I do. That is not to say I didn’t enjoy Olivier or that his contribution or performance is in any way worse or bad. I’m merely pointing out the differences in performances and the era of filmmaking.
400 Blows rocked. On my best movie list for sure.
Can’t say I have disliked any Orson Welles movie either…didn’t realize he made two classics under the age of 30 though. Very impressive.
Missing from the list are the “Girls Gone Wild” movies of Joe Francis. Certainly at least 2 could have made the list. He directed the first installment at age 25. My recommendations for the edited list are:
Girls Gone Wild: Dormroom Fantasies
Girls Gone Wild: *****y Sorority Sweethearts
buc,rtr; I thought I was the only one with appreciation for the Grindhouse features. I loved Kurt Russel as the psycho and Rosario Dawson is hot, way hot. I have a girl crush on her. I even liked the weird-ass Romero one with the machine gun prosthetic.
At last, a well researched movie list with good taste and knowledge on the subject.
Thank you Bucslim.
I only regret that you missed one of the greatest (if not THE greatest):
Luis Buñuel “Un Chien Andalou”. He was 29.
ooo, when they get him at the end. Great scene. Talk about female empowerment.
psychosurfer – my nerves are already shot because I f’d up the Kubrick thing.
I have to say, I have not heard of that film or director and it didn’t surface during my extensive research. I’m thinking seriously of not looking at the rest of the comments because I’ve left something out.
But I hope people know I actually did quite a bit of research on this, so I’ll stick around to see what others say.
Apologies.
Stuntman Bob screaming at the end always puts a big smile on my face. That sequence was totally satisfying and totally entertaining.
Or was it Stuntman Mike.
Very nice list, bucslim. To be honest, I expected to see Sofia Coppola in this one too, because I thought she was under 30 when she directed Lost in Translation. But she was 33, so I forgive you. (Not that Virgin Suicides was bad either, she was indeed 28 when she directed that; it’s just that I LOOOOOOOVE Lost in Translation!
)
Kreachure, I immediately looked at Lost in Translation to be on this list. It think because I like that movie so much I spaced off the Virgin Suicides, I think she deserves at least a mention in the bonus area.
And I’d like to make a general announcement to the comment crowd. I did have some assistance making this list. I did all the research and wrote most of the blurbs, but I did ask Randall to help me with the initial idea, and a direction. We discussed a few items and he indeed added some valuable information, mostly with the stuff on Welles. I tip my hat to him for helping.
# 67 bucslim you are correct as far as ” Un Chien Andalou goes – he was 29 and you can see him on http://www.imdb.com
Great list thanks
bucslim,
It was an oversight on Paths of Glory, but your testament to Kubrick has cancelled that out.
This is a kick-ass list, be proud, smile.
Am I the only one here who can’t stay awake through the entirety of Reservoir Dogs? I like Tarantino, Pulp Fiction was the *****! But, I just cant get into RD.
Would the biggest fan please tell me why it Shouldn’t suck.
Great list, Bucslim. I really like movie lists, and yours is right on. I have seen most of them, and will look for the rest to watch.
I, too, like certain directors, and will watch most of their stuff. But I will skip one if it looks lame, or wait till it is on Netflix.
Orson Wells is one of the great directors. I see Citizen Kane and A Touch Of Evil every chance I get.
Keep up the good work, Bucslim.
#47 Kalyan: With respect, I must take exception with your agreement with #41 Wally. Your #15 comment is erudite, educational, and well written.
Epic Fail? No! Epic Success? Yes!
Thank you, Kalyan.
Pretty cool list all things considered.
I would just point out that Baz Luhrmanns Strictly Ballroom was released at Cannes in 1992 when he was 29.
I dont know if you would call it a classic but it is certainly a great movie as is Stephan Elliott’s The Adventures of Priscilla, Queen of the Desert again released when the director was 29.
Maybe a look further afield would be appropriate, perhaps another list??
Otherwise great choices and some brilliant films, however Kevin Smith is way overhyped. I understand some people like him but I dislike his reliance on pop culture and his role as an ubergeek.
I must say that I thought “Magnolia” sucked balls.
Crim – I know RD isn’t everyone’s cup ‘o tea. It is a dialog driven movie. I happen to like the dialog. It’s funny and it’s quotable. If you can’t get into the ‘hipness’ of it, then you are going to struggle to be entertained. Some of the lines in the movie just slay me, and continue to amuse me and I’ll admit to watching this movie at least ten times with nary a shudder from my eyelids.
But you aren’t alone in your evaluation. A simple check of some of the comment forums at IMDB on Tarantino or his movies will re-assure you of your feelings about RD.
I happen to love drinking Coke, and I detest anything with a Pepsi logo on it. It doesn’t make it bad, but I won’t consume it. I really like Tarantino’s movies, but I recognize he is a polarizing film maker.
Citizen Kane, great movie. Didn’t win best picture because william randolf hearst pulled so much strings and made sure it didn’t win
Rainer Werner Fassbinder is conspicuous by his absence.
buscslim – good list, and I will come to your defense on the female director issue (fyi – I am a girl). None of the movies mentioned that were directed by females deserve to be ranked Top 15 – maybe Fast Times or Angel at my Table would make a top 30, but Virgin Suicides is not that great. It’s not fair to accuse you of being *****ist when the studio systems have not really supported female directors (that has changed some recently). Maybe someone could make a list about female directors in general – to me that’s better than adding a “token female director” to this list.
hi, great list, it’s a shame, but i haven’t seen reservoir dogs so far.
zigra – I suppose you’re right. As I said in the introduction, this list isn’t necessarily a ranking, but I’d have a hard time putting those female directed movies above any of the ones I’ve listed.
Great list! But I was wondering why Orson Welles was on the list twice? Couldn’t you have just made him #1 and found another great director to take his place in #11?
Thank you, thank you, thank you for putting The Battleship Potemkin as number two. It’s truly one of the greatest movies ever made.
Thanks Buc: That was much better and a very far cry from “Dude! What the Hell, that movie is freaking Awesome!………………”
Excellent list — cheers.
Interesting to read about Cousteau’s delinquency in #14. But — a minor cavil — you might want to amend the grammar there unless you mean the coral reef was being dynamited by the sharks rather than Monsieur Cousteau.
I’d say Malle’s greatest film is ‘Atlantic City’, BTW.
WHOA. Let’s not hit and run on Cousteau here.
A) dynamiting to get samples of fish was common back in those days. In point of fact, however, Cousteau spoke against that very practice in the book that accompanied The Silent World. He pointed out that they had discovered that 90% of the fish sink to the bottom because of ruptured swim bladders. No one had known this previously because no divers had ever bothered to go down to check the bottom after the fact–in part because diving was, until Cousteau’s invention of the aqualung, a nasty and messy affair involving cumbersome equipment.
The instance of dynamiting the coral reef was done, again, to procure samples—the only way that samples could be taken from the reef, which was as hard as concrete. Again, this was standard procedure back in the day–and this was at a time when reefs were still flourishing and were not YET in the terrible danger that they are today from both pollution and increasing sea temperatures.
B) The frenzied shark massacre appears in the film, and when you watch it today, it does seem reprehensible. Surely the Cousteau of latter days must have regretted it. But again–AT THE TIME it was not considered wrong to kill what was thought of as a brutish and rapacious animal, and in doing so the Calypso crew were showing sympathy for the whale that was being attacked by the sharks. (Of course, the Calypso was partly responsible for the whale being mortally wounded in the first place–they’d accidentally collided with it). At any rate, it’s something to see the crew of the Calypso, in the film, brutally stabbing and clubbing shark after shark as they hook them and drag them on deck.
Cousteau never warmed to sharks and considered them at all times dangerous creatures never to be trusted. Though he gained respect for them over the years, he never took chances with them. If a shark came too close it was clubbed or killed on the spot. To my knowledge, there was never a single fatality or even an injury due to sharks during the entire time Cousteau captained the Calypso. This was surely due to Cousteau’s vigilance and his basic tenet to never ***** with sharks and never let them go too far.
Again, though, we have to remember that this was back in the day when sharks were barely fished at all, for food. Cousteau was essentially the only one out there doing the research work that he did, and sharks were still a legendary mystery, even to men like him. It isn’t surprising that old school sailors like Cousteau and his men would treat the shark as a mortal enemy then.
54. TEX-
what about kurosawa’s Ikiru (aka to live)?
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0044741/
-it’s nothing like his “samurai westerns” but it’s very sad and very beautiful. i think he made it when he was 42, so it’s not for the list, but a great, great film to see.
Yeah, sharks would have an extremely difficult time detonating the dynamite. First, they would have a hard time getting the permits for the hazardous substances. It’s possible, but highly unlikely that there would be underwater warehouses that can handle that order. Secondly they lack opposeable thumbs, so drilling the placement holes, packing the sticks and wiring would present a problem. They could hit the plunger, but with all the other problems this scenario poses, I doubt that blowing up a coral reef is an option, even for the most sophisticated and agile shark.
Wouldn’t they be violating OSHA standards by not wearing things like hard hats and boots?
Britexan #60, I beg to differ. While you can argue that Olivier is a better actor than Branagh, you simply cannot make the case that he’s a better director. I love both versions of Henry V. Olivier’s performance was more theatrical, Branagh’s was more natural, more appropriate for a movie.
Bucslim #34,…”I liked Boogie Nights better than Magnolia, but I think Magnolia is regarded as the better film”…
I don’t think so. I’ll bet nine out of ten critics and film buffs would rank Boogie Nights ahead of Magnolia, Hard Eight as well.
bucslim, you’re so naive.
Sharks are destructive *****ers with a reputation for blowing ***** up every chance they get, especially if you don’t pay the protection money. They’re obsessed with firearms, explosives, smashing things to pieces with blunt instruments, and, for some unknown reason, with the career of Chuck Connors. (Some government estimates say that 75-80% of the members of the “Rifleman” fan club are dogfish).
Thank god they can’t get on land. It isn’t that they can’t get their fins ON gelignite, plastique, TNT and other dangerous explosives–it’s just that it isn’t EASY for them, since so little of the stuff, comparatively, can be stolen off of ships at dock and the like. They’re forced to buy much of it off the black market—and the real question, therefore, is who the hell sells it to them. You’d think even criminals and pirates would think twice about selling nitro-glycerin to a hammerhead. Interpol takes that ***** *seriously.*
Lo –
I read a brief synopsis of the plot Ikiru, don’t think I have seen this one, I’ll keep an eye out for it, big Kurosawa fan, but still haven’t seen some of his significant films. If you haven’t seen Dursu Uzala, try to view sometime, it’s different from the other films of his I’ve seen. Won best foreign Oskar in 76.
Yogi – if you could guarantee that Roller Girl would visit me a few times this weekend, I will begrudge your point. But honestly, I’d have no problem with anyone ranking House Bunny ahead of Magnolia.
I put it on the list to show that I am an unbiased and forgiving listmaker.
tex-
if you look at the imbd comments some people think ikiru is his best film, period. other think it’s in the top 5 movies ever made, period. others think people under 40 can’t appreciate it. and still others think it’s boring and not accessible to westerners.
i first saw it when i was 20 and loved it. i’m nearly 29 and haven’t changed my mind. it’s a universal piece asking the question “what is the point of living?” with commentary on family and bureaucracy, and it’s a very atmospheric film. i’ve missed a few of kurosawa’s “significant” films too, so i’ll likewise seek out your tips
Shame Clerks only made the honorable mentions list. Considering all it’s accomplishments and the following it spawned, I think it deserved a bit better. Kudos on putting Reservior Dogs on there though, amazing movie.
I *know* the administrators hate it when we ask this, but I have *two* comments in moderation here…. now, okay, that’s fine, I understand the moderation thingy… but just curious as to when they’ll come *out* of moderation, as I entered them over 3 hours ago.
Anyone?
Randall… Moderated??? What took so long!
I was wondering when you’d get in here Randall, but now I know why.
Perhaps a vulgarity or two as to my selection of a Tarantino production?
Three hours is a little bit much, in my estimation.
lo – understood, I know how IMBd is, take everything with a grain of salt.
Don’t ever let samurai run you off from any of his films, I believe he saw them as the heroes, the good doers from Japans history.
How Sergio Leone turned them into gun-slingers beats the hell out of me.
using coq too much?
Res Dogs is one of my favorite movies so is Lock,Stock and TSB. Excellent list no arguements here except Amy H for Fast Times.
i think the notables are more notable than most of the list, especially having Orson Welles on there twice. That’s old school filmmaking and BORING!!!! At least Tarantino got his props!
TEX, lo
I am also a Kurosawa fan! Having watched a number of them…although I don’t really know the story of Ran since I watched it for an art history paper comparing the cinematography with Japanese art. First time I watched a foreign film without english subtitles…it was a long time spent not understanding a single word… Ikiru is still my favorite of all but neither of you mentioned Kagemusha? One of his later films but those are my 1s and 2s.
Good list! I’ve been looking up info on Alfred Hitchcock’s “Blackmail”. It was pretty much the start of his typical “Hitch*****style” films. Some sites say age 30 some say 29, but I could’ve sworn I heard 29 in Film History. oh well…Couldn’t think of anything else because this is already a pretty nicely compiled list.
104. joebecca
right on dude – Star Wars rocks, none of that black and white ***** for us!!!
I finally had a chance to read the whole list. Great job bucslim. I really enjoyed it.
I tried my best not to peak at an early age because of the dangers of a let down later in life.
That’s what I keep telling myself.
wow! this is a great list ive seen a few of these movies
but i will most likely check out the rest
but again good list
Randall, Bucslim; My apologies – I had company this afternoon and had to go out afterward. I will remember to check in between from now on.
107. gabi319
Always pleased to see another Kurosawa fan. I once bought the biggest bottle of saki I could find and got happy watching Yohimbo. It was a big bottle.
Ran was beautiful to watch wasn’t it, even without subscripts?
Randall – Glad to see you finally popped out of the penalty box.
Chuck Conners? Seriously? No James Drury or Doug McClure? No F Troop?
#95 Randall: THAT was hilarious! Truly.
“You’d think even criminals and pirates would think twice about selling nitro-glycerin to a hammerhead.”
@Zigra
I NEVER, NEVER, NEVER accused Buscslim of being *****ist. NEVER!
And I NEVER said that Fast Times At Ridgemont High or The Virgin Suicides or My Brilliant Career should have been in the top 15.
Jane Campion was 36 when she directed An Angel at My Table so it doesn’t qualify. Did you mean to write My Brilliant Career?
I really don’t think that putting Amy Heckerling in the Notable Films section would be just a “Token” gesture. This list is entitled “15 Great Movies From Directors Under 30″.
“Great” is a very subjective term. With that in mind, a lot of people would call Fast Times At Ridgemont High a great movie. It was a hit. It has quotable dialog, “That was my skull! I’m so wasted!”. It has a scene that has become iconic enough to be parodied many times. If Reservoir Dogs can come in at number 8, Fast Times At Ridgemont High can at least be in the Notable Films section.
(It may sound like I’m a big fan of “Fast Times” and THAT’S WHY I want it included. I’m not. Only seen it once.)
“Maybe someone could make a list about female directors in general – to me that’s better than adding a “token female director” to this list.”
The whole point of this list is the “Under 30″ part. I think that the fact that female directors can also make great movies before they turned 30 deserves some recognition. A “list about female directors in general”, wouldn’t do that.
15 Great Movies From FEMALE Directors Under 30 would be a nice follow up to this list.
SEE? Because of that goddamned moderation, the moment for my humor was lost.
Comedy is TIMING, people! TIMING. And with this moderation, you have peed on my lambchops.
Plus, I make pithy and valuable observations and offer historical insights on one of the greatest men in history, Jacques Yves Cousteau—but with the loss of the moment, all that brainpower is for naught.
*sigh*. I am beside myself with grief. You’ve ruined my weekend.
I primarily went to the AMC Filmsite to get the basic direction of this list. It’s pretty clear that at least behind the camera, for a very long time, men have been in the director’s chair. I didn’t look that closely, but I don’t remember ANY women being listed amongst the greats. I’m not really certain why that is, because clearly there are and have been some great movies made by females. I mean we’ve come up with a few examples here of young women who have made good movies, but I wouldn’t put them in my list of the top 15. They are probably getting more opportunities now, but I don’t see those dudes back in the glory days giving a picture to a woman. Conversely I think some of the male actors back then would have thought it just plain silly to take direction from a dame.
Different time, different environment and different attitudes.
Of course we would consider that *****ist, but you’d have a hard time convincing me that anybody gave a ***** about that back then. There were a lot of people, actors, actresses, directors and production crew who were outright enslaved to a particular studio. Sorta like baseball before free agency.
Just like what Randall said. We cringe at the thought of butchering animals even as vicious as sharks, but back in the day it wasn’t given a second thought.
So your thoughts on Amy Heckerling and Sofia Coppola are appreciated. They probably should have been mentioned at least in the bonus section. But being the big stupid hairy man with an aversion to peanut butter and Chuck Conners TV shows that I am, I went where the research took me. And I arrived at the treehouse that said, “No Gurls Alloud.”
Never fear, Randall, I’ve digested your comments on both items. You are still at the pinnacle of oration on this site. The next time you come up with a list, I will use volumnious amounts of lewd and vulgar references and a heaping helping of coarse jestering. I will get thrown into the penalty box and my ***** will be lost without any context for anyone to be offended with, or get their hardy-har-hars out.
That Chuck Conners thing will stick though, that was unexpectedly funny.
111. Mom424 -
don’t you ever apologize again for not being here to moderate..especially Randall’s comments! he knows better so he has no cause to complain.
comments are put into moderation for various reasons most of which any regular commentor should be well aware of by now. those comments are released from moderation whenever an admin is available to do so.
i have a life offline. i do this voluntarily. & i think i’m safe in assuming that Mom424 does too.
so ya’ll lighten up on the moderation. beats being flooded w/ spam and crap. or paying for the privilege of commenting. remember…this is free!
and Mom424… your priorities are offline..just as mine are… no explanation or apology required.
FACE!