the 3-in-a-row director's poll for filmmaking supremacy

Shoulda had The Fly/Dead Ringers/Naked Lunch on there too. Sorry, Canada.

spielberg should be in contention: sugarland express/jaws/close encounters

and todd haynes for safe/velvet goldmine/far from heaven.

and i haven't seen the duellists, but it only has to be pretty good to give ridley scott a hot 1-2-3.

and i haven't seen the duellists, but it only has to be pretty good to give ridley scott a hot 1-2-3

really, it just has to be better than LEGEND

Fargo, The Big Lebowski, O Brother Where Art Thou

trounced by Raising Arizona, Miller's Crossing, Barton Fink

Warui yatsu hodo yoku nemuru, Yojimbo, Tsubaki Sanjûrô

the former 3 are more widely-agreed upon, so I went with those. AFAIC Miller's Crossing beats everything.
xpost

a fistful of dollars yadda yadda yadda

it's a little silly to compare people who made movies once every 5 years (or 20 years) with people who made movies once a year

advantage: Malick

ha, I was thinking that, but figured it's up to whoever's doing the work how often he wants to do it, I think it's fair enough

If the Coens didn't want to lose an ILX poll they should have been more concerned with quality than quantity.

Also, directors that took their time (Kubrick and Malick) are on twice, which will split the vote.

certainly in many of these other directors' cases I've at least seen the movies in question, searching out the malick oeuvre hasn't really been a priority

also wtf no kurosawa (thx roger) or godard

No Kurosawa because I haven't seen I Live In Fear or The Idiot.

just pretend Breathless/A Woman Is A Woman/My Life To Live was in the poll and it wasn't your first choice.

Out of these I gotta go for Jarmusch, especially since he followed the three films mentioned with two more great ones (Night on Earth, Dead Man), before a bit of a drop in quality (Ghost Dog). Really, I think he's the most consistently good of contemporary directors, only two of his films have been less than great (Ghost Dog, Permament Vacation), and even those two have their merits.

Also, no Miyazakì? Totoro/Kiki's Delivery Service/Porco Rosso would be pretty hard to beat, I think.

dude

I'll do a 10-year-anniversary poll, Sight & Sound style. Mark your calendars.

AFAIC Miller's Crossing beats everything

xoxoxoxoxo

ultimately agree'd that any 1/2/3 that includes Alien and Blade Runner ought to take this, but of what's up there Brad Bird gets my vote. THE IRON GIANT demolishes all in its path.

the real troika for welles shoulda been touch of evil/the trial/falstaff.

i went with chaplin, but most of those are respectable threesomes.

sleeper/love and death/annie hall?

(i haven't seen interiors, but i'm guessing for a lot of people that would screw up the AH-manhattan run)

i voted 1st malick - cassavetes was tempting

many of these movies i havent seen tho

Raising Arizona, Miller's Crossing, Barton Fink

O, what a falling-off was there...

it's a little silly to compare people who made movies once every 5 years (or 20 years) with people who made movies once a year

Or, in the case of the absent Fassbinder (and JOHN FORD), 4 or 5 a year.

No Preston Sturges, no cred.

Tempted to write in Victor Erice for his one-every-decade triptych of The Spirit of the Beehive, The South and The Dream of Light.

For Chaplin, I would drop The Great Dictator (yak yak yak), and put in The Circus.

Renoir has a lot of (presumed) non-masterworks in his oeuvre cuz he made 50 films, but

Bête humaine, Règle du jeu, Swamp Water

or

The River, Carrosse d'or, French Cancan

# California Split (1974)
... aka Jackpot!
# Thieves Like Us (1974)
# The Long Goodbye (1973)

Hmmmm...

# The Long Goodbye (1973)
# Images (1972)
# McCabe & Mrs. Miller (1971)

No, not quite...

Fuckin' Altman.

<I>No Preston Sturges, no cred.

-- Dr Morbius, Tuesday, November 27, 2007 4:06 PM (58 minutes ago) Bookmark Link</I>

Indeed. Although I haven't seen the ones surrounding "Unfaithfully Yours" (my favorite) a triple bill of "Lady Eve" "Sullivan's Travels" and "Palm Beach Story" is going to be a lot of laffs.

The Man Who Fell To Earth is not that great, the Roeg one should have been Performance/Walkabout/Don't Look Now

Truffaut-400 Blows, Shoot The Piano Player, and Jules & Jim

The Man Who Fell To Earth is great

Rohmer-My Night At Maude's, Claire's Knee, and Love/Chloe In The Afternoon.

As it stands I'm stuck between Peckinpah and Coppola, leaning Coppola.

# Something Wild (1986)
# Stop Making Sense (1984)
# Swing Shift (1984)

Not a winner, but Demme's looking pretty worthy right here.

Another Wilder triad-Some Like It Hot, The Apartment, and One, Two, Three

The inadequacy of nearly all these trios next to Hitchcock or Fellini is mostly embarrassing. I suspect Fritz Lang has a couple contenders here, maybe 30 years apart.

Sirk:

Written on the Wind (1956)
There's Always Tomorrow (1956)
All That Heaven Allows (1955)

Honorable fuckin' mention to Reservoir Dogs; Pulp Fiction; Jackie Brown

Another Godard trio-Alphaville, Pierrot le fou, and Masculin Feminin

Hawks (just) taking it from Hitchcock for me - I have more fun with him at the moment. The Godard, Truffaut and Sturges options could have nabbed it.

I was gonna note "Airplane!/Top Secret/Ruthless People" but I haven't seen the last one in years.

"Dressed To Kill/Blow Out/Scarface" would seem meritous, even though I'm not the biggest fan of the latter (too many Stone speeches in the last half). If "Home Movies" is good "The Fury" and "Dressed To Kill" work too.

Wish I'd seen "Alice Doesn't Live Here Anymore" cuz Mean Streets and Taxi Driver definitely make for a kickass first and third.

Some three from "Long Goodbye"/"Thieves Like Us"/"California Split"/"Nashville" should have been nominated.

I need to see some of the Cocteau films between Beauty And The Beast and Orpheus.

Based on what I've seen and I what I liked of them, going with Coppola.

and yeah Tarantino should have gotten a nod.

my Wilder choice wd be

A Foreign Affair / Sunset Blvd. / Ace in the Hole

Rossellini:

Germany Year Zero / Stromboli / The Flowers of St. Francis

Most of the major HK guys miss the cut here due only to their commendable work ethic (has Michael Caine shot with any of them yet? it seems inevitable...) , though e.g. Tsui Hark, John Woo, Ringo Lam all have some killer 1-2 punches.

Of the bunch, Wong Kar-Wai prolly has the best shot, with Days of Being Wild and Chungking Express bracketed by your choice of As Tears Go By or Ashes of Time.

Some three from "Long Goodbye"/"Thieves Like Us"/"California Split"/"Nashville" should have been nominated.

I was thinking that too. That run was pretty sterling IMHO. The golden age of Gould and Duvall.

I could almost make a case for MASH, Brewster McCloud, and McCabe & Mrs. Miller, but I won't.

and yeah Tarantino should have gotten a nod

It's not dude's fault he basically invented a genre so powerful it became cliche overnight and has to answer for really every shitty "indie" pic from 1992-2002 give or take.

Harold And Maude/Last Detail/Shampoo would seem like a potential popular favorite, though I'm not big on H&M.

The Bostonians; A Room With A View; Maurice lol

I'm not a Naked Lunch fan, but The Brood/Scanners/Videodrome/Dead Zone/The Fly/Dead Ringers allows for a LOT of opportunities.

Unbelievable Truth/Trust/Simple Men?

just pretend Breathless/A Woman Is A Woman/My Life To Live was in the poll and it wasn't your first choice.

Le petit soldat came between Breathless and A Woman is A Woman. You could use Alphaville/Pierrot le fou/Masculine feminine or 2 or 3 choses.../La chinoise/Weekend.

Tati is missing as well: Les vacances de M. Hulot/Mon Oncle/PlayTime.

anybody gonna rep for Dune?

Muad'dud

Stop Making Sense/Something Wild/Swimming To Cambodia/Married To The Mob/Silence Of The Lambs

man, Demme was Mr. Hip 80s

Kentucky Fried Movie/Animal House/Blues Brothers/American Werewolf In London/Trading Places

pick your fave three!

Lang:

Die Nibelungen / Metropolis / Spies / Woman in the Moon / M / The Testament of Dr. Mabuse

I like all of Tarantino's first three, and they can be topped by literally hundreds of directors. Like Robert Aldrich?

The Longest Yard (1974)
Emperor of the North Pole (1973)
Ulzana's Raid (1972)

The Big Knife (1955)
Kiss Me Deadly (1955)
Vera Cruz (1954)

LITERALLY hundreds?

Yeah Landis was on a tear there through Trading Places, though AWIL doesn't really hold up so well...

also... Meatballs; Stripes; Ghostbusters

OK, John fuckin' Landis means thread is over.

Yeah, literally hundreds. There's this thing called 1915-80.

The fact that you started with "The Longest Yard" tells me you don't actually know the names of hundreds of directors who made three films in a row better than Reservoir Dogs, Pulp Fiction and Jackie Brown.

I didn't 'start with it,' but it's at least as good as Reservoir Dogs.

Also, both of thowe Aldrich trios have one great film in them, something QT hasn't managed.

Feel free to prove you do, dude! It'd be neat to see a list of about a thousand movies that you really like. I just checked Johns Huston and Boorman and couldn't find 3-in-a-row I really liked, though I wanna see that new criterion of Under The Volcano, and if that's good then I dig his last three a lot.

the amazing thing about the Hitchcock trio is not only are they all among his ten best, but they're as diverse as any 3 major films of his:

1. fetishistic romantic tragedy
2. best comedy-chase thriller ever
3. low-budget Gothic shocker

I have no time, croup...

http://www.theyshootpictures.com/directorsa-l.htm

both of thowe Aldrich trios have one great film in them, something QT hasn't managed

o noes there is controversy!

I can't really get behind any of the nominees - either because I haven't seen all three films (Wilder, Peckinpah - man I really have to see Cable Hogue) or because I think their best work is not the troika nominated (Coens, Kubrick) or their best stuff is scattered over years. I'd be liable to come down in favor of Cronenberg or Altman or maybe even Carpenter if they were on here.

all that aside, Hitchcock seems like the most solid contender. Malick I kinda have issues with.

It'd be neat to see a list of about a thousand movies that you really like.

christ I do NOT need to see such a list to no it exists

no = know

Contact/What Lies Beneath/Cast Away

christ I do NOT need to see such a list to no it exists

yeah, but I'm just curious how often Burt Reynolds shows up on it! That site gives Tarantino an 8 and I don't see hundreds of directors with higher ratings so that's no help. Unless I'm supposed to assume Morbz prefers three-films-in-a-row from ALL those directors, which Wes Craven would probably be very flattered by.

It's a neat site, though!

you know Longest Yard is a Watergate parable, ja?

Burt Reynolds made some good films in the early-mid '70s.

Hey, if I'd seen Leo The Last or Hell In The Pacific he would have shown up in my Boorman three.

cases could also be made for

Zelig/Broadway Danny Rose/Purple Rose of Cairo

Sleeper/Love and Death/Annie Hall

Husbands And Wives and Manhattan Murder Mystery are probably my favorite Allen films but I can't get nuts for Bullets Over Broadway or Shadows And Fog.

The Phantom of Liberty and That Obscure are just hem. Better Don Luis sequence: Viridiana, The Exterminating Angel, Diary of a Chambermaid.

The Coppola sequence comes the closest to greatness; maybe Hawks too.

*are just meh

Citizen Kane, The Magnificent Ambersons, The Stranger (Welles)

UH. One of these does not belong.

Morbs, French Can-Can is le yuk.

I dunno I'm so sick of the Godfather movies its hard for me to think of them as great anymore (the overexposure/over-imitated "Tarantino effect" comes into play for me). Never seen the Conversation.

there's not a lot to To Have And Have Not besides Bogey & Bacall, so for HH I'd hafta do

His Girl Friday (1940)
Only Angels Have Wings (1939)
Bringing Up Baby (1938)

^surely Alfred can get behind that^

Oui!

also I know everyone hates Peter Jackson but Meet the Feebles/Dead Alive/Heavenly Creatures is an amazingly strange and varied run.

can someone point me in the direction of a female ... who's made 3 classics in a row

Maya Deren springs to mind, but those were shorts.

no Wong either? what bout Happy Together, In the Mood For Love, 2046?

can someone point me in the direction of a female ... who's made 3 classics in a row

George Cukor?

ELAINE MAY

A New Leaf / The Heartbreak Kid / Mikey & Nicky

(they're all at least 8 or 9/10, sez me)

given that women were pretty much banned from directing features for the first 70 years of American (and I assume European as well?) cinema its kinda slim pickins.

Heartbreak Kid is really good.

ick – Mikey & Nicky.

what bout Happy Together, In the Mood For Love, 2046?

i'd start one earlier and do fallen angels, happy together and in the mood. but yeah, counting the one rogermexico suggested earlier, i can put together three different 3-fers from wong.

also i like all 3 of sofia coppola's movies., yes even that one.

No Bergman, Scorsese, Altman, Resnais, Herzog etc. because some middling film screwed up their run.

Also, wtf on Resnais? Hiroshima mon amour/Last Year at Marienbad/Muriel/La Guerre est fini were all sequential, right?

Speaking of Cukor – ugh. Talk about uneven.

anyway as far as what's on the ballot, i voted for hitch.

Last Year at Marienbad

TOO EXPENIRMUTAL

Out Of Sight; The Limey; Erin Brockovich

I knew y'all would be up in arms when I started this thread. And that the list would be far from perfect. FWIW I didn't go with Truffaut because of 2 inbetween pics he codirected. And I love Marienbad. Anthony I wasn't really into Under The Volcano, but I'd just finished reading the infinitely superior novel. You should see it for Albert Finney though.

this thread also needs the Fred Newmeyer/Harold Lloyd hat trick: Girl Shy/Hot Water/The Freshman

and I would probably rep for Eraserhead/Elephant Man/Dune or Elephant Man/Dune/Blue Velvet

probably the latter would be more likely to get my vote, though

the infinitely superior novel

between this and Miller's Crossing, Cosmo Vitelli is my new ILX crush

:D

alternative Kubricks:
The Killing/Paths of Glory/Lolita
The Shining/FMJ/Eyes Wide Shut

But for this, a winner is Hitch.

I really wanted a Kubrick with Paths of Glory in it, but Lolita just isn't that great :(

Linklater:
Slacker/Dazed & Confused/Before Sunrise

and a legit argument for

Mean Streets/Alice Doesn't Live Here Anymore/Taxi Driver, since Italianamerican is a documentary that was never widely seen

Lolita just isn't that great :(

funny, I'm actually reading that book right now, and needless to say...

del Toro, some combo of

Cronos/Mimic/Devil's Backbone/Hellboy/Pan's Labyrinth

(though I guess Mimic is supposed to be pretty bad?)

I'd go with Devils Backbone->Pan's Labryrinth

It Happened One Night/Mr. Deeds Goes To Town/Lost Horizon

Under The Volcano was beyond Huston; there's no attempt to find the cinematic equivalent of Lowry's prose. Finney is still very fine, but Anthony Andrews reminds me of David Manners or some other British fop from '30s cinema who played a lot of tennis.

no 3-in-a-row run for Stephen Frears

Anthony Andrews reminds me of David Manners or some other British fop from '30s cinema who played a lot of tennis.

Right from his introduction you know dude is in trouble.

Hero ruined a perfectly decent sequence.

(xpost)

funny, I'm actually reading that book right now, and needless to say...

oooh... let's stay up all night talking ::crushcrushcrush::

Alfred OTM re Huston and UTV obv. The word Lowry uses in the book is churrigueresque, or "overloaded," borrowed from architecture. The excess of ornamentation, the trying-to-stuff-it-all-in, is the heart of the whole thing for me. The snippets of Coleridge and Melville, the Manos de Orlac, the Western, Hollywood and Eurociné in general, the local history of Cuernavaca, etc etc... stuffing all of it, all of it, into the time it takes to throw a dead dog into a ravine...

No se puede vivir cinéma amirite?

yup. UTV is a jungle of excess and detail, which is prolly where "unfilmable" comes from. Still, the utter charlatan in me would love a doomed shot at transposing it. Can't help it.

can someone point me in the direction of a female ... who's made 3 classics in a row

Maybe Jane Campion? Sweetie and An Angel at My Table are both very very good, but I haven't seen The Piano. Have read some scathing reviews of it though.

Near Dark; Blue Steel; Point Break

its too bad Penelope Spheeris has a couple of shitty films in between the first two Declines of Civilization (Suburbia is pretty good, at least in my memory)

I think Mizoguchi has a very worthy run too with The Life of Oharu/Tales of Ugetsu/Gion Festival Music.

Frederick Wiseman: Titicut Follies/High School/Basic Training

only $500 apiece on DVD!

With Mel Brooks, I think History of the World Part I/Spaceballs/Life Stinks is pretty unbeatable, but I'm probably the only one who thinks Life Stinks is his best film alongside The Producers.

thsoe films are all in descending order of quality tuomas wtf

Life Stinks is really great, it's his most humane, Chaplinesque movie.

It's fucking awful is what it is.

Yeah, there's a lot of BS on Scorsese's resume. But this is a damn good run:
Raging Bull, The King of Comedy, After Hours.

And Todd Solondz with Welcome to the Dollhouse, Happiness, Storytelling.

Personally, I'll take the Jarmusch trifecta.

a better hawks trio (one i might have voted for), aka his cary grant trilogy:
bringing up baby/ only angels have wings/ his girl friday

dood Morbz listed those

oops. good job morbs.

Powell and Pressburger had a pretty good run...
The Life and Death of Colonel Blimp (1943)
A Canterbury Tale (1944)
I Know Where I'm Going! (1945)
A Matter of Life and Death (1946)
Black Narcissus (1947)
The Red Shoes (1948)

..and Mike Leigh had a couple of good runs too....

Life Is Sweet (1990)
Naked (1993)
Secrets & Lies (1996)

then:

Topsy-Turvy (1999)
All or Nothing (2002)
Vera Drake (2004)

Yeah, there's a lot of BS on Scorsese's resume. But this is a damn good run:
Raging Bull, The King of Comedy, After Hours.

Right, but this isn't three-in-a-row.

Jodorowsky's first three would also be a good contender here (does he count as being from S.America? He was born there at least)

Yeah, there's a lot of BS on Scorsese's resume. But this is a damn good run:
Raging Bull, The King of Comedy, After Hours.

Right, but this isn't three-in-a-row.

-- Alfred, Lord Sotosyn, Tuesday, 27 November 2007 22:45 (16 minutes ago) Link

it isn't? what's in between them?

Yeah, there's a lot of BS on Scorsese's resume. But this is a damn good run:
Raging Bull, The King of Comedy, After Hours.

Right, but this isn't three-in-a-row.

It isn't?

(x-post)

http://www.imdb.com/name/nm0000217/

I'm onna da crack today. Carry on.

Blake Edwards had a pretty great comedy triple slam with The Pink Panther/A Shot in the Dark/The Great Race.

If I mention Bottle Rocket/Rushmore/Tenenbaums will I get shouted off of this thread?

eh not by me.

altho I don't really like Bottle Rocket. Too bad Life Aquatic is in between RT and DLtd

I'd actually throw in Stanley Tucci if fucking Joe Gould's Secret was even half as good as it looked from the cast and precis.

i have a feeling seijun suzuki belongs , but i realize i haven't seen three in a row by him.

Woody Allen had some epic runs too.

I'd actually throw in Stanley Tucci if fucking Joe Gould's Secret was even half as good as it looked from the cast and precis

Worth a look if only for Ian Holm.

I love Ian Holm, but I found the movie really disappointing and dull.

No Preston Sturges, no cred.

Should have locked the thread right there.

<i>can someone point me in the direction of a female ... who's made 3 classics in a row</I>

claire denis? i can't sleep / nenette et boni / beau travail? or nenette / beau travail / trouble everyday

maybe chantal ackerman, i have only see a few & not consecutive.

and for your list.. what, no bresson?

OK, I vote: Pink Flamingos / Female Trouble / Desperate Living

Trouble Everyday is horrible though.

The Unbelievable Truth, Trust, Simple Men - Hartley - or you could even go with The Unbelievable Truth, Trust, Surviving Desire (which I suppose is a..er..featurette?

dudes, filmmaking SUPREMACY

A Shot in the Dark is the only funny Clouseau film.

That's correct, Morbius. I have good word that Edison and the Lumieres will be on hand to present the prize to the almighty winner, copies of the lady eve, sullivan's travels, and palm beach story.

How about 4 in a row?

Deliverance, Zardoz, Exorcist II, Excalibur (John Boorman)

when was the last time you saw exorcist II?

Pink Flamingos / Female Trouble / Desperate Living

YES YES AND YES

I love Exorcist II. It has Pazuzu and Linda Blair in a nightgown and that weird glowing orb that helps her shrink reach deep into her mind. Totally awesome.

Fernando Di Leo: Milano calibro 9 / La mala ordina / Il boss = the best run in eurocrime.

I'd say Oliver Assayas qualifies (Sentimental Destinies, Demonlover, Clean) but no one else will agree.

Barry Lyndon, The Shining, Full Metal Jacket ... but only because the three Antonionis feel like three parts of the same film.

Oh, and that Waters trio would've so CLEARLY gotten my vote if it were included.

Not

The Milky Way (1936)
Make Way for Tomorrow (1937)
The Awful Truth (1937)

?

Not enough British directors so Gerald Thomas...

Carry on Doctor, Carry on Up The Khyber, Carry On Camping

Although really you could start and finish anywhere.

I'll stick up for Polyester/Hairspray/Cry-Baby too, Waters-wise.

can someone point me in the direction of a female and/or southern hemispherian who's made 3 classics in a row?

Campion: Sweetie, An Angel at My Table, The Piano.

Campion's masterpiece is The Portrait of a Lady, so The Piano fucks that up.

let's keep going til we name all directors who made 3 films.

FRANK TASHLIN

Will Success Spoil Rock Hunter?
Hollywood or Bust
The Girl Can't Help It

Cosmo's "in over my head" auteurs:

FASSBINDER

The Third Generation
The Marriage of Maria Braun
In a Year of 13 Moons

OR

Lola
Lili Marleen
Berlin Alexanderplatz

LUBITSCH

The Shop Around the Corner
Ninotchka
Bluebeard's Eighth Wife

Berlin Alexanderplatz

is this really considered a single film...?

Since it was only shown on US TV once, you bet!

morbius, i actually prefer "in the cut" to either but holy smoke fucks that trilogy up too.

depending on your tolerance for capra, you could make a case for meet john doe, arsenic and old lace, it's a wonderful life (gary cooper/cary grant/jimmy stewart, nice threefer)

I prefer earlier Capra -- not that I think he's a contender -- cuz his best 3-run to my mind would be The Bitter Tea of General Yen, It Happened One Night and Lady for a Day.

oh hay, CAROL REED:

Odd Man Out
The Fallen Idol
The Third Man

that's a helluva streak.

I am so voting for that.