By my count, he's done 18 films that range between good-great... and 12 films between mediocre-bad... that's a 60% rate of good films... #32 is probably being generous... but he's done 7-8 masterpieces.
---Top 10 directors of all-time---
01) Ingmar Bergman
02) Akira Kurosawa
03) Andrei Tarkovsky
04) Federico Fellini
05) Martin Scorsese
06) Robert Bresson
07) Fritz Lang
08) Stanley Kubrick
09) F.W. Murnau
10) Alfred Hitchcock
That's a good top ten... but who are the other 22 directors that you think are better than Spielberg?
shareI think Spielberg is in the process of pi**ing away his legacy by spending his time doing forgettable, mediocre stuff like Indiana Jones 4, Tintin and The BFG. #32 may be too generous.
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'Don't just DO something, STAND there!'
Pastor Charlie Bing
So, who are the 32(+?) directors you'd rate higher than Spielberg?
shareI mostly agree with OP's top ten. The next 10 directors whom I'd place in the top 20 are:
the Dardennes,
the Coens,
Spike Lee,
David Lynch,
Milos Forman,
Polanski,
Sidney Lumet,
Mike Leigh,
Clint Eastwood,
Bela Tarr.
Come to think of it, I'd actually place Spielberg at #21, on the strength of everything he did between 1971-98. The next ones would be Gus Van Sant, Ridley Scott and Coppola.
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'Don't just DO something, STAND there!'
Pastor Charlie Bing
Come to think of it, I'd actually place Spielberg at #21, on the strength of everything he did between 1971-98.
So, that's a lot more generous than #32, does that mean you don't think that #32 is "generous" anymore?
you have to understand... I know a lot of foreign filmmakers outside of North America and the UK... I'd have to think about who would be in my #11-20...
Masaki Kobayashi and Yasujirô Ozu from Japan... Carl Dreyer from Denmark... Francois Truffaut and Jean Renoir from France... Luchino Visconti and Michelangelo Antonioni from Italy... Sidney Lumet and William Wyler from America... David Lean from the U.K.
...these would probably be some I'd seriously consider for #11-20.
Milos Forman, Roman Polanski and Sidney Lumet are certainly somewhere in my Top 50... but it's all based on individual opinion... there is no definite list to be made.
shareYou may be right... #32 may be too high... but films like "Schindler's List", "Saving Private Ryan", "Empire Of The Sun" and "The Color Purple" are the reason I put him up there... certainly in the Top 50 directors of all time, just for those 4... and there are many other very good films that Spielberg has directed.
share