Mount Rushmore of Directors: Ranking America's Most Iconic Filmmakers
Mike and Nancy Pfeffer, Albany
Dear Mike and Nancy Pfeffer: By American, I'm going to assume you mean people who made the bulk of their movies in the United States. And I'm going to go by the criteria set by director Peter Weir, who said that, to be among the greatest directors, a filmmaker has to have made three masterpieces.
By that standard, among living directors, I'd go with Martin Scorsese ('Raging Bull,' ' The Wolf of Wall Street,' ' The Irishman '); Woody Allen ('Annie Hall,' 'Hannah and Her Sisters,' 'Crimes and Misdemeanors'); Quentin Tarantino (' Inglourious Basterds,' ' Django Unchained,' ' Once Upon a Time in Hollywood') and Richard Linklater ('Before Trilogy,' ' Boyhood '). All four have met that standard. So have Francis Ford Coppola and Steven Spielberg, so this is a crowded Mount Rushmore.
Among dead directors, I'd go with Ernst Lubitsch ('Ninotchka, 'Design for Living,' 'The Student Prince in Old Heidelberg'); Monta Bell ('Lady of the Night,' 'After Midnight,' 'Downstairs'); Alfred Hitchcock (' Vertigo,' North by Northwest,' 'Psycho') and Charles Chaplin ('The Gold Rush,' 'City Lights,' 'Modern Times').
Dennis Briskin, Palo Alto
Dear Dennis: That's true, and I repeat that I didn't even meet him. I was just relieved that I didn't have to. I was at a press conference for 'Get Shorty,' and after seeing the way he talked to the press, I was glad that I wasn't assigned to interview him one on one. (Instead, I had to interview John Travolta, who might actually be the nicest guy in the world.)
In any case, Hackman made enough of an impression that, 30 years later, I wasn't surprised to hear that he left his kids out of his will. I mean, leaving out one kid might be an oversight. Leaving out two is pushing it. But leaving out all three begins to seem like it might be his fault.
Hey Mick: You've never met Gene Hackman, yet you took the opportunity to make him out to be a 'prickly and difficult person.' Shame on you. I had a brief encounter with Mr. Hackman while on vacation in Southern California years ago. My wife and I approached him, and I told him how much we admired his work. He was very nice, asked where we were from, why we were down in SoCal, and if we were having a good time. He actually told us to check out a local eatery off the main drag. Seemed like a really nice, down to earth, regular guy.
Lloyd Cavalieri, Berkeley
Hey Lloyd: You may be right. Then again, it's not much of a strain to impersonate a human being when approached by two nice people saying, 'We both think you're great.' Even Charles Manson probably could have held it together for that long.
And when he mentioned the local eatery off the main drag, did you consider the possibility that he was trying to tempt you with food just to get you to stop talking to him?
And if he was really such a regular guy, why did he recommend an 'eatery' and not a plain old restaurant? Sorry, but there are other angles to consider here.
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