In Reply to: AS each and every year I watch that wonderful film- And each time I get closer of this wonderful film-- posted by patrickU on February 5, 2010 at 07:45:59:
...by a master, a master who has lived fully and attained a certain wisdom.
When film fans discuss great American directors, and inevitably someone asks who's the "greatest", I always respond "John Huston". Some might say Ford, or Kubrick, or Coppola, or Scorsese (the French would no doubt say Hitchcock). But I say Huston, and The Dead is his masterpiece. It captures on the screen the way one feels reading the story on the page: all the texture, all the emotion, all the layers. It is an extraordinary film - something very, very rare.
Plus we have these films from the same gifted man:
The Maltese Falcon
The Treasure Of Sierre Madre
Key Largo
The Asphalt Jungle
The African Queen
The Misfits
Fat City
The Man Who Would Be King
Wise Blood
Under The Volcano
Prizzi's Honor
Huston had a flair for bringing novels to the screen (even, perhaps especially, the daunting ones), as the list above atests.
How many filmmakers can say that their first film (Maltese Falcon) and their last (The Dead) were truly great films? Since he worked mainly within the commercial Hollywood system in his long career, Huston had his share of misfires. And he also diected for hire several outright clunkers. But his list of great movies is unsurpassed IMO by any other American born director (yes, I know someone is going to say Stanley Kubrick).
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Follow Ups
- This film could only have been made... - Harmonia 11:40:10 02/05/10 (15)
- You should say Welles. nt - tinear 18:37:23 02/05/10 (1)
- I did (see below). - Harmonia 19:28:59 02/05/10 (0)
- No Spielberg? - Victor Khomenko 12:15:58 02/05/10 (12)
- How about George Stevens, then? Both popular and.... artistic. nt - tinear 18:48:57 02/05/10 (0)
- RE: Or George Cukor--- - patrickU 13:33:32 02/05/10 (0)
- Wilder belongs on any list of great American filmmakers. - Harmonia 13:03:58 02/05/10 (9)
- RE: Wilder belongs on any list of great American filmmakers. - patrickU 13:27:55 02/05/10 (7)
- William Wyler before Billy Wilder. I'd say, anyway..... nt - tinear 18:51:15 02/05/10 (5)
- RE: Head to head each in his own category. nt - patrickU 04:13:21 02/06/10 (0)
- I wouldn't...and didn't...but I love Wyler's... - Harmonia 19:44:34 02/05/10 (3)
- HUGE agreement on "The Big Country." Perhaps the greatest Western of all. - tinear 08:13:44 02/06/10 (1)
- RE: John Ford MADE the best Western, and nobody else. nt - patrickU 01:28:06 02/07/10 (0)
- RE: Remember we talk about the music in " The Big Country "? - patrickU 01:29:27 02/06/10 (0)
- I would love Wilder if he'd only made... - Harmonia 13:59:25 02/05/10 (0)
- I was jesting, of course! :) - Victor Khomenko 13:22:03 02/05/10 (0)