Charlie Chaplin
It has taken exactly one year but part two has arrived at last. On this day in 2025, I enthralled readers all over the world with a post titled: “A Look at Ten of My Favorite Directors, Why I Revere Them and A Film that Sums them Up.” At the end of said post I suggested that there might be a part two forthcoming. Well it has indeed forth come — so to speak. Here are ten more directors I greatly admire, a brief summary of their work and mention of one film that, to me, best sums up their oeuvre.
Howard Hawks. In sports they’ll often say of a player: he can do it all. Hawks could “do it all.’ Gangster film? Scarface. Noir? The Big Sleep. Screwball comedy? Bringing up Baby. Western? Red River. He was a jack of all trades and master of all of them. He made over a dozen great American films. He knew how to pick a script and how to cast a film. He lovingly shot some of the big stars of Hollywood: Bogie, Bacall, Cary Grant, Katherine Hepburn, Carole Lombard, Montgomery Clift, Barbara Stanwyck. Hawks made my favorite picture of all time, His Girl Friday. It was a masterclass of directing. Everything from perfect pacing to exact framing.
Luis Buñuel. He did some strange stuff but it mostly all worked. He was our great mainstream surrealistic director whose favorite target was the bourgeoise. The best example of how Buñuel turned cinema on its head was Exterminating Angel which is “about” a group of people who can’t seem to leave a dinner party. Forget can’t seem to, they bloody well can’t. Then there’s the The Discreet Charm of the Bourgeoisie which concerns a group of French bourgeoisie and a fictional South American—despite continual interruptions—to dine together. That Obscure Object of Desire follows an aging, wealthy man whose obsessive pursuit of a beautiful young woman becomes a cycle of seduction, rejection and humiliation. My favorite of his work is Viridiana in which an idealistic young novice tries to live according to Christian principles after inheriting her wealthy uncle’s estate, including turning the house into a refuge for beggars. Her efforts end disastrously and for her and viewers, lessons are learned. Nothing ordinary came out of Buñuel film.
Charlie Chaplin He started when silent films were becoming culturally significant and continued well into the sound era finally, reluctantly making talkies. He made movies full of heart and compassion and love. The word pathos is often ascribed to his movies — quite aptly I made add. Of course most were played for laughs too. Gold Rush and Circus are particularly funny as are his earlier shorts. The Kid is funny and moving. Woman of Paris is strictly a drama and an excellent one. He’s perhaps best known for his first films after sound intruded: Modern Times, The Great Dictator (both hilarious AND message films) but to me the ultimate Chaplin is City Lights. It is a brilliantly constructed film, one that can illicit both laughs and tears.
Alfred Hitchcock. One of the greatest bodies of work in cinematic history — if not the greatest. From silent classics like The Lodger through his last film Family Plot from 1976. He earned the moniker, master of suspense, but also made an excellent screwball comedy, Mr. And Mrs. Smith. His visual sense is practically unmatched among directors with so many memorable shots. See the umbrellas in Foreign Correspondent, Kim Novak transforming in Vertigo and of course the iconic shower scene in Psycho. For me his work is epitomized by Shadow of a Doubt. The menace, the tension, the touches of humor, the evil entering an ordinary setting.
Akira Kurosawa. Two words: visual style. Kurosawa films can be watched without sound just to appreciate what you’re seeing. Go ahead and enjoy his movies on your computer but if ever a director was made for the big screen, this is your man. Kagemusha, Seven Samurai and Ran on huge IMAX screens. Throne of Blood, Hidden Fortress, Yokjimbo deserve Dolby Cinema. He also made more intimate films like the brilliant Rashomon and Drunken Angel. My favorite of his films is Ikiru, essentially the story of a dying bureaucrat. It shows the breadth and depth of Kurosawa’s talent.
Stanley Kubrick. Yeah he was a bit different wasn’t he? He made some extraordinary films. A classic horror film, The Shining. A classic war picture, Paths of Glory. An absolutely luscious period piece, Barry Lyndon. One of the greatest sci-fi film, 2001: A Space Odyssey. Like many great directors he was meticulous and demanding. For me his masterpiece is his adaptation of A Clockwork Orange. It’s a stunning movie to look at with visual power that doesn’t let go. Kubrick films didn’t often ask a lot out of actors but he got what he needed and never more so than from Malcolm McDowell here. But it’s still the verve, the viscerally striking scenes that make this a cinematic classic.
Wong Kar Wai. You see one of Wai’s film and you know one thing for sure: this is a person who loves making movies and has fun doing it. The raw energy of Chungking Express is proof enough that his talent matches his ambition. Other films of his like As Tears Go By, Fallen Angels, Happy Together and 2046, reveal a director who has mastered the human, the visual, the aural and the imagination that makes a filmmaker special. But nothing matches his masterpiece, In the Mood for Love, one of cinema’s most beautiful works. An unforgettable story of love and heartache that fully reveals a director’s desire and ability to explore the human condition.
Michelangelo Antonioni. He’s not for everyone but the people he’s for he’s really for. The man who made movies about ennui entertaining. La Notte, L’Avventura, L’Eclisse and Red Desert was a remarkable four-film run of vaguely related films in the early sixties. They were sandwiched in between two other terrific films, Il Grido and the English language Blow-Up. Antonioni would test audience’s patience but passing the test meant enjoying sumptuous stories. Monica Vitti often starred, another plus. But it was a later English language film, The Passenger, that sticks out for me. I’m going to cheat and let Vincent Canby of the New York Times sum it up: “a suspense melodrama, a story so basically conventional that it isn't until you're at least half‐way through it you realize it's a magnificent nightmare, and that you are on the inside looking out."
Hal Ashby. Ashby had a brief but oh-so-spectacular run in the Seventies from The Landlord in 1970 through Being There in 1979. He told unconventional stories, such as Harold and Maude about not-so-much a May-December romance as a March very late December romance, with the woman being the older party. If I held a film festival of movies that explain the Sixties I’d most definitely include The Landlord the story of a privileged white man who takes ownership of an inner city tenement. Ashby, who started as an editor, directed ten actors to Oscar-nominated performances. For me Ashby’s best film is The Last Detail (1973) starring Jack Nicholson. It is brimming with humanity, humor and realism. 
Hal Ashby (L) directing The Last Detail
Roberto Rossellini. One of the early — and perhaps the best — practitioner of Neo realism. More than almost all other directors he told deeply human stories. Films such as Stromboli, The Flowers of St. Francis and Viaggo di Italia were powerful explorations of character. There was a simplicity to his films but concurrent richness and power. For me the ultimate Rossellini film is Open City (1945) the Neo realist war film made in Rome just after the events described. Open City feels so real that it’s hard to believe you’re not watching actual footage from the war.
What’s next? Will their be a part three one year from today? Or will it come sooner? Stay tuned to find out.
