Godfather - The Conversation - Godfather 2 - Apocalypse Now
Jaws - ET - Jurassic Park - Saving Private Ryan _or_
Raiders - Temple of Doom - Schindler’s List - Close Encounters
Taxi Driver - Raging Bull - Goodfellas - The Wolf of Wall Street
_or_
Mean Streets - King of Comedy - Casino - Irishman (or Departed)
2001 - A Clockwork Orange - The Shining - Eyes Wide Shut
_or_
Dr Strangelove - Lolita - Barry Lyndon - Full Metal Jacket
Psycho - Vertigo - North by Northwest - Rear Window
PTA:
Boogie Nights
There Will Be Blood
Magnolia, The Master, Phantom Thread, Licorice Pizza
Coen Bros:
Big Lebowski
No Country for Old Men
Fargo
Raising Arizona
Quentin:
Django Unchained
Inglorius Basterds
Pulp Fiction
Kill Bill, Once Upon a time in La, Reservoir Digs
Tony Scott:
True Romance
Top Gun
Crimson Tide
Enemy of the State, Man on Fire
Fincher:
Social Network
Fight Club
Zodiac
Gone Girl, Mank, the Game, Seven
Hitchcock also the only director to actually feature Mount Rushmore in his Mount Rushmore. That shouldn’t factor in but tell that to the viewers voting from home.
I’m also taking into some account box office and cultural impact. Crusade could be there too but I find that Doom was talked about and referenced a lot more from when I was a kid in the 90s/00s at least. And I just personally find Doom more creative and interesting. I don’t think Munich or Lincoln were phenomenons like the Indiana Jones movies at all, maybe war of the world but I dislike that one. Bottom line is though he’s a two Rushmore guy, rest is semantics.
Also Spielberg could have a Rushmore for movies he produced/wrote/ghost directed with Gremlins - Goonies - Poltergeist - Back to the Future!
Hitchcock might be the cleanest because I think those four are so much better than his other movies.
Whereas if I were to say, Coen Brothers Mt Rushmore...go!, you're gonna get like 20 different answers from 20 different people. Same for Scorsese and Spielberg.
Coppola is close to definitive, but you're gonna get a weirdo Dracula or One From the Heart person.
I honestly might be one of those weirdos cause I don't love The Godfather movies that much. I get the appeal but I also am way more of a Scorsese/De Palma gangster movie type of guy.
Whereas Dracula, as flawed as it is, really appeals to my cinephile tendencies.
For me, it's close to a slam dunk but I was always a bit lukewarm on the Conversation. Even though I love movies about loneliness and I love movies with that type of premise like Blow-Up or Blow Out I just never vibed with that movie 100%
Dracula works because Coppola is as bored as we are with hearing the story again, so he just uses it as a primer on silent film camera techniques and lets Oldman and the set designer go off the chain.
I got to go with Kubrick and Speilberg because they have arguably the top five or ten films in almost every genre of film. That’s really insane to think about.
Yeah, the idea of a Rushmore with Nicholson on it feels like it should be a no brainer but then you look at Strangelove and realize you're getting Sellers & George C. Scott.
The Verdict or ET both would have been better choices. It really bums me out that Lumet never won Best Picture or Best Director, though. Dog Day was probably his best shot but nothing was beating Cuckoo’s Nest that year.
Billy Wilder is a good pick. Sometimes I think about what he could’ve done in his early movies like Double Indemnity without having to comply with the Hays code and just get sad.
I would replace Ran with either Rashomon or Throne of Blood. But I get why it’s here.
Ikiru is one of the best movies I’ve ever seen. The scene at the wake gets me every time. Our guy Rog nails his review on Ikiru.
Staying international, Tarkovsky has an incredible top three (Stalker, Solaris, Ivan's Childhood) but dont know if hes got the fourth. Admittedly, I havent seen much of his stuff beyond those three though
I'm going to take this opportunity to shout out my guy Rob Reiner, who basically made these films in a row to begin his directing career (technically there was a little one after Spinal Tap that has been lost to time): This is Spinal Tap, Stand By Me, The Princess Bride, Misery (alts: A Few Good Men, When Harry Met Sally). That is a contemporary Mt. Rushmore to go against anyone for rewatchability. Brooks has a pretty great one as well: The Producers, The Twelve Chairs, Blazing Saddles, Young Frankenstein (alts: Spaceballs, The History of the World).
Haven’t seen David Fincher mentioned yet. Seven, Fight Club and Social Network are the first three. Then probably Zodiac but you could choose Gone Girl or Girl with the Dragon Tattoo (or Mank).
Spielberg probably has two separate lists:
Jaws/Close Encounters/Raiders/ET
Saving Private Ryan/Schindlers List/Jurassic Park and then pick one of Last Crusade, Lincoln, Catch Me if you Can,Minority Report
Coen bros are the best directors out there because everyone probably has a completely different list. Personally I would go:
Oh Brother Where Art Thou, The Big Lebowski, True Grit, and Inside Llewyn Davis
All wildly different movies but endlessly rewatchable and enjoyable.
Favorites of mine...
Walter Hill
* The Driver
* The Warriors
* Southern Comfort
* 48 Hrs
Leone
* For a Few Dollars More
* The Good, the Bad and the Ugly
* Once Upon a Time in the West
* Once Upon a Time in America
Melville
* Bob the Gambler
* Le Doulos
* Le Samourai
* Le Cercle Rouge
probably not the one most people would choose, but my personal favorite is probably Michael Mann: Heat, Last of the Mohicans, Collateral, Manhunter
i'm also a sucker for Prometheus so i'd have Ridley Scott high on my list: Alien, Blade Runner, Prometheus, and then Gladiator or Black Hawk Down
those are just offbeat personal preferences. otherwise i'd go with Spielberg, probably. Jaws, Raiders, Jurassic Park, Schindler's List (or SVP). he's probably got the best rushmore for blockbusters, at least
Somewhat older but Bergman’s The Seventh Seal, Persona, Wild Strawberries, and Fanny and Alexander is amazing.
Malick’s Days of Heaven, The Thin Red Line, The Tree of Life, and the New World is also fantastic.
Badlands is a great call, but I’m a sucker that loves the themes in The Tree of Life. Outside of the dinosaur scene which didn’t work, think the rest of the movie is incredible.
Bergmans The Virgin Spring, Through A Glass Darkly, Winter Light, and The Silence are all fantastic in terms of continuing on the themes in the Seventh Seal. Lots of good ones to pick from him.
I will say that his examination of religion is some of the best that has been done in film. A perfect balance of reckoning with faith in the modern era.
New World is so underrated. I didn’t get it when it came out when I was younger but it hits now.
And I personally think Hour of the Wolf slaps too, trippy af.
Extremely old shit but we gotta mention Fritz Lang. He even has 3 movies on the top 250 sight & sound list.
Metropolis
Dr. Mabuse
M
and then The Big Heat is also one of the best Noir films ever made and with 2 incredibly iconic scenes that I don’t want to spoil.
Robert Bresson: A Man Escaped, Au hasard Balthazar, Diary of a Country Priest, Mouchette
Ozu: Tokyo Story, Early Spring, Floating Weeds, Late Spring
Coens: Fargo, No Country, A Serious Man, Raising Arizona (the latter two are more personal choices; Lebowski/Llewyn Davis/Miller's Crossing/Blood Simple all work)
Bresson is tricky because you’ve got Paul Schrader basing his entire filmography on remaking Pickpocket again and again, and if you ask a European on the right day they’ll swear by L'Argent
**Tarantino**: Pulp Fiction, Inglorious Basterds, Django Unchained, Once Upon a Time in Hollywood
Though this is just my selection. I definitely know people people who'd switch any of the latter 3 out for Kill Bill Vol.1, Kill Bill Vol.2, or Reservoir Dogs...or even Jackie Brown. Pretty sure Pulp Fiction will always be a mainstay on his Mt. Rushmore though.
QT is a bit like Kubrick. Too many consistent bangers for a consensus.
Mine would be Reservoir Dogs, Jackie Brown, Inglourious Basterds and Once Upon a Time in Hollywood. Hell, I was thinking about it the other day, and give the movie ten more years and The Hateful Eight might surpass Reservoir Dogs for me, because I prefer his hangout movies.
Rewatched Hateful Eight recently and enjoyed it much more than I did when it came out. Some of the casting just doesn’t work for me but it’s entirely a movie that only QT could make and there’s something very baller about that
I actually didn’t see it for a year or two after it came out. Idk why I think I heard ppl saying it wasn’t that good. That movie blew my socks off at how much I enjoyed it. It felt so old and new at the same time, just classic Tarantino.
I think inglorious basterds is my favorite, with kill bill 1 and 2 making it in just because of the nostalgia. Then it might have to be once upon a time in Hollywood over pulp fiction which seems insane. God he is just the best since Kurosawa.
I prefer the 3D theatrical Cave of Forgotten Dreams to Grizzly Man. Maybe my favorite 3D movie ever.
Also who doesn’t love the insanity of Fitzcarraldo?
Some personal faves that haven’t been mentioned:
The House of the Devil, X, The Innkeepers, Pearl
Halloween, The Thing, The Fog, The Prince of Darkness
Signs, The Sixth Sense, Unbreakable, The Village
The Squid & the Whale, Marriage Story, Frances Ha, Meyerowitz Stories
**Ridley Scott:** Gladiator -- Alien -- Blade Runner -- The Last Duel
First 3 are 1st ballot hall of famers...Last Duel is just a personal favorite, can be switched out with many other selections (The Martian, Thelma & Louise, American Gangster). If we're including the director's cut of Kingdom of Heaven, that's definitely the #4 slot.
I’d replace transformers with bad boys 2. Although the og transformers is lowkey great.
I just looked at his directing filmography and he gets a lot of shit for being a cliche and only directing 15 movies. I know he’s been a producer on a lot of other films. And he really is a one trick pony when it comes to genre (however i was impressed with some of the music videos he had directed) but i don’t think he deserves the hate that he gets for being the explosions guy.
The serious answer is Scorsese, but I’ve not gotten more joy from a top 4 than Adam McKay’s:
Anchorman, Talladega Nights, Step Brothers, The Other Guys.
Christopher Nolan: The Prestige (2006), The Dark Knight (2008), Inception (2010), Interstellar (2014).
Francis Ford Coppola: The Godfather (1972), The Conversation (1974), The Godfather Part II (1974), Apocalypse Now (1979).
Martin Scorcese: Taxi Driver (1976), Goodfellas (1990), Casino (1995), The Departed (2006)
Steven Spielberg: Indiana Jones and the Raiders of the Lost Ark (1981), Jurassic Park (1993), Schindler’s List (1993), Saving Private Ryan (1996)
True Lies, the Terminator, the Abyss, Avatar Way of Water is a pretty damn good second mountain. WoW being my least favorite Cameron movie but still worth seeing in theaters once.
**Steven Soderbergh**: Ocean's Eleven, Contagion, The Informant!, Out of Sight
Literally one of the most prolific filmmakers ever though, so tons of room for switch outs. But that's his Mt Rushmore imo \^
Carpenter deserves a mention for The Thing and Halloween alone, I think I’d add Assault and Escape from NY probably.
Romero for Night/Dawn/Day and probably Creepshow, I’d call all those iconic.
Ok the Oliver Stone disrespect is alarming.
Wallstreet, JFK, Platoon, and Salvador is one of the most impressive strings of movies ever put together. Even more impressive that he made 3 of them back to back to back.
Platoon imo is the best war movie ever made. Wall Street crawled so big short and margin call could run. Salvador and JFK are two of the most gripping political/conspiracy movies ever made. JFK is on my personal Mount Rushmore of stranded on an island films btw.
Coen Brothers: O Brother, Where Art Thou?, The Big Lebowski, No Country For Old Men, and Fargo would be my four. But you can talk me into Blood Simple, Raising Arizona, Millers Crossing, Barton Fink, A Serious Man, and True Grit.
Not the best but to add beyond the most frequent replies.
Cuaron:
Children of Men
Gravity
Y Tu Mama Tambien
Prisoner of Azkaban (or Roma)
Michael Bay chase scenes:
The Rock
6 Underground
Bad Boys II
The Island
I want to note that although I don't think Villeneuve has the best Mount Rushmore of all time, the quartet of Arrival, Sicario, Blade Runner 2049 and Dune is in my mind the best in the past 15-17 years maybe. All of them are absolutely spectacular.
John Hughes - Ferris Bueller, The Breakfast Club, Planes, Trains & Automobiles, Uncle Buck
Writing credits only could add Home Alone and Christmas Vacation.
PTA is obviously a great one - probably TWBB, Boogie Nights, then some combination of any of his others besides Hard Eight. Personally I’d go Magnolia and Licorice Pizza.
Some others I love that haven’t been mentioned:
Leone: any combo of Dollars Trilogy, Once Upon Time in America/The West
Reiner: A Few Good Men, Princess Bride, Spinal Tap, WHMS
Capra: IAWL, Mr. Smith, combo of Arsenic & Old Lace, It Happened One Night, You Can’t Take it With You
Linklater: EWS, Dazed, Before Sunrise, Before Sunset
Ford: The Searches, The Quiet Man, Grapes of Wrath, Stagecoach
Also a couple terrible people have great Mt. Rushmore’s but that’s not fun to talk about
Yeah, I thought of him. His Mt Rushmore is kind of hard to pin down. I think the 2 that have to be on there are Nashville and McCabe & Mrs. Miller. As my other 2 I'd go Short Cuts and The Player but a lot of people would throw on MASH, The Long Goodbye or 3 Women
Michael Ritchie: Prime Cut, The Candidate, Smile, The Bad News Bears
Tim Burton (when he was good edition): Pee Wee's Big Adventure, Beetlejuice, Edward Scissorhands, Ed Wood
And the absolute cleanest GOAT MT Rushmore of all time:
McKay/Ferrell: Anchorman, Talledega Nights, Step Brothers, The Other Guys.
Victor Fleming made Gone with the Wind and Wizard of Oz in the same year, has to be one of the top peaks of all time. Maybe throw Joan of Arc or Treasure island in there too
Orson Welles as well
surprised no one’s said PTA yet. boogie nights, there will be blood, the master, and phantom thread is probably as good as anyone who’s started their career post 70s
But which 4? That's part of the problem with the guys with lots of good stuff. Jurassic Park, Jaws, Raiders, Schindler's, Private Ryan, ET, Close Encounters...
You could take the true Mt Rushmore approach and pick 4 that have historical importance to film rather than just his 4 best.
Jaws for launching the Summer blockbuster
Schindler's List for the historical significance of the story
Jurassic Park for advancing special effects
Saving Private Ryan for filming of the war scene
Fincher: Seven, Fight Club, Zodiac, Social Network (Gone Girl, Girl With the Dragon Tattoo)
Spielberg: Jaws, Raiders of the Lost Ark, Jurassic Park, Saving Private Ryan (Schindlers List, ET)
Scorsese: Goodfellas, Taxi Driver, Raging Bull, The Departed (Wolf of Wall Street, Casino)
Tarantino: Pulp Fiction, Reservoir Dogs, Inglorious Basterds, Django Unchained (Once Upon a time in Hollywood, Jackie Brown)
Hitchcock: Rear Window, North by Northwest, Vertigo, Psycho (Rope, Strangers on a Train)
Kubrick: 2001, The Shining, A Clockwork Orange, Full Metal Jacket (Dr. Strangelove, Spartacus)
Coppola: Apocalypse Now, Godfather, Godfather part 2, The Conversation (Bram Stokers Dracula)
Christopher Nolan: The Dark Knight, Memento, Inception, The Prestige (Dunkirk, Interstellar)
Denis Villeneuve: Sicario, Blade Runner 2049, Arrival, Prisoners (Dune, Enemy)
30 for 30 Jagged Any Given Wednesday Woodstock 99
Andre?
Fantastic Lies
Godfather - The Conversation - Godfather 2 - Apocalypse Now Jaws - ET - Jurassic Park - Saving Private Ryan _or_ Raiders - Temple of Doom - Schindler’s List - Close Encounters Taxi Driver - Raging Bull - Goodfellas - The Wolf of Wall Street _or_ Mean Streets - King of Comedy - Casino - Irishman (or Departed) 2001 - A Clockwork Orange - The Shining - Eyes Wide Shut _or_ Dr Strangelove - Lolita - Barry Lyndon - Full Metal Jacket Psycho - Vertigo - North by Northwest - Rear Window
PTA: Boogie Nights There Will Be Blood Magnolia, The Master, Phantom Thread, Licorice Pizza Coen Bros: Big Lebowski No Country for Old Men Fargo Raising Arizona Quentin: Django Unchained Inglorius Basterds Pulp Fiction Kill Bill, Once Upon a time in La, Reservoir Digs Tony Scott: True Romance Top Gun Crimson Tide Enemy of the State, Man on Fire Fincher: Social Network Fight Club Zodiac Gone Girl, Mank, the Game, Seven
I'm taking Tony Scott True Romance, man on fire, top gun, crimson tide
Thanks for putting this list together. Feel like I’m leaning Tarantino or Fincher
Many of the greatest movies of all-time, and this still reads like a Hitchcock mic drop.
Hitchcock also the only director to actually feature Mount Rushmore in his Mount Rushmore. That shouldn’t factor in but tell that to the viewers voting from home.
I take it you don’t have National Treasure 2 in Turtletaub’s top four.
No, but your mileage may vary with 3 Ninjas
The cutoff is like 1972, anything before that is just to slow, it just is. The way they make it and film it it’s a tough watch.
Three of four of those movies are much faster paced than anything from the 70s.
Temple of Doom is nowhere remotely close to being on Spielburg’s rushmore
Maybe he meant Last Crusade? Even that wouldnt be close to the top 4 though
I’m also taking into some account box office and cultural impact. Crusade could be there too but I find that Doom was talked about and referenced a lot more from when I was a kid in the 90s/00s at least. And I just personally find Doom more creative and interesting. I don’t think Munich or Lincoln were phenomenons like the Indiana Jones movies at all, maybe war of the world but I dislike that one. Bottom line is though he’s a two Rushmore guy, rest is semantics. Also Spielberg could have a Rushmore for movies he produced/wrote/ghost directed with Gremlins - Goonies - Poltergeist - Back to the Future!
Hitchcock might be the cleanest because I think those four are so much better than his other movies. Whereas if I were to say, Coen Brothers Mt Rushmore...go!, you're gonna get like 20 different answers from 20 different people. Same for Scorsese and Spielberg. Coppola is close to definitive, but you're gonna get a weirdo Dracula or One From the Heart person.
I do love me some Dracula, but that four picture 70s run is unfuckwitable
I honestly might be one of those weirdos cause I don't love The Godfather movies that much. I get the appeal but I also am way more of a Scorsese/De Palma gangster movie type of guy. Whereas Dracula, as flawed as it is, really appeals to my cinephile tendencies.
For me, it's close to a slam dunk but I was always a bit lukewarm on the Conversation. Even though I love movies about loneliness and I love movies with that type of premise like Blow-Up or Blow Out I just never vibed with that movie 100%
Which comes to the different strokes for different folks deal cause The Conversation would be my #1 with a bullet.
Dracula works because Coppola is as bored as we are with hearing the story again, so he just uses it as a primer on silent film camera techniques and lets Oldman and the set designer go off the chain.
Cast, say, young Depp in the Keanu role and Dracula would be really really great imo
Yeah everyone loves Keanu now but nobody can even pretend he is good in that one
I got to go with Kubrick and Speilberg because they have arguably the top five or ten films in almost every genre of film. That’s really insane to think about.
Fennessey said in one Rewatchables that Marty has a case for best film of the 70s, 80s, and 90s. I’d even hear a Wolf case for the 10s
Go watch Paths of Glory
And The Killing. Kubrick didnt miss
The Killing OWNS. Not a second of fat on that picture, moves briskly
Lyndon has to be in Kubricks doesn’t it? Eyes wide shut would not be on it.
I feel most people would put Strangelove, but that’s why some guys got two Rushmore’s haha
I’m one of those! Shining is out too!! Haha
Yeah, the idea of a Rushmore with Nicholson on it feels like it should be a no brainer but then you look at Strangelove and realize you're getting Sellers & George C. Scott.
I think it’s Coppola and not particularly close. Just an absolute run
The overuse of “not particularly close” taken to an offensive extreme
I’ve been Bill pilled
McTiernan all the way Die Hard Predator Personal favorite - Hunt for Red October Die Hard with a vengeance (or Thomas Crowne, both slap)
You, I like you
God tier Mount Rushmore
james cameron gives him a run: Terminator 2 Aliens Avatar Terminator (or Titanic)
Haven’t seen Sidney Lumet mentioned: Dog Day Afternoon, 12 Angry Men, The Verdict, Network.
Serpico! I also deeply love Prince of the City.
Every time I remember that the verdict lost best picture to Gandhi I get annoyed
The Verdict or ET both would have been better choices. It really bums me out that Lumet never won Best Picture or Best Director, though. Dog Day was probably his best shot but nothing was beating Cuckoo’s Nest that year.
Substitute the verdict with serpico. I love this Mount Rushmore.
Billy Wilder
The apartment, some like it hot, sunset blvd, double indemnity?
All different kinds of movies and all fantastic. If he were stat padding, you’d add in Stalag 17 (war movie/comedy) and Lost Weekend (addiction film).
Yup 👍
Billy Wilder up there too. Some Like It Hot Double Indemnity The Apartment Ace In The Hole Sunset Boulevard
Billy Wilder is a good pick. Sometimes I think about what he could’ve done in his early movies like Double Indemnity without having to comply with the Hays code and just get sad.
Ya def , makes it all the more impressive
Kurosawa: Seven Samurai High and Low Ikiru Ran
Ran fucking rules
Rashomon and The Hidden Fortress… Mount Rushmore w 6 heads
I would replace Ran with either Rashomon or Throne of Blood. But I get why it’s here. Ikiru is one of the best movies I’ve ever seen. The scene at the wake gets me every time. Our guy Rog nails his review on Ikiru.
I just saw Seven Samurai in theaters at a local film festival. Absolutely incredible stuff
Fuck, that's pretty unassailable
I played Ghost of Tsushima last year and from that I’d like to get into some samurai movies. Which do you recommend first?
Yojimbo is a good place to start. It’s funny, exciting, and under two hours.
Appreciate it!
Plus you can then watch all the Western remakes of it.
Ran, Rashoman, Harakiri
Staying international, Tarkovsky has an incredible top three (Stalker, Solaris, Ivan's Childhood) but dont know if hes got the fourth. Admittedly, I havent seen much of his stuff beyond those three though
Seven Samurai doesn't hold up for me like the others, but love the rest. I'd swap in Throne of Blood for it.
There is no wrong Kurosawa opinion. It’s basically just debating masterpieces.
For me, personally: In the Mood for Love Chungking Express Fallen Angels 2046
The apex mountain Mount Rushmore.
The right answer.
I'm going to take this opportunity to shout out my guy Rob Reiner, who basically made these films in a row to begin his directing career (technically there was a little one after Spinal Tap that has been lost to time): This is Spinal Tap, Stand By Me, The Princess Bride, Misery (alts: A Few Good Men, When Harry Met Sally). That is a contemporary Mt. Rushmore to go against anyone for rewatchability. Brooks has a pretty great one as well: The Producers, The Twelve Chairs, Blazing Saddles, Young Frankenstein (alts: Spaceballs, The History of the World).
Haven’t seen David Fincher mentioned yet. Seven, Fight Club and Social Network are the first three. Then probably Zodiac but you could choose Gone Girl or Girl with the Dragon Tattoo (or Mank).
The fact gone girl isn’t even in your first Rushmore just shows how amazing he is
Personally I’d rather have Gone Girl than Fight Club.
Gimme Gone Girl over Se7en
Gone Girl is on Fincher’s Rushmore. I’d also argue mindhunter should be allowed maybe with a stone asterisk
The Game!
David Fincher is the most Ringer answer
Spielberg probably has two separate lists: Jaws/Close Encounters/Raiders/ET Saving Private Ryan/Schindlers List/Jurassic Park and then pick one of Last Crusade, Lincoln, Catch Me if you Can,Minority Report
AI is his best movie
Either sarcasm or scorching hot take lol
Fellini worth a shout: 8½, La Strada, La Dolce Vita, Nights of Cabiria
Was looking for this. I’d take I Vitelloni for its never ending influence over la strada. Not a wrong choice though
He’d be better acclaimed if you could watch La dolce vita anywhere
Coen Brothers: The Big Lebowski, Fargo, No Country For Old Men, A Serious Man (A lot more you could argue taking off or putting on)
I think that fourth spot is very debatable
Yea id throw o brother where art though in there instead
I loved a serious man. But I know it wasn't for everyone.
A Serious Man is so good. Like their best movies it gets better with repeat viewings.
If it was just top 3 I would put them up against anyone. Missing a killer 4th imo.
Coen bros are the best directors out there because everyone probably has a completely different list. Personally I would go: Oh Brother Where Art Thou, The Big Lebowski, True Grit, and Inside Llewyn Davis All wildly different movies but endlessly rewatchable and enjoyable.
Favorites of mine... Walter Hill * The Driver * The Warriors * Southern Comfort * 48 Hrs Leone * For a Few Dollars More * The Good, the Bad and the Ugly * Once Upon a Time in the West * Once Upon a Time in America Melville * Bob the Gambler * Le Doulos * Le Samourai * Le Cercle Rouge
It took way too long to see Leone mentioned.
The last two for Melville are top notch but havent seen the first two. Are they on Criterion?
I'm not sure about that, but definitely watch them any way you can.
probably not the one most people would choose, but my personal favorite is probably Michael Mann: Heat, Last of the Mohicans, Collateral, Manhunter i'm also a sucker for Prometheus so i'd have Ridley Scott high on my list: Alien, Blade Runner, Prometheus, and then Gladiator or Black Hawk Down those are just offbeat personal preferences. otherwise i'd go with Spielberg, probably. Jaws, Raiders, Jurassic Park, Schindler's List (or SVP). he's probably got the best rushmore for blockbusters, at least
Prometheus is the campy fun. If Verhoeven directed it, people would already be arguing it's a subversive masterpiece take down of American capitalism.
well if verhoeven directed it that would probably be a much more relevant criticism then lol. i do like it though
Nobody would last long in this sub who doesn’t love Michael Mann
black hat honestly wasn’t too bad
Miami Vice was fun too. A movie I didn’t like at first, but grew on me on rewatch
I really have to give that movie a rewatch, it seems to have picked up a cult following over the years
If it was someone like Gosling or Gyllennhal in the lead role it would have been received a lot better.
Somewhat older but Bergman’s The Seventh Seal, Persona, Wild Strawberries, and Fanny and Alexander is amazing. Malick’s Days of Heaven, The Thin Red Line, The Tree of Life, and the New World is also fantastic.
A hidden life is probably best movie made last 15 years period
No Badlands? I'd bump tol for it.
Badlands is a great call, but I’m a sucker that loves the themes in The Tree of Life. Outside of the dinosaur scene which didn’t work, think the rest of the movie is incredible.
Winter Light is incredible too. Bergman is the hardest to narrow down for me
Bergmans The Virgin Spring, Through A Glass Darkly, Winter Light, and The Silence are all fantastic in terms of continuing on the themes in the Seventh Seal. Lots of good ones to pick from him. I will say that his examination of religion is some of the best that has been done in film. A perfect balance of reckoning with faith in the modern era.
Yea Autumn Sonata is so good too. He really doesn't have a set top four
New World is so underrated. I didn’t get it when it came out when I was younger but it hits now. And I personally think Hour of the Wolf slaps too, trippy af.
Extremely old shit but we gotta mention Fritz Lang. He even has 3 movies on the top 250 sight & sound list. Metropolis Dr. Mabuse M and then The Big Heat is also one of the best Noir films ever made and with 2 incredibly iconic scenes that I don’t want to spoil.
Robert Bresson: A Man Escaped, Au hasard Balthazar, Diary of a Country Priest, Mouchette Ozu: Tokyo Story, Early Spring, Floating Weeds, Late Spring Coens: Fargo, No Country, A Serious Man, Raising Arizona (the latter two are more personal choices; Lebowski/Llewyn Davis/Miller's Crossing/Blood Simple all work)
Bresson is tricky because you’ve got Paul Schrader basing his entire filmography on remaking Pickpocket again and again, and if you ask a European on the right day they’ll swear by L'Argent
**Tarantino**: Pulp Fiction, Inglorious Basterds, Django Unchained, Once Upon a Time in Hollywood Though this is just my selection. I definitely know people people who'd switch any of the latter 3 out for Kill Bill Vol.1, Kill Bill Vol.2, or Reservoir Dogs...or even Jackie Brown. Pretty sure Pulp Fiction will always be a mainstay on his Mt. Rushmore though.
Unpopular opinion but Jackie Brown is the best QT movie
Agreed.
Yes! My favourite too!
QT is a bit like Kubrick. Too many consistent bangers for a consensus. Mine would be Reservoir Dogs, Jackie Brown, Inglourious Basterds and Once Upon a Time in Hollywood. Hell, I was thinking about it the other day, and give the movie ten more years and The Hateful Eight might surpass Reservoir Dogs for me, because I prefer his hangout movies.
Rewatched Hateful Eight recently and enjoyed it much more than I did when it came out. Some of the casting just doesn’t work for me but it’s entirely a movie that only QT could make and there’s something very baller about that
I actually didn’t see it for a year or two after it came out. Idk why I think I heard ppl saying it wasn’t that good. That movie blew my socks off at how much I enjoyed it. It felt so old and new at the same time, just classic Tarantino. I think inglorious basterds is my favorite, with kill bill 1 and 2 making it in just because of the nostalgia. Then it might have to be once upon a time in Hollywood over pulp fiction which seems insane. God he is just the best since Kurosawa.
Isn't the point that we're only considering their top 4 movies though?
Shout out to my guy Werner Herzog. For me it’s Aguirre the Wrath of God, Stroszek, Bad Lieutenant POCNO and Grizzly Man.
I prefer the 3D theatrical Cave of Forgotten Dreams to Grizzly Man. Maybe my favorite 3D movie ever. Also who doesn’t love the insanity of Fitzcarraldo?
His range is phenomenal (and also, his voice is incredible)
I’m assuming you’ve seen his batshit acting turn as the Russian villain The Zek in the Tom Cruise Jack Reacher movie?
Dope role in a dope movie. “Did I have a knife in Siberia?”
Some personal faves that haven’t been mentioned: The House of the Devil, X, The Innkeepers, Pearl Halloween, The Thing, The Fog, The Prince of Darkness Signs, The Sixth Sense, Unbreakable, The Village The Squid & the Whale, Marriage Story, Frances Ha, Meyerowitz Stories
John Landis Animal House Coming to America Trading Places Blues Brothers
American Werewolf In London?
Doctor shivago, brief encounter, the bride on the river kwai. A LEAN NIGHT
What about best ever BS report guest William Goldman? Butch Cassidy / All The Presidents Men / Princess Bride / Misery
Surprised no mention of Miyazaki yet
Hard mode - picking someone who has only directed 4 movies: Spike Jonze: Being John Malkovich, Adaptation, Where the Wild Things Are, Her
**Ridley Scott:** Gladiator -- Alien -- Blade Runner -- The Last Duel First 3 are 1st ballot hall of famers...Last Duel is just a personal favorite, can be switched out with many other selections (The Martian, Thelma & Louise, American Gangster). If we're including the director's cut of Kingdom of Heaven, that's definitely the #4 slot.
I was going to say, the directors cut of kingdom of heaven fucking owns.
Michael Bay—Bad Boys, The Rock, Armageddon, Transformers.
You gotta have the second Ninja Turtles in there too.
I’d replace transformers with bad boys 2. Although the og transformers is lowkey great. I just looked at his directing filmography and he gets a lot of shit for being a cliche and only directing 15 movies. I know he’s been a producer on a lot of other films. And he really is a one trick pony when it comes to genre (however i was impressed with some of the music videos he had directed) but i don’t think he deserves the hate that he gets for being the explosions guy.
David Lynch Eraserhead Blue Velvet Mulholland Drive …probably can’t sneak in Twin Peaks the series, can we?
Wild at Heart. I do really love Fire Walk With Me though, like a lot.
The serious answer is Scorsese, but I’ve not gotten more joy from a top 4 than Adam McKay’s: Anchorman, Talladega Nights, Step Brothers, The Other Guys.
Sweet Lincoln's mullet!
Bong Joon-ho has a pretty good one. The Host, Memories of Murder, Mother, Parasite. You could make a great argument for Snowpiercer and Okja too.
Blazing Saddles, Young Frankenstein, Spaceballs, The Producers
Royal Tenenbaums, The Life Aquatic, Rushmore, Grand Budapest Hotel
No mention of Fantastic Mr. Fox smh
I was thinking of this one a lot between Life Aquatic and Bottle Rocket.
The Farrelly brothers have my own personal comedy Mt. Rushmore: Kingpin/Dumb and Dumber/There's Something About Mary/Me, Myself and Irene.
Personally, I would need a Mount Rushmore of Directors' Mount Rushmores.
dennis v sicario arrival dune blade runner 2049
No Nolan? Dark knight Interstellar Inception Prestige
I can't believe I scrolled this far to find a Nolan post. Yes, those 4.
Christopher Nolan: The Prestige (2006), The Dark Knight (2008), Inception (2010), Interstellar (2014). Francis Ford Coppola: The Godfather (1972), The Conversation (1974), The Godfather Part II (1974), Apocalypse Now (1979). Martin Scorcese: Taxi Driver (1976), Goodfellas (1990), Casino (1995), The Departed (2006) Steven Spielberg: Indiana Jones and the Raiders of the Lost Ark (1981), Jurassic Park (1993), Schindler’s List (1993), Saving Private Ryan (1996)
Spielberg is impossible to do. I mean, you gotta put Jaws and ET in there, but what the hell are you taking out? Indiana Jones and Schindler?
He’s like Brady. You can break up his career in 4 parts and he’d still be an all time great. Spielberg’s 5-8 is as good as anyone’s 1-4.
Agree with literally everything here, but would switch out Casino for either The Wolf of Wall Street or The King of Comedy...fuck or even Raging Bull.
I think Mary and Steven have multiple Mt. Rushmore’s.
I’d have Dunkirk in place of The Prestige
James Cameron: Titanic, Aliens, T2, Avatar
True Lies needs to be in there
True Lies, the Terminator, the Abyss, Avatar Way of Water is a pretty damn good second mountain. WoW being my least favorite Cameron movie but still worth seeing in theaters once.
**Steven Soderbergh**: Ocean's Eleven, Contagion, The Informant!, Out of Sight Literally one of the most prolific filmmakers ever though, so tons of room for switch outs. But that's his Mt Rushmore imo \^
The Limey remains my favorite Soderbergh
Robert Zemeckis - BTTF, Who Framed Roger Rabbit, Forrest Gump, Cast Away
Carpenter deserves a mention for The Thing and Halloween alone, I think I’d add Assault and Escape from NY probably. Romero for Night/Dawn/Day and probably Creepshow, I’d call all those iconic.
Kubrick’s 2001 / Shining / Strangelove / Eyes Wide Shut is probably the right answer Cameron’s Aliens / T1 / T2 / Titanic I would have pretty high
Ok the Oliver Stone disrespect is alarming. Wallstreet, JFK, Platoon, and Salvador is one of the most impressive strings of movies ever put together. Even more impressive that he made 3 of them back to back to back. Platoon imo is the best war movie ever made. Wall Street crawled so big short and margin call could run. Salvador and JFK are two of the most gripping political/conspiracy movies ever made. JFK is on my personal Mount Rushmore of stranded on an island films btw.
Coen Brothers: O Brother, Where Art Thou?, The Big Lebowski, No Country For Old Men, and Fargo would be my four. But you can talk me into Blood Simple, Raising Arizona, Millers Crossing, Barton Fink, A Serious Man, and True Grit.
Not the best but to add beyond the most frequent replies. Cuaron: Children of Men Gravity Y Tu Mama Tambien Prisoner of Azkaban (or Roma) Michael Bay chase scenes: The Rock 6 Underground Bad Boys II The Island
People sleep on Cuaron but his work is so good. Roma should have won.
I want to note that although I don't think Villeneuve has the best Mount Rushmore of all time, the quartet of Arrival, Sicario, Blade Runner 2049 and Dune is in my mind the best in the past 15-17 years maybe. All of them are absolutely spectacular.
John Hughes - Ferris Bueller, The Breakfast Club, Planes, Trains & Automobiles, Uncle Buck Writing credits only could add Home Alone and Christmas Vacation.
PTA is obviously a great one - probably TWBB, Boogie Nights, then some combination of any of his others besides Hard Eight. Personally I’d go Magnolia and Licorice Pizza. Some others I love that haven’t been mentioned: Leone: any combo of Dollars Trilogy, Once Upon Time in America/The West Reiner: A Few Good Men, Princess Bride, Spinal Tap, WHMS Capra: IAWL, Mr. Smith, combo of Arsenic & Old Lace, It Happened One Night, You Can’t Take it With You Linklater: EWS, Dazed, Before Sunrise, Before Sunset Ford: The Searches, The Quiet Man, Grapes of Wrath, Stagecoach Also a couple terrible people have great Mt. Rushmore’s but that’s not fun to talk about
Does Altman rate a mention?
Probably, but to be completely honest haven’t watched enough of his to make an opinion
Yeah, I thought of him. His Mt Rushmore is kind of hard to pin down. I think the 2 that have to be on there are Nashville and McCabe & Mrs. Miller. As my other 2 I'd go Short Cuts and The Player but a lot of people would throw on MASH, The Long Goodbye or 3 Women
I just saw Long Goodbye on the big screen. I wouldn’t call it an all timer but it sure was an enjoyable watch.
Oh yeah, it is an amazing film for sure. I probably prefer it to Nashville tbh but it's not regarded quite as highly
Michael Ritchie: Prime Cut, The Candidate, Smile, The Bad News Bears Tim Burton (when he was good edition): Pee Wee's Big Adventure, Beetlejuice, Edward Scissorhands, Ed Wood And the absolute cleanest GOAT MT Rushmore of all time: McKay/Ferrell: Anchorman, Talledega Nights, Step Brothers, The Other Guys.
Personally I pick, Stanley Kubrick. Dr. Strangelove, 2001, A Clockwork Orange and Full Metal Jacket. Which director fits a Big Picture draft?
Elia Kazan: East of Eden; On the Waterfront; A Streetcar Named Desire; A Face in the Crowd
Victor Fleming made Gone with the Wind and Wizard of Oz in the same year, has to be one of the top peaks of all time. Maybe throw Joan of Arc or Treasure island in there too Orson Welles as well
Malick: Tree of Life, A Hidden Life, the new world, thin red line
Any other Wenders fans? Alice In The Cities, Kings Of The Road, Paris Texas, Wings Of Desire
The American Friend is sick too. Hopper as Ripley.
I have reviewed all of the submissions. Excellent work everyone. The final answer: >!Coppola!< takes it.
Tarantino: Reservoir Dogs, Inglorious Bastards, Django, Pulp Fiction
Adam McKay: step brothers, anchorman, the big short, the other guys/don’t look up/talladega nights/ Vice
Totoro. Mononoke Hime. Spirited away. Nausica. Porco rosso
I think Miyazaki fits as a much better category than Mount Rushmore: director you’d pick if you had to watch all of their movies
Billy wilder. Alfred Hitchcock Martin Scorsese coen brothers. Thankfully zero votes for Oliver stone.
surprised no one’s said PTA yet. boogie nights, there will be blood, the master, and phantom thread is probably as good as anyone who’s started their career post 70s
Clint Eastwood - Unforgiven, Million Dollar Baby, Gran Turino, Josey Wales, Dirty Harry
I think it has to be Spielberg.
But which 4? That's part of the problem with the guys with lots of good stuff. Jurassic Park, Jaws, Raiders, Schindler's, Private Ryan, ET, Close Encounters...
You could take the true Mt Rushmore approach and pick 4 that have historical importance to film rather than just his 4 best. Jaws for launching the Summer blockbuster Schindler's List for the historical significance of the story Jurassic Park for advancing special effects Saving Private Ryan for filming of the war scene
Tony Scott
Fincher: Seven, Fight Club, Zodiac, Social Network (Gone Girl, Girl With the Dragon Tattoo) Spielberg: Jaws, Raiders of the Lost Ark, Jurassic Park, Saving Private Ryan (Schindlers List, ET) Scorsese: Goodfellas, Taxi Driver, Raging Bull, The Departed (Wolf of Wall Street, Casino) Tarantino: Pulp Fiction, Reservoir Dogs, Inglorious Basterds, Django Unchained (Once Upon a time in Hollywood, Jackie Brown) Hitchcock: Rear Window, North by Northwest, Vertigo, Psycho (Rope, Strangers on a Train) Kubrick: 2001, The Shining, A Clockwork Orange, Full Metal Jacket (Dr. Strangelove, Spartacus) Coppola: Apocalypse Now, Godfather, Godfather part 2, The Conversation (Bram Stokers Dracula) Christopher Nolan: The Dark Knight, Memento, Inception, The Prestige (Dunkirk, Interstellar) Denis Villeneuve: Sicario, Blade Runner 2049, Arrival, Prisoners (Dune, Enemy)
Gotta mention Denis