When Richard Kelly followed up Donnie Darko with Southland Tales, I think a good number of us wept. Tears of joy they were not. Every director, every director, has an off year. In that year, the director will make a film that is not up to snuff. It happens.
But rather than dwell on a director's missteps or outright failures, I like to admire directors for their hot streaks. When a director gets in the groove and creates a series of films that are all worthy of classic status, for me the overall accomplishment raises the value of each respective film. Perhaps it's a bit of an overly macho analogy, but in the game of filmmaking a hat-trick is not easy, and those who pull it off are usually MVPs.
My Nominations:But rather than dwell on a director's missteps or outright failures, I like to admire directors for their hot streaks. When a director gets in the groove and creates a series of films that are all worthy of classic status, for me the overall accomplishment raises the value of each respective film. Perhaps it's a bit of an overly macho analogy, but in the game of filmmaking a hat-trick is not easy, and those who pull it off are usually MVPs.
Ridley Scott (naturally): The Duellists (1977), Alien (1979), Blade Runner (1982)
Stanley Kubrick: Lolita (1962), Dr. Strangelove (1964), 2001: A Space Odyssey (1968)
Stanley Kubrick (again!): A Clockwork Orange (1971), Barry Lyndon (1975), The Shining (1980)
Akira Kurosawa: Yojimbo (1961), Sanjuro (1962), High and Low (1963)
Terry Gilliam: Brazil (1985), The Adventures of Baron Munchausen (1988), The Fisher King (1991)1
Alexander Payne: Election (1999)2, About Schmidt (2002), Sideways (2004)
Alfred Hitchcock: Vertigo (1958), North by Northwest (1959), Psycho (1960)
Francis Ford Coppola: The Godfather (1972), The Conversation (1974), The Godfather, Part II (1974)
Peter Weir: Picnic at Hanging Rock (1975), The Last Wave (1977), Gallipoli (1981)
Joel Coen: Blood Simple (1984), Raising Arizona (1987), Miller's Crossing (1990)
George Lucas3: THX 1138 (1971), American Graffiti (1973), Star Wars (1977)
John McTiernan: Predator (1987), Die Hard (1988), The Hunt for Red October (1990)
1 Okay, this is a stretch, but...
2 Go ahead, throw down the gauntlet; I will fight for this film.
3 "Sub-question: is it in fact unfair to criticize a formerly great artist for his latter day sins? Is it better to burn out or fade away?" -Barry, High Fidelity
I open this discussion to the world and my fellow posters. Does my argument have any merit at all? If so, who else has a bona fide hat-trick?
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I agree with most of your selections, though I don't know where I would begin with a Hitchcock hat-trick. Someone you might include is Whit Stillman. His hat-trick would include Metropolitan, Barcelona, and The Last Days of Disco. MHH
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