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Great films made by elderly directors

post #1 of 60
1/9/13 at 5:51am
Thread Starter 

 

Quote:
Originally Posted by FatherDude View Post

 

A thread about elderly directors who, to invoke Tarantino, have managed to keep their dick hard would be just as worthwhile, I think.  Take Friedkin.  How many directors could make a movie like KILLER JOE in their late 70s?

 

 

Quote:

Originally Posted by Glisten View Post

 

 

How about John Huston's 'Wiseblood'? That's a pretty fucking angry film for a 70 year old.

 

So for our purposes: great films made by directors age 70 or older. Go!

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post #2 of 60
1/9/13 at 6:01am

Well, I know that the final films of his career have a tendency to be used by a few as evidence for why directors should retire prior to 70 (though certainly none of them are bad), I feel like Hitchock earns his spot on this list with FRENZY alone.  That was an impressively unleashed return to form for the Master of Suspense.

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post #3 of 60
1/9/13 at 6:03am
Thread Starter 

If Kubrick hadn't died he would've been 71 when Eyes Wide Shut came out.

 

Of course, given his slow-ass process he was probably 42 when he started filming it.

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post #4 of 60
1/9/13 at 6:09am
Quote:
Originally Posted by Martin Blank View Post

If Kubrick hadn't died he would've been 71 when Eyes Wide Shut came out.

 

Of course, given his slow-ass process he was probably 42 when he started filming it.

 

Good call, Kubrick clearly wins this as he managed to direct AI from beyond the grave

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post #5 of 60
1/9/13 at 6:16am

I'm giving Herzog, who just turned 70, pre-emptive passage on this vessel given that he's not done and his next film has a zero percent chance of being BUDDY BUDDY.

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post #6 of 60
1/9/13 at 6:16am

Woody Allen released MATCH POINT at 69 and MIDNIGHT IN PARIS at 75, both of which can be argued to be amongst his best.

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post #7 of 60
1/9/13 at 6:22am

GOSFORD PARK is considered top tier Robert Altman by many.

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post #8 of 60
1/9/13 at 6:41am

Sidney Lumet was 80something when he directed "Before The Devil Knows Your Dead".

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post #9 of 60
1/9/13 at 6:42am

Good call on FRENZY. Fun to see Hitch playing in a R rated playground. Feels like a response to the Giallo movement.

 

My contribution: Howard Hawks' EL DORADO. A triumphant return to form after an up and down 60's decade.

 

(we won't talk about RIO LOBO)

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post #10 of 60
1/9/13 at 7:09am

Kurosawa was 70 something when he made Ran.

 

John Huston's The Dead was supposed to be good, he was in his 80's and near death when he made it.

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post #11 of 60
1/9/13 at 7:27am

Charles Crichton was 78 when he directed A FISH CALLED WANDA.  

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post #12 of 60
1/9/13 at 9:01am

I've always been partial to Prizzi's Honour - and Huston directed that at 78/79. Don't know if it meets any test of "greatness" but it was nominated for a shitload of Oscars, if I recall correctly.

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post #13 of 60
1/9/13 at 9:04am

PRIZZI'S HONOR is awesome.  Nicholson's best work, in my opinion.  Nice one, jhp1608.

 

Highly recommended to anyone that hasn't seen it yet.

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post #14 of 60
1/9/13 at 9:11am

Ronin, bitches. Frankenheimer came out of nowhere with this and fucking killed it.

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post #15 of 60
1/9/13 at 9:16am
Quote:
Originally Posted by Art Decade View Post

Ronin, bitches. Frankenheimer came out of nowhere with this and fucking killed it.

 

Ah fuck me.  I even drafted that one in the 90s draft.  Point to you, Art.

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post #16 of 60
1/9/13 at 9:19am

Manoel de Oliveira laughs at all these young whippersnappers.

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post #17 of 60
1/9/13 at 9:21am

Altman had a pretty impressive 3rd wind run that included The Player, Short Cuts, & the underrated Prairie Home Companion.

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post #18 of 60
1/9/13 at 9:22am

Not to mention Dr. T. and the Women.

 

Wait... what did I just say?

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post #19 of 60
1/9/13 at 9:27am

Quote:

Originally Posted by Bailey View Post

Not to mention Dr. T. and the Women.

 

Wait... what did I just say?


A) The movie is not about Mr. T earning his doctorate and curing "Foolism".

B) The movie is not a sequel to The 5000 Fingers Of Dr. T.

C) ...and the featured "Women"? Meh.

Sooo fuck that movie (although I wouldn't be surprised if it's secretly great).

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post #20 of 60
1/9/13 at 9:30am

It's no Cookie's Fortune.

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post #21 of 60
1/9/13 at 9:31am

Dude, what is?

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post #22 of 60
1/9/13 at 9:36am

Buñuel was 72 when he made The Discrete Charm of the Bourgeoisie and 77 when he made That Obscure Object of Desire.

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post #23 of 60
1/9/13 at 9:40am
Quote:
Originally Posted by Bailey View Post

It's no Cookie's Fortune.

 

It's no MIRROR MIRROR either.

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post #24 of 60
1/9/13 at 9:40am

Samuel Fuller was 70 when he made White Dog (and 68 when he made The Big Red One).

 

I'm going to go ahead and name Letters From Iwo Jima as Clint Eastwood's best directorial outing since he turned 70 in 2000.

 

Allan Dwan directed movies for nearly 60 years and turned in the noir gem Slightly Scarlet when he was 71.

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post #25 of 60
1/9/13 at 9:44am

David Lean made A PASSAGE TO INDIA in his 70s.  I haven't seen that in a long time but I recall it being very good.

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post #26 of 60
1/9/13 at 9:47am

It's solid but fairly treacly. It's also kind of silly. But DAMN does it look good.

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post #27 of 60
1/9/13 at 9:52am
Quote:
Originally Posted by Judas Booth View Post

 

It's no MIRROR MIRROR either.

 

We were talking Robert Altman movies, which are hardly Tarsem Singh as Mirror Mirror.

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post #28 of 60
1/9/13 at 9:59am

Namechecking Mirror, Mirror has become a "could be worse" running gag over on the Box Office thread.

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post #29 of 60
1/9/13 at 9:59am

While considering it "Great" may be a stretch (I've become a big fan of it), Star Trek: The Motion Picture was an impressive effort by creaky oldtimer Robert Wise. 

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post #30 of 60
1/9/13 at 10:04am

I think it's his Director's Cut (supervised when he was 87) that qualifies ST:TMP there. He was only 65 when he filmed it.

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post #31 of 60
1/9/13 at 10:09am
Quote:
Originally Posted by Hammerhead View Post

Namechecking Mirror, Mirror has become a "could be worse" running gag over on the Box Office thread.

 

/sigh

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post #32 of 60
1/9/13 at 10:15am
Quote:
Originally Posted by Hammerhead View Post

I think it's his Director's Cut (supervised when he was 87) that qualifies ST:TMP there. He was only 65 when he filmed it.

 

The DC is far superior to the incredibly tedious theatrical cut (or extended TV cut) of the film.

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post #33 of 60
1/9/13 at 10:21am
Quote:
Originally Posted by Bailey View Post

Manoel de Oliveira laughs at all these young whippersnappers.

 

Holy SHIT, and he looks great!  Is the man being punished for letting John Coffey ride the lightening or something?

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post #34 of 60
1/9/13 at 10:55am

Clint Eastwood 78 with Gran Torino. 

 

Roman Polanski 77 with The Ghost Writer

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post #35 of 60
1/9/13 at 11:00am

As the guy who loved CARNAGE, Polanski is a good one.

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post #36 of 60
1/9/13 at 11:02am

I think in a couple of decades, when looking back at Eastwood's career, GRAN TORINO will be appraised as one of his last classics; a fitting coda to his Dirty Harry persona.

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post #37 of 60
1/9/13 at 11:20am

Being Portuguese I am contractually obligated to love Manoel de Oliveira and it's certainly great that he's still around, but his movies these past few decades have been nothing to write home about.

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post #38 of 60
1/9/13 at 11:23am
Quote:
Originally Posted by DanielRoffle View Post

Being Portuguese I am contractually obligated to love Manoel de Oliveira and it's certainly great that he's still around, but his movies these past few decades have been nothing to write home about.

 

Are you kidding me?  At 104 a solid stool is something to write home about.

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post #39 of 60
1/9/13 at 12:13pm
Thread Starter 
Where's a good place to start with de Oliveira? I am also a Portagee and I'd like to support my brother. Actually more like my great-grandfather.
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post #40 of 60
1/9/13 at 1:07pm

Not sure of his exact age at time of making it, but Ken Loach is old as fuck and did The Wind that Shakes The Barley a couple years ago.

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post #41 of 60
1/9/13 at 1:14pm

Oh and according to his wiki page, Barry Levinson is 70 and just directed the rather good found footage horror The Bay. I do not understand how Barry fucking Levinson made this movie, yet George Romero made Diary of the Dead. Makes no sense whatsoever, but there you go.

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post #42 of 60
1/9/13 at 1:16pm

Kurosawa was in his 70s when he made Ran & Dreams.

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post #43 of 60
1/9/13 at 1:27pm

I know they were mentioned upthread, but I really do love directors that don't mellow with age, and stay in touch with their inner perv. Friedkin with "Killer Joe" and Lumet opening "Before the Devil.." with a doggie style sex scene help me fear age a little less.

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post #44 of 60
1/9/13 at 2:09pm

Ingmar Bergman had 13 projects after his 70th birthday.

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post #45 of 60
1/9/13 at 2:13pm

Both DePalma and R. Redford have new movies coming out and they're both past 70.

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post #46 of 60
1/9/13 at 2:55pm

And we've now officially entered the sterile cataloging phase of these type of threads.

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post #47 of 60
1/9/13 at 3:03pm

Robert Redford hasn't made a good movie since QUIZ SHOW.

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post #48 of 60
1/9/13 at 7:52pm
Quote:
Originally Posted by Martin Blank View Post

Where's a good place to start with de Oliveira? I am also a Portagee and I'd like to support my brother. Actually more like my great-grandfather.

 

Probably his most acclaimed movie - certainly the one with most mainstream recognition - is Aniki Bobó. Whole thing's on YouTube, check it out if you speak Portuguese. It is very much a children's movie, but a very good one.

 

 

Also very fond of the silent documentary Douro: Faina Fluvial. Again, whole thing's on the 'tube:

 

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post #49 of 60
1/9/13 at 7:54pm
Quote:
Originally Posted by Fat Elvis View Post

Robert Redford hasn't made a good movie since QUIZ SHOW.

 

Quiz Show is a very well-made, gripping movie, but I found myself agreeing with the apologist at the ending. It's a fucking TV show, Rob Morrow, find something more important to get outraged about!

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post #50 of 60
1/9/13 at 7:54pm
Quote:
Originally Posted by Fat Elvis View Post

Robert Redford hasn't made a good movie since QUIZ SHOW.


The Horse Whisperer was surprisingly good. Far better than it has any right being.

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