The Late Great Stanley Kubrick, His Best

"Clockwork Orange" is the greatest. One of star Malcom McDowell's great regrets: He never worked with Kubrick again. Well that was Kubrick. He certainly wasn't repetitious. The film is based on a Anthony Burgess novel. Alex (McDowell) and his gang of "droods" get their kicks out of perpetrating the good old "ultraviolence". Outstanding cinematography abounds as do great dialect and costumes. This film was unfairly shunned (although nominated) at the Academy Awards. Too "controversial". Why the controversy? Alex got "cured".
"2001, A Space Odyssey" won an Oscar for Best Special Effects. Duh, that was a tough one to vote on I bet. This is a movie I think that everyone has seen. As usual S.K. was ahead of his time. It is a masterpiece (like most of Kubrick's direction) in which an inanimate object, HAL the computer, steals the show. You'll never forget the compositions "The Blue Danube" and "Also Sprach Zarathustra" after seeing the film. The light show on display as astronaut David (Keir Dullea) goes berserk is the best that I have seen on film. A different kind of horror show than....
"The Shining" is of course based on a Stephen King novel. S. King's stories seldom translate successfully to film. It is a tribute to director S.K. and Jack Nicholson that this one works for sure. By the way, it is a great book also. Kubrick had a reputation for being too much of a perfectionist, but it didn't seem to bother Jack N. (who ad-libbed the famous "Here's Johnny!", which isn't in the book). "Redrum" is in the book and spoken well by Jack's son, Danny Torrance (child actor Danny Lloyd). That is one creepy kid. Well, Jack goes nuts. Goes?! Is I mean.
"Dr. Strangelove..." came out the same year as "Fail-Safe" (directed by Sidney Lumet, 1964) at the height of the "Cold War" vs. the U.S.S.R. It's a little different though. No one except Stanley Kubrick would have had the guts to go with this spoof at that time. Peter Sellers plays three parts to a hilarious "T". He is funny as can be as is George C. Scott. This black and white film was nominated for 4 Academy Awards, and of course shunned. Could it be controversial?
"Barry Lyndon" is on the list especially for the (18th. century period) costumes, for which the film won an Academy Award. It also won for cinematography. Both awards were well deserved. Ryan O'Neal stars as an unscrupulous Irishman who cheats his way to the top and then falls hard. It's a pretty good flic story-wise, but especially easy on the eyes. Like, unfortunately, most of Kubrick's work, it's reputation gains traction in retrospect.

Kubrick never won an Oscar for "Best Director". The system failed.

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Offbeat Movie Directors-6 Wild and Crazy Guys

For my money Stanley Kubrick is the best. The reason I think this: Every movie directed by him seems like it's done by a different guy, who seems to be one of the best directors of all time. No style is great style. His record speaks for itself. Basically unflawed.

My wife prefers the Coen brothers, Ethan and Joel, as she says that they can always be counted on to do good work. I cannot disagree. They are consistently quaintly bizarre.

Quentin Tarantino is a most consistently shocking guy: see "Hostel". It ain't quaint. While he didn't direct it he did produce and approve it. Scary, depraved stuff. This guy is way out of control. Violence is a trademark, but it's often funny. "Hostel" ain't funny. If you see it more than once, you I don't want to know.

Alfred Hitchcock is the original king of the macabre. (Edgar Allan Poe didn't make movies.) His "Americanized" stuff is just tremendous. His old movies with the British accents I can't get into much. He always did a cameo in his movies. As a bonus, he had a great TV show with a great theme song ("Funeral March of the Marionette"). You're too young to remember it.

Then there is Federico Fellini. I have 12 of his movies on tape or DVD, so I am fanatical. Everything is in Italian (subtitled in English) though, and some people can't handle that. He's considered one of the greatest European directors, but there's a lot of autobiography in his movies. He's not for everybody, but he's for me. He used very few well known actors. Marcello Mastroianni was his favorite actor.His work has to be watched more than once. Nuns and scaffolding and Rubenesque (Italian) women??

David Lynch is an enigma. His best work is probably better than anybody's. His bad stuff is the worst. "Inland Empire" is hours of black screen-can't see a thing. "Eraserhead" is a cult classic, but it's quirky enough to be creepy. What do I know, I don't like "Rocky Horror Picture Show". This guy is also not for everyone.

Sadly, Hitchcock, Fellini and Kubrick won't be doing any more movies.

Honorable mentions to Clint Eastwood, who does what he wants (it's good and sometimes offbeat) and to Robert Altman, who is inconsistent.

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