u/Ornery-Structure-69

After making his debut film, Reservoir Dogs, and before working on his second feature, Pulp Fiction, Tarantino had signed on with Showtime to make a television film (made-for-TV) for their anthology series, Rebel Highway, aka “…a 10-week series of 1950s drive-in classic B-movies remade with a '90s edge.”

Tarantino chose Roger Corman’s 1957 Rock All Night as his remake (you can see a poster of the movie on the wall at Jack Rabbit Slim’s in Pulp Fiction—look closely). But Tarantino got cold feet when an overzealous producer said they’d release the remake in theaters, and Tarantino said, “No theaters—just for television. Then I can make Pulp Fiction for theaters afterward.”

Robert Rodriguez directed the best remake of the bunch, Roadracers, starring David Arquette and a pre-Desperado Salma Hayek. All the other 9 movies in the series kinda suck. But Tarantino would’ve made a killer remake. He was obsessed with Rock All Night, which is a fun movie. Imagine a movie that takes place entirely in Jack Rabbit Slim’s…basically…with mobsters and rockabilly music

I didn’t realize Criterion had kinda saved the movie from obscurity in 1992, the same year the film was inducted into the prestigious National Film Registry. There’s a short essay about it on Criterion:

https://www.criterion.com/current/posts/835-letter-from-an-unknown-woman

It’s a great melodrama, one of the best, that elevates the oft-ridiculed genre to new heights. I’m sure Almodovar, Fassbinder, and Haynes all took inspiration from it.

Olive Films released it in 2017 on Blu-ray from a 4K restoration, which is apparently stellar. Only a matter of time before someone releases it on native 4K. Max Ophuls needs more love…

A box set? Upgrade the Mr. Arkadin three-disc DVD? Upgrade his Blu-ray films (Ambersons, Othello…)? Release his remaining feature films (the Stranger, Touch of Evil…)? Release his final film (Other Side of the Wind)? Release his 1938 silent comedy (Too Much Johnson)? Or release all his television-directed programs and incomplete works (Don Quixote, Moby Dick, The Deep, Filming the Trial, Orson Welles’ Sketch Book…)?

The Orson Welles estate, led by his youngest daughter Beatrice, is offering Welles’ TV projects to labels and streamers, but no takers yet:

Fountain of Youth — A witty 26-minute short backed by Desilu. It was filmed in 1956 with the hope it would lead to a Welles-hosted anthology series, which never happened. Based on a John Collier short story, Welles narrated a tale about a romantic triangle and an elixir granting 200 years of youthful appearance.

Two Wise Old Men: Socrates and Noah ** **— One of six shorts Welles filmed with cameraman Gary Graver in 1970 for Avco Broadcasting’s fledgling Cartrivision home video line. The shorts were sold in 1972 by Sears, Roebuck & Co. before Cartrivision went out of business. (This was in the days before Betamax or VHS.) The 19-minute Socrates and Noah contains two separate solo performances. Welles recounts the trial of Socrates in 399 B.C. from a tastefully furnished living room. His stirring recitation touches on obedience to the law, the pursuit of money over truth and the generation gap. The Noah segment was shot outdoors in Southern California. Welles starts by recounting his lifelong interest in Noah, noting his recitation draws from his own unproduced work, Two by Two. The estate acquired copies of some of the Cartrivision shorts at auction in late 2021, but only Two Wise Old Men was in suitable condition for transfer.

The Orson Welles Show — The unsold pilot for a Welles-hosted talk show. The 74-minute program features an interview with Hollywood leading man Burt Reynolds, Muppet masters Jim Henson and Frank Oz and a bit of magic with Angie Dickinson.

Lolita would’ve worked better had it been made in the 80s or 90s with less censorship. No point in adapting a controversial novel in 1962. What about his other movies? Do you wish he had directed a certain movie years earlier…or later? Eyes Wide Shut could’ve been made as far back as the 60s, but it would’ve been a totally different movie. I wonder what Clockwork Orange would’ve looked like had he made it years later

The Night of the Hunter is obviously one of the greatest films ever made, but what would his career have looked like had he made more movies? Would he have been one of the all-time greats? Why only one movie? Studios didn’t want to finance his movies? Did any directors at the time, like Orson Welles, stop and say, “Whoa, this guy might be a genius. He should direct more movies”?

The Good, the Bad and the Ugly (1966, Sergio Leone)
Rio Bravo (1959, Howard Hawks)
Taxi Driver (1976, Martin Scorsese)
His Girl Friday (1940, Howard Hawks)
Rolling Thunder (1977, John Flynn)
They All Laughed (1981, Bogdanovich)
The Great Escape (1963, John Sturges)
Carrie (1976, Brian De Palma)
Coffy (1973, Jack Hill)
Dazed and Confused (1993, Richard Linklater)
Five Fingers of Death (1973, Chang Ho Cheng)
Hi Diddle Diddle (1943, Andrew L. Stone)

PEDRO ALMODOVAR
The Night of the Hunter (1955, Charles Laughton)
The Rules of the Game (1939, Jean Renoir)
All About Eve (1950, Joseph L. Mankiewicz)
Leave Her to Heaven (1945, John M. Stahl)
North by Northwest (1959, Alfred Hitchcock)
Out of the Past (1947, Jacques Tourneur)
Midnight (1939, Mitchell Leisen)
Some Like It Hot (1959, Billy Wilder)
Touch of Evil (1958, Orson Welles)
Senso (1954, Luchino Visconti)

JOHN WOO
Citizen Kane (1941, Orson Welles)
The Wild Bunch (1969, Sam Peckinpah)
2001: A Space Odyssey (1968, Stanley Kubrick)
The Godfather Part II (1974, Francis Ford Coppola)
Le Samourai (1967, Jean-Pierre Melville)
Seven Samurai (1954, Akira Kurosawa)
Lawrence of Arabia (1962, David Lean)
West Side Story (1961, Robert Wise/Jerome Robbins)
Raging Bull (1980, Martin Scorsese)
Mean Streets (1973, Martin Scorsese)

ORSON WELLES
City Lights (1931, Charles Chaplin)
Greed (1924, Erich von Stroheim)
Intolerance (1916, D.W. Griffith)
Nanook of the North (1922, Robert J. Flaherty)
Shoeshine (1946, Vittorio De Sica)
Battleship Potemkin (1925, Sergei Eisenstein)
The Baker's Wife (1938, Marcel Pagnol)
Grand Illusion (1937, Jean Renoir)
Stagecoach (1939, John Ford)
Ninotchka (1939, Ernst Lubitsch)

JOHN WATERS
All That Heaven Allows (1955, Douglas Sirk)
Baby Doll (1956, Elia Kazan)
Boom! (1968, Joseph Losey)
Brink of Life (1958, Ingmar Bergman)
The Chelsea Girls (1966, Andy Warhol)
8 1/2 (1963, Federico Fellini)
Faster, Pussycat! Kill! Kill! (1965, Russ Meyer)
The Mother and the Whore (1973, Jean Eustache)
The Tingler (1959, William Castle)
The Wizard of Oz (1939, Victor Fleming)

ANDREI TARKOVSKY
Diary of a Country Priest (1950, Robert Bresson)
Winter Light (1962, Ingmar Bergman)
Nazarin (1958, Luis Bunuel)
Wild Strawberries (1957, Ingmar Bergman)
City Lights (1931, Charles Chaplin)
Ugetsu (1953, Kenji Mizoguchi)
Seven Samurai (1954, Akira Kurosawa)
Persona (1966, Ingmar Bergman)
Mouchette (1967, Robert Bresson)
Woman in the Dunes (1964, Hiroshi Teshigahara)

QUENTIN TARANTINO
The Good, the Bad and the Ugly (1966, Sergio Leone)
Rio Bravo (1959, Howard Hawks)
Taxi Driver (1976, Martin Scorsese)
His Girl Friday (1940, Howard Hawks)
Rolling Thunder (1977, John Flynn)
They All Laughed (1981, Bogdanovich)
The Great Escape (1963, John Sturges)
Carrie (1976, Brian De Palma)
Coffy (1973, Jack Hill)
Dazed and Confused (1993, Richard Linklater)
Five Fingers of Death (1973, Chang Ho Cheng)
Hi Diddle Diddle (1943, Andrew L. Stone)

THEO ANGELOPOULOS
Citizen Kane (1941, Orson Welles)
Ivan the Terrible (1943, Sergei Eisenstein)
Ordet (1955, Carl Theodor Dreyer)
8 1/2 (1963, Federico Fellini)
Nosferatu (1922, F.W. Murnau)
L'Avventura (1960, Michelangelo Antonioni)
The Gold Rush (1925, Charles Chaplin)
Ugetsu (1953, Kenji Mizoguchi)
Pickpocket (1959, Robert Bresson)
Persona (1966, Ingmar Bergman)

CLIVE BARKER
Andrei Rublev (1966, Andrei Tarkovsky)
Fantasia (1940, Ben Sharpsteen)
The Exorcist (1973, William Friedkin)
Fellini Satyricon (1970, Federico Fellini)
Gone with the Wind (1939, Victor Fleming)
Ben-Hur (1959, William Wyler)
Bride of Frankenstein (1935, James Whale)
Pinocchio (1940, Ben Sharpsteen)
Meet Me in St. Louis (1944, Vincente Minnelli)
Blade Runner (1982, Ridley Scott)

BERNARDO BERTOLUCCI
The Rules of the Game (1939, Jean Renoir)
Sansho Dayu (1954, Kenji Mizoguchi)
Germany Year Zero (1947, Roberto Rossellini)
Breathless (1959, Jean-Luc Godard)
Stagecoach (1939, John Ford)
Blue Velvet (1986, David Lynch)
City Lights (1931, Charles Chaplin)
Marnie (1964, Alfred Hitchcock)
Accatone (1961, Pier Paolo Pasolini)
Touch of Evil (1958, Orson Welles)

ROBERT BRESSON
The Gold Rush (1925, Charles Chaplin)
City Lights (1931, Charles Chaplin)
Battleship Potemkin (1925, Sergei Eisenstein)
Brief Encounter (1945, David Lean)
The Bicycle Thief (1947, Vittorio De Sica)
Man of Aran (1934, Robert Flaherty)
Louisiana Story (1948, Robert Flaherty)

LUIS BUNUEL
Underworld (1927, Josef von Sternberg)
The Gold Rush (1925, Charles Chaplin)
The Bicycle Thief (1947, Vittorio De Sica)
Battleship Potemkin (1925, Sergei Eisenstein)
Portrait of Jennie (1948, William Dieterle)
Cavalcade (1933, Frank Lloyd)
White Shadows in the South Seas (1928, W.S. Van Dyle/Robert Flaherty)
Dead of Night (1945, Alberto Cavalcanti/Charles Crichton/Basil Deardon/Robert Hamer)
L'Age d'Or (1930, Luis Bunuel/Salvador Dali)
I Am a Fugitive from a Chain Gang (1932, Mervyn LeRoy)

CHARLES BURNETT
The Bicycle Thief (1949, Vittorio De Sica)
Emitai (1971, Ousmane Sembene)
Alexander Nevsky (1938, Sergei Eisenstein)
The Tree of Wooden Clogs (1978, Ermanno Olmi)
Shane (1953, George Stevens)
The Swimmer (1968, Frank Perry)
Citizen Kane (1941, Orson Welles)
The Maltese Falcon (1941, John Huston)
Dodes'ka-den (1970, Akira Kurosawa)
The Shop on Main Street (1965, Jan Kadar/Elmar Klos)

KEN BURNS
Seven Samurai (1954, Akira Kurosawa)
The Discreet Charm of the Bourgeoisie (1972, Luis Bunuel)
Raging Bull (1980, Martin Scorsese)
Citizen Kane (1941, Orson Welles)
The Rules of the Game (1939, Jean Renoir)
Last Tango in Paris (1972, Bernardo Bertolucci)
Pelle the Conqueror (1988, Bille August)
The Tree of Wooden Clogs (1978, Ermanno Olmi)
Chinatown (1974, Roman Polanski)
Vertigo (1958, Alfred Hitchcock)

JACKIE CHAN
The General (1927, Buster Keaton)
City Lights (1931, Charles Chaplin)
Rocky (1976, John G. Avildsen)
War and Peace (1968, Sergei Bondarchuk)
Seven Samurai (1954, Akira Kurosawa)
Gone with the Wind (1939, Victor Fleming)
Jurassic Park (1993, Steven Spielberg)
My Fair Lady (1964, George Cukor)
Pocketful of Miracles (1961, Frank Capra)
Lawrence of Arabia (1962, David Lean)

ROGER CORMAN
Battleship Potemkin (1925, Sergei Eisenstein)
Citizen Kane (1941, Orson Welles)
The Seventh Seal (1956, Ingmar Bergman)
Lawrence of Arabia (1962, David Lean)
The Godfather (1972, Francis Ford Coppola)
The Grapes of Wrath (1940, John Ford)
Shane (1953, George Stevens)
On the Waterfront (1954, Elia Kazan)
Star Wars (1977, George Lucas)
The Cabinet of Dr. Caligari (1919, Robert Wiene)

ALEX COX
Citizen Kane (1941, Orson Welles)
The Devils (1971, Ken Russell)
The Exterminating Angel (1962, Luis Bunuel)
King Kong (1933, Merian C. Cooper/Ernest B. Schoedsack)
The Mattei Affair (1973, Francesco Rosi)
O Lucky Man! (1973, Lindsay Anderson)
2001: A Space Odyssey (1968, Stanley Kubrick)
Throne of Blood (1957, Akira Kurosawa)
The Wages of Fear (1953, H.G. Clouzot)
The War Game (1967, Peter Watkins)

JOE DANTE
Citizen Kane (1941, Orson Welles)
City Lights (1931, Charles Chaplin)
8 1/2 (1963, Federico Fellini)
Children of Paradise (1945, Marcel Carne)
The Dead (1960, Stan Brakhage)
Rashomon (1950, Akira Kurosawa)
Psycho (1960, Alfred Hitchcock)
Raging Bull (1980, Martin Scorsese)
The Searchers (1956, John Ford)
Once Upon a Time in the West (1969, Sergio Leone)

JONATHAN DEMME
Shoot the Piano Player (1960, Francois Truffaut)
The Conformist (1970, Bernardo Bertolucci)
Yojimbo (1961, Akira Kurosawa)
Nothing But a Man (1964, Michael Roemer)
Antonio das Mortes (1969, Glauber Rocha)
Black Orpheus (1959, Marcel Camus)
Five Easy Pieces (1970, Bob Rafelson)
Muriel (1963, Alain Resnais)
Coming Home (1978, Hal Ashby)
Ceddo (1977, Ousmane Sembene)

ERNEST DICKERSON
Citizen Kane (1941, Orson Welles)
2001: A Space Odyssey (1968, Stanley Kubrick)
In the Mood for Love (2001, Wong Kar-wai)
Vertigo (1958, Alfred Hitchcock)
Brazil (1985, Terry Gilliam)
Rashomon (1950, Akira Kurosawa)
The Godfather/The Godfather Part II (1972-74, Francis Ford Coppola)
Malcolm X (1992, Spike Lee)
Ikiru (1952, Akira Kurosawa)
Blade Runner (1982, Ridley Scott)

FEDERICO FELLINI
The Circus/City Lights/Monsieur Verdoux (1928,31,47, Charles Chaplin)
Stagecoach (1939, John Ford)
Any Marx Brothers or Laurel and Hardy
Rashomon (1950, Akira Kurosawa)
The Discreet Charm of the Bourgeoisie (1972, Luis Bunuel)
2001: A Space Odyssey (1968, Stanley Kubrick)
Paisan (1946, Roberto Rossellini)
The Birds (1963, Alfred Hitchcock)
Wild Strawberries (1957, Ingmar Bergman)
8 1/2 (1963, Federico Fellini)

MILOS FORMAN
Amarcord (1974, Federico Fellini)
American Graffiti (1973, George Lucas)
Children of Paradise (1945, Marcel Carne)
Citizen Kane (1941, Orson Welles)
City Lights (1931, Charles Chaplin)
The Deer Hunter (1978, Michael Cimino)
Giant (1956, George Stevens)
The Godfather (1972, Francis Ford Coppola)
Miracle in Milan (1950, Vittorio De Sica)
Raging Bull (1980, Martin Scorsese)

SAMUEL FULLER
The Informer (1935, John Ford)
The Gold Rush (1925, Charles Chaplin)
Battleship Potemkin (1925, Sergei Eisenstein)
Rashomon (1950, Akira Kurosawa)
Citizen Kane (1941, Orson Welles)
Pierrot le Fou (1965, Jean-Luc Godard)
The 400 Blows (1959, Francois Truffaut)
The Last Emperor (1987, Bernardo Bertolucci)
La Dolce Vita (1959, Federico Fellini)
Brief Encounter (1945, David Lean)

TERRY GILLIAM
Citizen Kane (1941, Orson Welles)
Seven Samurai (1954, Akira Kurosawa)
The Seventh Seal (1957, Ingmar Bergman)
8 1/2 (1963, Federico Fellini)
2001: A Space Odyssey (1968, Stanley Kubrick)
Sherlock Jr. (1924, Buster Keaton)
Pinocchio (1940, Ben Sharpsteen)
Children of Paradise (1945, Marcel Carne)
One-Eyed Jacks (1960, Marlon Brando)
The Apartment (1960, Billy Wilder)

JEAN-LUC GODARD (favorite American films)
Scarface (1932, Howard Hawks)
The Great Dictator (1940, Charles Chaplin)
Vertigo (1958, Alfred Hitchcock)
The Searchers (1956, John Ford)
Singin' in the Rain (1952, Stanley Donen/Gene Kelly)
The Lady from Shanghai (1948, Orson Welles)
Bigger Than Life (1956, Nicholas Ray)
Angel Face (1953, Otto Preminger)
To Be or Not to Be (1942, Ernst Lubitsch)
Dishonored (1931, Josef von Sternberg)

MICHAEL HANEKE
Au Hasard Balthazar (1966, Robert Bresson)
Lancelot du Lac (1974, Robert Bresson)
Mirror (1975, Andrei Tarkovsky)
Salo (1975, Pier Paolo Pasolini)
The Exterminating Angel (1962, Luis Bunuel)
The Gold Rush (1925, Charles Chaplin)
Psycho (1960, Alfred Hitchcock)
A Woman Under the Influence (1974, John Cassavetes)
Germany Year Zero (1947, Roberto Rossellini)
L'Eclisse (1962, Michelangelo Antonioni)

TODD HAYNES
All That Heaven Allows (1955, Douglas Sirk)
Un Chant d'Amour (1950, Jean Genet)
Citizen Kane (1941, Orson Welles)
Ali: Fear Eats the Soul (1974, Rainer Werner Fassbinder)
Jeanne Dielman, 23 Quai du Commerce, 1080 Bruxelles (1975, Chantal Akerman)
Nashville (1975, Robert Altman)
The Night of the Hunter (1955, Charles Laughton)
Performance (1970, Donald Cammell/Nicolas Roeg)
The Reckless Moment (1949, Max Ophlus)
Vertigo (1958, Alfred Hitchcock)

JIM JARMUSCH
L'Atalante (1934, Jean Vigo)
Tokyo Story (1953, Yasujiro Ozu)
They Live by Night (1949, Nicholas Ray)
Bob le Flambeur (1955, Jean-Pierre Melville)
Sunrise (1927, F.W. Murnau)
The Cameraman (1928, Buster Keaton/Edward Sedgwick)
Mouchette (1967, Robert Bresson)
Seven Samurai (1954, Akira Kurosawa)
Broken Blossoms (1919, D.W. Griffith)
Open City (1945, Roberto Rossellini)

NEIL JORDAN
Citizen Kane (1941, Orson Welles)
La Strada (1954, Federico Fellini)
The Exterminating Angel (1962, Luis Bunuel)
The Passion of Joan of Arc (1928, Carl Theodor Dreyer)
The Wild Bunch (1969, Sam Peckinpah)
They Live By Night (1949, Nicholas Ray)
Rashomon (1950, Akira Kurosawa)
8 1/2 (1963, Federico Fellini)
The General (1927, Buster Keaton)
Persona (1966, Ingmar Bergman)

PHILIP KAUFMAN
Pather Panchali (1955, Satyajit Ray)
The Bicycle Thief (1949, Vittorio De Sica)
Seven Samurai (1954, Akira Kurosawa)
Belle de Jour (1967, Luis Bunuel)
The Asphalt Jungle (1950, John Huston)
Wages of Fear (1953, H.G. Clouzot)
I Vitelloni (1953, Federico Fellini)
Touch of Evil (1958, Orson Welles)
The Third Man (1949, Carol Reed)

KRZYSZTOF KIESLOWSKI
La Strada (1954, Federico Fellini)
Kes (1969, Ken Loach)
A Man Escaped (1956, Robert Bresson)
The 400 Blows (1959, Francois Truffaut)
Citizen Kane (1941, Orson Welles)
The Kid (1921, Charles Chaplin)
Ivan's Childhood (1962, Andrei Tarkovsky)
Musicians (1969, Mikheil Kobakhidze)
The Pram (1963, Bo Widerberg)
Intimiate Lighting (1965, Ivan Passer)

TAKESHI “BEAT” KITANO
Children of Paradise (1945, Marcel Carne)
2001: A Space Odyssey (1968, Stanley Kubrick)
A Clockwork Orange (1971, Stanley Kubrick)
Seven Samurai (1954, Akira Kurosawa)
To Live and Die in L.A. (1985, William Friedkin)
Wild at Heart (1990, David Lynch)
Bring Me the Head of Alfredo Garcia (1974, Sam Peckinpah)
Darkman (1990, Sam Raimi)
Crazy Thunder Road (1980, Sogo Ishii)
The Railroad Man (1956, Pietro Germi)

JERRY LEWIS
An Affair to Remember (1957, Leo McCarey)
Citizen Kane (1941, Orson Welles)
The Fountainhead (1949, King Vidor)
All About Eve (1950, Joseph L. Mankiewicz)
The Adventures of Robin Hood (1938, Michael Curtiz/William Keighley)
On the Waterfront (1954, Elia Kazan)
Breakfast at Tiffany's (1961, Blake Edwards)
Shadow of a Doubt (1943, Alfred Hitchcock)
Harry and the Hendersons (1987, William Dear)
Casablanca (1942, Michael Curtiz)

RICHARD LINKLATER
Some Came Running (1958, Vincente Minnelli)
Pickpocket (1959, Robert Bresson)
2001: A Space Odyssey (1968, Stanley Kubrick)
GoodFellas (1990, Martin Scorsese)
The Mother and the Whore (1973, Jean Eustache)
Los Olvidados (1950, Luis Bunuel)
In a Year with Thirteen Moons (1978, Rainer Werner Fassbinder)
Citizen Kane (1941, Orson Welles)
Fanny and Alexander (1983, Ingmar Bergman)
Carmen Jones (1954, Otto Preminger)

KEN LOACH
The Battle of Algiers (1965, Gillo Pontecorvo)
Breathless (1959, Jean-Luc Godard)
Bicycle Thieves (1949, Vittorio De Sica)
Closely Watched Trains (1966, Jiri Menzel)
Firemen's Ball (1965, Milos Forman)
Jules et Jim (1961, Francois Truffaut)
Loves of a Blonde (1964, Milos Forman)
The Rules of the Game (1939, Jean Renoir)
The Tree of Wooden Clogs (1978, Ermanno Olmi)
Wild Strawberries (1957, Ingmar Bergman)

SIDNEY LUMET
The Best Years of Our Lives (1946, William Wyler)
Fanny and Alexander (1983, Ingmar Bergman)
The Godfather (1972, Francis Ford Coppola)
The Grapes of Wrath (1940, John Ford)
Intolerance (1916, D.W. Griffith)
The Passion of Joan of Arc (1928, Carl Theodor Dreyer)
Ran (1985, Akira Kurosawa)
Roma (1972, Federico Fellini)
Singin' in the Rain (1952, Stanley Donen/Gene Kelly)
2001: A Space Odyssey (1968, Stanley Kubrick)

ERROL MORRIS
Detour (1945, Edgar G. Ulmer)
There's Always Tomorrow (1956, Douglas Sirk)
Make Way for Tomorrow (1937, Leo McCarey)
A Man Escaped (1956, Robert Bresson)
The Crime of Monsieur Lange (1935, Jean Renoir)
Stray Dog (1949, Akira Kurosawa)
The Rise to Power of Louis XIV (1966, Roberto Rossellini)
Human Desire (1954, Fritz Lang)
Ace in the Hole (1951, Billy Wilder)
Psycho (1960, Alfred Hitchcock)

ALEX PROYAS
Citizen Kane (1941, Orson Welles)
Dr. Strangelove (1964, Stanley Kubrick)
The Exorcist (1973, William Friedkin)
The Godfather (1972, Francis Ford Coppola)
It's a Wonderful Life (1946, Frank Capra)
Lawrence of Arabia (1962, David Lean)
North by Northwest (1959, Alfred Hitchcock)
One Flew over the Cuckoo's Nest (1975, Milos Forman)
The Third Man (1949, Carol Reed)
The Wizard of Oz (1939, Victor Fleming)

JACQUES RIVETTE
The Life of Oharu (1952, Kenji Mizoguchi)
Germany Year Zero (1947, Roberto Rossellini)
True Heart Susie (1919, D.W. Griffith)
Sunrise (1927, F.W. Murnau)
The River (1951, Jean Renoir)
Ivan the Terrible (1943, Sergei Eisenstein)
L'Atalante (1934, Jean Vigo)
Day of Wrath (1945, Carl Theodor Dreyer)
Monsieur Verdoux (1947, Charles Chaplin)
Confidential Report (1955, Orson Welles)

ERIC ROHMER
True Heart Susie (1919, D.W. Griffith)
The General (1927, Buster Keaton)
Sunrise (1927, F.W. Murnau)
The Rules of the Game (1939, Jean Renoir)
Ivan the Terrible (1943, Sergei Eisenstein)
Red River (1948, Howard Hawks)
Voyage to Italy (1953, Roberto Rossellini)
Vertigo (1958, Alfred Hitchcock)
Pickpocket (1959, Robert Bresson)
La Pyramide humaine (1959, Jean Rouch)

GEORGE A. ROMERO
The Brothers Karamazov (1958, Richard Brooks)
Casablanca (1942, Michael Curtiz)
Dr. Strangelove (1964, Stanley Kubrick)
High Noon (1952, Fred Zinnemann)
King Solomon's Mines (1950, Compton Bennett)
North by Northwest (1959, Alfred Hitchcock)
The Quiet Man (1952, John Ford)
Repulsion (1965, Roman Polanski)
Touch of Evil (1958, Orson Welles)
The Tales of Hoffmann (1951, Michael Powell/Emeric Pressburger)

JOHN SAYLES
Yojimbo (1961, Akira Kurosawa)
Seven Samurai (1954, Akira Kurosawa)
Sawdust and Tinsel (1953, Ingmar Bergman)
The Magnificent Seven (1960, John Sturges)
Two Women (1960, Vittorio De Sica)
The Organizer (1963, Mario Monicelli)
A Taxing Woman (1987, Juzo Itami)
The Third Man (1949, Carol Reed)
The Treasure of the Sierra Madre (1948, John Huston)
Wages of Fear (1953, Henri-Georges Clouzot)

PAUL SCHRADER
The Rules of the Game (1939, Jean Renoir)
Tokyo Story (1953, Yasujiro Ozu)
Pickpocket (1959, Robert Bresson)
Citizen Kane (1941, Orson Welles)
The Lady Eve (1941, Preston Sturges)
La Belle et la Bete (1946, Jean Cocteau)
The Conformist (1970, Bernardo Bertolucci)
Vertigo (1958, Alfred Hitchcock)
The Searchers (1956, John Ford)
The Wild Bunch (1969, Sam Peckinpah)

JOEL SCHUMACHER
Battleship Potemkin (1925, Sergei Eisenstein)
Lawrence of Arabia (1962, David Lean)
The Cook, the Thief, His Wife and Her Lover (1990, Peter Greenaway)
The Bicycle Thief (1949, Vittorio De Sica)
Breaking the Waves (1996, Lars von Trier)
A Clockwork Orange (1971, Stanley Kubrick)
The Conversation (1974, Francis Ford Coppola)
Sunset Boulevard (1950, Billy Wilder)
Stalker (1979, Andrei Tarkovsky)
The Conformist (1970, Bernardo Bertolucci)

MARTIN SCORSESE
8 1/2 (1963, Federico Fellini)
Citizen Kane (1941, Orson Welles)
The Leopard (1963, Luchino Visconti)
The Red Shoes (1948, Michael Powell/Emeric Pressburger)
The Searchers (1956, John Ford)

BILLY WILDER
The Best Years of Our Lives (1946, William Wyler)
The Bicycle Thief (1949, Vittorio De Sica)
The Bridge on the River Kwai (1957, David Lean)
The Conformist (1970, Bernardo Bertolucci)
Diabolique (1954, Henri-Georges Clouzot)
La Dolce Vita (1960, Federico Fellini)
42nd Street (1933, Lloyd Bacon)
Grand Illusion (1937, Jean Renoir)
Seduced and Abandoned (1964, Pietro Germi)
The Shop Around the Corner (1940, Ernst Lubitsch)

KING VIDOR
Intolerance (1916, D.W. Griffith)
Sunrise (1927, F.W. Murnau)
The Last Laugh (1924, F.W. Murnau)
The Big Parade (1925, King Vidor)
Brief Encounter (1945, David Lean)
The Red Shoes (1948, Michael Powell/Emeric Pressburger)
Open City (1945, Roberto Rossellini)
City Lights (1931, Charles Chaplin)
Citizen Kane (1941, Orson Welles)
The Best Years of Our Lives (1946, William Wyler)

PAUL VERHOEVEN
La Dolce Vita (1960, Federico Fellini)
Ivan the Terrible Part II (1946, Sergei Eisenstein)
Lawrence of Arabia (1962, David Lean)
Rashomon (1950, Akira Kurosawa)
Vertigo (1958, Alfred Hitchcock)
The Seventh Seal (1956, Ingmar Bergman)
The Rules of the Game (1939, Jean Renoir)
Metropolis (1927, Fritz Lang)
Los Olvidados (1950, Luis Bunuel)
Some Like It Hot (1959, Billy Wilder)

JAMES TOBACK
F for Fake (1973, Orson Welles)
Touch of Evil (1958, Orson Welles)
Hotel Terminus: The Life and Times of Klaus Barbie (1988, Marcel Ophuls)
The Godfather Trilogy (1972-90, Francis Ford Coppola)
Get Shorty (1995, Barry Sonnenfeld)
Jules and Jim (1961, Francois Truffaut)
Reds (1981, Warren Beatty)
Sweet Dreams (1971, John G. Avildsen)
Jimmy Hollywood (1994, Barry Levinson)
Lolita (1962, Stanley Kubrick)
Lolita (1997, Adrian Lyne)
Contempt (1963, Jean-Luc Godard)

WHIT STILLMAN
The Gay Divorcee (1934, Mark Sandrich)
Strangers on a Train (1951, Alfred Hitchcock)
It's a Wonderful Life (1946, Frank Capra)
Kind Hearts and Coronets (1949, Robert Hamer)
The 400 Blows, Stolen Kisses, Bed and Board (1959/68/70, Francois Truffaut)
The Shop Around the Corner (1940, Ernst Lubitsch)
Big Deal on Madonna Street (1958, Mario Monicelli)
The Palm Beach Story (1942, Preston Sturges)
Howards End (1992, James Ivory)
That Sinking Feeling (1980, Bill Forsyth)

CAROL REED
City Lights (1931, Charles Chaplin)
Ninotchka (1939, Ernst Lubitsch)
Children of Paradise (1945, Marcel Carne)
Gone with the Wind (1939, Victor Fleming)
La Ronde (1950, Max Ophuls)
All Quiet on the Western Front (1930, Lewis Milestone)
Carnival in Flanders (1935, Jacques Feyder)
Variety (1925, E.A. Dupont)
The Baker's Wife (1938, Marcel Pagnol)
Pygmalion (1938, Anthony Asquith/Leslie Howard)

ALEXANDER PAYNE
The Landlord (1970, Hal Ashby)
The Man from Laramie (1955, Anthony Mann)
A Moment of Innocence (1996, Mohsen Makhmalbaf)
La Notte (1961, Michelangelo Antonioni)
Red Beard (1965, Akira Kurosawa)
Ride the High Country (1962, Sam Peckinpah)
Room at the Top (1959, Jack Clayton)
A Special Day (1977, Ettore Scola)
Viridiana (1961, Luis Bunuel)
White Nights (1957, Luchino Visconti)

RUSS MEYER
Cool Hand Luke (1967, Stuart Rosenberg)
The Third Man (1949, Carol Reed)
Casablanca (1942, Michael Curtiz)
My Little Chickadee (1940, Edward F. Cline)
The Bank Dick (1940, Edward F. Cline)
42nd Street (1933, Lloyd Bacon)
Gunga Din (1939, George Stevens)
The Godfather (1972, Francis Ford Coppola)
The Shawshank Redemption (1994, Frank Darabont)
Sahara (1943, Zoltan Korda)

WERNER HERZOG
Cane Toads: An Unnatural History (1988, Mark Lewis)
Fast, Cheap & Out of Control (1997, Errol Morris)
Forest of Bliss (1986, Robert Gardner)
Good News: Von Kolporteuren, toten Hunden und anderen Wienern (1990, Ulrich Seidl)
Letter from Siberia (1958, Chris Marker)
Les Maitres Fous (1955, Jean Rouch)
Nanook of the North (1922, Robert Flaherty)
Spend It All (1972, Les Blank)

TERENCE DAVIES
Singin' in the Rain (1952, Stanley Donen/Gene Kelly)
Kind Hearts and Coronets (1949, Robert Hamer)
Sweet Smell of Success (1957, Alexander Mackendrick)
Cries and Whispers (1972, Ingmar Bergman)
The Age of Innocence (1993, Martin Scorsese)
The Searchers (1956, John Ford)
The Happiest Days of Your Life (1950, Frank Launder)
Apu Trilogy (1955-59, Satyajit Ray)
Sunset Boulevard (1950, Billy Wilder)
Meet Me in St. Louis (1944, Vincente Minnelli)

THE COEN BROTHERS
Brother's Keeper (1992, Joe Berlinger/Bruce Sinofsky)
Il Bidone (1955, Federico Fellini)
Salesman (1969, Albert & David Maysles)
The Bad News Bears (1976, Michael Ritchie)
The Fortune (1975, Mike Nichols)
High and Low (1963, Akira Kurosawa)
Dames (1934, Ray Enright)
Separate Tables (1958, Delbert Mann)
Where Eagles Dare (1968, Brian G. Hutton)

JOHN BOORMAN
Seven Samurai (1954, Akira Kurosawa)
The Seventh Seal (1956, Ingmar Bergman)
8 1/2 (1953, Federico Fellini)
That Obscure Object of Desire (1977, Luis Bunuel)
Dr. Strangelove (1964, Stanley Kubrick)
Citizen Kane (1941, Orson Welles)
Sunset Boulevard (1950, Billy Wilder)
Solaris (1972, Andrei Tarkovsky)
La Roue (1922, Abel Gance)
The Birth of a Nation (1915, D.W. Griffith)

PAUL BARTEL
Citizen Kane (1941, Orson Welles)
Children of Paradise (1945, Marcel Carne)
The Red Shoes (1948, Michael Powell & Emeric Pressburger)
The Best Years of Our Lives (1946, William Wyler)
A nous la liberte (1931, Rene Clair)
Pinocchio (1940, Ben Sharpsteen)
Lacombe, Lucien (1974, Louis Malle)
City Lights (1931, Charles Chaplin)
The Cabinet of Dr. Caligari (1919, Robert Wiene)
The 39 Steps (1935, Alfred Hitchcock)

OLIVIER ASSAYAS
Andrei Rublev (1966, Andrei Tarkovsky)
L'Argent (1983, Robert Bresson)
La Dolce Vita (1960, Federico Fellini)
In Girum imus nocte et consumimur igni (1978, Guy Debord)
Ludwig (1972, Luchino Visconti)
A Man Escaped (1956, Robert Bresson)
Mirror (1975, Andrei Tarkovsky)
Ordet (1955, Carl Theodor Dreyer)
Playtime (1967, Jacques Tati)
Scenes from a Marriage (1974, Ingmar Bergman)

LINDSAY ANDERSON
L'Age D'Or (1930, Luis Bunuel & Salvador Dali)
A Diary for Timothy (1945, Humphrey Jennings)
Earth (1930, Alexander Dovzhenko)
A Generation (1954, Andrzej Wajda)
If... (1968, Lindsay Anderson)
The Maltese Falcon (1941, John Huston)
Meet Me in St. Louis (1944, Vincente Minnelli)
They Were Expendable (1945, John Ford)
Tokyo Story (1953, Yasujiro Ozu)
Zero for Conduct (1933, Jean Vigo)

Flowers of Shanghai
Mother and Son
Goodfellas
Boys Don’t Cry
Fearless
Romeo + Juliet
Get Shorty
Secrets & Lies
Maborosi
My Own Private Idaho

I just saw this on Criterion Blu-ray, and it feels like a Looney Tunes movie. I knew Malle was versatile as hell, but I had no idea he’d made a surrealist slapstick comedy. This came out in 1960 when the French New Wave was just exploding, but Malle seemed to be doing his own thing. We need to reevaluate this guy’s whole career because he was on another level

What do you think will be the next Bergman film to get a Criterion 4K release? I think we’ve only gotten the Seventh Seal so far. His color films, especially Fanny and Alexander, are in desperate need of restorations.

PERSONA, per Wikipedia: Many critics consider Persona one of the greatest films ever made, Bergman's magnum opus, and a work of art of experimental cinema. Andersson's and Ullmann's performances are considered two of the best female performances in movie history. It was ranked the 5th-greatest film of all time in Sight & Sound's 1972 poll, and 17th in 2012

Bad Lieutenant
Buffalo ‘66
Un Coeur en hiver
The Daytrippers
Flirting
The Ice Storm
Jackie Brown
Little Odessa
Un Monde sans pitie
Olivier Olivier

Easily Zemeckis’ best film and one of the best films of the ‘80s. Such a great neo-noir too. I’d rank this alongside Raging Bull, Do the Right Thing, and Blade Runner as the best of the decade. Why do you think this movie isn’t as acclaimed anymore? It’s so entertaining and well-made, and quite groundbreaking. I’m about to buy the 4K release. I wish we’d gotten more Roger Rabbit content, besides a few short films

I bought the 2022 Kino Lorber 4K release, and it’s such an amazing piece of filmmaking. To say Orson Welles peaked early with Citizen Kane is a blatant lie. This man never lost his touch. He also never reached his full potential due to funding issues. Imagine if he’d had the money to make whatever he wanted. America’s greatest artist, in any art form. “There should be a statue of him in every American state” (Jack White, the White Stripes).

I suppose there’s no reason for Criterion to release Touch of Evil, since this is a perfect 4K release. But I can see them releasing it as part of an Orson Welles box set one day

I was going through the “political and religious beliefs of Stanley Kubrick” Wikipedia page, which is an entertaining read, if nothing else. It seems like his early films were more socially liberal, but then around 2001-Clockwork, he became more pessimistic and conservative in his thinking. The quote about him leaving England if the Labour Party were to win the election due to their “tax the rich” stance was amusing, since he thought he’d be financially ruined

Not sure why it happened in the ‘90s, but it was a real golden age for neo-noir: Pulp Fiction, Reservoir Dogs, King of New York, L.A. Confidential, Red Rock West, The Last Seduction, Fargo, A Simple Plan, Romeo Is Bleeding, Out of Sight, Lost Highway, One False Move, The Crying Game, The Usual Suspects… they were NOT messing around

It seems like all the Hitchcock films in the collection are pre-1950. Where do you see Criterion going with him in the future? I imagine getting the rights to his post-1950 films are too difficult. I’ve been buying his movies on 4K (Rope, Rear Window, Trouble with Harry, The Birds). Not sure if they can be improved upon…maybe?

My grandfather saw it on a double feature alongside Bringing Up Baby back in 1938

Took me long enough. I remember Wes Anderson bringing him up in interviews a lot early in his career, but I waited too long to check him out. He was as versatile as Kubrick, jumping from genre to genre. Sooo eclectic. I had no idea. But I rarely hear his name mentioned among the greats

Made Nas rewrite his verse (“Even if I stuttered, I’d still s-s-s-shit on you”)

Killed KRS-One, Kool G Rap, and two Wu-Tang members on multiple tracks

Scared Eminem at a 1998 cypher (Em reportedly said, “I got a record deal with Dre, I don’t need this”). Ironically Em claims to never have met him

Pun was the best rapper from 1995-1998, then lost his flow and delivery due to weight issues

He was the NICEST. But because he’s Puerto Rican or whatever, he gets no love

What do you think Ophuls’ legacy is today? I’m guessing most moviegoers have never heard of him, but cinephiles, film critics and scholars probably continue to revere him, to an extent. He’s best known for his “women’s pictures” or melodramas, but he also made a few solid noirs. My favorite film of his is “Letter from an Unknown Woman.”

If you’re an aspiring filmmaker, you should study his movies for the camerawork alone. There’s nothing like it. Even if you don’t care about the story or characters, his technique was impeccable