Directors Who's First Movies Were Their Best?

Orson Welles, Francois Truffaut, Pasolini, Roman Polanski

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M. Night Shyamalan (although I am fond of Unbreakable and thought he returned to form with The Visit).

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The Hughes Brothers—Menace II Society
Sam Mendes—American Beauty
John Singleton—Boyz N the Hood

Mark

Sidney Lumet - 12 Angry Men (1957)

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There can be debate about this, but I still rate Ray's first, #1 (Charulata is second)



Very close:

Satoshi Kon - if it's not Perfect Blue then it's Paprika, I graded both 4.5

The Coen's first is edged out by Fargo

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Completed Extant Filmographies: Luis Buñuel, Federico Fellini, Satyajit Ray, Fritz Lang, Andrei Tarkovsky, Buster Keaton, Yasujirō Ozu - (for favorite directors who have passed or retired, 10 minimum)

Sixth Sense was his third film.

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Terence Malick



George Lucas

Lucas actually filmed a lot before Star Wars, there are a whole bunch of shorts - his first feature was THX 1138, followed by American Graffiti (which is still my favorite from him)

You beat me to it. I was going to say his third feature-length was Star Wars.

I said Pulp Fiction and I would've gotten away with it too if it weren't for those pesky Reservoir Dogs.

The Sixth Sense was actually Shyamalan's 3rd movie as a director

M. Night Shyamalan filmography

I was a little confused by the title of thread, my bad.

No worries, that'll happen

So, anyone want to weigh in on John Huston? His debut, Maltese Falcon, is it better than The Treasure of the Sierra Madre? (I'd say it's close)

Or African Queen (Falcon is better than Queen in my book), or The Man Who Would Be King, or any other of his critical darlings?

He's my 5th favorite director, but "Treasure" is my favorite, followed by "Fat City". I re-watched "Wise Blood" last year and still liked it, but it's been years since I've seen "The Misfits", which I gave a 10/10

I love Treasure, but I would easily put The Maltese Falcon on top.

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I might lean a bit more towards Mulholland Drive, but Eraserhead is right up there for Lynch.

You can toss a rock on the Coen brothers filmography and most likely will hit a masterpiece any where it falls, so even though I prefer a bunch of his films, I can definitely see a case for Blood Simple to be on top.

Oooh, an obvious one would be Kevin Smith Clerks. Every subsequent film of his has been exponentially worse, at least up to the ones I've seen.

I also wouldn't mind if someone puts Reservoir Dogs at the top of their Tarantino list.

Disagree on Polanski. I enjoyed Knife in the Water and Repulsion, but to me Chinatown is his best film by a long shot. In fact, it's one of the best films ever made.

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Chinatown is RIGHT there for me but not quite.

Jordan Peele - Get Out