Blu Ray.com Community's TOP 20 DIRECTORIAL FEATURE DEBUTS

[stvn1974]

I have noticed that a few people have Cameron's Terminator as his debut but wasn't it Piranha II?

[sawdustandtinsel]

What if a director co-directed a film before he went out on his own? For example, I would like to include Walkabout on my list but Roeg co-directed Performance with Donald Cammell (who also wrote it) the year before.

[gwfb5]

Originally Posted by stvn1974

I have noticed that a few people have Cameron's Terminator as his debut but wasn't it Piranha II?

Originally Posted by sawdustandtinsel

What if a director co-directed a film before he went out on his own? For example, I would like to include Walkabout on my list but Roeg co-directed Performance with Donald Cammell (who also wrote it) the year before.

It was explained in the first post.
https://forum.blu-ray.com/showpost.p...86&postcount=1

Director must of fully directed debut (James Cameron for Piranha 2 will not count as he was let go after a week)

Duos will be considered, however both must be their feature length debuts

[sawdustandtinsel]

Originally Posted by gwfb5

It was explained in the first post.
https://forum.blu-ray.com/showpost.p...86&postcount=1

Yeah, I know what it says but it doesn't really explain it since in these cases it's unclear who had control over what. That's why I included the fact that Cammell wrote it.

[Mothravka]

Originally Posted by gwfb5

I'm not sure if you're being sarcastic or not, but I'll take compliments where I can get them.
Seriously though, I am terrible at picking/listing favorite films. I could never pick a favorite film or even do a top 10 list. I love so many!

I'm not sure if you are being serious or not, heh.

Making a list, calling the films best/great/favourite and not even having seen them all? I think that's the reason you are terrible at picking your favourites. But that's just a hunch.

I guess anything goes on this forum.

[qb2333]

1. Citizen Kane (Orson Welles)
2. Blood Simple (Coen Brothers)
3. Diner (Barry Levinson)
4. 12 Angry Men (Sidney Lumet)
5. Reservoir Dogs (Quentin Tarantino)
6. The Shawshank Redemption (Frank Darabont)
7. The Terminator (James Cameron)
8. This is Spinal Tap (Rob Reiner)
9. Dances with Wolves (Kevin Costner)
10. The Texas Chain Saw Massacre (Tobe Hooper)
11. The Maltese Falcon (John Huston)
12. The Evil Dead (Sam Raimi)
13. Fast Times at Ridgemont High (Amy Heckerling)
14. Moon (Duncan Jones)
15. Mad Max (George Miller)
16. The Night of the Hunter (Charles Laughton)
17. Eraserhead (David Lynch)
18. My Left Foot (Jim Sheridan)
19. Toy Story (John Lasseter)
20. Clerks (Kevin Smith)

[gwfb5]

Originally Posted by Mothravka

I'm not sure if you are being serious or not, heh.

Making a list, calling the films best/great/favourite and not even having seen them all? I think that's the reason you are terrible at picking your favourites. But that's just a hunch.

I guess anything goes on this forum.

I said "good/great" not "best/great/favorite", and while I do like or love all the film on my list that I've seen the list has nothing to do with personal favorites. It's about good directorial debuts.

https://forum.blu-ray.com/showpost.p...1&postcount=67

Like I said before, I'm bad at listing favorite films in any kind of order plus it wouldn't be fair to the films on the list, that I've always heard to be good, that I haven't seen yet.
Though I suppose I could just list them separately or, as I said before, by their Rotten Tomato scores.

[Talleyrand]

1. Den of Thieves 2018, Christian Gudegast
2. The Lives of Others 2007, Florian Henckel von Donnersmarck
3. Reservoir Dogs 1992, Quentin Tarantino
4. Gone Baby Gone 2007, Ben Affleck
5. π 1998, Darren Aronofsky
6. Amores Perros 2000, Alejandro González Iñárritu
7. Eraserhead 1977, David Lynch
8. Knife in the Water 1962, Roman Polanski
9. House of Games 1987, David Mamet
10. Blue Collar 1978, Paul Schrader
11. Targets 1968, Peter Bogdanovich
12. The Duellists 1977, Ridley Scott
13. Cruel Intentions 1999, Roger Kumble
14. Badlands 1973, Terrence Malick
15. The Bird with the Crystal Plumage 1970, Dario Argento
16. The Element of Crime 1984, Lars von Trier
17. Hard Eight 1996, Paul Thomas Anderson
18. Něco z Alenky 1988, Jan Švankmajer
19. In the Bedroom 2001, Todd Field
20. The Strangers 2008, Bryan Bertino

[imsounoriginal]

Reading lots of love for Den of Thieves (not just here) so I guess I gotta see that soon...

[Talleyrand]

Den of Thieves is awesome...is it really the #1 debut ever? I dunno, but someone had to put it at #1 and it may as well be me.

The question now is do I swap something out for Molly's Game?

[TajSamKojiJesam]

Edited list to include Kumar Shahani's beautiful Maya Darpan (1972), aka The Illusory Mirror, which I just finished watching. Recommended for everyone who's into slow and poetic movies. Robert Bresson apparently called it "the slowest movie ever", which, I think, is too harsh of him.

[scarletlion]

1. The Lives of Others (Florian Henckel von Donnersmarck)
2. Primer (Shane Carruth)
3. Angst (Gerald Kargl)
4. Moon (Duncan Jones)
5. Ratcatcher (Lynne Ramsay)
6. Amores Perros (Alejandro G. Iñárritu)
7. The 400 Blows (Francois Truffaut)
8. Pi (Darren Aronofsky)
9. 12 Angry Men (Sidney Lumet)
10. Badlands (Terence Malick)
11. Brick (Rian Johnson)
12. This is Spinal Tap (Rob Reiner)
13. Animal Kingdon (David Michod)
14. 500 Days of Summer (Marc Webb)
15. Whiplash (Damien Chazele)
16. Show me Love (Lukas Moodyson)
17. Blood Simple (Coens)
18. Son of Saul (Nemes László)
19. Following (Chris Nolan)
20. Delicatessen (Jean Pierre Jeanet)
21. Andrew Dominik (Chopper)
22. Timecrimes (Nacho Vigalondo)
23. Hard Eight (Paul Thomas Anderson)
24. Tyrannosaur (Paddy Considine)
25. Reservoir Dogs (Quentin Tarantino)

[Dailyan]

Originally Posted by scarletlion

1. The Lives of Others (Florian Henckel von Donnersmarck)
2. Primer (Shane Carruth)
3. Angst (Gerald Kargl)
4. Moon (Duncan Jones)
5. Ratcatcher (Lynne Ramsay)
6. Amores Perros (Alejandro G. Iñárritu)
7. The 400 Blows (Francois Truffaut)
8. Pi (Darren Aronofsky)
9. 12 Angry Men (Sidney Lumet)
10. Badlands (Terence Malick)
11. Brick (Rian Johnson)
12. This is Spinal Tap (Rob Reiner)
13. Animal Kingdon (David Michod)
14. 500 Days of Summer (Marc Webb)
15. Whiplash (Damien Chazele)
16. Show me Love (Lukas Moodyson)
17. Blood Simple (Coens)
18. Son of Saul (Nemes László)
19. Following (Chris Nolan)
20. Delicatessen (Jean Pierre Jeanet)
21. Andrew Dominik (Chopper)
22. Timecrimes (Nacho Vigalondo)
23. Hard Eight (Paul Thomas Anderson)
24. Tyrannosaur (Paddy Considine)
25. Reservoir Dogs (Quentin Tarantino)

"Guy and Madeline on a Park Bench" was Chazelle's debut

[sandman slim]

Originally Posted by gwfb5

Okay, what kind of order would you suggest?

Perhaps I could order the films by their Rotten Tomatoes score because I'm terrible at listing favorites, plus there are a few films on my list that I haven't actually seen yet.

I would think it's implicit in listing YOUR favorites that they should be films you have actually SEEN and LIKED. A lot of people have Citizen Kane at number one, and I hated that movie. I would never put it on a list of my favorites just because everybody else likes it.

Sorry if this sounds harsh, but if you have to go to Rotten Tomatoes to form an opinion, it's because you don't have one.

[RFK]

1. The Night of the Hunter (Charles Laughton)
2. The Sugarland Express (Steven Spielberg)
3. Black Sunday (Mario Bava)
4. Citizen Kane (Orson Welles)
5. Pee Wee's Big Adventure (Tim Burton)
6. Payday (Daryl Duke)
7. Diner (Barry Levinson)
8. Hard Times (Walter Hill)
9. Fingers (James Toback)
10. Heartland (Richard Pearce)
11. Night of the Living Dead (George Romero)
12. The Black Stallion (Carroll Ballard)
13. Piranha (Joe Dante)
14. Reservoir Dogs (Quentin Tarantino)
15. Thief (Michael Mann)
16. The Texas Chainsaw Massacre (Tobe Hooper)
17. Re-Animator (Stuart Gordon)
18. Targets (Peter Bogdanovich)
19. Amores Perros (Alejandro G. Iñárritu)
20. Once Were Warriors (Lee Tamahori)

[Armchair NZ]

there, that'll do I think

Originally Posted by Armchair NZ

... feel like I've voted for waaay too many of these on other favourites lists in the past lol

unapologetically voting for movies I really like, rather than how important they might be as a debut. Also unapologetically voting for a bunch of directors who have only made one or two movies

1. The Shawshank Redemption (1994) Frank Darabont
2. Girl Asleep (2015) Rosemary Myers
3. Noise (2007) Matthew Saville
4. Vigil (1984) Vincent Ward
5. The House of Yes (1997) Mark Waters
6. Bone Tomahawk (2015) S. Craig Zahler
7. Beautiful Kate (2009) Rachel Ward
8. Animal Kingdom (2010) David Michôd
9. Nightcrawler (2014) Dan Gilroy
10. Blood Simple (1984) Coen Bros.
11. The Survivalist (2015) Stephen Fingleton
12. Gone Baby Gone (2007) Ben Affleck
13. Once Were Warriors (1994) Lee Tamahori
14. Sexy Beast (2000) Jonathan Glazer
15. Thief (1981) Michael Mann
16. In My Father's Den (2004) Brad McGann
17. Fast Times at Ridgemont High (1982) Amy Heckerling
18. Reservoir Dogs (1992) Quentin Tarantino
19. Eagle vs Shark (2007) Taika Waititi
20. Moon (2009) Duncan Jones

let me know if any are ineligible and I'll swap 'em out for something else

Antipodes represent! managed to have 8 of my 20 be movies from Australia and NZ

[gwfb5]

Originally Posted by sandman slim

I would think it's implicit in listing YOUR favorites that they should be films you have actually SEEN and LIKED. A lot of people have Citizen Kane at number one, and I hated that movie. I would never put it on a list of my favorites just because everybody else likes it.

Sorry if this sounds harsh, but if you have to go to Rotten Tomatoes to form an opinion, it's because you don't have one.

In my defense, what I meant to say was that I'm bad at listing my favorite movies in any kind of order, It's like trying to pick a favorite color.
And in addition too that, there are films on my list that, while I've always heard are good, I haven't gotten around to watching yet.
So it wouldn't be fair to order my list by personal favs anyway.

[Show spoiler]Here's my updated list. If it's too long, needs to be in a certain order, or seeing all the films on it is required I will edit it accordingly.
Eather way, I had a lot of fun finding out how many classic films were feature debuts.

Citizen Kane - Orson Welles
The Terminator - James Cameron
Toy Story - John Lasseter
Finding Nemo - Andrew Stanton
Chicken Run - Peter Lord & Nick Park
The Secret of NIMH - Don Bluth
The Iron Giant - Brad Bird
Monsters, Inc. - Pete Docter
Persepolis - Marjane Satrapi & Vincent Paronnaud
The Nightmare Before Christmas - Henry Selick
The Secret World of Arrietty - Hiromasa Yonebayashi
The Red Turtle - Michaël Dudok de Wit
Speed - Jan de Bont
The Lion King - Roger Allers & Rob Minkoff
Whisper of the Heart - Yoshifumi Kondō
The Cabin in the Woods - Drew Goddard
Ex Machina - Alex Garland
Eraserhead - David Lynch
Lupin the Third: The Castle of Cagliostro - Hayao Miyazaki
Reservoir Dogs - Quentin Tarantino
The Shawshank Redemption - Frank Darabont
The Secret of Kells - Tomm Moore & Nora Twomey
Mad Max - George Miller
District 9 - Neill Blomkamp
Pee-wee's Big Adventure - Tim Burton
Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs - Phil Lord & Christopher Miller
Wreck-It Ralph - Rich Moore
Lilo & Stitch - Chris Sanders & Dean DeBlois
Deadpool - Tim Miller
The Great Mouse Detective - John Musker & Ron Clements
Kung Fu Panda 2 - Jennifer Yuh Nelson
Grease - Randal Kleiser < (I personaly don't like Grease, apart from the songs, but I know I'm in the minority)
Rise of the Guardians - Peter Ramsey
Perfect Blue - Satoshi Kon
Jin-Roh: The Wolf Brigade - Hiroyuki Okiura

[Zoop]

01. Reservoir Dogs - Quentin Tarantino
02. Woodstock - Michael Wadleigh
03. Tesis - Alejandro Amenabar
04. Frailty - Bill Paxton
05. Gattaca - Andrew Niccol
06. Donnie Darko - Richard Kelly
07. Bone Tomahawk - S. Craig Zahler
08. Marty - Delbert Mann
09. The Night of the Hunter - Charles Laughton
10. Margin Call - J.C. Chandor
11. Amores Perros - Alejandro Gonzalez Iñarritu
12. Swimming with Sharks - George Huang
13. Nightcrawler - Dan Gilroy
14. Capturing the Friedmans - Andrew Jarecki
15. Homeward Bound: The Incredible Journey - Duwayne Dunham
16. The Wicker Man - Robin Hardy
17. The Witch - Robert Eggers
18. Buffalo '66 - vincent Gallo
19. The Godsend - Gabrielle Beaumont
20. The Babadook - Jennifer Kent
21. Backcountry - Adam MacDonald
22. Stand and Deliver - Ramon Menendez
23. Lake Mungo - Joel Anderson

[Mothravka]

Originally Posted by TajSamKojiJesam

Edited list to include Kumar Shahani's beautiful Maya Darpan (1972), aka The Illusory Mirror, which I just finished watching. Recommended for everyone who's into slow and poetic movies. Robert Bresson apparently called it "the slowest movie ever", which, I think, is too harsh of him.

Good film! Saw it a couple of days ago. I've only seen Khayal Gatha (1989) before, but that one I can recommend too.

It's interesting that Shahani worked with Bresson a bit, which shows in Maya Darpan (1972) when it comes to the form and especially the characters (or models if you want, heh!).

I don't know if the Bresson quote was meant as criticism, but he (if any director) was harsh on cinema overall. I think he liked very few films.

[TajSamKojiJesam]

Originally Posted by Mothravka

It's interesting that Shahani worked with Bresson a bit, which shows in Maya Darpan (1972) when it comes to the form and especially the characters (or models if you want, heh!).

Yes, Mani Kaul was also influenced by Bresson, Uski Roti feels very Bressonian to me.

Satyajit Ray apparently hated both Kaul and Shahani. I wonder what he thought of Bresson?

I was surprised to find that Bresson was a fan of James Bond movies. He said about For Your Eyes Only: "It filled me with wonder because of its cinematographic writing ... if I could have seen it twice in a row and again the next day, I would have done."