One hit wonder movie directors

Evil ... Thy name is Orville Redenbacher!! · Jul 16, 2007

bigpern23 said:

Bubbler said:

Some fact clean-up here ...

John Milius, while a shitty director in general, had a bigger "hit" than Red Dawn (which wasn't that big of a hit at the time, anyway) ... Conan The Barbarian. He also did Dillinger, also not a box office hit, but a much better movie than either of the aforementioned.

Irvin Kerschner had some romantic-comedy type hits in the 70s. And Never Say Never Again was a modest hit and better than the Roger Moore Bond movies of the time period (though still not very good). Quality-wise, it's true, nothing in his canon touches Empire Strikes Back, which I think is one of the most underrated movies of all-time considering Star Wars gets the glory for the series.

As much as it pains me, it can be argued that Sergio Leone is a one-hit wonder director. The Good, The Bad, And The Ugly is his only American box office hit.

The first two movies in the Man With No Name trilogy weren't American box office hits. And Once Upon A Time In The West, Fistful of Dynamite and especially Once Upon A Time In America were all box office flops, though in each case, the films were horribly truncated from Leone's original cut and were not appreciated in their time as a result. Once they were restored, most of these films are on par or exceed TGTBTU artistically.

Personally, I'm a much bigger fan of Leone's Revolution trilogy than the Man With No Name Trilogy.
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The problem with calling Leone a one-hit wonder is that movies like "Once Upon a Time in the West," "OUATIAmerica" and "A Fistful of Dollars" are almost universally considered classics of Western cinema now. They might not have fared well in the American box office, but they are widely appreciated films.
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Agreed.

Of the Leone flicks, The GB&U is probably my least favorite. It is waaaay to long and drawn out. IMO not a good movie.
The Man with No Name trilogy is a great.

I also really enjoyed the Trinity series directed by Enzo Barboni ... they were pretty funny.

Fenian_Bastard · Jul 16, 2007

AreaMan said:

John Singleton. He did Boyz N The Hood, a fantastic flick and utter rubbish afterwards (Poetic Justice, Higher Learning, Baby Boy)
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Rosewood was pretty good.

Fenian_Bastard · Jul 16, 2007

pa writer said:

Curtis Hanson, who directed "L.A. Confidential," also directed "The River Wild" before that and "8 Mile" after.
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And the criminally underrated Wonder Boys.

bigpern23 · Jul 16, 2007

Fenian_Bastard said:

pa writer said:

Curtis Hanson, who directed "L.A. Confidential," also directed "The River Wild" before that and "8 Mile" after.
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And the criminally underrated Wonder Boys.
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Ugh. The only thing criminal about that movie was how they stole my $10. What a horrendous pile of crap that movie was.

Bubbler · Jul 16, 2007

bigpern23 said:

Bubbler said:

Some fact clean-up here ...

John Milius, while a shitty director in general, had a bigger "hit" than Red Dawn (which wasn't that big of a hit at the time, anyway) ... Conan The Barbarian. He also did Dillinger, also not a box office hit, but a much better movie than either of the aforementioned.

Irvin Kerschner had some romantic-comedy type hits in the 70s. And Never Say Never Again was a modest hit and better than the Roger Moore Bond movies of the time period (though still not very good). Quality-wise, it's true, nothing in his canon touches Empire Strikes Back, which I think is one of the most underrated movies of all-time considering Star Wars gets the glory for the series.

As much as it pains me, it can be argued that Sergio Leone is a one-hit wonder director. The Good, The Bad, And The Ugly is his only American box office hit.

The first two movies in the Man With No Name trilogy weren't American box office hits. And Once Upon A Time In The West, Fistful of Dynamite and especially Once Upon A Time In America were all box office flops, though in each case, the films were horribly truncated from Leone's original cut and were not appreciated in their time as a result. Once they were restored, most of these films are on par or exceed TGTBTU artistically.

Personally, I'm a much bigger fan of Leone's Revolution trilogy than the Man With No Name Trilogy.
Click to expand...

The problem with calling Leone a one-hit wonder is that movies like "Once Upon a Time in the West," "OUATIAmerica" and "A Fistful of Dollars" are almost universally considered classics of Western cinema now. They might not have fared well in the American box office, but they are widely appreciated films.

As for 'Empire' being universally regarded as the best of the Star Wars movies, I'd rank Jedi ahead of it. I think 'Empire' is only now often regarded as the best of the three for one reason: 'Clerks' made it cool to think so.
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But that's not the thread question. The thread question is one-hit wonder, and by that strict definition, Leone qualifies.

Believe me, I love Leone and enjoy the Revolution trilogy much more than the Man With No Name trilogy. Once Upon A Time In The West is my very favorite movie.

Buck · Jul 16, 2007

Spielberg

bigpern23 · Jul 17, 2007

Bubbler said:

bigpern23 said:

Bubbler said:

Some fact clean-up here ...

John Milius, while a shitty director in general, had a bigger "hit" than Red Dawn (which wasn't that big of a hit at the time, anyway) ... Conan The Barbarian. He also did Dillinger, also not a box office hit, but a much better movie than either of the aforementioned.

Irvin Kerschner had some romantic-comedy type hits in the 70s. And Never Say Never Again was a modest hit and better than the Roger Moore Bond movies of the time period (though still not very good). Quality-wise, it's true, nothing in his canon touches Empire Strikes Back, which I think is one of the most underrated movies of all-time considering Star Wars gets the glory for the series.

As much as it pains me, it can be argued that Sergio Leone is a one-hit wonder director. The Good, The Bad, And The Ugly is his only American box office hit.

The first two movies in the Man With No Name trilogy weren't American box office hits. And Once Upon A Time In The West, Fistful of Dynamite and especially Once Upon A Time In America were all box office flops, though in each case, the films were horribly truncated from Leone's original cut and were not appreciated in their time as a result. Once they were restored, most of these films are on par or exceed TGTBTU artistically.

Personally, I'm a much bigger fan of Leone's Revolution trilogy than the Man With No Name Trilogy.
Click to expand...

The problem with calling Leone a one-hit wonder is that movies like "Once Upon a Time in the West," "OUATIAmerica" and "A Fistful of Dollars" are almost universally considered classics of Western cinema now. They might not have fared well in the American box office, but they are widely appreciated films.

As for 'Empire' being universally regarded as the best of the Star Wars movies, I'd rank Jedi ahead of it. I think 'Empire' is only now often regarded as the best of the three for one reason: 'Clerks' made it cool to think so.
Click to expand...

But that's not the thread question. The thread question is one-hit wonder, and by that strict definition, Leone qualifies.

Believe me, I love Leone and enjoy the Revolution trilogy much more than the Man With No Name trilogy. Once Upon A Time In The West is my very favorite movie.
Click to expand...

IMDB didn't have the numbers, but according to your post, his movies didn't fare well in America. You didn't take international box office into account. I'm curious to see how those movies fared worldwide, particularly in Italy.

Oh, and OUATITW isn't my favorite movie of all time, but it's definitely among my favorite Westerns. Great flick.

Bubbler · Jul 17, 2007

C'mon Big Pern, we live in Bush-Cheney's America. The rest of the world doesn't matter.

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One hit wonder movie directors

Evil ... Thy name is Orville Redenbacher!! Well-Known Member

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