The Worst Director of All Time With More Than One Film

Greydon Clark thanks his lucky stars that there are at least 20 other bozos worse than him.

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Going with the darkest of horses: Will Zens.

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I mean, thereā€™s no such thing as a bad john williams score

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I have long maintained that John Williams is the key difference between Star Wars and Starcrash.

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As the person who nominated them, allow me to explain.

Both Kubrick and Cameron are, according to people who have worked with them, absolutely insufferable people to work with. Kubrick notably abused Shelley Winters on The Shining to the point that her hair started to fall out, and I wonā€™t even discuss how he treated people on the set of Spartacus (God knows he wonā€™t since heā€™s disavowed the film entirely). Cameron isnā€™t much better.

Yes, both men have made some of the best classic films in Hollywoodā€™s film library, but theyā€™re both utter a-holes on set. (Also, my personal opinion on Avatar is that itā€™s Pocahontas in space with giant Smurfs, so I donā€™t include it as one of Cameronā€™s GOOD films, but thatā€™s a personal opinion.) As the initial question didnā€™t clarify what was meant by ā€œworstā€ director, I took that to mean it could include directors who mistreat their actors and crew as well, and Kubrick and Cameron are the most notable names in that respect. Hope that explains it! :slightly_smiling_face:

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As for the Avatar thing, I didnā€™t say it was Good, I guess what I was trying to say was that given it was financially successful, people definitely liked itā€¦

And I did mention Kubrick being difficult to work withā€¦

If we didnā€™t have it limited to directors who only directed one movie, Iā€™d probably give it to Stephen King on Maximum Overdriveā€¦

Mainly because he was coked out of his mind when he was directing itā€¦ Also someone lost an Eyeballā€¦

I mean it wasnā€™t abusive like Kubrick, but I mean stillā€¦

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Well if we are ranking directors by what they did behind the scenes, thereā€™s also John Landis, whose negligence got Vic Morrow and two children killed during his segment for Twilight Zone: The Movie.

But Iā€™ll always love The Blues Brothers.

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Forgot to mentionā€¦

Canā€™t believe Iā€™m defending Michael Bay, butā€¦ Iā€™d say Armageddon was at least a pretty good movieā€¦

Michael Bay Pearl Harbor on the other handā€¦is one of those rare ā€˜historicalā€™ movies that is neither accurate or enjoyableā€¦ Donā€™t get me wrong, a tragic love story set in ww2 could workā€¦

But if your movie is called Pearl Harbor, people expect it to just be about thatā€¦ (I donā€™t know why they also tacked on the Doolittle Raid at the end, donā€™t get me wrong, it was super important and all, but shouldnā€™t a movie about the Pearl Harbor Raid, focus on the Pearl Harbor raidā€¦)

Come to think about it, It kinda seems like it was an attempt to cash in on the popularity of James Cameronā€™s Titanicā€¦

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Iā€™d vote for Fred Olen Ray, if I could.

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epic movie lol GIF by IFC

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I mean, if you want to get purely technical, James Cameron earned his place here for nearly drowning Ed Harris during the making of The Abyss.

Thereā€™s bad direction that you see onscreen, and then thereā€™s bad direction in the execution of the movie itself.

But thatā€™s a whole other semantic/philosophical argument, so Iā€™ll just leave that there.

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Kubrick has no business being here, he could have, should have been arbitrarily left out and replaced with a bad filmmaker who makes bad films. (I donā€™t even know if he qualifies as the biggest a-hole, as sadly there are many sexual harassers, physical bullies and the like to be appalled by)

I was torn between Francis, Warren and Nguyenā€¦ who might have some charm, but is still a really, really awful filmmaker. Funny, sure, but awful. I voted for him.

But man, Jackson with Baby Ghost and Rollergatorā€¦ ouch! Thatā€™s another unworthy one. Buchanan too.

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Thatā€™s fair, but I wanted to be considerate to the person who nominated him. Honestly, I feel the same way about Cameron, who directed Terminator and Aliens, two of my favorite movies.

What surprises me is the lack of love Larry Buchanan and Bill Rebane are getting.

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But still, Rollergator is better than Repligator. There are always new depths to be plumbed.

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I once saw one Larry Buchanan actor recognize another Larry Buchanan actor at a xerox copy store in Hollywood. One of them was behind the counter.

I miss having weird moments like that since leaving L.A.

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Stories to tell no doubt. I really think his worst is Itā€™s Alive! (1969.) That movie is more than bad ā€¦ itā€™s legitimately sad on more than one level. The world would have been better had it never been made, except that maybe it paid some bills for Tommy Kirk.

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whitney houston film GIF

Time is money. Kevin owes me money.

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It was Shelley Duvall in The Shining, not Shelley Winters.

THAT wouldā€™ve been amazing.

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I have to echo faintly @Brina abut Kubrick. Yes, his coming of age during the 1950s was remarkable, and no can reallly say much against his later achievements.

Including Eyes Wide Shut, which I saw in theater three times and was captivated.

I do not consider him a good director, though, for reasons I canā€™t quite explain. He seems a George Lucas kind of director: horrible with actors.

On The Other Hand, recall Robert Bressonā€™s experiments with exasperating repetitions for his actors, in order, in some cases. to attempt to achieve a naturalistic kind of effect. Of, perhaps weariness or habitude.

I object to Kubrickā€™s nerd-veneration, really. I donā€™t like to see that much adoration bestowed on one single creator, and I especially donā€™t like to be brow-beaten with it online.

Iā€™d like to hear more about Mike Nicholsā€™s front projection in Catch-22, for example

Or Ophulsā€™s crane shots.

But, no, Kubrick was not a bad director. In fact, the opposite.

However, I dislike the man and his vision and the cult-like adoration he seems to inspire.

Although, to his credit, his boosters seem to span at least one generation. (Boomers to GenX/elder Millenials).

Anything in a clickbait thing will likely have something about ZOMG Stanley tortured Shelley! But thatā€™s for little kids.

Barry Lyndon is a masterpiece of a trash pulp novel turned into a very fine spectacle. Point final.

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I used to have an internet pal who claimed to have made an entire board of nerdy film guys collapse overnight by asserting that Kubrick was an overrated bore and that Russ Meyer movies were infinitely more watchable. :grin:

Of course, part of her username was Supervixen so they really shouldnā€™t have been so shocked. :laughing:

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