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"Actors who step behind a camera bring a distinct advantage to movies that is also, quite often, a disadvantage... They tend to conceive of a film as a glorified performers' showcase, without enough of the ebb and flow that a story needs."-- Entertainment Weekly
Nominations for exceptions?
Tomorrow I'll reveal their choices.
clark
Follow Ups:
Of course Clint Eastwood and his "Space Cowboys"!
Hey - it's Friday. I'll think of a real one tomorrow.
There are FOUR:Marlon Brando's sole directorial effort, One-Eyed Jacks, has a captivating grandeur cut with intimacy and rage.
Robert Redford dug deep inside himself to stage the suburban catharsis of Ordinary People.
Steve Buscemi's Trees Lounge is a superb tale of booze, lost youth, and Long Island.
(I liked many of youse guys' choices too: Of course Citizen Kane, although Orson had been only a radio (and stage, some) actor; Clint Eastwood's opera are grand; Charlie Chaplin -- I think EW just forgot; Victor's list of semi-obscurities is good and it earned him an insult from the usual quarters; and yes, Quentin must qualify.)
AND THE WINNAH (and I'm inclined to agree) --
The greatest film ever directed by an actor is Robert Duvall's The Apostle, a masterly study of a modern tent-show preacher torn -- sublimely -- between grace and sin.
-- Owen Gleiberman
The Bicycle Thief is so superior to all of the above it is a joke.
I would not have picked it first but, it was a very good movie and reasonably well done with a reasonably accurate portrayal of the life of an honorable Southern revivalist(or should I say evangelist). Because I grew up in God's country (that'll be the South) and have been through a tent or two (or three) I actually thought the movie lacked just a bit of the life that the real event brings. But the movie centered mainly on the life of one individual - a modern evangelist struggling to contain or manage sin in his world of grace - and Duvall did a very, very good job of portraying this character.
a
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Buscemi shined in movies like Reservoir Dogs and Fargo, and most of his others too. But I guess it is the overall realistic portrayal of "low life" that is done in a slow and methodical fashion that makes Trees Lounge a success with the critics. It takes the time to drive home the point. Just like Reservoir Dogs and Freeway and Fargo, it was a very good "low life" movie.
I agree with your Buscemi comments.... although I think a movie like Barfly does a better job at portraying low life alcoholics than Trees Lounge. Or maybe TL was just too slow for me and I got bored.... been quite a while since I saw it but I definatly recall being let down.
.
He played - and always very well - in probably all his films. I remember the scene where he boards the bus - great insightful role playing!If an artist can produce an empty canvas with one yellow dot in the middle, and it will be considered worthy of hanging in a major museum... then Alfred's five-seconds appearances should also earn him acting reputation.
gruesome but an excellent low budget movie directed by an actor, assuming Quentin qualifies here.
...is a wonderfully eerie film, done with that economy of resources which is typical of great masters: it´s astonishing, how that much can be done with so little!This film is as far from glorifying actor´s playing as it could be: everything in it is at the service of an excellent story, and it flows --even literally, at times-- in the way well told stories do.
Actors are few, and excellent: both Lillian Gish and Robert Mitchum play at their best, making their characters cast in one piece, without any fissures. Even Shelley Winters is able to shine through her short role... And photography is simply wonderful, contributing to the poetic, atemporal, oniric atmosphere of the film. And there´s a hidden tribute to Eisenstein through Jean Vigo in some scenes at the river...
This film is Laughton´s only one, and it´s 100% his own, as Mitchum, in his memories, commented that he (Laughton) had rewritten the whole script, as he was not happy with the original one...
Do I need to say that this is one of my all time favorites?
Regards
BF
PS: I have not mentioned Welles´s films, as he always played the main role in them, making them gravitate around him, what makes them not to comply with your request. So do most of that surprisingly evolved Clint Eastwood. Woody Allen is a very good director, but he has nothing of such a big height, nor does Tim Robbins...
As an actor and second unit director in D.W. Griffith's film company he managed to position himself to be given an opportunity to direct. Wildly successful after the daring productions Blind Husbands, followed by Foolish Wives, he went on to grander, costlier, ever more elaborate productions, including Greed, The Wedding March and Queen Kelly. He was undoubtably self-indulgent and overly detail oriented, but in many ways well ahead of his time and perhaps the most realistic American director/actor of the 1920's.Cheers,
AuPh
Good post. Although a great fan of the man you love to hate I completely forgot about Stroheim. He figures in three authentic film classics, "Greed", "Grand illusion", and "Sunset Boulevard"
(although he only direted the first).
There is only about 96% of world population living outside the borders of this great country.Without burdening you with too much, just one nomination - The Bicycle Thief. Is Vittorio DeSica an actor... or a director? Well, with over 150 roles and 36 films directed... he is... he is... hell if I know, but try to tell us he is not an actor!
Well, I lied... I want more than one nomination. Raj Kapoor for his Awaara.
How about one more? Bondarchuk directed and played in War And Peace... the REAL McCoy.
Roman Polanski gave us such marvels as Repulsion and Knife in the Water. He played in 31 films.
Could Volker Schlöndorff be considered an "actor"? You can certainly find many great films anong his.
Did you know John Gielgud directed too?
Andrei Tarkovsky created some of the most breathtaking films in history... he also had a small career as an actor. How about Andrei Rublev as yet another nomination?
Bunuel played in 9 films, and should rightly be considered an actor too. How about his Discrete Charm...?
Truth is - there are so many out there... and remember - about 96% of all people in the world live outside the US.
your film views but so jingoistic politically. Of course, your comments about film are spot-on, with the exception of Tarkovsky (as usual): Be careful! Like all barbiturates, too much could prove fatal.
Just a short sampling:Charles Chaplin
Buster Keaton
Gene Kelly
Orson Welles
Sidney Lumet
Dick Powell
Marlon Brando
Ida Lupino
John Huston (okay, director first, actor later)
Richard Attenborough
Clint Eastwood
and given the huge mass of imbedded opinion for "Citizen Kane" it is tough to go elsewhere . . . so I'll do that as well.A few more, however though some are a bit early to judge:
Ron Howard: "A Beautiful Mind"
Clint Eastwood: (the breadth of range is astounding))
"Mystic River"
"Midnight in the Garden of Good and Evil"
"Bridges of Madison County"
"Bird"
"Outlaw Josey Wales" (a true cult classic)
"Play Misty for Me"
Carol Reed (OK, 2 or 3 bit parts as an actor and it is unclear how much Welles had to do with this film's direction)
"The Third Man"
Richard Attenborough: "Ghandi", "A Bridge too Far"I am sure there are others.
.
After "Citizen Kane (cited below) I would nominate "One Eyed Jacks", Marlon Brando's one effort on the other side of the camera."A Bronx Tale" by De Niro comes to mind. Also "The Pledge", directed by Sean Penn.
I was going to cite "lost in Translation" but that would make Sophia an actor, which as she proved in "Godfather III" she most definitely is not.
To that I would also add Sean Penn's first directorial effort, with Jack Nicholson, "The Crossing Guard." Clint Eastwood - "Mystic River", Ron Howard (admittedly retired actor) - "A Beautiful Mind", "Apollo 13".
Orson Wells was an actor and director in the Mercury Theater before becoming a film Director, and Citizen Kane was his first effort. I doubt that anyone would fault the ebb and flow of that story in spite of the fact that there were a number of nuanced performances given by the talented actors in his company.AuPh
NT
;^)
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