SCFZ poll: Michael Anderson

[flip]

Polling the films of director Michael Anderson

The rules:

- your list can include no more than half of the Anderson films you've seen, up to a maximum of 5. So if you've seen seven of his films, for example, you can list only a top 3. It's only if you've seen ten or more of his films than you can list the maximum of five.

- i'll assume ballots are ranked unless you tell me otherwise. unranked ballots are fine.

- deadline for ballots: next Friday, in seven days, whatever day that is

- if anyone is watching films for these polls, then i'll extend the deadline three days, if someone requests an extension

- next poll: whoever posts the first ballot in this thread is free to nominate the director we poll next, unless you've nominated in this round already (everyone should get a chance). Already nominated this round: greg x, rischka, dt, silga, kanafani, brian d, greennui, ofrene, mesnalty, john ryan, roscoe, evelyn, thoxans, bure, oscarwerner, arkheia, caracortada, karl, umbugbene

umbugbene created an index on letterboxd of all of our previous polls here: letterboxd.com/umbugbene/list/index-of-all-scfz-director-polls/

one rule for nominees: at least 3 scfzers need to have seen 10+ of a nominee's films, or at least 4 scfzers need to have seen at least 8 of the nom's films, so if it isn't clear if that will be the case, we'll confirm that's true before moving forward

if 24 hours pass after a poll opens, and no one eligible to nominate has posted a ballot, then i'll nominate someone, and then we'll start over, and everyone will be able to nominate again

[flip]

seen two but really liked one:

The Naked Edge

[Umbugbene]

Seen 15

1. Chase a Crooked Shadow
2. The Quiller Memorandum
3. Logan's Run
4. Around the World in 80 Days
5. The Shoes of the Fisherman

I cannot recommend Chase a Crooked Shadow strongly enough. In terms of pure plot it's the best movie I've seen. I can't say too much about it here except that most of my students and the friends I've shown it to were blown away.

Quiller Memorandum has a lot of detractors. The movie took me a few viewings to appreciate, because it's not easy to see how thoroughly it's thought out. Actions and dialogue that appear stupid are actually brilliant when you figure it out.

Anderson's not an auteur director; he usually takes the material he's given and does the best he can with it. When you take his films seriously he starts to appear remarkably consistent.

[wba2]

Only seen one of his films so I can't vote, but it was a great experience at a wonderful theater from an original print in excellent condition.
Great film as well (Around the World in 80 Days, in case anyone was wondering).

[oscarwerner]

Seen 21.
1. The Dam Busters (1955)
2. Operation Crossbow (1965)
-----------
3. Orca (1977)
4. Conduct Unbecoming (1975)
5. Logan's Run (1976)
---------------------------

[oscarwerner]

Regarding "Orca". It must be one of the most undervalued films ever made.Always regarded as a lame rip-off of "JAWS",there are few who champion its cause.The truth is that "ORCA" has a truly mythic feel about man versus beast that "JAWS" doesn't even come close to."ORCA" is a vastly superior film and its grim and relentless story of a whale pursuing the killer of its mate until it has him trapped on an ice floe is grippingly told.The score by Ennio Morricone is as hauntingly evocative as anything composed for the cinema. Richard Harris gives one of his finest performances as he reigns in his normal histrionics to portray a man who defies the gods themselves to face a date with destiny which can only have one outcome.The rest of the performances hardly matter although Bo Derek scores points over the ever lifeless Charlotte Rampling in one of only two female roles.The opening and closing scenes of whales swimming the oceans are touching in a way difficult to explain but the most haunting image in this fine movie is the shot we see of Harris as he leaves the port on board his boat for a final battle with the orca.His face is grave and determined,he knows that his fate is unavoidable and it is this image coupled with the Morricone music that accompanies it that enables journeyman director Michael Anderson to beat Spielberg at his own game.Forget comparisons and judge this remarkable film on its own merits.(Alan Mount)
I can`t say it is a great cinema art masterpiece. No. It is well done entertainment movie. But i remember it as a really beautiful and was surprised how many people accept this movie just wrong. I rate it at about 6/10 or 7/10- very strong ending makes my impression much higher. It is not horror movie, it is romance and man vs beast duel and revenge story. Yes, it is more like soap opera, but shot very well. Sorry for writing so much, i rarely do it:):) Just "Orca" is that rare case, when many years from it`s release i see very wrong judgement. Just rare case, when even good cinema critics simply understood the movie making rules wrong and we must judge director having in mind what he wanted to create.

[Caracortada]

Seen 8.

1. Logan's Run
2. Around the World in Eighty Days
3. All the Fine Young Cannibals
4. Operation Crossbow

[Umbugbene]

@oscarwerner Yes, I have the same feeling about Orca. I'm sure confirmation bias plays a role in some of the negative reactions because it's so logical to expect a lame rip-off of Jaws. For all I know that was all the producer wanted, but then Dino de Laurentiis hired Michael Anderson and got more than he bargained for. It would probably be #7 on my Anderson list.

[Silga]

Seen 2 (The Quiller Memorandum and Millennium), but wouldn't vote for either.

[Evelyn Library P.I.]

Only seen one (Logan's Run) but will try to watch Chase a Crooked Shadow before the deadline, which has been on my 'radar' for a while.

[kanafani]

I have seen zero movies directed by mister Anderson.

[St. Gloede]

Sorry, Oscar, but I found Orca almost embarrassing for a director of Anderson's talent.

Seen 8, top 4:

Shake Hands with the Devil
The Wreck of the Mary Deare
The Quiller Memorandum
The Dam Busters

[...]

The Martian Chronicles
The Dam Busters
The Quiller Memorandum
The Shoes of a Fisherman
Logan's Run

Seen 16. Don't think much about Anderson one way or the other. He's a competent enough director in the basics to not be annoying, but seems to think on a scene by scene basis rather than having a compelling vision of the whole much of the time. That often makes for some effective or even impressive scenes or ideas, but also often creates an inconsistency that's hard to ignore. It doesn't help that as a director for hire he's gotten some crappy scripts to film, which is probably what leads to some of the uneven investment in the works.

Logan's Run, a bit like Orca, is something of a key example of this. The movies have some memorable moments, a few impressive enough concepts, but lots of slackness in reasoning that leaves them less satisfying taken as a whole rather than in piecework through memory. That's roughly how I felt about most of his movies to varying degrees other than Dam Busters and Shoes of a Fisherman, but some still work well enough despite that to be an overall positive experience. The Martian Chronicles gets the slight bump for being a TV miniseries that was better than the format at the time rather than thinking of it in more purely cinematic terms as it wasn't competing on those terms, but something more restrained where I found it to be successful.

[oscarwerner]

what i learned during my life-never try to convince other people to like films you like or opposite:) I also learned it from my work in my videoshop:) I had to write about Orca, because it is one of several examples which i saw in my life, when media and cinema critics have judged the film from a totally wrong point. Maybe because this film appeared just few years after the Jaws. Also it was accepted as not important entertainment "Whale killing people". I lost much energy telling my teachers, that for example John Williams wrote a horror music. While Ennio Morricone has written pure romance melody for Orca. And for sure italian s script writer Luciano Vincenzoni wanted to create revenge-romance story with man-vs beast duel as he did for Sergio Leone westerns. Problem, of course, that Michael Anderson is not a director of such a great talent like Leone and other elite directors. But i still can`t remember so well shot beast vs man movies like Orca from that period and i like Harris and italian influence to this movie. In many Anderson films i feel good stories, but some lack of director`s talent. Nevertheless i still like some more of his films, which were not mentioned by me..The Wreck of the Mary Deare, Shake Hands with the Devil...I think his best movie was The Dam Busters-it was simply good war action and no flaws. From those underrated Anderson movies and forgotten movies i strongly recommend "Operation Crossbow". It is typicall war action movie, but still very entertaining. One of the best in that genre.

[karl]

Who is Michael Anderson?

[oscarwerner]

Director of the weakest Oscar wining film
Around the World in 80 Days (1956)-in 1957 Awards

[Umbugbene]

the weakest Oscar wining film

That would be Million Dollar Baby. I've seen all of them except Green Book, and a lot of them are weak, but M$B is the Mariana Trench.

And I beg to differ. Any movie with Bea Lilly can't be all bad.

[Silga]

the weakest Oscar wining film

Actually, that would be Gladiator. With Moonlight in close 2nd.

[flip]

Gladiator and Million Dollar Baby are near the bottom, but I'd vote for Crash. They really made a lot of bad choices in the early 2000s though.

[ItsUhhMee]

I've seen 5, apparently. I wasn't too familiar with the name, which doesn't surprise me.

-Summer of the Monkeys
-Around the World in 80 Days

Others I've seen:
Logan's Run, Captain's Courageous (which I coincidentally just watched, no bearing on this poll whatsoever) and The Shoes of the Fisherman. I hardly remember anything about Logan's Run and Shoes of the Fisherman. Maybe I should've just sat this poll out?

[john ryan]

Seen 6, trying to see a few more this week

1. The Wreck of the Mary Deare
2. Logan's Run
3. Orca: The Killer Whale

My pick for worst-ever Best Picture winner is Cavalcade. I also hated Cimarron, High Noon (whoops), Green Book, Crash, and Million Dollar Baby. And Tom Jones. And Birdman.

But Cavalcade is the worst.

[wba2]

Director of the weakest Oscar wining film
Around the World in 80 Days (1956)-in 1957 Awards

Around the World in 80 Days is nowhere near the weakest Oscar winning films. There are easily two dozen weaker winners.

a few far weaker films I've seen:

Green Book
The Shape of Water
Spotlight
12 Years a Slave
Crash
The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King
Chicago
A Beautiful Mind
Gladiator
American Beauty
Shakespeare in Love
Titanic
...

It's mind-boggling how many mediocre and outright bad films have won best picture in the last 20 years.

[karl]

How can you hate High Noon?

(Which didn't win Best Pic, by the way, besides)

[wba2]

Yeah, HIGH NOON is a masterpiece, and Zinnemann one of the great directors of his time.

[john ryan]

How can you hate High Noon?

(Which didn't win Best Pic, by the way, besides)

whoops. I apparently erased The Greatest Show on Earth from my memory.

I'll give High Noon a rewatch one of these days. I like most other Zinneman. I remember leaden dialogue in service of a plot that made sense only as then-current societal critique. Am I wrong or misremembering? Probably.

[ofrene]

the weakest Oscar wining film

For me it's Slumdog Millionaire.. Million Dollar Baby is a bit overrated(my least favorite of Eastwood's 2000s) but there are so many weaker Oscar wining film than that... The Departed, Birdman, etc...

[oscarwerner]

Seems we have voting for the worst Oscar winning picture I agree with @wba -"many mediocre films have won best picture":) But i like Moonlight. Sorry @Silga
Around the World in Eighty Days was boring for me and 1957 awards look not very solid. But my answer to a question "who is Michael Anderson?" was more a joke. For me The Shape of Water, Crash, Shakespeare in Love are among the weakest winners. And we can say it other way-so many great pictures were not awarded

[flip]

Seen 8, top 4:

St Gloede - you can pick the director we poll next if you like!

[St. Gloede]

Thanks Flip, if you haven't covered him yet I'll pick Yoshishige Yoshida.

[flip]

Yoshida was nominated recently -- just as we moved here, so around the New Year -- and he didn't have enough viewers to meet the criteria I outline in the top post. If you weren't around then, and you've seen a lot of his films, then maybe that will tip the scales enough, so we can again check if he has enough views if you like. But there's a good chance he won't work, in which case we'll need a fallback selection anyway, so if there's another director you'd like to poll, let me know!

And if anyone has 8+ or 10+ yoshida seen, please post here so we can see if he'll work now.