SCFZ poll: John Huston

[Curtis, baby]

The misfits
The asphalt jungle
The treasure of the Sierra Madre
In this our life
Wise blood

[flip]

lubitsch and tourneur had zero films in the afi lists. they really are very different from lists scfz would come up with.

the director in question is also in the top ten if you count how many best picture nominees people directed, another fact about him i'd find surprising if i didn't already know it.

[Curtis, baby]

I recall reading once that John Huston is the only filmmaker to direct both his parent and his child to Oscar wins. That's pretty crazy. Now that Carl Reiner has passed there's almost no chance it will be repeated

[thoxans]

ok now convinced it's gotta be some rando like fleming or whoever, a person wayyy past being in any sort of favor whatsoever

[Lencho of the Apes]

Seen eight, can happily vote for two.

The Misfits
We Were Strangers

All the love being given to Under The Volcano just reminds me of the things Huston lifted for his movie from Rogelio Gonzalez' La India -- the hell's-waiting-room dive bar and Finney's whole performance are echoes of RG's work. (Bunuel seems to have copped some licks from don Roge too, if you compare Discreet Charm to all-but-especially-the-end of Al Fin A Solas....)

[mesnalty]

Seen 9:

The Misfits
The Treasure of the Sierra Madre
The Dead
The Maltese Falcon

[brian d]

or maybe it's someone entirely depressing like ron howard or robert zemeckis. but yeah, my guess would be someone from quite a bit earlier

[thoxans]

All the love

consider interest piqued on the rg! my vote for utv was cast partially strategically, but mostly cuz it threw me in a way similar to ford's seven women, unusual for huston; there seemed a distance between the meaning and unfolding. also haven't seen it in years even though i own the criterion so combo emoji of like ::cowboy sombrero suicide smiley tongue::

[flip]

i wouldn't have guessed it either - it's george stevens (shane, giant, a place in the sun, and of all things, swing time). incidentally we haven't even polled stevens yet, so there's an option for the future. so these are the only directors with more afi-list films than john huston (who is tied with many others with three) :

steven spielberg - six films
stanley kubrick - four films
billy wilder - four films
alfred hitchcock - four films
george stevens - four films

[oscarwerner]

I guess Spielberg must be the champion. (Jaws, Clouse encounters, Riders of..,Schindlers list, E.T. ). Also Billy Wilder, Alfred Hitchcock, John Ford and S.Kubrick runners up. All of them have many films. Kubrick has little -but nearly all of them considered as a masterpiece.

[wba]

He wrote and directed maybe the best noir, so he must be a genius.

01. The Maltese Falcon (1941)
02. Prizzi's Honor (1985)

Huston seen: 8

I didn't care for the other 6 Hustons I've seen, though, which would be: The Treasure of the Sierra Madre, Key Largo, The African Queen, The Asphalt Jungle, Moby Dick and The Mackintosh Man

[ofrene]

seen only 4 and like all of these but have to choose only two film...

1. Fat City

and between The Treasure of the Sierra Madre and The Asphalt Jungle.. can't decide and just give up

[greennui]

and i think huston is a bit interesting, because i'm not sure i could name many other directors (one or two, sure, but not a lot) with as many celebrated films who no one ever seems to talk about, at least in the film circles i find myself in.

Perhaps it's down to not ticking as many auteur boxes as say fellow libertine, Bogie director and Hemingway buddy, Hawks? Hawks has got the group dynamics, the women and all that but Huston? A versatile guy with an economical style and preference for adventure but did he really leave his mark on the films?

[Roscoe]

THE MALTESE FALCON
FAT CITY
TREASURE OF THE SIERRA MADRE mainly for the two lead performances
LET THERE BE LIGHT
MAN WHO WOULD BE KING

[Umbugbene]

Seen 16

1. The Maltese Falcon
2. The African Queen
3. Key Largo
4. In This Our Life
5. The Misfits

Interesting trivia: Barack Obama's mother was named after Bette Davis' character in In This Our Life.

[rischka]

ok i'll do this since i have 19. huston is all over the place as a director, i prefer him as an actor i think! anyway

*the man who would be king* kid fave! i had this on videotape. now i know it's terribly imperialist but i still love it, don't cancel me

fat city
under the volcano
the misfits
wise blood

[flip]

Seen 3

flabrezu - you can pick our next director if you like!

(technically it's thoxan's turn, but he passed twice recently, so i'm assuming he doesn't want to -- but if thoxans does want to pick someone and replies first, i'll go with his choice and flabrezu will have a chance soon)

edit - and i started the huston poll a day late, so i'll tally it tomorrow, 24 hours left to post a ballot!

[FLABREZU]

IF POSSIBLE, I will pick Alfred Vohrer

[oscarwerner]

i saw 7 of Vohrer.

[Curtis, baby]

i have 6 HOWEVER he has a snow movie so i will SOON have 7

[flip]

IF POSSIBLE, I will pick Alfred Vohrer

flabrezu, have you seen 10+ vohrer films? if so, then if bure watches one more, or if someone else has seen 7+, i'll go ahead with that poll (and will try to watch my first vohrer film!)

[FLABREZU]

IF POSSIBLE, I will pick Alfred Vohrer

flabrezu, have you seen 10+ vohrer films? if so, then if bure watches one more, or if someone else has seen 7+, i'll go ahead with that poll (and will try to watch my first vohrer film!)

I've seen over 10. It looks like Holymanm has also seen 6, so maybe I can also trick him into watching another one?

[wba]

I have seen 12 films by Alfred Vohrer.

I didn't know he was known outside German-speaking countries at all, let alone being popular!

[flip]

no need to trick anyone, we're good! i'll start that poll today

[flip]

one interesting thing about the results, besides the possibly surprising winner - finishing in the top five are both huston's first film and his last, made 46 years apart. i wonder how many directors would have bookended long careers like that with two films that we'd agree here deserve spots near the top of a poll like this one.

(am in a rush, i hope what i just wrote makes sense!)


results
1. Fat City (1972) — 31 pts
2. The Maltese Falcon (1941) — 28 pts
3. The Treasure of the Sierra Madre (1949) — 26 pts
4. The Misfits (1961) — 19 pts
5. The Dead (1987) — 18 pts
6. Wise Blood (1979) — 15 pts
6. Key Largo (1948) — 15 pts
8. The Night of the Iguana (1964) — 10 pts
9. The Asphalt Jungle (1950) — 9 pts
9. The African Queen (1951) — 9 pts
11. Under the Volcano (1984) — 8 pts
12. The Man Who Would Be King (1975) — 7 pts
13. Beat the Devil (1953) — 6 pts
14. Let There Be Light (1946) — 5 pts
15. The Unforgiven (1960) — 4 pts
15. We Were Strangers (1949) — 4 pts
15. In This Our Life (1942) — 4 pts
18. Across the Pacific (1942) — 3 pts
18. Casino Royale (1966) — 3 pts
18. Moby Dick (1956) — 3 pts
21. Freud: The Secret Passion (1962) — 2 pts
21. Moulin Rouge (1952) — 2 pts
23. The List of Adrian Messenger (1963) — 1 pt
23. Prizzi’s Honor (1985) — 1 pt

[cinesmith]

huston is all over the place as a director

Very mush agree with this. The strength of his early work would slowly shift over time. There's fewer hits than misses in the later decades.

I missed the cut off here but I'll list mine for posterity

Seen 27 of 41 (if you include his portion of 'Casino Royale'.

1948 The Treasure of the Sierra Madre
1950 The Asphalt Jungle
1941 The Maltese Falcon
1951 The African Queen
1975 The Man Who Would Be King
1979 Wise Blood
1951 The Red Badge of Courage
1956 Moby Dick
1961 The Misfits

[rischka]

there's a joke on film twitter that he's finally an auteur now. since he played one in orson welles' the other side of the wind

[flip]

up at letterboxd

https://letterboxd.com/fliptrotsky/list ... -poll-249/