Directors whose best film is also their most popular

[Kormod]

Alfred Hitchcock North By Northwest.

Psycho, dawg.

[HaroldBlvd]

Alfred Hitchcock North By Northwest.

Psycho, dawg.

Psycho Dawg? I think you are referring Cujo. Not a Hitchcock picture.

[CSW]

Francis Ford Coppola and Godfather/Godfather Part II.

[Sarah]

Really?

[nec13]

Francis Ford Coppola and Godfather/Godfather Part II.

I have to respectfully disagree here.

I think The Conversation is the best film Coppola ever made.

[Paul DeLouisiana]

Francis Ford Coppola and Godfather/Godfather Part II.

I have to respectfully disagree here.

I think The Conversation is the best film Coppola ever made.

The Godfather is low on my Coppola list too. I'm with you on The Conversation being the best. It's been years but I really like The Outsiders and Rumble Fish as well.

[Smelodies]

Are you guys joking?

[cavorting with nudists]

Contrarians.

[Crusherkc]

When compraring older movies' box office success with newer ones you have to take into account the ticket prices of their respective eras and inflation.  Judging by pure numbers, Avatar" is the most successful movie of all time but adjusted for inflation it's "Gone With The Wind". By the numbers "The Departed" is Scorsese's biggest money-maker ($132 m) but adjusted for inflation "Cape Fear" might be his biggest- it made almost $80 m in 1991.  Go to boxofficemojo.com for more bo grosses and adjustments.

I'm going with Kubick "2001" w/adjusted gross b.o. at $341 m (it made about $40 m in the 60s/70s and cost about $10 in 1968 dollars to make.  I think it's his best film, w/"The Shining" right behind

[Kormod]

Judging by pure numbers, Avatar" is the most successful movie of all time

This might be a case where a director's worst film is also his most popular.

[CSW]

Judging by pure numbers, Avatar" is the most successful movie of all time

This might be a case where a director's worst film is also his most popular.

Didn't he do Piranha 2? And how does James Cameron's "Aquaman" fit into that.

And I made the Coppola comment based on my opinion that Godfather I and II are his best in my opinion. If that's not true for everyone, then let the debates rage!

[Shaggy 2 Grote]

I love both Godfather movies, but I think it's a pretty commonly-held critical opinion The Conversation and Apocalypse Now are better films. I don't know if I agree (actually I kinda do re. The Conversation), but I'm not sure it's all that contrarian.

The only James Cameron movie I've ever liked was Terminator.

[cavorting with nudists]

I love both Godfather movies, but I think it's a pretty commonly-held critical opinion The Conversation and Apocalypse Now are better films.

I find this doubtful. There's probably no better index of serious critical opinion than the once-per-decade BFI Sight & Sound poll of Greatest Films of All Time. In 1992, when they started polling directors and critics separately, both Godfathers wound up in the directors' top ten, though not the critics'.  In 2002, the critics put G&GII, considered as a unit, fourth (after Citizen Kane, Vertigo, and The Rules of the Game.) The directors put them second, after Kane. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sight_%26_Sound

My sense is that the overwhelming critical consensus on Apocalypse Now is that it's a magnificent effort, fatally flawed, and that to call it better than G&GII is indeed pretty contrarian.

[Paul DeLouisiana]

I love both Godfather movies, but I think it's a pretty commonly-held critical opinion The Conversation and Apocalypse Now are better films.

I find this doubtful. There's probably no better index of serious critical opinion than the once-per-decade BFI Sight & Sound poll of Greatest Films of All Time. In 1992, when they started polling directors and critics separately, both Godfathers wound up in the directors' top ten, though not the critics'.  In 2002, the critics put G&GII, considered as a unit, fourth (after Citizen Kane, Vertigo, and The Rules of the Game.) The directors put them second, after Kane. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sight_%26_Sound

My sense is that the overwhelming critical consensus on Apocalypse Now is that it's a magnificent effort, fatally flawed, and that to call it better than G&GII is indeed pretty contrarian.

I think that you are seeing our Conversation praise as contrarian because we like more of a low-key movie compared to this grand effort. It's like preferring Taxi Driver to GoodFellas (which I do) or Reservoir Dogs to Pulp Fiction (which I don't). Is a movie more important when the budget and idea big?

[Shaggy 2 Grote]

I don't think it's necessarily the majority opinion, especially among movie critics. I'm just saying that it's not necessarily contrarian to dislike the Godfather movies, or rate other Coppola movies above it. I've found myself defending them to friends, and have read takedowns of them more than once.