Filmmakers are usually associated with one particular genre. Martin Scorsese is known for directing gangster movies. Jordan Peele is known for directing socially conscious horror movies. Alfred Hitchcock was renowned for his thrillers, David Lynch is renowned for his surrealistic horror films, and Guillermo del Toro is renowned for blending dark fantasy with social commentary. But some directors have mastered more than one genre. From Quentin Tarantino to Stanley Kubrick, many legendary filmmakers have contributed all-time classics to multiple genres.
Steven Spielberg
Steven Spielberg is a true master of the filmmaking craft. His breakout movie,Jaws, reshaped the entire film industry. Hollywood studios have spent the last half-century trying to recapture the success ofSpielberg’s Hitchcockian shark thriller. Everything Spielberg touches turns to genre gold.Raiders of the Lost Arkis the ultimate action-adventure movie.Close Encounters of the Third Kindis the ultimate UFO movie.Saving Private Ryanis the ultimate war movie.Jurassic Parkis the ultimate monster movie.
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The director continues to experiment with genre to this day. Last year, he directed his first musical witha dazzling, deeply cinematic remake ofWest Side Storythat was praised as an improvement over its widely adored predecessor.
Quentin Tarantino
Since he burst onto the indie scene in the 1990s, Quentin Tarantino has become one of the most prominent figures in genre cinema. After kicking off his career with a trio of stylish crime thrillers – his nonlinear heist caperReservoir Dogs, his darkly comedic anthologyPulp Fiction, andhis underappreciated Elmore Leonard adaptationJackie Brown– Tarantino started experimenting with different genre frameworks. His two-part action epicKill Billrolled a handful of different genres into one: it’s a martial arts movie, a blaxploitation movie, and a spaghetti western rolled into one – with an anime segment thrown in for good measure.
Tarantino always does something truly inventive with his chosen genre frameworks.Death Proofis a carsploitation movie crossed with a slasher movieabout a sadistic stunt driver who kills young women with his “death-proof” car.Inglourious Basterdsis a World War II movie that’s daring enough to kill off Adolf Hitler in satirically inaccurate fashion.Django Unchainedis a spaghetti western set in the antebellum South about a slave-turned-bounty hunter.
Rob Reiner
On Brett Goldstein’sFilms To Be Buried Withpodcast, Rob Reiner is regularly cited as the most underrated director of all time. Reiner got his start as an actor on the seminal sitcomAll in the Family, but he later took up the director’s chair to call the shots on his own projects. His films are often included on lists of the greatest ever made, but Reiner himself doesn’t get the credit he deserves. Not only has Reiner directed a bunch of universally loved movie classics; they’re from a wide range of diverse genres.
Stand by Meis a masterpiece of the coming-of-age genre.When Harry Met Sallyis a masterpiece of the romantic comedy genre.Miseryis a masterpiece of the psychological horror genre.The Princess Brideis a masterpiece of the fantasy adventure genre (and a delightfully self-aware one at that).This is Spinal Tapis not only a masterpiece of the mockumentary genre, but one of the early entries that defined the genre in the first place. Reiner has directed a bunch of solid movies in a bunch of different genres.
Ridley Scott
Ridley Scott’s first couple of major directorial efforts belonged to the science fiction genre, but they each carve out a niche as the very best of a specific sci-fi subgenre.Alienbrought the visceral terrorof a haunted house movie to a spaceship, whileBlade Runnerbrought the high-contrast lighting and hard-boiled detective stories of the film noir to a futuristic metropolis.
Since then, Scott has helmed masterfully crafted movies in a ton of different genres. He combined a buddy road trip movie with a crime caper inThelma & Louise. He revived the swords-and-sandals genre withGladiator. He brought the intensity of contemporary warfare to life inBlack Hawk Down. Last year alone, he directed a bleak medieval drama anda darkly comic tale of murder and betrayalin a fashion dynasty.
Stanley Kubrick
Every time Stanley Kubrick tried his hand at a different movie genre, he ended up delivering one of the all-time greatest entries in that genre.2001: A Space Odysseyis one of the greatest science fiction movies of all time.Paths of Gloryis one of the greatest war movies of all time.The Killingis one of the greatest heist films of all time. Kubrick took audiences back in time to the 18th century in his every-frame-a-painting masterpieceBarry Lyndonand took them forward in time to a dystopian near-future in his chilling Anthony Burgess adaptationA Clockwork Orange.
Kubrick even directed two masterpieces of the most instinctual genres: comedy and horror.Dr. Strangeloveis one of the funniest and most timeless political satires ever made. Its incisive, bittersweet storytelling captured the contemporary Cold War climate andremains just as biting and relevant today. AndThe Shiningis one of the most terrifying horror films ever made. Its unsettling imagery and ambiguous meaning make ita hauntingly mesmerizing experience. No matter how many times a given viewer watchesThe Shining, they can never make sense of it. Most filmmakers who dedicate their entire careers to either comedy or horror couldn’t hope to make a movie as great asDr. StrangeloveorThe Shining.
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