American Filmmakers

My Favorite Jonathan Demme Films

by John Charet

* * * * (Out of * * * *)

1.   Something Wild (1986)

2.   Justin Timberlake + The Tennessee Kids (2016)
(Concert Film)

3.   Handle with Care (1977)
(a.k.a. Citizens Band)
(I saw it on an old VHS tape)

4.   Rachel Getting Married (2008)

5.   Stop Making Sense (1984)
(Concert Film)

6.   Swing Shift (1984)
(Original Cut/Workprint)
(I watched it online)

7.   Who Am I This Time? (1982)
(Episode of PBS American Playhouse)
(Television)

8.   Melvin and Howard (1980)

9.   The Agronomist (2003)
(Documentary)

10a. Neil Young: Heart of Gold (2006)
10b. Neil Young Trunk Show (2009)
10c. Neil Young Journeys (2011)
(Documentaries/Concert Films)

11. Swimming to Cambodia (1987)
(Performance Film)

12. Storefront Hitchcock (1998)
(Concert Film)

* * * * (Out of * * * *) (Short Cinema)

1.   Enlightened (2011)
1a. Episode: “Sandy”
(Cable/Television)

My Favorite Jules Dassin Films

by John Charet

* * * * (Out of * * * *)

1.   The Naked City (1948)

2.   Thieves’ Highway (1949)

3.   Night and the City (1950)

* * * 1/2 (Out of * * * *)

1.   Brute Force (1947)

2.   Rififi (1955)

3.   Topkapi (1964)

My Favorite Joe Dante Films

by John Charet

* * * * (Out of * * * *)

1.   Masters of Horror (2005)
1a. Episode: “Homecoming”
(Cable/Television)

2.   The Second Civil War (1997)
(Cable/Television)

3.   Matinee (1993)

* * * * (Out of * * * *) (Short Cinema)

1.   Eerie, Indiana (1991-1992)
(Episodes from 1991: “Forever Ware”, “The Retainer”, “The Losers” and “Heart on a Chain”)
(Episodes from 1992: “The Hole in the Head Gang”)
(Television)

2.   Police Squad! (1982)
(Episodes: “Ring of Fear
(A Dangerous Assignment”
and
“Testimony of Evil (Dead Men Don’t Laugh)”)
(Television)

* * * 1/2 (Out of * * * *)

1.   Gremlins (1984)

2.   The ‘Burbs (1989)

3.   Innerspace (1987)

* * * 1/2 (Out of * * * *) (Short Cinema)

1.   Twilight Zone: The Movie (1983)
(Segment: “It’s a Good Life”)

My Favorite George Cukor Films

by John Charet

* * * * (Out of * * * *)

1.   Sylvia Scarlett (1935)

2.   Bhowani Junction (1956)

3.   Adam’s Rib (1949)

4.   A Star Is Born (1954)

5.   Les Girls (1957)

* * * 1/2 (Out of * * * *)

1.   A Double Life (1947)

2.   Edward, My Son (1949)

3.   The Actress (1953)

4.   The Marrying Kind (1952)

5.   Pat and Mike (1952)

6.   Holiday (1938)

7.   The Philadelphia Story (1940)

8.   Love Among the Ruins (1975)
(Television)

9.   The Women (1939)

10. Travels with My Aunt (1972)

11. It Should Happen to You (1954)

12. The Model and the Marriage Broker (1951)

13. Born Yesterday (1950)

14. Gaslight (1944)

15. A Woman’s Face (1941)

16. Camille (1936)

17. Little Women (1933)

18. Dinner at Eight (1933)

19. David Copperfield (1935)

My Favorite Francis Ford Coppola Films

by John Charet

* * * * (Out of * * * *)

1.   Apocalypse Now (1979)

2.   The Conversation (1974)

3a. The Godfather (1972)
3b. The Godfather Part II (1974)
3c. The Godfather Part III (1990)

4.   Rumble Fish (1983)

5.   The Cotton Club (1984)

6.   One from the Heart (1981)

My Favorite Larry Cohen Films

by John Charet

* * * * (Out of * * * *)

1.   God Told Me To (1976)

2.   Q: The Winged Serpent (1982)

3.   It’s Alive (1974)

4.   The Stuff (1985)

5.   The Ambulance (1990)

6.   Masters of Horror (2006)
6a. Episode: “Pick Me Up”
(Cable/Television)

* * * 1/2 (Out of * * * *)

1.   Bone (1972)

2.   Black Caesar (1973)

3.   The Private Files of J. Edgar Hoover (1977)

4.   It Lives Again (1978)

My Favorite Joel and Ethan Coen Films

by John Charet

* * * * (Out of * * * *)

1.   Miller’s Crossing (1990)

2.   No Country for Old Men (2007)

3.   Raising Arizona (1987)

4.   Inside Llewyn Davis (2013)

5.   Fargo (1996)

6.   Barton Fink (1991)

7.   The Big Lebowski (1998)

8.   A Serious Man (2009)

9.   True Grit (2010)

10. The Ballad of Buster Scruggs (2018)
(Anthology Film)

11. Hail, Caesar! (2016)

12. The Man Who Wasn’t There (2001)

13. Burn After Reading (2008)

14. O Brother, Where Art Thou? (2000)

15. The Hudsucker Proxy (1994)

16. Blood Simple (1984)

My Favorite Michael Cimino Films

by John Charet

* * * * (Out of * * * *)

1.   Heaven’s Gate (1980) 

2.   The Deer Hunter (1978)

3.   Year of the Dragon (1985)

4.   Thunderbolt and Lightfoot (1974)

5.   The Sicilian (1987)

My Favorite Charlie Chaplin Films

by John Charet

* * * * (Out of * * * *)

1.   City Lights (1931)

2.   Monsieur Verdoux (1947)

3.   The Gold Rush (1925)

4.   Limelight (1952)

5.   Modern Times (1936)

6.   The Great Dictator (1940)

7.   A Woman of Paris (1923)

8.   The Kid (1921)

9.   The Circus (1928)

10. A King in New York (1957)

11. A Countess from Hong Kong (1967)

* * * * (Out of * * * *) (Short Cinema) (Keystone Shorts)

1.   His Prehistoric Past (1914)

2.   The New Janitor (1914)

3.   Dough and Dynamite (1914)

4.   His Trysting Place (1914)

5.   Gentlemen of Nerve (1914)

6.   His Musical Career (1914)

7.   Getting Acquainted (1914)

8.   The Property Man (1914)

9.   Laughing Gas (1914)

10. Mabel’s Married Life (1914)

11. A Busy Day (1914)

12. The Rounders (1914)

13. Those Love Pangs (1914)

14. Caught in the Rain (1914)

15. Twenty Minutes of Love (1914)

16. His New Profession (1914)

17. The Masquerader (1914)

18. Recreation (1914) 

19. The Face on the Bar Room Floor (1914)

* * * * (Out of * * * *) (Short Cinema) (Essanay Shorts)

1.   The Bank (1915)

2.   Work (1915)

3.   The Tramp (1915)

4.   In the Park (1915)

5.   His New Job (1915)

6.   A Jitney Elopement (1915)

7.   Shanghaied (1915)

8.   Burlesque on ‘Carmen’ (1915)

9.   Police (1916)

10. A Night in the Show (1915)

11. A Woman (1915)

12. By the Sea (1915)

13. The Champion (1915)

14. A Night Out (1915)

15. Triple Trouble (1918)
(co-directed with Leo White)

* * * * (Out of * * * *) (Short Cinema) (Mutual Shorts)

1.   The Immigrant (1917)

2.   Behind the Screen (1916)

3.   The Pawnshop (1916)

4.   The Floorwalker (1916)

5.   The Fireman (1916)

6.   One A.M. (1916)

7.   The Rink (1916)

8.   The Count (1916)

9.   The Vagabond (1916)

10. The Adventurer (1917)

11. The Cure (1917)

12. Easy Street (1917) 

* * * * (Out of * * * *) (Short Cinema) (First National Shorts)

1.   The Pilgrim (1923)

2.   Shoulder Arms (1918)

3.   A Dog’s Life (1918)

4.   The Bond (1918)

5.   Payday (1922)

6.   The Idle Class (1921)

7.   Sunnyside (1919)

8.   A Day’s Pleasure (1919)

* * * * (Out of * * * *) (Compilation Films)

1.   The Chaplin Revue (1959)

My Favorite John Cassavetes Films

by John Charet

* * * * (Out of * * * *)

1.   Love Streams (1984)

2.   A Woman Under the Influence (1974)

3.   Faces (1968)

4.   Shadows (1959)

5.   Husbands (1970)

6.   The Killing of a Chinese Bookie (1976)

7.   Minnie and Moskowitz (1971)

8.   Opening Night (1977)

* * * 1/2 (Out of * * * *)

1.   Gloria (1980)

2.   Too Late Blues (1961)

3.   A Child Is Waiting (1963)