Thursday, October 13, 2011

The Great Directors Tournament—The Final Four

Well, the final four is set and there are a couple of surprises.

As I would have guessed, Alfred Hitchcock continued his dominance of the Classic Hollywood bracket, soundly defeating Howard Hawks, 38-11.

And Akira Kurosawa easily dispatched Stanley Kubrick, 29-16, in the Art House Favorites bracket.

Of course, as Erik Beck of the Boston Becks pointed out, different seeding would likely have given us entirely different results.

The other two brackets resulted in mild upsets, at least in terms of the early Vegas betting line. Woody Allen edged Martin Scorsese by a single vote, 26-25, to win the Modern Era bracket. I confess, as a Woody Allen fan, I'm not unhappy about the result. Just mildly surprised.

In the Silent Era bracket, D.W. Griffith defeated one of my personal favorites, the always popular Buster Keaton, 24-22—and right after the Great Stone Face's birthday, at that! Personally, I didn't think Griffith had a chance. But if you've read my posts about him, you know I've come to the conclusion that Griffith belongs on the Mt. Rushmore of film directors, The Birth of a Nation notwithstanding.

All that aside, it's time for the Final Four matchups:

Alfred Hitchcock versus D.W. Griffith
Akira Kurosawa versus Woody Allen

You have until Sunday, October 23, to cast your vote.

6 comments:

Jandy Stone said...

Row Three did a director's tournament like this last year sometime. I'm pretty sure Hitchcock took it all, with Kurosawa in second, if I recall. I wasn't disappointed. :)

*casts vote for Hitchcock*

Mythical Monkey said...

I think Hitchcock and Kurosawa would be my top two picks as well -- in that order, I'd think.

monty said...

Well since Hitchcock is my favorite director of all time I am happy he is winning. Great tournament MM...and just in case you are wondering I would say its close between Howard hawks and Billy Wilder as my second favorite director.

Unknown said...

Kurosawa over Hitchcock, but only by the slightest of margins.

Mythical Monkey said...

and just in case you are wondering I would say its close between Howard hawks and Billy Wilder as my second favorite director.

I have to say, of all the movies that Katie-Bar-The-Door and I take out of the cabinet and watch, the majority were directed by Howard Hawks. And Billy Wilder probably has had more influence on me as a writer than any writer-director -- once I even transcribed the last three big scenes of The Apartment just so I could see for myself how they worked on paper. Love Hawks and Wilder.

Mythical Monkey said...

Kurosawa over Hitchcock, but only by the slightest of margins.

My wife, Katie-Bar-The-Door, said the same thing at dinner tonight -- looking ahead to what will almost certainly be the final round of the great directors tournament.

And yes, we really do have conversations like that at dinner sometimes.