Is Alfred Hitchcock the Most Overrated Director Ever?

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That's the charge of a writer at Big Hollywood, the conservative movie site that counted Hitch, Martin Scorsese, Woody Allen, David Lynch and Ridley Scott among the most misrepresented of Hollywood helmers. To each his own, but the author's comments about Quentin Tarantino ("To paraphrase William McAdoo on Warren G. Harding, Tarantino's films are like an army moving over a landscape in search of an idea") and Mike Nichols ("The ending of [The Graduate] alone makes it unworthy of human viewing) suggest that someone's just doing his best to hold down the site's chief aesthete slot until Victoria Jackson gets around to contributing again. [Big Hollywood]



Comments

  • NP says:

    He doesn't ever actually illustrate why the directors on his list are overrated. What a ninny.

  • Emotionally Retarded says:

    Ben Shapiro, 25, is a graduate of UCLA and Harvard Law School. He is the author of the new book "Project President: Bad Hair and Botox on the Road to the White House," as well as the national bestseller "Brainwashed: How Universities Indoctrinate America's Youth."

  • CiscoMan says:

    While I agree with the basic premise that a director's contribution to the filmmaking process is often overcovered... wow. He's not even making a contrarian argument, he's just being an asshole.
    Although, I do semi-agree that Ridley Scott is overrated. But not because Kingdom of Heaven is "a slap at Christianity."

  • Kyle Buchanan says:

    I had the most visceral reaction to this headline. I actually barked out, "No!"

  • NP says:

    Mrs. Shapiro, your son is 25. Let him defend himself.

  • DarkKnightShyamalan says:

    So the guy just hates movies, period.

  • MrsQuint says:

    He comes across as a dick and for a UCLA and Harvard graduate (proof that they give those degrees to anyone who have the money) to constantly use the word gross repeatedly as a reason to dislike a movie is just juevnile, and he sounds more like a pissed off teenage girl. However, I do agree that Darren Arronsky is overrated and pretentious and some scenes in the Wrestler was laughable and mostly because of Mickey Rourke's bad acting.

  • Anderson says:

    Ben Shapiro thinks Chairman of the Board starring Carrot Top was, and I'm quoting here, "The most magnificent piece of heavenly beauty I've ever seen on the big screen. There were moments where I experienced what it might feel like to make love to a woman, is 'orgasmic' the right word? Anywho, just a really really great movie. Second only to barnyard pornography. I have crabs." I mean, come on! I'm really questioning this guys credibility here, I mean, he needs to tell us he has crabs, yet doesn't know what it feels like to have intercourse with a woman? I give this guy a thumbs down. Boo to Ben Shapiro, and boo to animal pornography. Also, I dislike Carrot Top.

  • Dimo says:

    Not going to bother reading the article. "North By Northwest" Nuff said.

  • Michael Mann is occasionally hit or miss but to dismiss him as style without substance is to forge all reason without seeing what he is doing. Public Enemies and Manhunter and Thief are not stylistic without substance...maybe Mike Figgis with the dreary Cold Creek Manor. In his historical films, Mann gets close enough to seeing his characters as people who somehow make history without knowing it. They are what they are - just like Depp's Dillinger who makes no apologies for who he is and why he does what he does.
    I don't understand how Hitchcock and Scorsese and Tarantino make this list without the inclusion of James Cameron - is Cameron better than these guys? Heck, no. M. Night is not on this list but then again, he is not overrated. Scorsese is very much in touch with morality and makes us feel what is going on inside his characters' heads. To not recognize that is foolish. Hitch is Master of Suspense - he knew how to build scenes with tension and make us care for the characters.
    I do agree about Ridley Scott and I would include his soporific-inducing film director sibling Tony Scott. The best film ever made by Ridley is Blade Runner. I like Alien but Someone to Watch Over Me is interminable and Gladiator is too glum with a glum hero and no sense of energy.

  • Joel Gunz says:

    Some people will say anything to get attention.

  • Jonathan says:

    Shaprio's article didn't give many good reasons, and in fact I disagree with most of his list.
    The one I do agree with is Hitchcock, though not entirely for the reasons that he mentions. The one piece he has right is that Hitchcock had a tendency to fall back on literal-minded pop-pschoanalytic theories to explain--or explain away--what we have just seen.
    And this is the thing about Hitchcock: he may make me feel anxious--not difficult in my case. He may make me feel his famous "suspense." His films are well-crafted, to say the least, and in many ways he invented some of the key structures that we still use today. He's influential--but not always for the good. He is the poster boy for plot over character, for technical mastery and control over engaging with messy realities and complex characters.
    The biggest problem is that he doesn't really create memorable characters. He creates memorable PLOTS, but not even STORIES that stick with you. When you walk out of a Hitchcock film, you may have a vague buzz, but there's nothing to think about. He had no ideas whatsoever, and he didn't really seem to have much empathy for his characters, either.
    I've enjoyed his films for years, definitely, but in a kind of "this is highly accomplished, well-made fluff." I wouldn't call it "great." I'd call it lightweight crowdpleasing fun--which has begotten decades of equally lightweight (though less accomplished) crowdpleasing fun by other directors.

  • Out of all the research I've done on Alfred Hitchcock, I've seen about .01% ever give such an intuitive article as to why they exactly do or do not like his directing style (Sarcasm). Actually If one (The Article Writer) would actually talk about his Film Techniques, as to why he doesn't hold a candle than maybe I would fancy my time to read more of his stuff. You should Most Definitely take the time to read these key points that I articulate so well before you back this article.

  • Out of all the research I've done on Alfred Hitchcock, I've seen about .01% ever give such an intuitive article as to why they exactly do or do not like his directing style (Sarcasm). Actually If one (The Article Writer) would actually talk about his Film Techniques, as to why he doesn't hold a candle than maybe I would fancy my time to read more of his stuff. You should Most Definitely take the time to read these key points that I articulate so well before you back this article.

  • Alex says:

    Here's the thing, none of that makes him qualified to comment on directors and for reasons such as "the people in his movies aren't likable." or " this movie is nothing more then liberal propaganda" real liberal propaganda is the battle ship Potemkin ( if we go by American standards and assume that the liberal socialist and communist can be used interchangeably) I do give the fact that he is smart but if you make a list of overrated directors and don't provide good reasons for your arguments then expect to be hated on the Internet

  • Alex says:

    No I don't think he hates movies I think he hates movies that could be interpreted as being politically or philosophically opoessed to his world view .......... Never mind your right I think one movie in 1931 agreed with him entirely and the only copy got burned in a fire

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