Film Director Title Belt, Vol. I

Recently, a relative of mine suggested I should take a look at directors in the same manner I've recently been looking at groups of actors. I did a little preliminary checking and decided to take things a slightly different direction. A journalist/blogger/sports media mogul I'm rather fond of uses a concept called the "Title Belt" in articles to tell the history of a particular thing in an engaging and interesting way. The "Title Belt" process sets up comparisons and context for accomplishments in a manner I very much enjoy.

I understand it such: the Title Belt is awarded each year to the ______ who stands above his/her peers in the field in question. It can be held for multiple years consecutively or non-consecutively. It is not simply the "most successful" in any particular category be it financial success, critical success, the volume of output, or the collection of awards earned. Each of those aspects and some simple subjective sense are used to determine the Title Belt holder for a given year. If no one steps up and takes the belt in a given year, the previous year's champ gets to keep it.

As is usually the case, your input is greatly desired. If there's a director that you think deserved a shot at the belt, let me know in the comments.

So, let me set the ground rules for this 3 part series of the Feature Film Director Title Belt. In order to make a claim on the title, you must have produced a hit in the given year. A hit is defined as a full-length feature film which meets one of two criteria:

Either 2 of these 3 benchmarks:
≥1 major award nominations (more on this in a minute)
≥$100 million gross domestic receipts, non-adjusted, per boxofficemojo.com
≥80% fresh critical score on rottentomatoes.com

OR 1 of these 3 more extreme versions of the benchmarks:
≥4 major award nominations
≥$250 million gross domestic receipts, non-adjusted
≥95% fresh critical score

Of the 55 directors I analyzed, there were 714 films over the past 60 years which met these criteria.

The awards I'm considering are the following:

1. The Academy Awards (Oscars)
2. The Golden Globes
3. The British Academy of Film and Television Arts (BAFTAs) 
4. The Academy of Science Fiction, Fantasy and Horror Films (Saturn Awards)
5. Cannes Film Festival Awards
6. Razzie Awards. 

A Razzie nomination immediately disqualifies a film from being a hit regardless of any other benchmarks achieved.

Obviously winning an award is better than just being nominated, but this isn't just simply a list of the "Best Director" winners, that would be boring.

I've also eliminated any one-hit wonders. Literally. For a director to hold the Title Belt, he/she must have achieved a hit more than once in their career. I'm also going to arbitrarily start in 1970. Mainly because my knowledge of films prior to 1970 gets pretty fuzzy. Volume 1 will take us through the '70s and then Volume 2 the '80s and '90s, then Volume 3 the rest of the way.

At the end of each Decade, I'll crown a "Director of the Decade" which will be in the same spirit of the Title Belt but won't simply be the director with the most belts. The number in parenthesis is the count of years that director has held the belt.

1970

No hits

The most famous films made in 1970 were "The Aristocrats", "The Conformist", "El Topo", and "M*A*S*H" none of which were directed by someone eligible for my version of the Title Belt.

However, the '60s were dominated by a particular director who put out several hits including "2001: A Space Odyssey" ('68), "Dr. Strangelove or: How I learned to stop worrying and love the bomb" ('64), "Lolita" ('62), and "Spartacus" ('60). His name was Stanley Kubrick and he'll have the belt moving into the decade.

TITLE BELT: Stanley Kubrick

1971

"A Clockwork Orange" Stanley Kubrick

An automatic bid for Kubrick, his dystopian psych-horror received 6 award nominations and currently rates 89% fresh on tomatoes.

TITLE BELT: Stanley Kubrick (2)

1972

"The Godfather" Francis Ford Coppola

Coppola takes the belt without much question. The gangster epic won 3 of it's 4 major award nominations, pulled in $135 million (which adjusts to over $400) and is 98% fresh.

TITLE BELT: Francis Ford Coppola

1973

"Mean Streets" Martin Scorsese
"American Graffiti" George Lucas

Our first competition! Scorsese had debuted in '67 but hadn't scored too well on either his first film, "Who's That Knocking at My Door" or his second "Boxcar Bertha" ('72). "Mean Streets", however, is a critical darling sitting at 96% fresh according to the tomatoes.

Lucas made his debut in '71 with the critical success "THX 1138" but didn't score a hit until Graffiti. Sitting pretty at 96% fresh, the nostalgic high-school flick was nominated for 5 Oscars (2 for Lucas) and a Globe while making $115 million.

TITLE BELT: George Lucas

1974

"Godfather Part II" Francis Ford Coppola
"The Conversation" Francis Ford Coppola
"The Sugarland Express" Steven Spielberg
"Alice Doesn't Live Here Anymore" Martin Scorsese

Coppola gets an easy win with one of only a very few multi-hit years. The much-anticipated Corleone family sequel won Coppola 3 Oscars and got him two more Globe nominations. It also sits at 97% fresh. However, his most successful film critically (at 98% fresh) was actually "The Conversation" for which he also received a whopping 8 major award nominations, including a double-win at Cannes.

Spielberg's first feature film is already a hit with many, many more to come. The thriller took home a couple nominations and a win at Cannes and is 91% fresh. Scorsese' title garnered a pair of nominations and is 88% fresh.

TITLE BELT: Francis Ford Coppola (2)

1975

"Barry Lyndon" Stanley Kubrick

"Jaws" Steven Spielberg

Kubrick is back with a 5 award-nominated, limited-release analysis of depravity and the human condition. Tomatoes has it 94% fresh. 

However, Spielberg's second feature is 97% fresh, got nominated for a Globe and a BAFTA and made an extraordinary $260 million. In adjusted numbers its one of 8 movies to eclipse a billion dollars. (Spielberg has another on that exclusive list).

TITLE BELT: Steven Spielberg

1976

"Taxi Driver" Martin Scorsese

"Assault on Precinct 13" John Carpenter

Scorsese delivered his most critically acclaimed film with a typical tough, gritty street thriller he's the master of. Sitting at 98% fresh, "Taxi Driver" got Scorsese a BAFTA nom and a win a Cannes.

John Carpenter had already received a Saturn award for his debut "Dark Star" in '74 which missed the cut by a single percentage point. Precinct 13, a story of unlikely alliances in the face of Carpenter-style extreme violence and mayhem, however, is beloved at 98% fresh.

TITLE BELT: Martin Scorsese

1977

"Close Encounters of a Third Kind" Steven Spielberg

"Star Wars: Episode IV - A New Hope" George Lucas

"The Duellists" Ridley Scott

The answer is clear, but let's look at the competitors anyway.

Spielberg's sci-fi epic, starring his friend from "Jaws" fame Richard Dreyfuss, pulled in 7 directing award nominations, won a Saturn, earned $136 million and is 96% fresh. Earned Spielberg his most award nominations.

Scott's debut got two nominations at Cannes and won one and is 92% fresh. This movie looks awesome and I need to get my hands on it.

The runaway winner sits at 93% fresh (which just proves 7% of critics are morons), won a pair of Saturns, got a Globe nom, and got the only 2 Oscar nominations in the Star Wars franchise to date. Its true victory rests in the enormous $461 million domestic gross receipts which in adjusted numbers is 2nd all-time at a staggering $1.57 billion. 

TITLE BELT: George Lucas (2)

1978

"Halloween" John Carpenter

"Superman" Richard Donner

The big hitters from the early '70s took a year off and some new blood got a shot at the belt. 

Donner's fourth feature was one of the original superhero blockbusters. It took in a respectable $134 million, a Saturn nomination, and is 94% fresh (with a great soundtrack).

Much like Lucas in '77, Carpenter launched what has become one of the longest running "franchises" in Hollywood history. "Halloween" was the first of 11 films in the Michael Myers saga. Serial killer horror films are not generally well-received, however, Carpenter's launching pad is a certified fresh 95%.

The cultural impact of Carpenter's film trumps the blockbuster.

TITLE BELT: John Carpenter

1979

"Apocalypse Now" Francis Ford Coppola

"Alien" Ridley Scott

Sir Ridley's 2nd feature launched a franchise of its own, with 7 films out and 2 more in production. "Alien" won Scott a Saturn and is at 97% fresh.

Coppola's 4th feature film, and incidentally 4th hit of the decade, is his most awarded film, getting him 3 Oscar nominations, winning 2 Globes, winning one of two BAFTA noms, and winning twice at Cannes. Sitting at 96% fresh, the Vietnam epic signaled the peak of Coppola's run.

In this case, while the Alien franchise keeps making films and making money, I can't overlook the 9 award nominations for Coppola and Apocalypse.

TITLE BELT: Francis Ford Coppola (3)

The '70s

Belts:

Coppola (3)

Lucas (2)

Kubrick (2)

Hits:

Coppola (4)

Spielberg (3)

Scorsese (3)

Award Noms:

Coppola (26)

Spielberg (11)

Kubrick (11)

$$$:

Lucas ($576)

Spielberg ($435)

Coppola ($270)

I think the data is pretty clear, the "Director of the Decade" for the 1970s is

Francis Ford Coppola

tune in next time for the '80s and '90s