Your favorite three-movie run by a director?

A lot of great choices offered up. Perhaps less thought of as he has only directed a handful of films, but I love this trio from Albert Brooks:

Modern Romance
Lost in America
Defending Your Life

And this was over 11 years.

 

Three very good choices!

 

For Charlie Chaplin, I'd go City Lights, Modern Times and The Great Dictator.

 

Oh, man, 'Young Mr. Lincoln' is fabulous. It stars Henry Fonda in the titular role. Essential Ford in my opinion.

 

yes! one of my favorite all tie films

 

Yeah, Drums Along the Mohawk and Tobacco Road interrupt any 3 of those, which is why I left Ford out, unfortunately.

Also, yes, Young Mr. Lincoln is very good for anyone who hasn't seen it.

 

Andrei Tarkovsky:

Solaris
Mirror
Stalker

Tough one this, as it means leaving out Andrei Rublev, which is one of his great masterpieces, but ultimately I think I prefer Stalker.

Pier Paolo Pasolini:

Oedipus Rex
Theorem
Pigsty

I doubt many would agree with me, but I love this mid-career run over the more celebrated trilogy of life. There is also a strong case to be made for his first three films: Accattone, Mamma Roma, and The Gospel According to Matthew.

Nicolas Roeg:

Don’t Look Now
The Man Who Fell to Earth
Bad Timing

I would prefer to include Walkabout over Bad Timing, but, strictly speaking, the Glastonbury Fayre documentary breaks up the chronology, so I’m going to have to choose these three.

 

Hitchcock:
Vertigo
North by Northwest
Psycho

Kubrick:
Dr. Strangelove
2001
A Clockwork Orange

Sam Raimi:
Evil Dead II
Darkman
Army of Darkness

Terry Gilliam:
Brazil
The Adventures of Baron Munchausen
The Fisher King

 

Here was a fantastic five picture run by Stanley Kramer:

The Defiant Ones
On The Beach
Inherit The Wind
Judgment At Nuremberg
It's A Mad, Mad, Mad, Mad World

He did some uncredited work on "Pressure Point" which came out after "Judgment", but just a short framing story, so I don't think it's sufficient to break the streak.

 

Spielberg:

Raiders of the Lost Ark
E.T.: The Extraterrestrial
Poltergeist*

* and I consider him to be the actual director of this film for our purposes.

 

Based on the rumors, style of the film and the article from a couple of years back, he is.

 

I really like the "Silence" trilogy [Through A Glass Darkly...etc] too. For me the strongest two film runs are Seventh Seal/Wild Strawberries and Through a Glass Darkly/Winter Light. Those are probably my favorite films by Bergman.

The Phantom of Liberty is definitely worth checking out. It's probably my favorite Bunuel film.

 

Stanley Kubrick

Dr. Strangelove
2001: A Space Odyssey
A Clockwork Orange

 

Paul Thomas Anderson
Boogie Nights
Magnolia
Punch Drunk Love

 

Terry Zwigoff's short career went from Crumb to Ghost World to Bad Santa. Surprised he had nothing to do with American Splendor, a film that totally captures the unique "Pekar-ness" of Harvey's comic book work, to a Zwigoff-y fare-thee-well.

 

If we could please forget 2002's Swept Away, starring his then wife Madonna, we have a fabulous four movie run from Guy Ritchie:
1998 - Lock, Stock, and Two Smoking Barrels
2000 - Snatch
2005 - Revolver
2008 - RocknRolla

 

Franklin J. Schaffner

Planet of the Apes
Patton
Nicholas and Alexandria
Papillon (I know 4 films, sorry,John M.)

 

Kenji Mizoguchi:

Ugetsu
Sansho the Bailiff
The Crucified Lovers, a.k.a. A Story from Chikamatsu

Mikio Naruse:

Sound of the Mountain
Late Chrysanthemums
Floating Clouds

I’m struggling to come up with three in a row from both Yasujirō Ozu and Rainer Werner Fassbinder. I love what I’ve seen from both directors, but there are still some films I’m unfamiliar with. Anyone fancy having a crack at one or other of these?

EDIT: Actually, if we go by the chronology on the official Fassbinder Foundation website, rather than Wikipedia, I’ll choose the following from RWF:

Ali: Fear Eats the Soul
Effi Briest
Fox and His Friends

 

Wes Anderson Bottle Rocket, Rushmore, The Royal Tenenbaums
Francis Ford Coppola The Godfather, The Conversation, The Godfather Part II
William Friedkin The French Connection, The Exorcist, Sorcerer
Alfred Hitchcock North By Northwest, Psycho, The Birds
Stanley Kubrick A Clockwork Orange, Barry Lyndon, The Shining
Nicolas Roeg Don't Look Now, The Man Who Fell to Earth, Bad Timing
Martin Scorsese The Last Temptation of Christ, GoodFellas, Cape Fear
Steven Spielberg Duel, The Sugarland Express, Jaws

 

I’d go:

Mean Streets
Alice Doesn’t Live Here Anymore
Taxi Driver

 

Woody Allen Sleeper, Love And Death, Annie Hall
Luis Bunuel The Discreet Charm Of The Bourgeoisie, The Phantom Of Liberty, That Obscure Object Of Desire
Sam Peckinpah The Wild Bunch, The Ballad Of Cable Hogue, Straw Dogs
Sidney Lumet Murder On The Orient Express, Dog Day Afternoon, Network
Francis Ford Coppola The Godfather, The Conversation, The Godfather Part II
Mike Nichols Who's Afraid Of Virginia Woolf?, The Graduate, Catch-22
Stanley Kubrick A Clockwork Orange, Barry Lyndon, The Shining
Krzysztof Kieślowski Three Colours: Blue, Three Colours: White, Three Colours: Red
Nicolas Roeg Don't Look Now, The Man Who Fell to Earth, Bad Timing
Martin Scorsese Mean Streets, Alice Doesn't Live Here Anymore, Taxi Driver
David Lean Doctor Zhivago, Ryan's Daughter, A Passage To India
Bob Rafelson Head, Five Easy Pieces, The King Of Marvin Gardens
David Lynch Blue Velvet, Wild At Heart, Twin Peaks: Fire Walk With Me

 

I like it.

But, to make it officially Spielberg’s best run, we need an OK from @Oatsdad!

 

That’s the one I’d go with.

 

Yes regarding "the Silence trilogy", but I don't really experience it as a trilogy. Winter Light as cinema is the closest any film comes to perfection, imo. But its dour feel, despite imo what I choose to view as a somewhat hopeful ending, makes it not quite my favorite Bergman. That would be Persona, and I love the run he started there with Liv Ullmann as his muse. Not all Bergman fans love the Passion, but it is also one of my favorites. As for you, though, The Seventh Seal and Wild Strawberries I think are also excellent. All fantastic films. Even ones that are not as great as the others are excellent. My most recent view of him was The Magician, for example. Any other director would count that as among their best.

I will check out Phantom of Liberty.

 

Brian De Palma, one of my favorite directors, is a maddening case. Damn you, Home Movies!