| ANDREW SARRIS: Director Categories from "The American Cinema: Directors and Directions 1929-1968" [Published in 1968] | |
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"The American Cinema is more than a work of criticism; it is a cultural event, the record and the incarnation of the moment when American film begins to take account of itself as an art form and as an autonomous narrative tradition. In other words, this book is not film history, it is part of the history of film." - Frank McConnell, University of California, Santa Barbara |
| - Andrew Sarris's current film writings can be found at the New York Observer. | |
| - Hail the Conquering Hero: Kent Jones re-examines the 50-year career of Andrew Sarris, the man who brought auteurism to America. (Film Comment) | |
| - Auteur Theory and Authorship (Film Reference) | |
| Pantheon
Directors These are the directors who have
transcended their technical problems with a personal vision of the
world. To speak any of their names is to evoke a self-contained world
with its own laws and landscapes. They were also fortunate enough to
find the proper conditions and collaborators for the full expression of
their talent. The
Far Side of Expressive
Esoterica These are the unsung directors with
difficult styles or unfashionable genres or both. Their deeper virtues
are often obscured by irritating idiosyncrasies on the surface, but
they are generally redeemed by their seriousness and grace. Fringe
Benefits These directors occupied such a
marginal role in the American cinema that it would be unfair to their
overall reputations to analyze them in this limited context in any
detail. Less
Than Meets the Eye These are the directors with
reputations in excess of inspirations. In retrospect, it always seems
that the personal signatures to their films were written with invisible
ink Lightly
Likable These are talented but uneven directors
with the saving grace of unpretentiousness. Strained
Seriousness These are talented but uneven
directors with the mortal sin of pretentiousness. Their ambitious
projects tend to inflate rather than expound. Oddities,
One-Shots, and Newcomers These are the
eccentrics, the exceptions and the expectants, the fallen stars and the
shooting stars. They defy more precise classification by their very
nature. Subjects
for Further Research These are the directors
whose work must be more fully evaluated before any final determination
of the American cinema is possible. There may be other unknown
quantities as well, but this list will serve for the moment as a
reminder of the gaps. Make
Way for the Clowns! These are the most
conspicuous of the non-directorial auteurs, and, as such, they cannot be
subsumed under any directorial style. They are ultimately the funniest
footnotes to the auteur theory. Miscellany No description given. Assumedly, all directors that didn't quite fit into one of the above categories. Includes John Brahm, William Dieterle, Stuart Heisler, David Miller and Elliott Nugent. |
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| Please keep in mind that these director categorisations are over 35 years old. We have primarily included them within TSPDT as a tribute to Sarris' famous and influential study on the American cinema and auteur theory. Have his opinions/categorisations stood the test of time? Was there, for instance, "Less Than Meets the Eye" to Billy Wilder's pre-1968 work? That seems a harsh call, in retrospect. Even Mr. Sarris himself might admit to this. After all, he curiously includes Sunset Blvd. as one of his 10 favourite films of all-time in his 1992 list for Sight & Sound. There's obviously much to agree with and/or disagree with in Sarris' categorisations, whose relevance still applies strongly to directors whose filmographies were either complete or pretty much finished by 1968. It goes without saying, however, that the passing of time has made certain directors' categorisations redundant. For example, Francis Ford Coppola (who'd only made 4 films to that point) was filed within "Oddities, One-Shots, and Newcomers". Today, he would more than likely (depending on your taste-buds) slot into "The Far Side of Paradise" or "Less Than Meets the Eye". Sam Peckinpah - a director who today garners a huge cult following - was also filed under "Oddities, One-Shots, and Newcomers". Today, he would more than likely be slotted into "Expressive Esoterica". Nevertheless, for the sake of historical accuracy, we have included all of Sarris' categorisations as they were. | |
| Of more than passing interest....Renowned critic Fred Camper has compiled a fascinating list of his Favorite Filmmakers on his website. Here's an excerpt from his introduction: "As someone who made great use in my teens of Film Culture 28, Andrew Sarris's "American Directors" issue (later expanded into his book, The American Cinema: Directors and Directions, though I prefer the original Film Culture version), which catalogued and classified mostly Hollywood directors and was used by many as an early viewing guide (and informally called "The Bible"), I thought that if my own lists were of use to a few others, especially as encouragements to seek out the work of certain filmmakers, then it would be worth posting them." | |
| Fred Camper's Favorite Filmmakers | |