Favorite early films of great directors

by BudStamperOK | created - 15 May 2012 | updated - 15 May 2012 | Public

Great directors often have relatively little known early films in their filmography that exhibit their raw talent and point of view. Sometimes, these films could be more interesting than their more famous later works.

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1. Who's That Knocking at My Door (1967)

R | 90 min | Drama

63 Metascore

A young man can't accept the girl he likes because of her bitter past.

Director: Martin Scorsese | Stars: Harvey Keitel, Zina Bethune, Anne Collette, Lennard Kuras

Votes: 10,123

2. The Rain People (1969)

R | 101 min | Drama

66 Metascore

When a housewife finds out she is pregnant, she runs out of town looking for freedom to reevaluate her life decisions.

Director: Francis Ford Coppola | Stars: James Caan, Shirley Knight, Robert Duvall, Marya Zimmet

Votes: 3,984 | Gross: $0.16M

3. Take the Money and Run (1969)

PG | 85 min | Comedy, Crime

67 Metascore

The life and times of Virgil Starkwell, inept bank robber.

Director: Woody Allen | Stars: Woody Allen, Janet Margolin, Marcel Hillaire, Jacquelyn Hyde

Votes: 31,471 | Gross: $0.72M

4. The Duellists (1977)

PG | 100 min | Drama, War

70 Metascore

France, 1801. Due to a minor perceived slight, mild-mannered Lieutenant d'Hubert is forced into a duel with hot-headed irrational Lieutenant Feraud. The disagreement ultimately results in scores of duels spanning several years.

Director: Ridley Scott | Stars: Keith Carradine, Harvey Keitel, Albert Finney, Edward Fox

Votes: 26,733 | Gross: $0.20M

5. Duel (1971 TV Movie)

PG | 90 min | Action, Thriller

81 Metascore

A business commuter is pursued and terrorized by the malevolent driver of a massive tractor-trailer.

Director: Steven Spielberg | Stars: Dennis Weaver, Jacqueline Scott, Eddie Firestone, Lou Frizzell

Votes: 78,435

6. Shallow Grave (1994)

R | 89 min | Crime, Drama, Thriller

67 Metascore

Three friends discover their new flatmate dead but loaded with cash.

Director: Danny Boyle | Stars: Kerry Fox, Christopher Eccleston, Ewan McGregor, Ken Stott

Votes: 66,256 | Gross: $2.88M

7. Greetings (1968)

R | 88 min | Comedy, Drama

Three friends in New York City discuss how to dodge the draft and Vietnam, JFK's assassination, voyeurism, computer dating, and everything else.

Director: Brian De Palma | Stars: Jonathan Warden, Robert De Niro, Gerrit Graham, Richard Hamilton

Votes: 3,953 | Gross: $1.00M

8. The Hunger (1983)

R | 97 min | Drama, Horror

52 Metascore

A love triangle develops between a beautiful yet dangerous vampire (Catherine Deneuve), her cellist companion (David Bowie), and a gerontologist (Susan Sarandon).

Director: Tony Scott | Stars: Catherine Deneuve, David Bowie, Susan Sarandon, Cliff De Young

Votes: 29,058 | Gross: $5.98M

9. Hell in the Pacific (1968)

G | 103 min | Adventure, War

During World War II, an American pilot and a marooned Japanese navy captain are deserted on a small uninhabited island in the Pacific Ocean. There, they must cease their hostility and cooperate if they want to survive, but will they?

Director: John Boorman | Stars: Lee Marvin, Toshirô Mifune

Votes: 9,065

10. Play Misty for Me (1971)

R | 102 min | Drama, Thriller

78 Metascore

The life of a disc jockey is turned upside down after a romantic encounter with an obsessed fan.

Director: Clint Eastwood | Stars: Clint Eastwood, Jessica Walter, Donna Mills, John Larch

Votes: 31,930 | Gross: $11.80M

11. Repulsion (1965)

Not Rated | 105 min | Drama, Horror, Thriller

91 Metascore

A sex-repulsed woman who disapproves of her sister's boyfriend sinks into depression and has horrific visions of rape and violence.

Director: Roman Polanski | Stars: Catherine Deneuve, Ian Hendry, John Fraser, Yvonne Furneaux

Votes: 57,291

12. Killer's Kiss (1955)

Not Rated | 67 min | Crime, Drama, Film-Noir

Ready to catch a train to his hometown, a washed-up boxer tells us about the strange and twisty events that happened to him the past couple of days.

Director: Stanley Kubrick | Stars: Frank Silvera, Irene Kane, Jamie Smith, Jerry Jarrett

Votes: 26,022

13. Following (1998)

R | 69 min | Crime, Mystery, Thriller

60 Metascore

A young writer who follows strangers for material meets a thief who takes him under his wing.

Director: Christopher Nolan | Stars: Jeremy Theobald, Alex Haw, Lucy Russell, John Nolan

Votes: 101,802 | Gross: $0.05M

14. Do the Right Thing (1989)

R | 120 min | Comedy, Drama

93 Metascore

On the hottest day of the year on a street in the Bedford-Stuyvesant section of Brooklyn, everyone's hate and bigotry smolders and builds until it explodes into violence.

Director: Spike Lee | Stars: Danny Aiello, Ossie Davis, Ruby Dee, Richard Edson

Votes: 112,477 | Gross: $27.55M

15. Salvador (1986)

R | 122 min | Drama, History, Thriller

69 Metascore

A burnt-out photojournalist becomes involved in a Central American revolution.

Director: Oliver Stone | Stars: James Woods, Jim Belushi, Michael Murphy, John Savage

Votes: 23,161

16. The Firemen's Ball (1967)

Not Rated | 73 min | Comedy, Drama

A volunteer fire department throws a party for their former boss with the whole town invited, but nothing goes as planned.

Director: Milos Forman | Stars: Jan Vostrcil, Josef Sebánek, Josef Valnoha, Frantisek Debelka

Votes: 12,199



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